[Question] : social networks in-app browser #1915
Replies: 10 comments 21 replies
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I believe you are correct; we have similar problems with XR not being available in an Android WebView, which is basically equivalent. I have no idea what control you may have over where your links open. |
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Hi Ryan and Emmet. |
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I believe it's a problem of those apps trying to open USDZ files. A simple test: <!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head> </head>
<body>
<a
href="https://developer.apple.com/augmented-reality/quick-look/models/drummertoy/toy_drummer.usdz"
rel="ar"
>
<img
src="https://developer.apple.com/augmented-reality/quick-look/models/drummertoy/drummertoy_2x.jpg"
alt=""
/>
</a>
</body>
</html>
I've tried launching the link on Safari with no success. For a quick-fix I added a modal that asks the user to open in safari with image instructions, based on userAgent: |
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Thank you Felipe. Having a button re directing to system browser is a better option than displaying the 3D view only, IMO. I'll keep an eye on this in case there's a code method that allows launch the AR content directly. |
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Hi! What about Instagram and WKWebView? The company 8th wall states that WebAR now works with your favorite apps like Instagram which uses WKWebView with the new iOS 14.3+. How is it possible that it works for 8th wall but not with the model viewer? |
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Please don't cross-post. It's much easier to answer you question in one place. |
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Sorry about that @elalish ! |
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anyone have a new/good workaround for this? i just discovered this the hard way after switching my IG bio link to https://ar.ink, only to find that the AR cannot be launched from the built-in IG browser. (i am hoping that @FelipeR2U 's workaround it out of date by now, a year later.) |
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I think you'll need to file a bug on WebKit if you want their WKWebViews to work with AR. Android had a similar problem: Android WebView doesn't support WebXR, but the new WebLayer does. These things take time... |
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There's a few different strands to this one.... First issue; on iOS, social media app developers should really be using the Second issue; being able to break out of a WebView is another challenge. It's possible for websites to detect that they are running inside a WebView. But currently there's no easy way to break out of it. There's a feature request for WebKit to support a URL scheme for opening links in the user's default web browser, which would provide a way for websites to break out of WebViews. By all means, pile on and +1 it here: |
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@grorg - might this be of interest? |
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Canvasing iOS app developers to switch over to SFSafariViewController is one option. @milesgreen - |
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That's a great question @rawwerks. For what it's worth, I've been submitting feedback and bug forms for the main platforms. But I imagine those suggestions go into a blackhole somewhere. Seems like most of the social apps don't have public issue trackers / forums. A lot of the browsers do though, so that's where I've been logging a lot of browser-related issues. I've been trying to make connections with people inside those organisations to highlight the issue. Slow progress there. Per the comment below, there's an issue logged with WebKit to bring compatibility to WebView - which is what most of the social apps are using: https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=240117 @grorg is in the loop and fighting the good fight. Brining AR QuickLook support to WebView would perhaps be the single best solution, as that would fix it for all. WWDC is just a few weeks away. Maybe Apple will reveal a new direction with WebXR and / or |
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Simple reason why social media apps won't use No script injection (used to track what you're doing) and content blockers (can't be switched off or bypassed inside Our only hope is for Apple to force it, which I'm sure they will in a future OS version, but resistance will be extreme. |
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Sadly, this. All the big social apps are using WKWebView for in-app browsers, injecting code that enables them to spy on anything the user does on visited sites. Massive security risk. Also a degraded user experience. Notable exception is Twitter iOS, that uses SFSafariViewController. Getting off topic here, but there's growing awareness of the significance of the problem: Seeing as it's possible for a website to detect if it Is being loaded inside a WKWebView, I wish more sites would simply block in-app browsers. But that would risk a massive drop off in traffic, as users might not go the extra step to 'Open in Safari', so I can understand why they might not. |
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There is a bug logged on webkit requesting AR QuickLook support to be brought to Pile on and +1 to show how important it is! |
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Does anyone know if the iOS YouTube app also uses WebKit? (In other words, will model-viewer sites load correctly if clicked inside the YT app on iOS?) I'm desperately in search of a channel to share my model-viewer-powered AR sites without forcing users into any of the workarounds we've outlined above...(& ideally one that isn't Twitter ;) |
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WebKit is the only browser engine allowed on iOS, so yes. Not sure if they use WKWebView; might be best to just try and see. |
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so from a very quick test, it appears that the current YouTube iOS app gives users a prompt for which browser to use for opening links. (yay). now i will just have to train everyone watching the video not to use chrome.... |
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Nice; Also we've had reports that Chrome 102 on iOS is now working; if you can confirm, that would be helpful. |
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is anyone aware of any progress/updates re: AR for the in-app browsers? i haven't seen any indication that webkit is going to change anything. |
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No progress I've seen as of yet. But @grorg has indicated that Apple might someday possibly bring ARQL to WKWebView. I hope so. |
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thanks for the update! i will get back to praying for this beautiful day to come. hopefully Siri is listening ;) |
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@grorg - is there any hope of this happening in 2023? |
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@grorg - any hope of this happening in 2024? https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=240117 |
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Any news on this, guys @milesgreen @rawwerks @elalish ? |
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Not as far as I can tell. WebKit team doesn't care. None of the socials other than Twitter are running SafariViewController. It's a major bummer, I've given up. |
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Nothing so far. Keeping my fingers crossed for WWDC on Jun 5. Hopefully there might be some improvements. Or some altogether new developments. |
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Came here because I too am running into this issue in April 2024. It’s quite sad to see there is no resolution here. Anyone tried anything that worked to get Quick Look on iOS working using in app browsers? |
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SFSafariViewController is the only in-app browser that I know works. (This is what X/Twitter uses.) @milesgreen is the world's foremost expert on this problem...he may have some additional ideas. |
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Heh. Thanks. yeah, I've spent some time looking at this over the years... So, the short answer is no, there's no real progress on this front. Best option right now is to check if the page is running inside WKWebView and if it is, pop up a message and direct the user to open in a proper browser. But, you need to make sure you don't block the third-party browsers that are built on top of WKWebView but have added support for ARQuickLook. EG. Chrome. So you might want to do something like: If you detect an incompatible view you can:
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I tested my URLs to AR models by sharing them on social networks (fb, twitter and linkedin for now).
When you open an AR model from their native iOS app, they open it in their integrated browser. Here are the result of testing
modelViewer.canActivateARin different iOS browsers :For fb and linkedin, is this because they use a custom browser with not all features available (camera, XR etc..) ?
For twitter, is this because they use a default iOS safari view controller which enables all features ?
Can I force my links (https://) to open in safari when clicked in fb or linkedin app ?
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