Explore the integration of web technologies within your app. Discuss building web-based apps, leveraging Safari functionalities, and integrating with web services.

General Documentation

Posts under General subtopic

Post

Replies

Boosts

Views

Activity

Opening native app from a web extension
Is it possible to open the native app from a web extension? I have tried creating a new tab that uses the app's URL scheme but the UI asking the user to open the app is not shown until the new page UI is dismissed. Creating a tab with an HTTPS URL that the app is setup to handle does not work and always the link in a new tab. I tried sending a message to the app extension and using NSExtensionContext.open(_:completionHandler:) but the URL is not opened and the closure received false, indicating it was not handled. Having the option to link back to the native app would be very useful.
3
0
1.8k
Mar ’25
IOS 26, web extensions no longer available
I recently upgraded my device from IOS 18.4 to IOS 26. My web extension has disapeared from safari. I can see it in Settings > Apps > Safari > Extensions and when I turn it on and re-open safari. I just get a mesasge that says "{extension name} is no longer avaiable". I have tried Manifest V2 and Manifest V3 both yield the same results. The current production extension bundled with the IOS app has the same problem. I can no longer use or test my own extension !? Help please !
3
1
488
Jul ’25
WKWebView requires authentication
I use WKWebView to display a webpage that requires authentication through an authentication provider. This works as expected, but when I close and reopen the app, I have to reauthenticate. However, if I open the same page in Safari, I only have to authenticate once. If I close Safari and reopen it, the page displays without prompting me to authenticate again. I see some cookies stored in httpCookieStore, so I assume that storing cookies works. Does anyone have an idea why authentication is not persistent between app launches? Thanks in advance. Best regards, Marc
Topic: Safari & Web SubTopic: General Tags:
3
0
145
Jul ’25
WKWebView crashes on iOS 26 with EXC_BAD_ACCESS
Hi, I have an app that uses WKWebView and it's crashing on iOS 26 Simulator in places I've never had problems before. In this case it's crashing when calling WKWebView.callAsyncJavaScript, but in my other project WKWebView is crashing with some sort of EXC_BAD_ACCESS other than callAsyncJavaScript. Am I missing something? Thanks,
Topic: Safari & Web SubTopic: General
3
1
277
Jun ’25
iOS alters the URL given to share extension
I'm building a share extension for my app when I noticed something weird. When I open a mobile URL (URLs with "m." like m.randomsite.org) on iOS using a browser (I'm using Safari & Chrome) and then try to share it, what will be share is the URL without the "m." (i.e. randomsite.org) This messes up with my app since I'm not getting the real URL that I'm viewing using the browser. I don't think it has something to do with my app since even selecting "Copy" when sharing will result in the altered URL too. So far this is happening on both iOS 17 and 18. Does someone know whether this is a bug from iOS or not? I don't think this is a Safari bug since I noticed the same thing on Chrome as well
3
0
448
Jan ’25
Enabling Picture-in-Picture (PiP) in WKWebView
I'm working on a web browser App that's distributed via the App Store. This app renders web pages using WKWebView. Our users are requesting a way for us to allow them to play videos in Picture in Picture. After some investigation, we noticed that in order to allow PiP videos in our browser in the sandboxed environment, we need to add the com.apple.PIPAgent entitlement under the com.apple.security.temporary-exception.mach-lookup.global-name option. We tried to submit our app with this entitlement, but unfortunately, we were rejected: Guideline 2.4.50) - Performance We've determined that one or more temporary entitlement exceptions requested for this app are not appropriate and will not be granted: com.apple.security.temporary-exception.mach-lookup.global-name com.apple.P|PAgent We would like to have access to this entitlement so we can offer PiP to our users. We already created a radar about this as well: FB13814428 Additionally, we have another radar (FB13557716) regarding allowing the usage of a private flag _allowsPictureInPictureMediaPlayback, which would also be required to enable us to use PiP. Is there any way in which we can currently enable PiP? Would opening a TSI help here?
Topic: Safari & Web SubTopic: General Tags:
3
12
1k
Jul ’25
SIGABRT on WebKit macOS 15.3.2
The application I'm currently working on uses WebKit. Based on the crash analytics, we have noticed that some of our users are experiencing an unusual behavior in the app's WebKit view with macOS 15.3.2. These errors are reported for this version of the OS. The error in the crash log is a SIGABRT error, but there is no relevant information available to address it. In some crash logs, we found this error: "NSInternalInconsistencyException: Returned WKWebView was not created with the given configuration" but there is not any particular way to address it. Is there a way to identify the cause of this error? Alternatively, has anyone encountered this issue and found a solution? OS Version: macOS 15.3.2 (24D81) Report Version: 104 Exception Type: EXC_CRASH (SIGABRT) Crashed Thread: 0 Application Specific Information: Returned WKWebView was not created with the given configuration. Thread 0 Crashed: 0 CoreFoundation 0x303111e74 __exceptionPreprocess 1 libobjc.A.dylib 0x3027b6cd4 objc_exception_throw 2 CoreFoundation 0x303111d6c +[NSException raise:format:] 3 WebKit 0x34e85cb20 WebKit::UIDelegate::UIClient::createNewPage 4 WebKit 0x34e8a4a80 WebKit::SOAuthorizationCoordinator::tryAuthorize 5 WebKit 0x34e9f04f8 WebKit::WebPageProxy::createNewPage 6 WebKit 0x34ef994c8 WebKit::WebPageProxy::didReceiveSyncMessage 7 WebKit 0x34f0830cc IPC::MessageReceiverMap::dispatchSyncMessage 8 WebKit 0x34ea753b0 WebKit::WebProcessProxy::didReceiveSyncMessage 9 WebKit 0x34f07cfb4 IPC::Connection::dispatchSyncMessage 10 WebKit 0x34f07d3b0 IPC::Connection::dispatchMessage 11 WebKit 0x34f078c50 IPC::Connection::SyncMessageState::ConnectionAndIncomingMessage::dispatch 12 WebKit 0x34f07f4f4 ***::Detail::CallableWrapper<T>::call 13 JavaScriptCore 0x33f3520c0 ***::RunLoop::performWork 14 JavaScriptCore 0x33f352fe8 ***::RunLoop::performWork 15 CoreFoundation 0x30309f8a0 __CFRUNLOOP_IS_CALLING_OUT_TO_A_SOURCE0_PERFORM_FUNCTION__ 16 CoreFoundation 0x30309f834 __CFRunLoopDoSource0 17 CoreFoundation 0x30309f598 __CFRunLoopDoSources0 18 CoreFoundation 0x30309e134 __CFRunLoopRun 19 CoreFoundation 0x30309d730 CFRunLoopRunSpecific 20 HIToolbox 0x319aeb52c RunCurrentEventLoopInMode 21 HIToolbox 0x319af1344 ReceiveNextEventCommon 22 HIToolbox 0x319af1504 _BlockUntilNextEventMatchingListInModeWithFilter 23 AppKit 0x30a7cd844 _DPSNextEvent 24 AppKit 0x30b133c20 -[NSApplication(NSEventRouting) _nextEventMatchingEventMask:untilDate:inMode:dequeue:] 25 AppKit 0x30a7c0870 -[NSApplication run] 26 AppKit 0x30a797064 NSApplicationMain 27 <unknown> 0x182780274 <redacted> Thread 0 name: t-main-ui Crashed: 0 CoreFoundation 0x303111e74 __exceptionPreprocess 1 libobjc.A.dylib 0x3027b6cd4 objc_exception_throw 2 CoreFoundation 0x303111d6c +[NSException raise:format:] 3 WebKit 0x34e85cb20 WebKit::UIDelegate::UIClient::createNewPage 4 WebKit 0x34e8a4a80 WebKit::SOAuthorizationCoordinator::tryAuthorize 5 WebKit 0x34e9f04f8 WebKit::WebPageProxy::createNewPage 6 WebKit 0x34ef994c8 WebKit::WebPageProxy::didReceiveSyncMessage 7 WebKit 0x34f0830cc IPC::MessageReceiverMap::dispatchSyncMessage 8 WebKit 0x34ea753b0 WebKit::WebProcessProxy::didReceiveSyncMessage 9 WebKit 0x34f07cfb4 IPC::Connection::dispatchSyncMessage 10 WebKit 0x34f07d3b0 IPC::Connection::dispatchMessage 11 WebKit 0x34f078c50 IPC::Connection::SyncMessageState::ConnectionAndIncomingMessage::dispatch 12 WebKit 0x34f07f4f4 ***::Detail::CallableWrapper<T>::call
3
0
186
Apr ’25
WKBrowsingContextController is invalid
Is this code invalid on a phone running xcode16 iOS18? Class cls = NSClassFromString(@"WKBrowsingContextController"); SEL sel = NSSelectorFromString(@"registerSchemeForCustomProtocol:"); if ([(id)cls respondsToSelector:sel]) { [(id)cls performSelector:sel withObject:@"http"]; [(id)cls performSelector:sel withObject:@"https"]; } }
Topic: Safari & Web SubTopic: General
3
0
135
Jun ’25
Adoption of New MV3 Standards for Browser Extensions
As with the adoption of MV3 standards among all major browser vendors that allow browser extensions at the client-side, I understand that this is the same with Safari as well, as mentioned here (https://www.wwdcnotes.com/notes/wwdc22/10099/). However, as with Firefox, browsers may choose to adopt them incompletely and with few changes. I had a few questions regarding how Safari views this transition and what would be the next steps from here. Thus, it would be really great if the browser team could provide your insights on any or all of the following points: Would Safari adopt the exact standards proposed by the Chromium ecosystem such as with functionalities like header-based modifications in the coming days.  What would be the general timeline be for this in general?  Does this also translate to the fact that existing standards with MV2 standards would not be allowed to operate any further, as with the timeline with Chromium? Regards
3
2
1.8k
May ’25
Safe areas ignored after navigating a WebView/WebPage back in a NavigationStack
I'm using the new iOS 26 WebPage/WebView for SwiftUI in a NavigationStack. The initial load works as expected, but when loading items from the back/forward lists, the content jumps beneath the navigation bar: struct WebPageTestView: View { var webPage = WebPage() var body: some View { NavigationStack { WebView(webPage) .toolbar { Button("Back") { if let backItem = webPage.backForwardList.backList.last { webPage.load(backItem) } } Button("Forward") { if let forwardItem = webPage.backForwardList.forwardList.first { webPage.load(forwardItem) } } } } .task { webPage.isInspectable = true webPage.load(URL(string: "https://domchristie.co.uk/")) } } } I have run this on the iOS 26.0 and 26.1 Simulators and get the same issue. The demo website does not use any JavaScript. I was able to replicate this behaviour using a wrapped WKWebView and calling the .ignoresSafeArea(.all) modifier.
3
1
503
Oct ’25
Unable to debug with console.log in Safari on iOS 16.4 Simulator.
I'm working on a regular website, in which I'm trying to debug using the (MacOS) Safari Development tools. Since updating my Simulator to iOS 16.4, console.log is no longer displayed in the Console. Even when executing it directly in the console (console.log('test');), it's not printed. Now, I've read that this is a feature for debugging in-app browser content (https://webkit.org/blog/13936/enabling-the-inspection-of-web-content-in-apps/) but can't find the regular web workaround here. TL;DR: No longer see console.log in iOS 16.4 Safari when debugging from my Mac. Thanks in advance for your suggestions!
3
6
4k
Oct ’25
Apple Pay Js in Not working (while getting all data from serverside for validation)
Subject: Apple Pay JS - "Payment Was Cancelled by the User" Issue (Braintree + Server-Side Validation) Issue I am implementing Apple Pay using Braintree with server-side validation. However, when initiating the payment process, I receive the following error: [Log] Payment was cancelled by the user: (apple-pay-test-ucxp.onrender.com, line 286) Additionally, the console logs an ApplePayCancelEvent with: sessionError: {code: "unknown", info: {}} Despite successfully fetching merchant session validation data from the backend and completing merchant validation, the payment process does not proceed. Setup Details Payment Processor: Braintree (Apple Pay integration) Backend API: Fetching merchant session validation via createPaymentSessionGet Payment Processing: Using Braintree nonce tokenization Client-Side Code (Key Sections) session.onvalidatemerchant = async (event) => { try { const merchantSession = await fetch( "https://api.paybito.com:9443/ApplePay/api/apple-pay/createPaymentSessionGet", { method: "GET", headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" }, } ).then((res) => res.json()); session.completeMerchantValidation(merchantSession); } catch (err) { console.error("Merchant validation failed:", err); session.abort(); } }; session.onpaymentauthorized = async (event) => { try { const payload = await applePayInstance.tokenize({ token: event.payment.token, }); const response = await fetch( "https://api.paybito.com:9443/ApplePay/api/braintree/process-payment", { method: "POST", headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" }, body: JSON.stringify({ nonce: payload.nonce }), } ).then((res) => res.json()); if (response.success) { session.completePayment(ApplePaySession.STATUS_SUCCESS); } else { session.completePayment(ApplePaySession.STATUS_FAILURE); } } catch (err) { console.error("Payment authorization failed:", err); session.completePayment(ApplePaySession.STATUS_FAILURE); } }; Observations Merchant validation completes successfully. The error occurs before onpaymentauthorized executes. Session error code is unknown, making debugging difficult. Questions Has anyone encountered this issue before? Could this be related to how the validation session is fetched from the backend? Is there a way to obtain more meaningful debug information from Apple Pay? Any insights would be greatly appreciated!
3
3
764
Jan ’25
PWA video playback stopped working after updating iOS to 26.0.1
Hey Guys My PWA video playback and even youtube videos stopped working after updating iOS to 26.0.1. The video thumnails appear fine and if i try to play the video, it remains stuck. If i restart the phone, the video plays for a second in the PWA and then stops again and entire app gets stuck. Request apple team to fix this issue at the earliest. This is hampering all my iOS users who install the PWA on their device homescreen and use it as app. FYI strangely EVERYTHING WORKS FINE ON iOS SAFARI browser including videos playback If i open it as a web app. so this seems like a specific PWA issue on latest ios 26.0.1
Topic: Safari & Web SubTopic: General
3
2
563
Nov ’25
Accessing WKNavigationAction.sourceFrame.request crashes
Hi all, I'm currently working with WKWebView and implementing the WKNavigationDelegate protocol. In particular, I'm trying to inspect the sourceFrame of a WKNavigationAction to make navigation policy decisions based on the frame's URL path. Here's the relevant Swift code inside decidePolicyFor: public func webView(_ webView: WKWebView, decidePolicyFor navigationAction: WKNavigationAction, preferences: WKWebpagePreferences, decisionHandler: @escaping (WKNavigationActionPolicy, WKWebpagePreferences) -> Void) { // ... let sourceFrame: WKFrameInfo = navigationAction.sourceFrame let request: URLRequest = sourceFrame.request // <- SIGABRT occurs here // ... } The issue is that the app crashes with a SIGABRT at runtime when attempting to access sourceFrame.request. According to Swift's type system, neither sourceFrame nor its request property are optional, so at first glance this seems safe. However, the crash report suggests otherwise. From the crash log, it appears that the issue arises during the bridging from Objective-C to Swift: Thread 1 Queue : com.apple.main-thread (serial) #0 0x00000001a127a030 in static Foundation.URLRequest._unconditionallyBridgeFromObjectiveC(Swift.Optional<__C.NSURLRequest>) -> Foundation.URLRequest () #1 0x00000001056c48b0 in CustomWebViewController.webView(_:decidePolicyFor:preferences:decisionHandler:) #2 0x00000001056c4c78 in @objc CustomWebViewController.webView(_:decidePolicyFor:preferences:decisionHandler:) () #3 0x00000001b8c66e0c in WebKit::NavigationState::NavigationClient::decidePolicyForNavigationAction () #4 0x00000001b8fd14dc in WebKit::WebPageProxy::decidePolicyForNavigationAction () #5 0x00000001b8fcfc7c in WebKit::WebPageProxy::decidePolicyForNavigationActionAsyncShared () #6 0x00000001b8fcfb18 in WebKit::WebPageProxy::decidePolicyForNavigationActionAsync () #7 0x00000001b87ddaa0 in WebKit::WebPageProxy::didReceiveMessage () #8 0x00000001b869f474 in IPC::MessageReceiverMap::dispatchMessage () #9 0x00000001b878dda4 in WebKit::WebProcessProxy::dispatchMessage () #10 0x00000001b878d614 in WebKit::WebProcessProxy::didReceiveMessage () #11 0x00000001b869e7e4 in IPC::Connection::dispatchMessage () #12 0x00000001b869e358 in IPC::Connection::dispatchIncomingMessages () #13 0x00000001b9a96a44 in WTF::RunLoop::performWork () #14 0x00000001b9a96688 in WTF::RunLoop::performWork () #15 0x00000001a2428b9c in __CFRUNLOOP_IS_CALLING_OUT_TO_A_SOURCE0_PERFORM_FUNCTION__ () #16 0x00000001a24289b4 in __CFRunLoopDoSource0 () #17 0x00000001a2428810 in __CFRunLoopDoSources0 () #18 0x00000001a2429190 in __CFRunLoopRun () #19 0x00000001a242ad4c in CFRunLoopRunSpecific () #20 0x00000001ef705454 in GSEventRunModal () #21 0x00000001a4e45890 in -[UIApplication _run] () #22 0x00000001a4e10cec in UIApplicationMain () #23 0x00000001a4ef261c in ___lldb_unnamed_symbol275689 () #24 0x00000001059a5104 in static UIApplicationDelegate.main() () #25 0x00000001059a5074 in static AppDelegate.$main() () #26 0x00000001059a82ec in main () #27 0x00000001c940af0c in start () This implies that while Swift treats sourceFrame.request as non-optional, the underlying Objective-C implementation may actually return nil—leading to a crash when the non-optional Swift type attempts to force unwrap it. My question: Is there a way to safely access navigationAction.sourceFrame.request —- or determine if it’s nil—before Swift attempts the implicit bridging from Objective-C? Or is there an established workaround for safely inspecting this property? Any guidance or best practices for avoiding this crash would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.
Topic: Safari & Web SubTopic: General Tags:
3
0
114
Apr ’25
Web Extension : browser.cookies.getAll() does not work
After upgrading to Safari version 18, we encountered an issue with my extension’s background script not being able to access cookies. Previously, in Safari versions 17 and below, the extension worked as expected. Now, when the extension tries to retrieve cookies using browser.cookies.getAll(), it returns an empty list. However, if we open the extension’s developer tools, the cookies are visible and accessible. It seems that Safari only provides cookie data after the developer tools have been opened. However, after relaunching Safari and launching the extension without opening the developer tools, browser.cookies.getAll() still returns an empty list. Has anyone else experienced this? STEPS TO REPRODUCE Download this minimal app : https://www.icloud.com/iclouddrive/0bajlhnuQaG6T5NsFKXEB0U9Q#test%5Fcookies Compile test_mv2 extension (in test_cookies.getAll.zip). Launch test_mv2.app and activate extension. Click on the extension's button (browserAction). Open the developer tools. Observe an empty list of cookies. Click on the extension's button (browserAction). Cookies are retrieved as expected.
3
1
710
Mar ’25
What makes Safari render an active extension's icon in color in the toolbar?
Sometimes Safari is rendering the icon for an active extension in its original provided colored representation, other times Safari is applying an overlay color in line with the system's highlight color. This difference can even be seen seen on the Safari Extensions Developer home page: https://developer.apple.com/safari/extensions/images/extensions-hero-large_2x.png You will notice that Grammarly's icon is shown in it's original color format, while the others aren't. Example of extensions where the icon is shown in color: Bitwarden Grammarly 1Password Consent-O-Matic I've compared the source code of Bitwarden and Consent-o-Matic with my own extension and cannot find any differences in the settings or image properties (resolution, DPI, file type, color profile). If I take the exact PNG source files from said open source extensions and replace them in my own source code, these icons show up in full color. Does this perhaps mean there is a bug in Safari's processing of the icons where it fails to overlay the icon with the highlight color in some cases? I and I assume many developers with me would like to understand what determines this difference. Ideally, there is a consistent UX where the end user has the choice between icons in color or highlight color overlay.
3
0
1.2k
Mar ’25
Differences between Safari App extension and Safari Web extension.
I tried to create a content blocker for Safari and did it through Safari App Extension and Safari Web Extension. The XCode project for Safari Extension creates 2 applications: the “Main Application” (which is compiled into ".app") and the “Safari Extension” itself (which is compiled into ".appex"). If you want to create a content blocker, you must add “Content Blocker Extension” from the “File → New → Target” menu. This will be the third application in the group, which is also compiled into "*.appex". And now about differences... The first difference is that Web Extension does not have the right to work on any domains by default, unlike App Extension. For the App Extension, in the "info.plist" in the "SFSafariWebsiteAccess" section, we can remove "Allowed Domains" and in "Level" replace "Some" to "All". This is important because the content blocker should work on any domain, and not be turned on manually for each individual. This will not work in Web Extension and will have to be activated for each domain separately. The second significant difference between Web Extension and App Extension is that for security reasons it is more limited in page management. Web Extensions are supposedly focused on a common API for all browsers (Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Edge, Safari), but if I use Safari and want maximum integration with it, then I don't care about all those browsers. In this case, I don't need Web Extension. App Extension functions as a client-server even within the “Main Application”. This is quite expensive and can be fixed. You can remove the “webView” component from storyBoard and remove this files: “script.js”, “main.html”, “style.css”. After this you will get the pure storyBoard without any tinsel and communication between these layers. That’s will work perfectly because these are native Swift applications. p.s. To show the "Safari Extension" window after clicking on the icon on the toolbar, you need to change key from "Command" to "Popover" in the "info.plist" in the section "SFSafariToolbarItem" in the "Action". write your additions...
Topic: Safari & Web SubTopic: General
2
0
654
Feb ’25
PerApp VPN Broken on iOS 18.2 if Huge Safari Domains Configure?
When configuring a Per-App VPN payload with 250+ Safari domains under a managed app, the VPN does not trigger for the other managed apps(like chrome etc). However, the same VPN successfully starts and works when used with Safari. Reducing the number of Safari domains in the VPN payload resolves the issue, allowing the VPN to trigger for the managed app as expected. Has anyone else faced this issue, and what's the workaround for it?
2
3
533
Dec ’24