iPhone or iOS user doesn't stay logged in for long

[4aapl]

Forum URL: aaplfinance.proboards.com

Over the recent years more and more of our users have been using an iPhone or iPad to view our site, normally via the built in Safari.  Since we are an AAPL and Apple related site, most users are up to date on the latest software versions.  Many are on the latest or close to latest hardware, and these days we skew older and often use standard software, without added bells and whistles or even changing the settings.  I'd guess that at least half are using the latest OS, HW that is no more than 2 years old, and default setting with no add-ons.

A frequent problem that we have is staying logged in to the site.  While I never have this problem on my Mac running Safari, staying logged in for years or possibly even a decade, it seems like the iPhone requires logging in nearly all the time.

That has been the complaint from users, and I tested it out a bit more this year, when using my iPhone on our site when skiing and when on a vacation.  It logs out a lot!  Often it is under 24 hours.  One time I made it a day and a half, but that seemed like the exception.  I normally just leave the tab open and leave safari open, but safari on iOS might do some extra "powering down" things to save battery life, even if that tab is left open.

I see info in the 4 year old thread here on the support site.  support.proboards.com/post/7178107/thread  For me this isn't just after login and then not doing anything.  But there is a chance that this could be happening when I check the page and then don't do anything, since as an admin/moderator/user I am often checking the site to see if there are any new posts.  

In looking through the Safari iOS settings, I don't have "Block All Cookies" on, but do have other default things like Prevent Cross-Site Tracking, Privacy Preserving Ad Measurement, and Hide IP Address From Trackers on.  It looked like before Kami had a reproducible case but in the office you didn't manage to reproduce part of it.  I also have "Share Across Devices" on, and have multiple devices linked to this account, so there is a possibility of something there, especially if there's something of slight differences in time between devices throwing an error.


For our site this is a very important problem.  It might not seem like much, but quickly if people are logged out, they stay logged out.  And since it is one more step, they don't "like" something or reply to something, along with moderators seeing the user as a guest instead of a logged in user.  Our site already has had participation decline slowly but steadily over the last 5-10 years, though we have kept the most important parts of our site viewable to guests to help try to recruit new users.


Any ideas would be appreciated, though it seems like this is something widespread enough with default settings that it will have to be fixed/changed on ProBoards side.  I'm going to be away for a few days, but can help out next week if needed.

Thanks

[Kami]

That thread was quite some time ago... I definitely think it's worth re-examining this as a new case rather than going by that thread. It may be related but due to the passage of time it is unlikely to be related.

For the purpose of troubleshooting, we'd need the following information:

- steps to repro (this should be literally a bullet point list like, 1. click login 2. input credentials, etc, that is as detailed on steps as possible. do not skip anything assuming that people will naturally do it)
- expected behaviour
- actual behaviour
- device make & model
- OS version
- browser version (eg i have an iphone but chrome is actually my browser)
- frequency of occurrence (1/10 times, 10/10 times, etc)

It would also be incredibly helpful to get a headcount of impacted users, their general location (eg US East Coast, versus "boston, massachusetts"), and if each user can submit the above information individually, it's easier to start triaging. i'd recommend a thread on your forum so members can post this, then link PB this thread once complete.

[4aapl]

I'm happy to gather that info. I used to be a QA Engineer at Apple. But my understanding is that this has been happening for so many iPhone users for so many years across all iOS updates that the opposite question might be a more rare one.

Is there any iOS device with any iOS version from the last 24 months that when using the default Safari version and setup has ProBoards "remember me" feature work to avoid having to re-login, when waiting 24-72 hours since last viewing a proboards page on the device?

[Kami]

Aug 24, 2023 10:38:01 GMT -8 4aapl said:

I'm happy to gather that info. I used to be a QA Engineer at Apple. But my understanding is that this has been happening for so many iPhone users for so many years across all iOS updates that the opposite question might be a more rare one.

Is there any iOS device with any iOS version from the last 24 months that when using the default Safari version and setup has ProBoards "remember me" feature work to avoid having to re-login, when waiting 24-72 hours since last viewing a proboards page on the device?

So the issue is that we don't have this data. It's not something that PB collects in any fashion, so we are basically starting from scratch, especially since it's been 4 years since the last report here on Support. In order to triage, PB needs more information from impacted users so they can dig deeper.

[4aapl]

Aug 24, 2023 10:56:00 GMT -8 Kami said:

So the issue is that we don't have this data. It's not something that PB collects in any fashion, so we are basically starting from scratch, especially since it's been 4 years since the last report here on Support. In order to triage, PB needs more information from impacted users so they can dig deeper.

Well, that is the first step. You said you were having this problem back then, but if you now use Chrome as your primary browser on iOS it's not an issue for you anymore.

I set up a poll for our group to ask about frequency, or to see if there is anyone using Safari on iOS that isn't hitting this issue. And we've had a few other threads on this in the past 3 days, including a user who liked a post 4 hours ago, but had to re-log in 20 minutes ago to like and reply to my post.

We'll get more data on this, even though it seems to be massively common. The poll is at aaplfinance.proboards.com/thread/3858/login-aapl-finance-board-safari

Feel free to give it a few days. While I'd love to have this fixed ASAP, this is something that users have been dealing with for years. Like hrace just said in aaplfinance.proboards.com/post/133016/thread

Thanks guys! I’ll try to check that thread. On latest ios16 using safari, for reference. Not a huge deal. Just now, read your posts and wanted to reply. Had to go log back in. If that’s the worst problem, I’m in great shape.

[Kami]

Aug 24, 2023 11:11:46 GMT -8 4aapl said:

Aug 24, 2023 10:56:00 GMT -8 Kami said:

[Snip]

Well, that is the first step. You said you were having this problem back then, but if you now use Chrome as your primary browser on iOS it's not an issue for you anymore.

That's not quite what I said. I said that I could replicate the issue in Safari on my iPhone when I tested it at the time, but without any changes on my end I spontaneously stopped being able to repro save one instance I was able to record and send to PB. That said, Chrome has always been my default browser. Also, between then and now, I've upgraded the model of my iPhone several times, which may or may not have had an impact had I used Safari. Also, just in case, I'm just a passionate PB user :P I am in no way, shape, or form professionally affiliated with the team.

Additionally, just for the sake of clarity, since four years ago from my original response in the aforementioned thread, there has been (to my knowledge, at least, not sure if PB staff received any private communications) no further public reports to PB. If your members have said they have been experiencing this issue for years, I believe them and believe you, but none of them have sought assistance here on Support that I can find, so PB cannot continue to triage an issue they do not know is on-going that, by every indication on their end, has stopped. As I'm sure you know as a fellow former QA person, bugfix exploration stops when repros and data stop being provided.

I set up a poll for our group to ask about frequency, or to see if there is anyone using Safari on iOS that isn't hitting this issue.  And we've had a few other threads on this in the past 3 days, including a user who liked a post 4 hours ago, but had to re-log in 20 minutes ago to like and reply to my post.

We'll get more data on this, even though it seems to be massively common.  The poll is at aaplfinance.proboards.com/thread/3858/login-aapl-finance-board-safari

The information provided in the thread should be useful for the PB folks that handle systems to trawl through, hopefully the root cause can be determined. :)

[4aapl]

After having several users complain of this problem, and seeing it first hand over at least the last 9 months, it turns out only 3 of the 14 people that voted in the poll said they were hitting a problem where they couldn't stay logged in to our proboards site when using Safari on an iOS device. So the numbers are much smaller than it initially seemed.

A few hours into the poll, and seeing that not everyone was having this problem, when I was asked to login again I tried different steps. In the past I believe the "stay logged in" checkbox was already checked and iOS let me used saved login credentials, which when used immediately logged me in (without separately having to click submit). At least that is how I remembered it.

This time I instead unchecked the checkbox and then checked it again. Then I let iOS put in my email/pass. And then I had to click the submit button.

It's been over 5 days and I have stayed logged in. Hopefully it will remain that way.

Without knowing the code or special cases behind it, I'd still suggest that someone on the PB team review any special iOS with Safari related code, if there is any. But at the moment it seems to be working ok for me, and I haven't heard from the 2 other users in the poll with more details about their problem.

Thanks

[Scott]

4aapl -

I just came across some reports that indicate the Safari 16.6 update could be the cause. Apparently it turns out that Private Browsing gets auto-enabled. This would need to be turned off in order to stay logged in.

[4aapl]

Sept 6, 2023 13:53:42 GMT -8 Scott said:

4aapl -

I just came across some reports that indicate the Safari 16.6 update could be the cause. Apparently it turns out that Private Browsing gets auto-enabled. This would need to be turned off in order to stay logged in.

Something like that would cause a problem.

Was that on a Mac, or on iOS?  In a strange intersection of version numbers, Safari on the latest released MacOS version is at 16.6, and the iOS OS version is 16.6.1.

I'm not having that problem with either of them, but it sounds like Apple rushed a security update for an issue in the wild, so maybe a bug slipped through.  I hadn't updated my Mac until seeing this message, and it was to Ventura 13.5.2, so there might have been a first version that was 13.5.1.

Either way, Private Browsing could cause a problem, but it wasn't why we were hitting this over the last months and years.  Luckily it turns out that not many people are hitting a problem, and I was able to fix it on my iPhone by unchecking and checking the checkbox before letting it put in my credentials.

Since that time one person said he was having trouble on Mac OS, and it could very well be what you are describing.

[Scott]

4aapl - yea I only offered that info as it was something I recently became aware of. I don't recall if it was MacOS, iOS, or both.


Glad resetting the 'remember me' is working for you.