iOS PWA input bug (fixed in iOS 18.7)

Contribute Bug

AI-generated summary

A bug in iOS 18.6.2 caused text input fields in Discourse PWAs to be unusable within certain modals, such as the topic title editor and “Move to Existing Topic” search. The issue affected both Meta and self-hosted instances, occurring only in the PWA container and not in Safari tabs. Ethsim2 confirmed the problem persisted despite reinstallation and rebooting. After upgrading to iOS 18.7, the issue was resolved, indicating it was an upstream WebKit/iOS bug rather than a Discourse regression. The bug appeared after a routine update to the self-hosted instance, but no specific Discourse changes were identified as the cause. Ethsim2 notes that the issue has been resolved by the iOS update, and advises others experiencing it on 18.6.2 to upgrade.

1

On iOS 18.6.2, text input fields in Discourse PWAs (Meta and self-hosted) were unusable in certain modals (topic title editor, “move to existing topic” search). After updating to iOS 18.7 (22Hxxx), the issue no longer occurs.

Affected environment

  • iOS 18.6.2 (22G100) — reproducible on both Meta and my own instance when installed as a PWA.
  • Input worked fine in Safari tabs, only broken in PWA container.
  • Removing/re-adding the PWA and rebooting did not help.

Steps previously affected

  • Edit topic title → could not type in title field.
  • Select posts → “Move to” → “Existing Topic” → could not type in search box.

Current status

  • After updating to iOS 18.7, both inputs work as expected.
  • Seems to have been an upstream WebKit/iOS bug rather than a Discourse regression.

Notes

  • Posting here for visibility: if other admins/users hit this on iOS 18.6.2, upgrading to 18.7 resolves it.
2

Just to add some context:

  • The issue first appeared for me on iOS 18.6.2, right after I updated my self-hosted site (standard production single-container Docker install tracking tests-passed). That update pulled in no more than ~40 new commits, including the recent Who’s Online plugin commit.
  • I only run the official Discourse plugins, no third-party code or custom patches.
  • Because I could reproduce it on Meta’s PWA as well, that ruled out anything instance-specific.

After updating to iOS 18.7, the problem disappeared. So this looks like it was an upstream iOS/WebKit regression, not a Discourse change.

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