Issue with Browser Back Button Skipping Pages in History on Chrome for iOS

[Steve Rehm]

Hey all,

I'm running into an issue with Chrome on iOS where the back button either skips multiple pages or jumps to the previous domain. This is a huge deal, especially in scenarios like a single-page application (SPA), where each step in the flow is crucial for conversion. Losing that precise navigation can really hurt the user experience.

Has anyone else come across this? Any fixes or workarounds would be really helpful.

Thanks in advance!
Steve

[Rakina Zata Amni]

Maybe the entries are somehow marked as should be skipped here? (+cc Shivani and Charlie who I think might know about this area)

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[Charlie Reis]

This report is on iOS, which I don't think uses that code.  Maybe @Ali Juma can help point this in the right direction?

Charlie

[Ali Juma]

Chrome on iOS uses WebKit, which has logic to skip over navigation items that are added without user interaction. The behavior should be the same on Safari on iOS. The intent is to protect the user from websites that try to prevent users from leaving, by constantly adding navigation items using pushState so that the Back button never takes the user away from the site.

If you can reproduce this bug in both Chrome and Safari, please file a WebKit bug (at bugs.webkit.org) with more details. If it only reproduces in Chrome on iOS, please file a bug at crbug.com.

Thanks!

Ali

[Steve Rehm]

Thank you for your feedback! 

I am happy to report the bug. But maybe you can give me an idea about how WebKit distinguishes whether it is a user interaction or not?

The behavior could not be reproduced in other browsers so far. There was also different behavior on different Chrome and iOS versions. However, there is no recognisable pattern so far.

• iPhone 14 Pro, iOS 17.6.1, Chrome 128 (works partially)
• iPhone 11 Pro, iOS 15.0.2, Chrome 125 (works)
• iPhone SE, iOS 17.6.1, Chrome 129 (does not work)
• iPhone XR, iOS 17.5.1, Chrome 129 (does not work)
• iPhone 15, iOS 17.4.1, Chrome 129 (works)
• iPhone 15, iOS 17.5.1, Chrome 129 (does not work)
• iPhone 15 Pro Max, iOS 18, Chrome 129 (does not work)

I am unsure whether this is really a bug or an implementation detail that needs to be taken into account when navigating (be it soft or hard navigation). We have the behavior in single and multi-page applications.

Thanks!

Steve

[Ali Juma]

The commit messages for this sequence of commits are the best documentation:

https://github.com/WebKit/WebKit/commit/4a761ea1b444cb3c363b4dbd7bdee31429bd98cb
https://github.com/WebKit/WebKit/commit/048c68aca363063546a4efb9e64f210ef706d8d5 

https://github.com/WebKit/WebKit/commit/165f03cc6003b24c3ddaf46517c3f72183c5f4fe
https://github.com/WebKit/WebKit/commit/52eab19e06842e724b2000490ca673a0bd4dbca8 
https://github.com/WebKit/WebKit/commit/baca9afc289ec04ded778c7e5a5868e4c3781e81

https://github.com/WebKit/WebKit/commit/028628cff47325ccf31051675ebdf0f1e6eb74fc

On Fri, Oct 4, 2024 at 10:25 AM Shivani Sharma <shiva...@google.com> wrote:

@Ali Juma : Thanks for the context! Is there a bug/document mentioning webkit's skipping behavior? Mostly curious to see how similar/different it is with chromium's behavior. Thanks!

On Fri, Oct 4, 2024 at 10:15 AM Ali Juma <aj...@google.com> wrote:

In Chrome on iOS, this behavior (of skipping over items added without user interaction) is enabled on iOS 17.5+ in Chrome 127+.

WebKit looks at whether there was user interaction within the past 10 seconds, *and* that this interaction has not already been "consumed" by certain APIs.

https://webkit.org/blog/13862/the-user-activation-api/ is a good reference for these concepts, explaining what counts as user interaction, and which APIs can "consume" a user interaction.

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Shivani

[Shivani Sharma]

@Ali Juma : Thanks for the context! Is there a bug/document mentioning webkit's skipping behavior? Mostly curious to see how similar/different it is with chromium's behavior. Thanks!

On Fri, Oct 4, 2024 at 10:15 AM Ali Juma <aj...@google.com> wrote:

In Chrome on iOS, this behavior (of skipping over items added without user interaction) is enabled on iOS 17.5+ in Chrome 127+.

WebKit looks at whether there was user interaction within the past 10 seconds, *and* that this interaction has not already been "consumed" by certain APIs.

https://webkit.org/blog/13862/the-user-activation-api/ is a good reference for these concepts, explaining what counts as user interaction, and which APIs can "consume" a user interaction.

On Fri, Oct 4, 2024 at 3:12 AM Steve Rehm <cremed...@googlemail.com> wrote:

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Shivani

[Ali Juma]

In Chrome on iOS, this behavior (of skipping over items added without user interaction) is enabled on iOS 17.5+ in Chrome 127+.

WebKit looks at whether there was user interaction within the past 10 seconds, *and* that this interaction has not already been "consumed" by certain APIs.

https://webkit.org/blog/13862/the-user-activation-api/ is a good reference for these concepts, explaining what counts as user interaction, and which APIs can "consume" a user interaction.

On Fri, Oct 4, 2024 at 3:12 AM Steve Rehm <cremed...@googlemail.com> wrote: