Blank screen when switching back to the iOS app

Bug
31

Nooo! :slight_smile: is that a white screen with a very small gray bar at the top? That would indicate a different app state from what I have seen, what I saw was entirely white.

5 Likes
32

Yes, dark mode grey bar and white screen. Can’t say I remember seeing that combo before

33

I’m still experiencing this even on 1.6.1, will look at the app switcher next time it happens to see if I am also getting the grey bar.

1 Like
34

Thanks. I’m no longer seeing this myself (but it’s clearly not fixed yet).

Can you try something @Stephen and @gingerbeardman: please disable Background App Refresh for the DiscourseHub app. If that still doesn’t fix the issue, when the app goes all white, can you check whether you can swipe down from the top 10-15% of the screen? (This would help determine whether the app is stuck on a loaded site or not.)

3 Likes
35

I’ve not seen it for a while now.

I have Background App Refresh disabled completely (globally, for all apps) have done so for many years.

3 Likes
36

Just had a white screen, no gray bar at the top either in the app, or in the app switcher.

Swiping down did finally get me back to the sites list.

2 Likes
37

Someone should try testing this once iOS 13.4/iPadOS 13.4 releases in a few hours.

1 Like
38

Just had it again. An accurate swipe down got me back to the site list. I’m on iOS 13.4

1 Like
39

Thanks, it helps to know that you could swipe down to dismiss, I can investigate that.

4 Likes
40

Ok, @gingerbeardman please try the latest version of the app in TestFlight (public beta link). IIRC, you have the “Open external links in app” setting enabled. With that setting enabled in the app, I could reproduce an error when a site had a link that the OS couldn’t open (for example a link to about:blank which is sometimes used when opening a new browser window). It should be fixed now :crossed_fingers:.

2 Likes
41

I don’t have that setting enabled, but am getting the white screens.

2 Likes
42

I’m not seeing an updated beta in the current TestFlight?

Clicking your link gives me a different beta and error:

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image750×1334 155 KB

43

Please try now, you should see build 280 in your TestFlight now (we have two groups of testers and TestFlight seems to choke if you try to switch groups via links).

4 Likes
44

Downloaded. Will keep an eye on it.

1 Like
45

Still happening here for me.

46

Same, still able to swipe down to escape.

This was yesterday:

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image1125×2436 166 KB

2 Likes
47

Quick update, we noticed this is still happening @pmusaraj has a few new theories on how to work around this issue and will update here once they are applied.

6 Likes
48

I’ve noticed this many times in the past few weeks. The quick workaround that solves it for me is to force close the app and then re-open, although there have been a few times where even that didn’t solve it and I had to keep it closed for a few minutes and then try again.

1 Like
49

I usually force quit too. However apparently you can swipe down from the top to get the menu back too. (I’ve not confirmed this, but others at Discourse say it works.)

5 Likes
50

Yes, as Sam mentioned, I am still working on this. A beta version of the app is up but it hasn’t yet passed Apple’s beta review, will post the link here when it does.

My current understanding is that this happens when iOS terminates the webview (to reclaim memory, for example) but doesn’t terminate the rest of the app. In that scenario, the app is left in an odd state where its internal navigation is still in the webview route but the webview itself is terminated.

In the upcoming beta, I have added a way to dismiss the route when the webViewWebContentProcessDidTerminate hook is invoked. There are reports that this hook isn’t reliably hit when the app is in the background, and the original issue is very hard to reproduce at will, so, let’s hope and see.

7 Likes