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Q&A for power users of Apple hardware and software

Latest Questions

0 votes
1 answers
50 views
iPad putting random spaces in customer number
When I try to enter my customer number on the NS&I website, my iPad seems to be treating it as a telephone number and inserts spaces in it. Because of this I cannot log into my account. The problem does not happen when I log in on my computer, so it must be caused by the iPad. Does anyone know of a...
When I try to enter my customer number on the NS&I website, my iPad seems to be treating it as a telephone number and inserts spaces in it. Because of this I cannot log into my account. The problem does not happen when I log in on my computer, so it must be caused by the iPad. Does anyone know of a solution?
James Nicol (1 rep)
Mar 8, 2017, 03:45 PM • Last activity: Jul 23, 2025, 02:11 AM
4 votes
1 answers
3523 views
Privacy settings do not allow shortcut to load external web content
Since updating to iOS 17, some of my Shortcuts fail to work on some web pages in Safari (only). For example I have a shortcut to use Mail to send the current webpage to me, but now on about have the websites where I attempt to use it, I get an error I've never seen before: > The web content could no...
Since updating to iOS 17, some of my Shortcuts fail to work on some web pages in Safari (only). For example I have a shortcut to use Mail to send the current webpage to me, but now on about have the websites where I attempt to use it, I get an error I've never seen before: > The web content could not be loaded because your privacy settings do not allow this shortcut to load external web content. You can change this in the Privacy tab of the shortcut's settings. enter image description here On the Shortcut's privacy tab I've got Safari (were there always two entries?) configured to Always Allow, which is clearly respected for the pages that work so that's not the issue. (In fact I've reset the Shortcut's privacy several times to be sure.) enter image description here Why am I getting this message? What can I do to prevent the error and restore my Shortcut's functionality?
orome (12163 rep)
Sep 23, 2023, 05:19 PM • Last activity: Jul 21, 2025, 11:03 AM
8 votes
3 answers
7712 views
Force wider viewport size in iOS Safari?
Is there any way in iOS Safari (or third party app) to force a larger viewport? I'm fine scrolling around a website to see content but I'm not fine with sites hiding content when I use a narrower than desktop device. Ideally I would like to set my width (say 1024) and then have my iPhone browse with...
Is there any way in iOS Safari (or third party app) to force a larger viewport? I'm fine scrolling around a website to see content but I'm not fine with sites hiding content when I use a narrower than desktop device. Ideally I would like to set my width (say 1024) and then have my iPhone browse with that width and drag around to see the page. Kind of like magnifier but in reverse.
Gordon Copestake (182 rep)
Apr 21, 2016, 05:59 PM • Last activity: Jul 8, 2025, 01:27 AM
5 votes
1 answers
4604 views
Shortcut to Clear History and Website Data
Clear History and Website Data for Safari is deeply hidden in Settings. Tap, tap, tap. With the new Shortcuts App in iOS 13 can I create a shortcut to clear history?
Clear History and Website Data for Safari is deeply hidden in Settings. Tap, tap, tap. With the new Shortcuts App in iOS 13 can I create a shortcut to clear history?
user1785730 (674 rep)
Oct 18, 2019, 08:04 PM • Last activity: Jun 30, 2025, 06:02 AM
0 votes
1 answers
680 views
Files app has some screenshots from Safari that wasn’t screenshot
I have an iPhone 11 with the latest update and everything. But recently I noticed in my Files, there are several long screenshots from some sites I frequent, specifically comic websites and art websites. Sometimes I tend to press and hold the screen instead of scrolling and I suspect as a result, th...
I have an iPhone 11 with the latest update and everything. But recently I noticed in my Files, there are several long screenshots from some sites I frequent, specifically comic websites and art websites. Sometimes I tend to press and hold the screen instead of scrolling and I suspect as a result, this has been happening. I don't know how to disable this feature. I tried looking the Accesibility settings but nothing seems to stand out. If I missed something, I'm not sure. Can someone please help me disable this function? I don't want to be accused of stealing people's work and getting banned.
ZohanPolis (1 rep)
Sep 22, 2023, 09:10 AM • Last activity: Jun 13, 2025, 09:07 PM
0 votes
1 answers
298 views
Clear cache but NOT the cookies in mobile Safari
How does one only clear the cache in mobile Safari while leaving the cookies untouched? The only method I know clears both.
How does one only clear the cache in mobile Safari while leaving the cookies untouched? The only method I know clears both.
Melab (1039 rep)
Jul 23, 2024, 09:02 PM • Last activity: Apr 21, 2025, 04:00 PM
1 votes
1 answers
187 views
Mobile Safari lost all the bookmarked favorite icons
This iPhone I work with just lost all its favorite icons for the bookmarks on the new tab page. I have no idea what I did or how this came about. Is there a way to restore them without deleting and remaking each and every website I bookmarked? Notice how YouTube kept its icon as you see with the sma...
This iPhone I work with just lost all its favorite icons for the bookmarks on the new tab page. I have no idea what I did or how this came about. Is there a way to restore them without deleting and remaking each and every website I bookmarked? Notice how YouTube kept its icon as you see with the small red patch visible in the lower right corner area. Baffling why this would be inconsistent. screenshot of new tab page with blank favicons
jxramos (1015 rep)
Apr 13, 2025, 11:05 PM • Last activity: Apr 15, 2025, 09:26 PM
4 votes
1 answers
324 views
Safari iCloud tab sync leaves a "phantom tab"
Mac (13.1) Safari tab sync popup accurately reflects the tabs on my iPhone (iOS 16.2) BUT always displays (brings back) the same phantom tab I visited a few months ago and haven't revisited. No amount of setting fiddling or rebooting seem to work.
Mac (13.1) Safari tab sync popup accurately reflects the tabs on my iPhone (iOS 16.2) BUT always displays (brings back) the same phantom tab I visited a few months ago and haven't revisited. No amount of setting fiddling or rebooting seem to work.
Inbruges (75 rep)
Jan 13, 2023, 05:32 PM • Last activity: Apr 11, 2025, 08:03 AM
5 votes
0 answers
1862 views
Disable pull to refresh in Safari
Safari on iOS 15.5 (iPhone 8) seems to have the *pull to refresh* feature baked into every tab for every web page. This is incredibly annoying, counter-productive and just a bad design choice for all but the most vanilla HTML pages, and even in the latter case I trigger it by mistake 95% of times an...
Safari on iOS 15.5 (iPhone 8) seems to have the *pull to refresh* feature baked into every tab for every web page. This is incredibly annoying, counter-productive and just a bad design choice for all but the most vanilla HTML pages, and even in the latter case I trigger it by mistake 95% of times anyway when using the scroll bar to quickly navigate to the top (which ironically no longer makes it ***pull** to refresh*, either). One example of why it's a big problem is infinite scroll sites that shows you detailed content in small overlays without actually navigating you away from the feed. The small overlay will now let you trigger a refresh immediately upon scrolling up — congratulations, you just lost your place in the underlying page. Is it possible to get rid of this piece of bad judgement somehow, other than to switch browser?
Andreas (2269 rep)
Aug 26, 2022, 05:53 PM • Last activity: Feb 12, 2025, 03:56 AM
0 votes
0 answers
87 views
Duplicated Tab Groups in Safari on all Devices
From time to time safari seems to duplicate tabgroups. Can't tell why and when. Could be caused by update or whatever. They may even be tripled, quadruple or more. Seems that I am not the only one, see also https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253095992 After they are duplicated, it seems as they wo...
From time to time safari seems to duplicate tabgroups. Can't tell why and when. Could be caused by update or whatever. They may even be tripled, quadruple or more. Seems that I am not the only one, see also https://discussions.apple.com/thread/253095992 After they are duplicated, it seems as they would be standalone - meaning if you change something in one tab group with it does not affect the other one having the exact same name. Effect on Sequoia, and all mobile devices I have as well, always on newest OS. Has any one an idea why this occurs and how to get rid of it or deduplicate again?
Nicolas Schwarzentrub (181 rep)
Jan 27, 2025, 03:32 PM
1 votes
1 answers
158 views
Does a PWA created in Private Browsing mode always open in Private Browsing?
**Scenario**: I log into Twitter in a mobile Safari Private Browsing tab with Advanced Tracking and Fingerprinting Protection enabled, then create a PWA (i.e., Add to Home Screen) of the private tab. When I open the PWA, am I still in private browsing mode with advanced tracking and fingerprinting p...
**Scenario**: I log into Twitter in a mobile Safari Private Browsing tab with Advanced Tracking and Fingerprinting Protection enabled, then create a PWA (i.e., Add to Home Screen) of the private tab. When I open the PWA, am I still in private browsing mode with advanced tracking and fingerprinting protection? Or is it as though I am using a normal browser tab?
how-mustard-tastes (19 rep)
Dec 29, 2024, 08:34 PM • Last activity: Jan 4, 2025, 06:54 AM
0 votes
0 answers
625 views
How do I disable the hiding of Safari buttons in iOS 15.6.1?
The Safari buttons some times hides themselves: [![shown][1]][1] Is there a way to disable the hiding? [![hidden][2]][2] [1]: https://i.sstatic.net/4xDdk.jpg [2]: https://i.sstatic.net/5ytwP.jpg
The Safari buttons some times hides themselves: shown Is there a way to disable the hiding? hidden
James Risner (544 rep)
Sep 14, 2022, 03:44 PM • Last activity: Dec 28, 2024, 06:51 PM
0 votes
0 answers
390 views
Safari on iPhone says I have 10 tabs open when I have none open
I’ve been trying to work out why Safari on my iPhone is saying I have 10 tabs open when I have none. I clear the history for the last hour and close all tabs in the same window, however a few minutes later the tabs reopen (sometimes it’s 6 tabs sometimes it’s 9 tabs this time it’s 10 tabs) as seen f...
I’ve been trying to work out why Safari on my iPhone is saying I have 10 tabs open when I have none. I clear the history for the last hour and close all tabs in the same window, however a few minutes later the tabs reopen (sometimes it’s 6 tabs sometimes it’s 9 tabs this time it’s 10 tabs) as seen from the clear history screen on iPhone. Has anyone ever experienced anything similar? I’ve attached a picture for clarity. Any insight would be much appreciated. Thanks enter image description here
Corey (1 rep)
Nov 28, 2024, 09:55 PM • Last activity: Nov 28, 2024, 10:53 PM
140 votes
13 answers
290117 views
Can I force a cache refresh in Safari running on iOS?
Most Windows desktop browsers utilize the keyboard combination Ctrl + F5 to force a page specific cache refresh, while browsers running on macOS tend to use Command + R . Is there an equivalent cache refresh for a single page in Safari running on iOS? I realize I can manually clear the browser cache...
Most Windows desktop browsers utilize the keyboard combination Ctrl + F5 to force a page specific cache refresh, while browsers running on macOS tend to use Command + R. Is there an equivalent cache refresh for a single page in Safari running on iOS? I realize I can manually clear the browser cache, but I'd prefer to only refresh for the page I am currently viewing.
ahsteele (2910 rep)
Dec 13, 2012, 07:26 PM • Last activity: Nov 12, 2024, 12:18 AM
5 votes
3 answers
13596 views
mp4 H264 video won't play in iPhone safari
I have a video hosted online, and when I try to open it with Safari, it won't play (I got a crossed Play icon). When I put this video on the iCloud drive and open it with the Files app, it plays without an issue (on the same iPhone). In fact, it's a video recorded by that iPhone, exported from the M...
I have a video hosted online, and when I try to open it with Safari, it won't play (I got a crossed Play icon). When I put this video on the iCloud drive and open it with the Files app, it plays without an issue (on the same iPhone). In fact, it's a video recorded by that iPhone, exported from the Mac Photos app, and re-packaged from .mov to .mp4 so more devices should be able to play it. Is there some special format for the videos that mobile Safari can play? specs of the video as provided by QuickTime Player
Uko (987 rep)
Aug 29, 2020, 12:11 AM • Last activity: Nov 4, 2024, 04:29 PM
1 votes
0 answers
51 views
Why are some MP4 H264 videos not playable on Safari iPhone?
*Note: good answer on SO: [MP4 video not playing on Safari iPhone](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/79067572/mp4-video-not-playing-on-safari-iphone).* In a blog post, I have a video embedded with ` <source src="..."` that works for everyone (Firefox, Chrome, at least on PC / Linux / ...), but it...
*Note: good answer on SO: [MP4 video not playing on Safari iPhone](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/79067572/mp4-video-not-playing-on-safari-iphone).* In a blog post, I have a video embedded with that works for everyone (Firefox, Chrome, at least on PC / Linux / ...), but it specifically **doesn't work on Safari iPhone**. Even if you access the video directly by its link on Safari iPhone, it doesn't work either, it only displays a gray background. **Any idea what it could be?** It has been encoded by OBS: Video: MPEG4 Video (H264) 864x550 30fps 1989kbps [V: Video Media Handler (h264 high L3.1, yuv420p, 864x550, 1989 kb/s)] Audio: AAC 48000Hz stereo 3kbps [A: Sound Media Handler [eng] (aac lc, 48000 Hz, stereo, 3 kb/s)] OBS settings: enter image description here Note: I have aleady read these 3 questions, but without any clue about why the MP4 that I linked here doesn't work: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/400233/mp4-h264-video-wont-play-in-iphone-safari https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/55828/h-264-encoded-mp4-not-playable-on-iphone https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/81257/mp4-file-not-playing-on-ipad-iphone
Basj (183 rep)
Oct 9, 2024, 10:05 AM • Last activity: Oct 24, 2024, 12:43 PM
2 votes
2 answers
1826 views
How to always Show IP Address (disable Private Relay) for a specific website?
I want to use my iPad & iPhone to access a website that is behind a firewall and is only accessible to IP addresses on a whitelist. I can do this temporarily, for a single tab only, by: 1. Load the URL 1. Let it timeout 1. Tap ‘Aa’ 1. Tap ‘Show IP Address’ 1. Reload the URL However this does not per...
I want to use my iPad & iPhone to access a website that is behind a firewall and is only accessible to IP addresses on a whitelist. I can do this temporarily, for a single tab only, by: 1. Load the URL 1. Let it timeout 1. Tap ‘Aa’ 1. Tap ‘Show IP Address’ 1. Reload the URL However this does not persist across tabs/reloads per: *Apple Docs > [Manage iCloud Private Relay for specific websites, networks, or system settings](https://support.apple.com/en-us/102022) > If a website doesn't work with Private Relay* It also doesn’t seem to work for URLs that are IP addresses rather than hostnames. How can I set a website to ALWAYS show my real IP address? I.E. Never use Private Relay.
Danny Beckett (248 rep)
Mar 4, 2024, 07:44 AM • Last activity: Jul 29, 2024, 11:09 PM
0 votes
0 answers
148 views
Given an URL that opens an iOS app, how do I make that into a functional icon on the iOS home screen?
Like many former Mint users who had to transition to Credit Karma, I am frustrated by how many steps it takes to get to the data I want to see. Recently Credit Karma sent me a promotional e-mail with a button that took me directly to the Transactions page in the app. I would like to make an icon on...
Like many former Mint users who had to transition to Credit Karma, I am frustrated by how many steps it takes to get to the data I want to see. Recently Credit Karma sent me a promotional e-mail with a button that took me directly to the Transactions page in the app. I would like to make an icon on my iOS home screen that does the same. I extracted the URL from the e-mail. It is: https://www.creditkarma.com/u/networth/transactions When I click on this in iOS, it takes me directly to the Transactions page in the app, as I hoped . To create an iOS home screen icon for a website, you need to open the website in Safari, but the first challenge was that when I opened the above URL in Safari, it redirected to the Intuit login page instead and that page did not seem to have the ability to open the app. I found that if I turned on Airplane mode , I could open the link in Safari (it would not load, obviously, but neither would it redirect). When I created a Home Screen icon from that, it **almost** works: it takes me to an Intuit login page with the following banner offering to open the app: [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/gYyO85kI.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/gYyO85kI.png) When I click "Open" I am taken to the Transactions page, which is what I want, but is not the same one-click behavior I got from the original link. So my question is, can anyone suggest a way to get this to work in one click? **Footnotes:** Clarification: it may take me to the login page the first time, but once I click the "Open" then subsequent clicks will take me directly to the app. The icon, however, always requires the extra step of visiting the login page. The following question seems to suggest the same workaround https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15883736/how-to-have-a-custom-url-for-an-icon-on-the-ios-home-screen . They also suggest an "iPhone Configuration Utility", but I can't find a link to that anywhere!
marciot (1 rep)
Jun 6, 2024, 08:00 PM
4 votes
2 answers
6708 views
"Add to Home Screen" saves wrong URL
I saved a web application to my home screen, but the icon on the home screen opens a different URL. Somehow the URL of the bookmark that was saved to the home screen does not match the URL that was in the address bar. ### Steps to reproduce 1. On an any iOS device... _(I used an iPhone XR)_ 1. Brows...
I saved a web application to my home screen, but the icon on the home screen opens a different URL. Somehow the URL of the bookmark that was saved to the home screen does not match the URL that was in the address bar. ### Steps to reproduce 1. On an any iOS device... _(I used an iPhone XR)_ 1. Browse to https://bc.thrive.health/covid19app/home 1. Press the Share button 1. Choose "Add to Home Screen" 1. Notice that the URL in the pop-up prompt https://bc.thrive.health is different from the URL in the address bar. What causes this? How does iOS determine what URL will be used when adding to the home screen, and in what circumstances can it be different from the URL in the address bar?
Nic (3943 rep)
Mar 27, 2020, 06:00 PM • Last activity: May 19, 2024, 12:38 PM
1 votes
2 answers
447 views
Remove link from Safari home page on iPad
I have an iPad and also a desktop computer, creatively named "John iMac 2017". When I open up Safari on the iPad, the homepage has a section "From John iMac 2017" which includes a link there from a webpage that I visited almost a year ago, but it is no longer open on the iMac. If I press and hold on...
I have an iPad and also a desktop computer, creatively named "John iMac 2017". When I open up Safari on the iPad, the homepage has a section "From John iMac 2017" which includes a link there from a webpage that I visited almost a year ago, but it is no longer open on the iMac. If I press and hold on that link, a menu comes up; the only apparently relevant item is "Close", and if I choose that, the link disappears from the homepage but then reappears about 5-10 seconds later. How do I remove this link? Is there a cache that I can clear or something along those lines?
John Palmieri (417 rep)
Mar 17, 2024, 12:54 AM • Last activity: Mar 17, 2024, 07:01 PM
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