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Add Authorization header to WKWebView
How can i add Authorization header to a wkwebview. I checked https://developer.apple.com/documentation/foundation/nsurlrequest#1776617 which says Authorization header is a reserved http header and shouldn’t be set. I want to set it when requesting a url in wkwebview for authentication purpose?
Topic: Safari & Web SubTopic: General Tags:
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370
Mar ’25
LocalOverride Request regular expression broke dev tools
Hello, I'm using Safari 18.2 on Sonoma 14.6.1. I was using the Developer Tools to do a Local Request Override in the Source tab for a CSS file that had a changing query string. I thought I had a good regular expression to catch all variants, but apparently it was too generic and possibly wrong, and made both Source and Network tabs no longer work in my Safari. The regular expression I entered for the Local Request Override was: //build/style.css(?.*)?$ Now my dev tools is broken to the extent that the Source and Network tabs no longer work. The slide-out panel on Source that shows Breakpoints, LocalOverrides, etc no longer shows. The toggle for it does, but does nothing now. UI in general looks a little wack on both tabs. So, since I can't turn off the Local Request Override, I've been trying to locate where Safari may have stored it to manually delete it. Not having a lot of luck on that front. It seems to me that Safari was unable to escape my regular expression correctly and it then causes additional issue. Just a guess though. Any advice or help in getting Safari Source & Network working again / manual removal of the LocalOverride would be greatly appreciated. I'm fluent in OSX and Linux, but grep was not much help surfacing anything that worked. Thanks in Advance, possibly a Safari bug as well.
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482
Oct ’25
Safari Extension Permissions Lost After Developer Account Transfer
Hi everyone, I’m working on a Safari browser extension and recently encountered a major issue after transferring the extension from one Apple Developer account to another, then releasing an update under the new account. Following this update, user engagement has dropped off dramatically. My understanding—based on my own investigations, which may be limited—is that this problem arises because Safari is treating the extension as entirely new due to the change in the developer account. Here’s what I’ve pieced together so far: • Safari appears to rely on an Extensions.plist file, which uniquely identifies each installed extension by a combination of its bundle identifier and the associated developer account ID. • The Extensions.plist file also stores the state of granted permissions for each extension. Because our extension now has a new developer account ID, Safari no longer seems to recognize it as the same extension that users had previously approved. • As a result, previously granted permissions appear to have been lost, and users must manually re-enable the extension—leading to a significant drop in engagement and revenue. I’m hoping someone can clarify the following: Is there a known migration path to transfer an extension between developer accounts without causing users to lose their previously granted permissions? Are there best practices, or workarounds, for maintaining continuity when the bundle identifier and/or developer account ID changes? Are there any tools for re-linking permissions after a bundle identifier or developer account ID change? Has anyone worked through a similar scenario and found a solution or guidance from Apple Developer Support or the Safari team? I’ll also be reaching out to Apple Developer Support directly, but any insights from those who’ve dealt with this scenario would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Topic: Safari & Web SubTopic: General
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346
Dec ’24
Safari Takes 30 Seconds to Load mTLS-Enabled Sites Unless in Private Browsing
I’m experiencing an issue where Safari takes approximately 30 seconds to load web pages on mTLS-enabled sites. However, when I enable Private Browsing mode, the problem disappears. This suggests that the issue is not related to the network environment. To provide more context, I’ve attached a Wireshark packet capture for reference. From the logs, it seems that the TLS handshake process encounters delays, but I cannot identify the exact cause. Has anyone encountered a similar issue or can provide insights into what might be causing this behavior? Any troubleshooting suggestions or fixes would be greatly appreciated. OS: iPadOS 18.2.1 Thank you! Wireshark packet capture
Topic: Safari & Web SubTopic: General
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205
Jan ’25
Please Help: WKwebview not allowing background audio playback
I’ve been working on a personal iOS project for fun — essentially a YouTube music player, learning how background media playback works in native iOS apps. After seeing that Musi (a famous music streaming app) can play YouTube audio in the background with the screen off — I got really curious. I’ve been trying to replicate that basic background audio functionality for YouTube embeds using WKWebView. I've spent a crazy amount of time (probably 20 hours) trying to figure this out but have achieved no success. Here’s what I’ve tried so far: -Embedding a YouTube video in a WKWebView -Activating AVAudioSession with .playback and setting .setActive(true) -Adding the UIBackgroundModes key with audio in Info.plist -Adding the NSAppTransportSecurity key to allow arbitrary loads --Testing on a real device (iPhone 14, iOS 18.1 target)-- What happens: Audio plays fine in the foreground. If I exit the app and go to the lock screen quickly enough (less than 3 seconds) after pressing play, I can resume playback briefly from the lock screen — but it doesn’t automatically continue like in Musi and other apps like it. Most of the time, the audio stops when the app is backgrounded. I get this error consistently in the logs: Error acquiring assertion: <Error Domain=RBSServiceErrorDomain Code=1 "(originator doesn't have entitlement com.apple.runningboard.assertions.webkit AND originator doesn't have entitlement com.apple.multitasking.systemappassertions)" It seems like the app lacks some specific entitlements related to WebKit media playback. I don’t have AppDelegate/SceneDelegate (using SwiftUI), but can add if needed. I’m super curious how music streaming apps using youtube as a source get around this — are they doing something different under the hood? A custom player? A SafariViewController trick? Is there a specific way to configure WKWebView to keep playing in the background, or is this a known limitation? Would really appreciate any insight from folks who’ve explored this before or know how apps like Musi pulled it off. Thanks in advance!
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125
Apr ’25
Safari doesn't seem to respect cache-control on fetch redirects
I am calling fetch with a POST on page1 in Safari. No special cache parameters on the fetch call. The response from the server is a 303 redirect to page2 The second page -- page2 -- is in my browser's cache with cache-control "public, max-age=31536000, immutable". For some reason, the page2 redirect is causing a server hit to re-GET the second page every time instead of pulling from cache. If I instead directly get the second page by doing a fetch on page2, there is no server hit. If I do this on Chrome or Firefox, it behaves as I would expect, pulling page2 from the cache with no server hit. In case it matters, the fetch is coming from within an iFrame. Also, if I change the original POST to a GET, the problem still happens. I am using a pretty old version of Safari on my Mac, so I could chalk it up to that, but I am getting the same behavior with Safari on my iPhone with iOS 18.3.2 Any ideas? Thanks.
Topic: Safari & Web SubTopic: General Tags:
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51
Mar ’25
Unable to Open HTTP Site B from HTTP Site A in WKWebView – Stuck on Spinning Wheel (Xcode 15.2 and above, VPN Enabled, Cross-Domain)
After upgrading to Xcode 15.2 or above(Till Xcode 16.2), users are unable to open Site B (HTTP URL) from Site A (HTTP URL) within our Browser app when loaded in WKWebView. Clicking the link to Site B results in a spinning wheel, but the site does not load. This issue is not present when the app is built with Xcode 15.0.1. Additionally: Users are connected to a VPN, which is required to access the sites. Site A and Site B are on different domains (cross-domain request). Expected Behavior: Clicking the link to Site B should successfully load the site with user information passed from Site A. Current Behavior: Clicking the link results in a spinning wheel, but Site B does not load inside WKWebView. Technical Details: Both Site A and Site B use HTTP (not HTTPS). Site A and Site B have different domains (cross-domain request). Do not use location.href for transitions. Instead, we temporarily set about:blank in an iframe and then submit data via a form to the target system’s URL within the iframe. This approach worked in Xcode 15.0.1 but fails in Xcode 15.2 or above. Users are connected to a VPN, which is required to access the sites. WKWebview is not receiving navigation delegate callback for Site B Steps to Reproduce: Ensure the device is connected to a VPN. Open the app (using WKWebView) built with Xcode 15.2 or above. Load Site A (HTTP) within the app in WKWebView. Click the link to Site B (HTTP), which should open in an iframe. Observe that a spinning wheel appears, but Site B does not load. Environment: Xcode Versions Affected: 15.2 or above (issue present), 15.0.1 (no issue) iOS Version: All iOS versions Devices: iPad Questions: Has there been any change in WKWebView’s handling of HTTP URLs or VPN-related network traffic in Xcode 15.2? Are there any new security policies, iframe restrictions, or VPN-related changes in this version that might be affecting this behavior? Request for Assistance: Can you confirm if this is a known issue or an intended change? Are there any workarounds available?
Topic: Safari & Web SubTopic: General Tags:
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103
Mar ’25
Speech synthesis from Safari app extension
I'm making a Safari extension for learning languages. I need speech synthesis for any language the user chooses to learn. I initially tried to make this work within JavaScript, but Safari 18 doesn't reliably list voices for all languages on the web SpeechSynthesis API as described here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/79179072/how-do-you-use-a-japanese-voice-with-speechsynthesis-in-safari-ios-18 As a workaround, I've had to use AVSpeechSynthesizer in SafariWebExtensionHandler (NSExtensionRequestHandling implementation for the extension). This works in the simulator but not on a real device. I've found this note from Apple in a StackOverflow reply: "Safari extensions are very short-lived, hence not fit for audio playback or speech synthesis. Not being able to validate an app extension in Xcode with a manually-added plist entry for background audio is the designed behavior. The general recommendation is to synthesize speech using JavaScript in conjunction with the Web Speech API." Unfortunately, the suggestion to use the Web Speech API is unsuitable as I just explained. Is there a way to set up a background process in the host app that can do speech synthesis? The app extension would need a way to communicate with this process, and start it if it's not running. Is that possible?
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605
Dec ’24
How to confidently select one type of camera on iOS
We have a web application that uses high resolution images to validate the authenticity of products. For this purpose we want to use the best camera to make the high resolution camera, on iPhone Pro devices this camera is the ultra-wide angle camera. The issue we have is how to confidently select that camera from the list returned by navigator.mediaDevices.enumerateDevices. We can't use the device ID as it change every time (and for every user), we could use the camera name but the string is translate to the device language which is very problematic. We could also just select a specific item in the list but we are not sure that the order is preserved and it makes it hard to deal with other iPhone models that don't have that ultra wide angle camera. Selecting a specific camera looks like an essential feature not only for us. What is the best option, we are looking for something that is future proof and easily scalable.
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421
Dec ’24
ios drop file wrong file name
ios drop file wrong file name I use the following simple JS code to drag file from the browser to the desktop. Works perfect on MacOS. onDragStart(event, ucpView) { let file = new BrowserFile([this.file.fileContent], this.file.displayName, { type: 'application/ucp-scenario' }); const fileURL = URL.createObjectURL(file); event.dataTransfer.setData("DownloadURL", `application/octet-stream:${file.name}:${fileURL}`); event.dataTransfer.setData("text/uri-list", fileURL); } but on iOS it keeps nameing the file Text1.txt Text2.txt ... and ignores the DownloadURL whats the best way to get it workng on both OS?
Topic: Safari & Web SubTopic: General
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56
Apr ’25
HTMLAudioElement on iOS is paused when video plays again
On iOS (iPhone or iPad) the following behaviour happens: when both an HTML video element and an HTML audio element are playing on a page, and the video source ends, and the video source is programmatically forced to play again then the system will automatically pause the audio. See following stackblitz project for a sample: https://stackblitz.com/edit/ios-audio-paused-on-video-playing?file=README.md Steps to reproduce Feel free to try with both another audio and video source, here limited by the available space in Stackblitz plan. On an iPhone/iPad device or simulator, in Safari: browse to index.html when on iPhone, press iPhone Load to force preloading video. Not needed on iPad press Play to start playing both audio and video wait until clip ends and then restarts from 0:00 Expected Audio should keep on playing and eventually loop. Actual When clip restarts from 0, audio is put to pause by the system. Further details This does not happen e.g. on Mac Safari nor on another device/browser. Also, some alternative scenarios: when HTML video element has the muted attribute, the issue disappears and audio is not paused when HTML audio element is replace with Web Audio API, the issue disappears and audio is not paused
Topic: Safari & Web SubTopic: General Tags:
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327
Jan ’25
iOS
Hi i Need help, my phone keeps getting all these updates and rapid security features on it at first I thought it was just the normal updates but i started to pay more attention and it's not. i have the beta updates on my phone iPad and Apple Watch but when I go in to see if it in my updates like apple said to do it wasn't in there. Also all my apps are developer apps I'm not able to get normal ones and if I can the next time I go on it it's not how it was. I really don't know what to do, I've gotten 2 new phones because I thought it was just bad software but I researched a lot and I think someone it hacking me. everytime I look something up on safari it takes me to a whole other website or its completly altered and doesnt look like it usually does. Someone please help me lmao I actually think I'm going to lose my mind.
Topic: Safari & Web SubTopic: General
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306
Mar ’25
Why does ReactPlayer fail to play videos at 3x speed only on iOS Safari?
I'm encountering an issue with ReactPlayer where videos fail to play when the playback rate is set to 3x, but this problem only occurs on iOS. The same functionality works perfectly fine on Android devices and desktop browsers like Chrome and Firefox. Here are the details of my setup: ReactPlayer version: 2.16.0 Video format: [MP4, hls ] Tested devices: iPhone 13 Expected behavior: Videos should play smoothly at 3x speed. Actual behavior: Videos fail to load or play when playbackRate is set to 3.0. I've read that iOS Safari might have limitations regarding playback rate due to performance or energy efficiency, but I couldn't find any official documentation to confirm this. If anyone has faced a similar issue or knows the root cause (or a workaround), I'd really appreciate your insights. Additionally, if there are official resources or documentation about playback rate limitations on iOS Safari, please share them. Thanks in advance for your help!
Topic: Safari & Web SubTopic: General
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286
Jan ’25
iOS Mobile Video Audio Playback Issues in React
I'm experiencing issues with audio playback in my React video player component specifically on iOS mobile devices (iPhone/iPad). Even after implementing several recommended solutions, including Apple's own guidelines, the audio still isn't working properly on iOS Safari. It works completely fine on Android. On iOS, I ensured the video doesn't autoplay (it requires user interaction). Here are all the details: Environment iOS Safari (latest version) React 18 TypeScript Video files: MP4 with AAC audio codec Current Implementation const VideoPlayer: React.FC<VideoPlayerProps> = ({ src, autoplay = true, }) => { const videoRef = useRef<HTMLVideoElement>(null); const isIOSDevice = isIOS(); // Custom iOS detection const [touchStartY, setTouchStartY] = useState<number | null>(null); const [touchStartTime, setTouchStartTime] = useState<number | null>(null); // Handle touch start event for gesture detection const handleTouchStart = (e: React.TouchEvent) => { setTouchStartY(e.touches[0].clientY); setTouchStartTime(Date.now()); }; // Handle touch end event with gesture validation const handleTouchEnd = (e: React.TouchEvent) => { if (touchStartY === null || touchStartTime === null) return; const touchEndY = e.changedTouches[0].clientY; const touchEndTime = Date.now(); // Validate if it's a legitimate tap (not a scroll) const verticalDistance = Math.abs(touchEndY - touchStartY); const touchDuration = touchEndTime - touchStartTime; // Only trigger for quick taps (< 200ms) with minimal vertical movement if (touchDuration < 200 && verticalDistance < 10) { handleVideoInteraction(e); } setTouchStartY(null); setTouchStartTime(null); }; // Simplified video interaction handler following Apple's guidelines const handleVideoInteraction = (e: React.MouseEvent | React.TouchEvent) => { console.log('Video interaction detected:', { type: e.type, timestamp: new Date().toISOString() }); // Ensure keyboard is dismissed (iOS requirement) if (document.activeElement instanceof HTMLElement) { document.activeElement.blur(); } e.stopPropagation(); const video = videoRef.current; if (!video || !video.paused) return; // Attempt playback in response to user gesture video.play().catch(err => console.error('Error playing video:', err)); }; // Effect to handle video source and initial state useEffect(() => { console.log('VideoPlayer props:', { src, loadingState }); setError(null); setLoadingState('initial'); setShowPlayButton(false); // Never show custom play button on iOS if (videoRef.current) { // Set crossOrigin attribute for CORS videoRef.current.crossOrigin = "anonymous"; if (autoplay && !hasPlayed && !isIOSDevice) { // Only autoplay on non-iOS devices dismissKeyboard(); setHasPlayed(true); } } }, [src, autoplay, hasPlayed, isIOSDevice]); return ( <Paper shadow="sm" radius="md" withBorder onClick={handleVideoInteraction} onTouchStart={handleTouchStart} onTouchEnd={handleTouchEnd} > <video ref={videoRef} autoPlay={!isIOSDevice && autoplay} playsInline controls crossOrigin="anonymous" preload="auto" onLoadedData={handleLoadedData} onLoadedMetadata={handleMetadataLoaded} onEnded={handleVideoEnd} onError={handleError} onPlay={dismissKeyboard} onClick={handleVideoInteraction} onTouchStart={handleTouchStart} onTouchEnd={handleTouchEnd} {...(!isFirefoxBrowser && { "x-webkit-airplay": "allow", "x-webkit-playsinline": true, "webkit-playsinline": true })} > <source src={videoSrc} type="video/mp4" /> </video> </Paper> ); }; Apple's Guidelines Implementation Removed custom play controls on iOS Using native video controls for user interaction Ensuring audio playback is triggered by user gesture Following Apple's audio session guidelines Properly handling the canplaythrough event Current Behavior Video plays but without sound on iOS mobile Mute/unmute button in native video controls doesn't work Audio works fine on desktop browsers and Android devices Videos are confirmed to have AAC audio codec No console errors related to audio playback User interaction doesn't trigger audio as expected Questions Are there any additional iOS-specific requirements I'm missing? Could this be related to iOS audio session handling? Are there known issues with React's handling of video elements on iOS? Should I be implementing additional audio context initialization? Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
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385
Mar ’25
Unexpected Behavior: PointerEvents do not permit simultaneous pencil and multitouch at the same time. Discussing Workarounds
For many years, I've noticed that although in native code I can handle continuous and simultaneous Apple pencil and touch inputs using UIKit, Safari and WKWebView's PointerEvents only seem to allow you to use one input type at a time. i.e. Apple Pencil down blocks touch input until lifted and touch input blocks Apple Pencil input. It's as though requiresexclusivetouchtype has been set in the underlying webkit implementation. There's decades of research (e.g. https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1866029.1866036 ) and several existing native applications in production showing that multimodal inputs open-up many unique and useful applications and interactions. Even a simple "hold object with finger" + "draw with stylus" controls are the norm. I recently built a native application using multimodal simultaneous inputs, but this is impossible to port to web due to the unexpected behavior of PointerEvents (and touch events, and mouse events; any variant exhibits the same behavior). I've researched and attempted to apply every possible flag, change, and css code to get this working, but I think the behind-the-scenes implementation is what's blocking the simultaneous touch types. This is unexpected and undesired behavior because it's inconsistent with the native behavior. If it's unintended, it's a big priority to fix for creating better user experiences on the iPad. If it's intended, I do not believe that's reasonable (even if it might be more complex and used for more advanced applications). Please expose a way to support simultaneous touch types in iPadOS/iOS in both Safari and WKWebView. At minimum, may we have a discussion on how to support the desired behavior? The simplest solution I can think of is to provide a webkit-platform-specific boolean in Safari and WKWebView called requiresExclusiveTouchType, which is set to False by default to keep the current behavior, and settable to True to get the more flexible behavior I'm expecting.
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635
Jan ’25
WebSocket Connection Fails in Safari iOS 18.1+ when triggered from an iframe
Hello, I’m encountering a problem with WebSocket connections in Safari on iOS 18.1 and later when initiated from an iframe. The same implementation works perfectly in other browsers like Chrome but fails in Safari. In Safari, the WebSocket connection fails with error message "WebSocket connection to 'wss://MY_CONNECTION_URL' failed: The internet connection appears to be offline." Has anyone else faced this? Is this a known limitation or bug in Safari? Any workarounds or solutions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
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1.1k
Dec ’24
Apple Pay on the Web fails with an "AbortError" in production
Apple Pay fails with an "AbortError" when the dialog for the fingerprint sensor opens. How do I find the cause of the "AbortError" which only occurs in the web integration in our production environment? In the sandbox environment, Apple Pay works flawlessly. This concerns a web integration of Apple Pay using the Apple Pay SDK, one version before 1.2.0. The error occurs when I call the show() method on the PaymentRequest object. The Apple Pay dialog opens with the fingerprint icon, but after one second, an exclamation mark appears, and the Apple Pay dialog closes again while throwing the "AbortError". I know that our Apple Pay integration worked for multiple customers in the production environment already. The current problem is that Apple's error message, called "AbortError," provides no indication of the cause. This could be greatly improved. One affected customer, for example, is the one with the Merchant ID … (Is it safe to post a Merchant ID in this forum?) I can reproduce the "AbortError" issue at any time using my iPhone with iOS 16.7.8.
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383
Jan ’25