XF 2.2 iOS PWA text selection problems

[Mika_M]

Some users are reporting strange problems with PWA on iOS and iPadOS. When they want to select a part of a post to quote it in their reply, they are unable to do so. They can select a word but then they are unable to adjust the selection with those blue little handles, dragging them will result in erratical behaviour like page scrolling randomly up or down or something else, making it impossible to actually select text:



This behaviour only happens with PWA on iOS and iPadOS. If they use Safari browser instead of PWA, everything works as it should. And also some other iOS PWA users are reporting that they do not have this problem.

We are running Xenforo 2.2.11 and PHP 8.1.22.

I suspect that this is some Apple-specific problem and there is nothing we can do about it?

 

[avalanch]

Try to query them on what browsers they are having issues on, ask them which are working fine thanks. Also, Php 8.1 is not fully supported, the recommended version to be using is php 8.0. Maybe try switching it down to that and see if there are any user improvements.

 

[Mika_M]

Try to query them on what browsers they are having issues on, ask them which are working fine thanks.

All of this is Safari related, I don't think you can use any other browsers with iOS and PWA?

 

[avalanch]

I'm not too familiar with what IOS browsers support PWA but I do have a spare ipad laying around that I can check it out with actually.

You are correct, and I appreciate the clarification. On iOS, third-party browsers, such as Chrome or Firefox, use the same underlying WebKit engine as Safari due to Apple's restrictions. This means that any issues related to text selection and other browser behaviors will likely be consistent across different browsers on iOS.

 

[Mika_M]

This means that any issues related to text selection and other browser behaviors will likely be consistent across different browsers on iOS.

This is true.

However, this problem can only be seen when opening forum via PWA. When user goes straight to Safari browser and opens forum, there are no problems with text selection. This bugs me as I can't figure out what is different with PWA since it is indeed using the same engine as Safari browser itself.

 

[avalanch]

I'm coming up with blanks on this myself but... Here are some things chatgpt suggests to have a look at. Might help you nail it down.

Spoiler: Chatgpt advice

The behavior you're describing, where the issue is present in the PWA but not when accessing the forum directly in the Safari browser, can indeed be puzzling. While both the PWA and Safari use the WebKit engine, there might be subtle differences in the way they handle certain features or interactions.

Here are a few things you might want to consider:

Service Worker and Cache: PWAs often use service workers to cache resources for offline use. Check if there are any service worker-related issues or differences in how resources are cached between the PWA and Safari.

Viewport and Meta Tags: Verify that the viewport settings and meta tags in the PWA are consistent with those in Safari. Differences in viewport configurations can sometimes affect how the content is rendered and interacted with.

PWA Configuration: Review the PWA configuration settings, especially those related to how the PWA is launched and whether it runs in standalone mode. There might be configurations impacting the behavior of the PWA on iOS.

iOS Specific CSS: There are cases where iOS might interpret certain CSS rules differently in a PWA compared to Safari. Ensure that the CSS stylesheets are consistent and there are no conflicting styles affecting text selection.

JavaScript Interactions: If there are any custom JavaScript interactions or event listeners in the PWA, compare them with the Safari version. There might be a JavaScript-related issue affecting text selection.

 

[Mika_M]

I edited some clarification to my question. Selection handles are not stuck, but trying to adjust selection results in random things like selecting next row or scrolling page up or down or something else, making it impossible to actually select any text.