
Unable to open links in Safari, Mail or Messages on iOS 9.3 - nardras
https://bencollier.net/2016/03/unable-to-open-links-in-safari-mail-or-messages-on-ios-9-3/
======
tommyd
Good to hear someone has got to the bottom of this. Been unable to use Safari
for a few days due to it. I haven't updated any apps for months (I don't trust
auto update to not leave my apps in a half downloaded state so I just let them
mount up until I eventually download hundreds of updates!) so iOS must
periodically check this list automatically rather then just when an app is
updated/installed.

The combination of a lack of an official response from Apple yet, the fact
that this was apparently found by beta users (not that the issue is related to
9.3 directly, but it was reported as a beta issue by some), and the inability
to change default browser leaving my phone in a pretty broken state has got me
seriously considering a switch to Android though, where at least such a bug
could probably be worked around through changing defaults or worst case
flashing a new ROM.

The iOS 9.3 release suggests Apple's QA process is rather lacking and
incidents like this won't help confidence in their devices - it's okay for
users who know how to work around it and understand what is going on, but my
parents would probably think the whole internet was broken!

Rant over, glad to see this on HN as it has been p __*ing me off for a few
days :)

~~~
globalgoat
I actually rolled back to 9.2.1 manually but this didn't fix it anyway, which
was even more disappointing! Also the restore from backup was sooooo slow over
the weekend, presumably because of all the 9.3 downloads, that after 24 hours
my 2 gb backup was still stuck on estimating, so in the end I rebuilt from
scratch. I'm glad that I have everything backed up elsewhere and not just in
iCloud, which is of course the real moral of this story....always have
multiple restore options!

~~~
update
> I actually rolled back to 9.2.1

How? I thought Apple didn't allow that. I'd like to go back to 9.1 if possible

~~~
xeroaura
Apple leaves the signing window for older versions for usually a week after
the newest version drops. Go to a site like
[https://ipsw.me/](https://ipsw.me/) and find your device. If the iOS version
in the drop down menu has a green background, you can still restore to that
version. You download the ipsw file and hold shift + click restore/upgrade on
iTunes to manually target the ipsw you want to downgrade to.

------
misterdata
This appears to be caused by a bug in the Shared Web Credentials Daemon, which
shares website credentials between apps and Safari. Once particular data is
put in its database, it keeps crashing.

[https://twitter.com/aveapps/status/714215571894747136](https://twitter.com/aveapps/status/714215571894747136)

~~~
tvmalsv
Safari kept crashing for me (and occasionally other apps, but don't know if
related, just thought they were buggy apps) on my iPhone 5. I originally
thought it was a problem with some sites being horribly broken, but it was
also happening on mainstream sites such as wsj.com.

After I installed the 9.3 update, the crashes stopped. Maybe the firmware
update and device reset clears that database.

Or it could be completely unrelated. Whichever, that's my anecdote.

------
mynegation
Submitted another story about this couple of days ago but it did not get much
attention. Granted, this one calls out very specific technical reason. I have
this problem after update to iOS 9.3 and FWIW I have Booking.com app
installed. This problem was haunting users for quite a while, since beta for
sure and may be even for some users on 9.2.1. The lack of response from Apple
is disheartening. I am seriously considering switching to Android. Disabling
JavaScript allows to navigate links in Safari, but opening links from other
apps freezes them and many sites are broken without JS. My only recourse for
now is to factory reset the phone, which is a huge PITA. And of course never
ever install booking.com app

~~~
epalmer
I ordered a nexus 6p today. Been an iphone user since the first year. I have
grown tired of so many things that are ios.

I mostly use google apps and them games and other apps that have android
versions.

I'm concerned that hands free calling, which I love from my Honda, may not
work. If it does not then I will return the nexus and go back to iphone but
will be very unhappy.

I have multiple tablets (for work evals) and love both the ipad pro and
several android tables I have. But I still have things about the ipad pro that
bug me. Stop trying to upsell me icloud services.

~~~
bithush
Switched from an iPhone 6 to a Nexus 6P in January. Couldn't be happier! Sure
it isn't _perfect_ but no phone is and the 6P, for me, gets closest to the
perfection goal than any other phone currently available.

Also the camera in the 6P is excellent which is a lovely surprise for a Nexus!
It holds up well, better in some situations, to the brand new S7 Edge camera
in my experience (my father has the S7 Edge so this was actual personal
experience).

~~~
epalmer
Yes I am looking forward to the camera especially and the quality and size of
the screen for my aging eyes. @bithust do you use hands free phone dialing
from a car? If so what car model and how is your experience with HFD?

~~~
bithush
Sorry I never use the phone while in the car. It is a quiet zone for me :)

------
Calvin02
Fix that worked for me: 1) Put the phone in Airplane mode 2) Power it down 3)
Power it up and while staying in Airplane mode 4) Delete Booking.com 5) Power
it down 6) Power it back up and turn off Airplane 7) Go to Safari and browse
normally

~~~
ricardobeat
This did not fix it on my 6S. I wonder if there are other apps causing the
same issue, I have a ton installed.

~~~
giovannibajo1
It looks like once the database is corrupted, swcd keeps crashing and there's
no way out.

------
stygiansonic
I wonder if there was something particular about the booking.com site
association file (i.e. some particular data in the `paths` array) or whether
it was just the fact that the `paths` array was unexpected large, and when put
into the overall database, made that too large to handle?

Wonder if anyone has a copy of the old booking.com association file (the one
that caused problems) - would be interesting to look at.

~~~
tiglionabbit
It could easily be just because it's too large. Either there was a buffer
overrun, or something got truncated in a bad way.

------
kenshi
So thats two pretty major bugs in iOS9.3 (the failing upgrade process for
older hardware is the other big issue - and Apple are getting lots of support
calls about it).

I really have to wonder what has happened to Apple's Quality Control. More
money, more bugs?

~~~
chris_wot
Check out this patch:

[https://bugs.webkit.org/attachment.cgi?id=268394&action=diff](https://bugs.webkit.org/attachment.cgi?id=268394&action=diff)

 _[iOS] Revert overflow:hidden on the body affecting viewport scale (r186786)_

[https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=152803](https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=152803)

 _Reviewed by NOBODY (OOPS!)._

Bug was reported on 6th January, broke thousands of websites, was patched
shortly thereafter - and deployed 3 months later.

Three months to fix a major regression snafu. Apple Safari support sucks.

~~~
progers7
This was reviewed properly, you just have to click the actual commit:
[http://trac.webkit.org/changeset/194667](http://trac.webkit.org/changeset/194667)
"Reviewed by Tim Horton."

The response time here might not be great, but the patch author and reviewer
are both experts in this area. I wouldn't consider this patch evidence of
declining software quality--it's just a simple bug.

~~~
chris_wot
You seem a bit confused. I'm not saying the revert of the patch wasn't
reviewed. I'm saying the commit that caused the issue wasn't reviewed.

Hope this helps.

~~~
progers7
This is the commit that caused the bug:
[http://trac.webkit.org/changeset/186786](http://trac.webkit.org/changeset/186786)

Notice the review line

~~~
chris_wot
Damn, you're right and I've made myself look foolish. I apologise for my tone
and reaction.

------
acqq
I've had 9.3 version 13E233 on my iPhone and I have just received the chance
to upgrade again to 9.3. After upgrade the version is 13E237 (as seen in the
Settings General About) but the problem remains.

Still no change, https links to other sites dead in Safari, or the right click
on the same link makes Safari blocks.

So if you have chance to upgrade to the newer 9.3, better wait, until some
newer version than 13E237 appears?

I believe that in "Privacy / Diagnostics & Usage / .. Data / stacks +
MobileSafari...." should theoretically contain the stack of the killed Safari
at that moment and be sent to Apple?

(Anyway, before I've upgraded to 13E237 I've already deleted booking.com and
yelp apps. I've also then installed the new version of booking.com app and
then deleted it, all with the suggested "Airplane" mode. Didn't work)

Edit: the 13E237 is apparently

[http://9to5mac.com/2016/03/28/apple-re-releases-
ios-9-3-for-...](http://9to5mac.com/2016/03/28/apple-re-releases-ios-9-3-for-
older-iphones-and-ipads-affected-by-activation-lock-issue/)

"for users affected by an activation bug"

not for this now.

------
Killah911
Amen, I've been suffering from l HN withdrawal symptoms due to this. I have
only been able to read comments and submission headlines on the iPhone.

Updtae: this is likely due to third party apps (in my case Booking.com). But
uninstalling doesn't seem to help. Also I couldn't read the article since
safari can only visit URLs that I explicitly type in

~~~
puddintane
Does copy and paste not work?

~~~
leetrout
Not for me. Long pressing causes safari to lock up and crash.

~~~
Nazzareno
Long pressing works with Chrome

------
cl3m
Had this since yesterday. Best solution so far is to disable JavaScript or use
opera mini

~~~
thesimon
I can't find it atm, but someone contacted Apple on Twitter and they replied
that disabling JavaScript is the best workaround.

------
EGreg
was at the Apple Store in NYC At 1am yesterday. None of the people there knew
how to solve it. I looked online and there are, by now, thousands of users in
several threads in Apple forums complaining that links don't work. Here is
some more info: This isn't just affecting 9.3, it's true also on 9.2.1 Don't
bother wiping and restoring your phone, the problem comes back. My guess is
that it was triggered by something in the Apple WebView APIs that happened
recently, because it started happening on my phone for no reason this Friday
(with 9.2.1) and most of these forum messages are from the past few days.
Apple hasn't responded yet and 9.3 doesn't fix this problem. For now, use
Google Chrome. Long-tap on links in Safari and other Apple apps crashes the
app. However, thankfully in Chrome for iOS, it works (even though it also uses
Apple's WebView). You can follow links via long-tap and copy-pasting the link
into the Address bar. Finally, if you're wondering why some mobile links still
seem to work - those are the ones enabled by javascript handling of tap
events, that don't use the regular mechanism of loading a url.

------
ben_c
I've put up a convoluted but working workaround here -
[https://bencollier.net/2016/03/how-to-fix-ios-9-3s-broken-
sa...](https://bencollier.net/2016/03/how-to-fix-ios-9-3s-broken-safari-
links/)

------
baudehlo
I had something similar happen to me on 9.2.1 - switch to readability mode in
one app stopped all links working from Facebook. Took me forever to debug it.

------
A3mercury
I hate how links can only be opened in safari anyway. I'm having this problem
so it's frustrating to no end.

~~~
ben010783
This goes back to Apple not allowing you to replace default apps. Android
phones let you define the default web browser, map viewer, etc.

------
neals
Anybody know if this causes issues in Cordova / Phonegap apps?

~~~
hicksyfern
We have a Cordova app that begins on a local web page then immediately
redirects to a remote page, and we have recently had a bunch of users on iOS
9.3 complain that they are just stuck on the first screen.

So it looks like it _probably_ does affect Cordova apps.

------
dclowd9901
WTAF, Am I reading this right? Booking.com was sending a 2.3MB file to every
user, but only usable to iOS users?

~~~
ricardobeat
No, this file is part of the iOS app.

~~~
cballard
Both you and the OP are incorrect. The file is not included in the app (only
referred to), but is only downloaded by iOS itself - or anyone who points a
web client directly at it, of course.

~~~
rocky1138
Do you have a link to it?

~~~
adregan
Looks like a signed json file found at `/apple-app-site-association` on sites
that support it (eg. booking.com/apple-app-site-association,
nytimes.com/apple-app-site-association, &c.)

------
based2
from your iPhone

~~~
sp332
It does say "on iOS 9.3".

------
whitehat2k9
It's funny that unpaid developers who release ROMs for my Android phone
apparently do a better job at QA than the people at Apple.

~~~
chris_wot
That might _sound_ snarky, but actually it's entirely true. Apple QA around
Safari is dreadful. They literally break the rendering of thousands of
websites in 9.2 and only fix it in 9.3 - three months later. All because of
checked in WebKit code that wasn't reviewed correctly.

[https://bugs.webkit.org/attachment.cgi?id=268394&action=diff](https://bugs.webkit.org/attachment.cgi?id=268394&action=diff)

~~~
chris_wot
Oh, and I should note: I love my iPhone and iPad - I own three iPads and 4
iPhones. So lest anyone think I'm an Apple hater, think again. In fact, I
replaced my Windows PC with a Mac some time ago and never looked back.

Which is why I'm hear to tell Apple: fix your freakibg regressions in Safari
_quickly_. There is absolutely no reason why the browsers rendering engine can
only be updated every three months!

Sort it out Apple. You force all web apps to use your engine and prevent
effective completion in this space: fine. But you now face the burden on
ensuring you prevent and fix your bugs quickly!

~~~
chillacy
I do find it odd that Safari's update cycle is tied to the OS updates. Seems
to me like they should be separate.

Example: a few months ago Safari had a bug where it was still using apple's
old WWDR certificate, preventing anyone from packaging their safari
extensions. The fix came out months later in the next OS release.

------
chris_wot
Apple broke a fundamental rendering issue in iOS 9.2 - if you put overflow
hidden into the body tag then it screws up the viewport.

Thousands and thousands of pages broke. They fixed it three months later.

Basically, Apple Safari support sucks. Why the hell is their web page renderer
only updated in minor releases of iOS?

~~~
chris_wot
Oh? Genuinely curious: what's so awful about my comment? If Apple can stuff up
a fundamental rendering issue [1] and it takes them 3 months to release a
simple revert of the unreviewed commit, then how are my comments on their
incredibly slow bug fix timeframes for browser issues out of line?

1\.
[https://bugs.webkit.org/attachment.cgi?id=268394&action=diff](https://bugs.webkit.org/attachment.cgi?id=268394&action=diff)

~~~
uxp
While I agree with the content of your comment, this one at the bottom of the
page seems to be the third of nearly identical comments about this one WebKit
bug made by your account on the page. It's approaching my SPAM threshold.

~~~
chris_wot
Indeed - I found this bug to be totally relevant to the issues being
discussed. The first was to point out the issue. The second (the parent
comment) was to ask why Safari rendering bugs take so long to fix and I used
that bug as context for my question. The third was to respond to the huge
downvotes of this comment at
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11376114](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11376114)

Each of those are entirely relevant in their context. It's hardly spam.

If you want, I'll find more regressions, it won't be hard. Apple are utterly
useless when it comes to Safari rendering regressions.

(were you the one downvoting, incidentally? And what do you mean by the "third
at the bottom of the page"? The comments shift around in ordering you know)

~~~
mikestew
_And what do you mean by the "third at the bottom of the page"?_

The commenter meant that the referenced comment was the third such comment
you've made in relation to this bug. IOW, you're sounding like a broken
record. I tend to agree with this assessment. You made your point, move on.

And before you ask, meh, maybe I down voted you, maybe I didn't. That's not
what you should be focusing on.

~~~
chris_wot
Meh. I had no intention of referencing it again, those comments were entirely
relevant. That's indeed what I'm focussing on. In fact, I'm focussing on the
fact that Apple's updates for Safari entirely suck and used that bug as the
primary example of just how bad they are. I don't apologise for being a
"broken record" on this issue. Maybe you should also. Next time I'll find one
of the dozens of other regressions that have bit me in the arse if that would
make you happy.

This bug was so bad that if Apple hadn't fixed the issue in iOS 9.3 then I
would have asked for a refund on every single one of my devices and returned
them. Under Australian law they'd have to.

