Problem with community on an iPad

Mark E. Mitchell · March 24, 2021

We have received some reports of users having trouble using the community on an iPad. I am throwing this out to see if someone can help us resolve the issue. It seems when users are using Safari the community reloads and kicks them back to the top of the screen. I think it is possible a setting in Safari. I am wondering if anyone has suggestions on what we might need to do to solve this problem?

For those who want to get around this problem it does not seem to present itself is you use another browser like Chrome on your iPad.

Dave Shepherd · March 26, 2021

I experienced this. When on iOS Safari, any navigation on the page (scrolling) causes the page to refresh. Safari would briefly display a large gray gear before the page refresh would occur (See screen shot).

I switched to another browser (both iOS Chrome and Edge) and they do not have the same issue. I went into the Safari settings and disabled most of the security settings, turned features on/off, and cleared history and cookies to see if I could pinpoint it. Nothing resolved it. iOS Safari continues to reload on navigation.

Elizabeth Sue Hutchison · March 26, 2021

Oh my heavens, YES! I thought I was going crazy trying to create a new discussion. Had to hop onto the main computer to try to get my question answered.

John Empoliti · April 3, 2021

Chrome for IOS has solved the continual Refresh problem on my iPad, but I cannot see the bell or envelope icons on it and have had to resort to bookmarks to get to my Inbox and see my messages. I'll post a screenshot when I am back on the iPad.

Also, when I open Indexing Chat, all of the resources that are hidden by the slider bar on my PC ALL show so I have to scroll down a few pages to get to the actual chats. And this also happens every time I "go back" to the group from an individual chat. It's annoying over time and inefficient. I wish that some sort of dropdown or another interface could hide all that useful (but not to me all the time) on an iPad.

Here is a screenshot from my iPad. No envelope and no bell. Chrome for IOS is the Browser

John Empoliti · April 3, 2021

So far, I recommend IOS Chrome. It seems stable. But I still don’t see the envelope and bell icons. I don’t know if it’s a setting in Safari, or a more intrinsic issue with Safari that’s causing the refresh problem. I believe that Melissa Himes has had some Community problems with Safari on her Mac. I have reached out to her to find out if those issues have resolved, and if so, how.

UPDATE ON THE IOS-SAFARI CONTINUAL REFRESH PROBLEM: Melissa Himes no longer has that Safari continual refresh problem on her Mac, and she didn’t do anything special to resolve it.

I found complaints online going back to 2015 about this issue in other contexts obviously, and it (the buffering/continual refreshing) is often attributed to lack of RAM on the subject iPad or an older device with maybe a “tired” chip, or too many apps running. But, I had the problem on my 2016 iPad Pro 9.7” (2 GB Ram). my 2019 iPhone 11 (3 GB Ram), and even my brand new 2020/21 iPad Pro 12.9” (6 GB Ram) - even when Safari was the only app running and the Community was the only tab open. So it’s an IOS-Safari issue broader than just an iPad. But it still may be that Safari is having some sort of “perceived” memory problem with the Community. And what are the other IOS browsers doing differently that makes the problem not appear?

Adrien Kintziger · April 3, 2021

test

Adrien Kintziger · April 3, 2021

Strange test, as i could not post a hyperlink on previous attempts; always a comment returns

"your comment will appear after it is approved"

Only to make a suggestion to disable "suggestions" in the Safari browser on I-Pad.

The link was about a way to do this.Without the hyperlink => posting works.

Hannah Walker Jenkins · April 11, 2021

@John Empoliti

I'm using Android, and I don't see the envelope or bell either. If I click on my profile picture, I can see them. I added some screenshots to show you. I don't know if it works the same way on an iPad, bit I hope this helps.

John Empoliti · April 12, 2021

Yes @Hannah Walker Jenkins That what I see (and don't see - no bell and no envelope). I hope that someone is working on fixing this issue, among other problems unique to non-PC and non-Mac devices.

Miss Jessie · April 12, 2021

l see both the bell & envelope

I have no problems using Community on IPad Pro iOS Safari 14.2

5982AF07-9524-4F48-B97F-DA764EF0B124.jpeg

John Empoliti · April 12, 2021

Thanks Jessie. I think they've fixed that. I was able to see the bell. I'm using Chrome, but I'm glad that Safari is working now.

Mark E. Mitchell · April 12, 2021

https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/comment/252924#Comment_252924

@Hannah Walker Jenkins This was by design. The bell and the envelope are not supposed to show on smaller platforms until you expand the profile. This design decision is because of the limited space.

John Empoliti · April 12, 2021

OK. Thanks Hannah.

John Empoliti · April 12, 2021

Hannah, please ask them to do something like the display on a Desktop PC/Mac (the slider) to compress the Resources Info on the Indexing Chat page. It’s a pain to have to scroll through it all the time. Thanks.

Dave Shepherd · April 17, 2021

Still have the same issue on iPad Safari viewing community pages. Refreshes when you try to navigate as described above. No issue using chrome. Just seems silly that a modern community forum platform doesn't work with Safari. Also surprised that there is so little communication about trying to fix it.

Miss Jessie · April 17, 2021

Dave, I’m on iPad Pro 14.2 Safari and have no issues viewing FamilySearch community.

Dave Shepherd · April 30, 2021

Thanks Jessie - i am on iPadOS 14.5 (latest) on an iPad 10.2 2020 (so not a pro model). I still have the issue. Safari refreshes anytime you scroll. I will just use another browser when I need to access the community on my iPad. I guess it is my device.

John Empoliti · April 30, 2021

Dave (and Jesse) I have an Ipad Pro (9.7") 2016 vintage. And I still have the problem with refresh on Safari, which is why I switched to Chrome - which I use on my PC anyway, so I'm happy. Who knows, maybe Jesse's iPad Pro is the anomaly, rather than us.

IMLittle · May 3, 2021

This is my first time in the groups, and I am seeing the issue on my iPad. I did figure out that you can scroll while it is reloading, and get past the infinite scroll issue. It seems like it is trying to load page by page for the smaller devices, but since there is only one page, the infinite scroll is breaking.

I am a web dev and would be happy to help test and work to get you past the issue. I have several assumptions about how the system works that I would need to discuss and clarify.

Message me and I will see what we can come up with to resolve it once and for all.

thanks!

Mark McLemore · May 22, 2021

Thank you everyone for the discussion and suggestions. We’re actively working to resolve this problem and hope to have it resolved soon.

John Empoliti · May 22, 2021

@Mark McLemore , please also address the issue of the "hidden" (behind horizontal scroll bar on a desktop PC) Indexing Resources on the Indexing Chat Group page not being hidden on a mobile device. This causes a visitor to do a lot of scrolling to get to the discussions. Thanks.

John Empoliti · May 25, 2021

@Mark McLemore I just accidentally discovered that the feature to keep hidden the list of Group Resources for the Indexing Chat Group unless you scroll to the right (that I referred to above) works when one is in Landscape mode. But it doesn't work in Portrait mode. I've been struggling with this since the transition, and I'm sure that others have been too. Please find a way to provide this functionality in Portrait mode, or alert people using Portrait mode (within the program, not just via a one-time announcement) to switch to Landscape mode to get full functionality. Thanks.

Mark McLemore · May 29, 2021

https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/comment/257176#Comment_257176

@John Empoliti Thanks for reporting the issue, and for the clarification on portrait vs landscape mode. I've submitted this to our dev team. I'll look into the notification suggestion (great suggestion btw), and see what we can do to help community the importance of landscape view.

Mark McLemore · May 29, 2021

https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/comment/255214#Comment_255214

Hello @IMLittle - The issue should be resolved now. Thanks for pointing it out, and thanks for the offer to help!

Adrien Kintziger · June 17, 2021