iOS16 and iOS17 were fine, but on iOS18, our Safari extension that blocks content via static rulesets randomly stops working. Frequently, when a tab is left in the background for a long time (i.e. hours), the content blocker will stop working (until I either kill safari, or reload the extension). I've debugged this and the background.js script reports the ruleset as being loaded, but nevertheless, our rules aren't applied. I really don't think that it's an issue with the way that the rules are defined, since iOS16 and iOS17 worked fine, and on iOS18, the rules DO work. They just stop working after a while. "declarative_net_request": { "rule_resources": [ { "id": "ruleset_1", "enabled": true, "path": "ruleset_1.json" } ] }, Some theories: I have other content blockers on my phone that have LOTS of rules (adguard). Could I be seeing the effects of too many rules? Can I debug this somehow? Do logs get printed somewhere when the max rule limit is reached? Does the use of private and regular tabs mess things up? Please, any input is appreciated, as all of our logs are normal and error-free.

I'm porting a web extension from Chrome to Safari, and I need to execute a method as a content script that is part of an ES module (in particular its default export). In Chrome I use following snippet (via Stack Overflow) const results = await chrome.scripting.executeScript({ args: ["/js/content_script/main.js"], func: async (path) => { const src = chrome.runtime.getURL(path); const { default: asyncMain } = await import(src); return asyncMain(); } }); In Safari this seems to either not work, cause the Web Extension Background Context window to close, or crash the browser. Am I doing something wrong, or is this not possible?

Starting Safari 18, Declarative Net Request redirections are no longer working (it used to be working on Safari 17). It seems to be related to the regex validation that is not working as expected. Here is an example of our DNR rule: { priority: 1, action: { type: 'redirect', redirect: { regexSubstitution: `${scheme}//${extensionHost}/index.html\\1#/\\2`, }, }, condition: { // app.dashlane.com, *.app.dashlane.com regexFilter: '^https?://w*\\.?app\\.dashlane\\.com(\\??[^/#]*)[^#]*#?/?(.*)$', resourceTypes: [ 'main_frame' ], }, } Is it a known issue ? Also, it seems to be related to this existing issue: https://forums.developer.apple.com/forums/thread/763505

Hi, I have a Safari extension that works well in iOS before 18, which can switch to a different tab with chrome.tabs.update back and forth by keyboard shortcuts. With iOS 18, as Page content loses its focus, it is impossible to trigger content script directly, I have to manually touch screen to put focus back to page content so that keystroke can trigger my content script to talk with background to call chrome.tabs.update to switch back. Please bring focus to page content after switching to a new tab with chrome.tabs.update.

Hello everyone, I’m working on adding a Safari extension as an application extension to an iOS app created using Capacitor (generated from a React app). My goal is to bundle the Safari extension within the Capacitor app, allowing it to serve as a companion app for the extension. However, I’ve run into issues where the extension does not show up in Safari's extension settings when I run the app on a device or simulator. Here's an overview of what I’ve done so far: I initially used Capacitor’s command line tools to generate the iOS app from my React project. This app runs fine on its own. To add the Safari extension, I’m not developing a platform-specific extension from scratch; instead, I used the Xcode command line to convert a Chrome extension to a Safari iOS extension. The converted extension functions correctly if paired with the default Swift app that comes with the conversion. Right now, I effectively have two products: The base Capacitor app (without the extension), which I want as my main app. The standalone Safari extension bundled with the Swift app (from the conversion process). My question is: How can I merge these two products so that the Capacitor app becomes the companion app for the Safari extension, allowing the extension to show up in Safari's settings? Are there specific configurations I should adjust in Xcode or within the manifest files to make this work seamlessly? Any guidance or best practices from others who have integrated Safari extensions into non-Xcode-based projects would be much appreciated! Thank you!

I've observed a discrepancy in cookie consent options between iOS 18.0 and 18.1 on some websites, such as www2.hm.com. On iOS 18.0, I see "Accept All Cookies" and "Only Required Cookies" options, whereas on iOS 18.1, the options change to "Accept All Cookies" and "Cookie Settings." I would like to understand if this behavior is related to differences in how websites detect the operating system version (iOS 18.0 vs. 18.1) or browser changes within the iOS update. Has anyone else experienced similar variations in cookie consent banners, and could this be tied to differences in the user agent or website A/B testing for different OS versions? Any insights or technical clarifications would be appreciated!

I am building Safari extension. In my background script I am setting badge text and title like this: browser.action.setBadgeText({text: badgeText, tabId: tabId}); browser.action.setTitle({title: badgeText + " found images", tabId: tabId}) , where tabId is correct id of current tab. I was expecting that in this way I am setting a different badge and title for different tabs, so that badge and title would automatically switch if I activate different tab. However this does not happen, badge and title behave as if set globaly and don't change with tabs. How is this expected to work? I have also tried to set badge globally, and update it every time user switches a tab. I have set up listener like this: browser.tabs.onActivated.addListener(function(actInfo) { console.log("switched tab to " + actInfo.tabId); }); , however the event never fires, tab switch is never logged in console. Am I doing something wrong here? This is my manifest, if there was a problem with permissions or something similar. { "manifest_version": 3, "default_locale": "en", "name": "Test", "description": "Test Extension", "version": "1.0", "icons": { "48": "images/icon-48.png", "96": "images/icon-96.png", "128": "images/icon-128.png", "256": "images/icon-256.png", "512": "images/icon-512.png" }, "action": { "default_title": "a test title", "default_popup": "popup/hello.html", "default_icon": { "16": "images/toolbar-icon-16.png", "19": "images/toolbar-icon-19.png", "32": "images/toolbar-icon-32.png", "38": "images/toolbar-icon-38.png", "48": "images/toolbar-icon-48.png", "72": "images/toolbar-icon-72.png" } }, "web_accessible_resources": [ { "matches": ["*://*/*"], "resources": ["images/*", "css/*", "scripts/lib/*"] } ], "background": { "service_worker": "scripts/background.js", "type": "module" }, "content_scripts": [ { "js": [ "scripts/content.js" ], "matches": [ "http://*/*", "https://*/*" ], "css": ["css/style.css"], "run_at": "document_end" } ], "permissions": [ "nativeMessaging", "tabs" ] }

Hello, I'm currently facing some issues with localization for the Safari extension on iOS: Issues with Language Tags: Folder names like pt-BR (Brazilian Portuguese) and pt-PT (European Portuguese) placed in the Resources/_locales/ directory are not displaying the respective languages correctly; instead, the default English is shown. Similarly, using folder names like zh-CN (Simplified Chinese) and zh-TW (Traditional Chinese) also results in default English display instead of the intended Chinese language. Conversely, when changing the folder names to pt (Portuguese general) and zh (Chinese general), the languages display correctly. Could you please provide any recommendations or tips regarding language tag settings and how to ensure they are properly recognized according to RFC 5646? Thanks for your help! Best,

Hello, I can't figure out how to set the name of a Content Blocker in the Safari extensions list. So far, the Content Blocker name in this list is the Contaning application name. I tried to set the bundle name in Info.plist and tried to locate Info.plist, without success... Since I also bundle a Safari ("chrome") extension, I have two extensions in the list, and it would be fine to display a specific name for each to make it clear for the user.

Hi, I had been working on an extension without any issues, running it from Xcode and debugging locally in Safari. However, without making any code changes, and after uninstalling the extension, it stopped appearing in Safari after building for local debugging. Does anyone know what might be happening or how I can clean up the system? Thanks a lot and best regards.

We used declarativeNetRequest.getMatchedRules() to retrieve the blocked URLs. While we do receive a list, we noticed that the URLs captured do not always reflect the ones the content blocker is actively blocking at that moment. However, upon reloading the same page, the correct URLs appear. Screenshots are attached for your reference. First load: After reload:

Hello, Is it a normal/usual/expected practice that a Mac App Store submission of a Safari extension takes 3 weeks to review? We have submitted an update for our Safari extension on September 20. Few hours after the submission we got an update stating that the submission state changed to "In Review". Since then it was a complete silence. No updates, no visibility of progress, nothing. We tried to ask Apple Developer Support for help several times and every time got a quite generic response stating that it's still in review which is not helpful considering it takes so long. We also tried to expedite the review a couple of days with no reaction so far. So I am at a bit of a loss on how to proceed. The reason we are stressing this out in several channels is this Safari extension update brings compatibility fixes for the recently released Safari 18 and we are getting customer reports that the old version is not working with Safari 18. That was expected but the hope was that review will not take 3 weeks to complete. Any advice from Apple here or anyone else how to proceed?.. Thanks!

When user opens a new tab and loads a website, the declarativeNetRequest.getMatchedRules() returns nil and on reloading in the same tab it returns the URLs blocked. Is this an expected behaviour?

As of Safari 18, the tabs.executeScript extension API no longer respects the frameId option passed to it, and instead just runs the script in the top frame. Try running an extension with the following contents on a page with an iFrame (chase.com puts its login form in an iFrame for example). content.js console.log("content.js loaded", location.href); // tabs.executeScript test browser.runtime.sendMessage({ type: "tabs.executeScript" }).then(() => { console.log("tabs.executeScript done"); }); // scripting.executeScript test browser.runtime.sendMessage({ type: "scripting.executeScript" }).then(() => { console.log("scripting.executeScript done"); }); background.js browser.runtime.onMessage.addListener((request, sender, sendResponse) => { if (request.type === "tabs.executeScript") { browser.tabs .executeScript(sender.tab.id, { code: 'console.log("THIS IS RUN FROM TABS.EXECUTESCRIPT", location.href);', frameId: sender.frameId, }) .then(sendResponse); } else if (request.type === "scripting.executeScript") { browser.scripting .executeScript({ target: { tabId: sender.tab.id, frameIds: [sender.frameId] }, func: () => { console.log("THIS IS RUN FROM SCRIPTING.EXECUTESCRIPT", location.href); }, }) .then(sendResponse); } }); You'll see that tabs.executeScript runs its contents in the TOP frame, no matter what the target is. Notably, scripting.executeScript DOES respect the frameId. Filed with Feedback ID FB15420092

Hi, I am developing the Click & Read web add-on for Chromium, Firefox and Safari. We use xcrun safari-web-extension-converter tool to generate the Safari add-on. The build on Xcode had no meaning errors/warnings, until we had to switch to a more up-to-date MacBook (required as deprecated Mac had no support for latest macOS and thus for Xcode compatibility !). So now I build my add-on on an Apple M1 MB Air on Sequoia 15.0 with latest Xcode, but I encounter an error ? or warning ? : NSBundle file:///System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MetalTools.framework/ principal class is nil because all fallbacks have failed Unable to create bundle at URL ((null)): normalized URL null Unable to create bundle at URL ((null)): normalized URL null Unable to create bundle at URL ((null)): normalized URL null But it doesn't prevent the add-on build to complete as I am able to open it onto Safari. Then, when loading the add-on on a test web page, I get this error on safari console: Error: Invalid call to runtime.connect(). No runtime.onConnect listeners found. BTW, the same add-on Dist works as expected on Chrome or Firefox (on macOS). So it seems the runtime listener runtime.onConnect.addListener isn't initiated on Background script... Thanks for your feedback and help

I have noticed that storage.local.get API works differently in Safari 18 compare to other browsers and Safari 17. browser.storage.local.set({abc: 123}) browser.storage.local.get(console.log) // {abc: 123} browser.storage.local.get({abc: null}, console.log) // expect {abc: 123} but got undefined instead. According to MDN, storage.local.get should work with an object with object names as keys and the default value as value. According to Safari 18 Release notes, this may be related to a fix: 'Fixed getting an empty key from storage. (99440265) (FB11427769)'.

I'm tasked with securing a Safari browser extension that my organization created. It is using WebExtensions and has been launched across various browser extension stores, including Safari. I've searched for many hours on this and find very very little information on how to secure it. (Pretty much just https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions/Content_Security_Policy.) Is there anything more extensive/comprehensive? I'll be dealing with Safari Desktop as well as Safari iOS. By comparison, when looking for resources for securing the Firefox version of the extension, I found https://extensionworkshop.com/documentation/develop/build-a-secure-extension/, which I think is a great resource. Some of that content applies to Safari, but it's hard to know to what extent. I'll need to secure Safari web and Safari mobile (i.e. iOS), but for now I'm focused on web. (But if you have anything on mobile, then please let me know also.) Thank you!

I'm trying to build a (personal) Safari extension, which should add an HTTP header when visiting a few websites. I'm a newbie at XCode. Using XCode, the build runs and the app runs correctly (the standard boilerplate code tells me that the extension is currently off). However, the extension doesn't appear in Safari>Settings>Extensions at all, so I cannot enable the extension. There are two warnings (warnings? or errors? fatal? or not?): NSBundle file:///System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/MetalTools.framework/ principal class is nil because all fallbacks have failed Unable to create bundle at URL ((null)): normalized URL null ...I'm brand new to XCode so I don't really know whether these errors are fatal, and how to fix them if so. These warnings appear when the app runs, not during the build cycle. The plugin appears when issuing this command in Terminal: pluginkit -mAvvv -p com.apple.Safari.web-extension ...part of that response is: podnewsllc.Podnews-Security.Extension(1.0) Path = /Users/jamescridland/Library/(snip)MyApp.appex UUID = EA41(snip)3519 Timestamp = 2024-10-06 03:54:37 +0000 SDK = com.apple.Safari.web-extension Parent Bundle = /Users/jamescridland/Library/(snip)MyApp.app Display Name = MyAppName Extension Short Name = MyAppName Extension Parent Name = MyAppName Platform = macOS ...so it's visible to Safari, but it doesn't appear in Safari>Settings>Extensions. The codesign command says: --prepared:/Users/jamescridland/(snip)__preview.dylib --validated:/Users/jamescridland/(snip)__preview.dylib --prepared:/Users/jamescridland/(snip).debug.dylib --validated:/Users/jamescridland/(snip).debug.dylib /Users/jamescridland/(snip).appex: valid on disk /Users/jamescridland/(snip).appex: satisfies its Designated Requirement ... so I think it's signed correctly. Checking "Allow unsigned extensions" does not appear to change anything. I've tried running a rebuild of LaunchServices, but that hasn't fixed it. /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user My questions are: Is there a log to help me know what is going wrong? Does anyone have any idea why I can't see the extension in Safari? What next? Sorry for the dumb question.

I have noticed that tabs.onRemoved works differently in Safari 18 comparing to other browsers and Safari 17. Open a tab e.g. apple.com Take note of the active tab id using this code: browser.tabs.query({currentWindow: true, active: true}, (x) => console.log(x[0].id)) Add a listener on onRemoved: browser.tabs.onRemoved.addListener(console.log) on the active tab, navigate to e.g. https://developer.mozilla.org Take note of the active tab id again (using the same tabs.query). Expect: there should be no console.log of onRemoved. the active tab id stays the same. Actual: there is a console.log of onRemoved. the active tab id is changed. Please help. If this is a bug introduced in Safari 18, it would break a lot of JS Web extensions.

We are using declarativeNetRequest.getMatchedRules() to get the matched rules' URLs. When user switches website in the same tab, it returns URLs which were blocked in the previous website also, within past 5 minutes. Is it possible to fetch getMatchedRules() only for current webpage in the same tab?