Skip to content

Instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

@kylebarrow
Created June 23, 2011 06:30
Show Gist options
  • Save kylebarrow/1042026 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Save kylebarrow/1042026 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Prevent links in standalone web apps opening Mobile Safari
<!DOCTYPE html>
<head>
<title>Stay Standalone</title>
<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=no">
<script src="stay_standalone.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
</head>
<body>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://google.com/">Remote Link (Google)</a></li>
<li><a href="javascript:alert('Awesome script is awesome')">JavaScript Link</a></li>
<li><a href="/">Local Link</a></li>
<li><a href="#amp">Local Anchor</a></li>
</ul>
</body>
// Mobile Safari in standalone mode
if(("standalone" in window.navigator) && window.navigator.standalone){
// If you want to prevent remote links in standalone web apps opening Mobile Safari, change 'remotes' to true
var noddy, remotes = false;
document.addEventListener('click', function(event) {
noddy = event.target;
// Bubble up until we hit link or top HTML element. Warning: BODY element is not compulsory so better to stop on HTML
while(noddy.nodeName !== "A" && noddy.nodeName !== "HTML") {
noddy = noddy.parentNode;
}
if('href' in noddy && noddy.href.indexOf('http') !== -1 && (noddy.href.indexOf(document.location.host) !== -1 || remotes))
{
event.preventDefault();
document.location.href = noddy.href;
}
},false);
}
@jsteele5
Copy link

First and foremost, this has been very helpful so thank you to everyone who contributed!!

This is working great for me on my site on all links except for one:

" http://domain.com/index.php?option=com_community&view=frontpage&Itemid=107 "

I've tried several different things thus far to prevent this link from opening outside of my app but I've had no luck yet.

If anyone can shed light on this I would be very grateful!

Thanks in advance!

@BartmanEH
Copy link

I see this is a good four years old now. It doesn't seem to work for me in iOS 8.1+ Can anyone confirm if it works or doesn't for them? I tried setting remotes = TRUE but all href links open in mobile Safari for me.

@geemang2000
Copy link

Can anyone confirm this works with modern IOS? I'm having no luck making this work.

@collarbone
Copy link

Amazing, thank you so much! Just used it on an iPhone 6. Does work!

@Firestorm-Graphics
Copy link

amazing thanks, confirmed working in iOS 9.3.4 : +1: using irae 's gist here: https://gist.github.com/1042167

@gorlandor
Copy link

This is excellent. Works on iOS 10.2.1. Thanks @irae !

@eprompc
Copy link

eprompc commented Feb 24, 2017

I have a link with onclick to confirm the action, with OK and CANCEL option. On any desktop browser (Chrome, Safari...) it works properly, but on iOS WebApp (using that script) the CANCEL button do the same function as OK.

Example Link:

<a onclick="return confirm('Really want to proceed?')" href="/reservation/cancel/1">Cancel</a>

Any idea to solve it?

@sooonism
Copy link

Did a simple test and it still work in IOS 11.2 Beta. Thanks!

@karlingen
Copy link

Here is a modification for rails applications wanting their data-remote="true" links to work as well. In coffeescript:

$(document).ready ->
  # For iOS Web apps, so they do not open in new window
  if 'standalone' of window.navigator and window.navigator.standalone
    # If you want to prevent remote links in standalone web apps opening Mobile Safari, change 'remotes' to true
    noddy = undefined
    remotes = false
    document.addEventListener 'click', ((event) ->
      noddy = event.target
      # Bubble up until we hit link or top HTML element. Warning: BODY element is not compulsory so better to stop on HTML
      while noddy.nodeName != 'A' and noddy.nodeName != 'HTML'
        noddy = noddy.parentNode
      if 'href' of noddy and noddy.href.indexOf('http') != -1 and (noddy.href.indexOf(document.location.host) != -1 or remotes)
        event.preventDefault()
        # do not redirect page on data-remote links
        (document.location.href = noddy.href) unless $(noddy).data('remote') == true
      return
    ), false

@cseelus
Copy link

cseelus commented Jan 30, 2018

@karlingen Awesome, also prevents links where turbolinks="false" is set from opening a new window in those mobile Safari standalone Webapps.

@khovanskiy
Copy link

khovanskiy commented Mar 16, 2018

Here is my modification for TypeScript application. Note: The solution supports UI Web View case and target=_blank

static getIOSScope(): string {
    const standalone = (window.navigator as any).standalone;
    const userAgent = window.navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase();
    const safari = /safari/.test(userAgent);
    const ios = /iphone|ipod|ipad/.test(userAgent);
    if (ios) {
        if (!standalone && safari) {
            return 'browser';
        } else if (standalone && !safari) {
            return 'standalone';
        } else if (!standalone && !safari) {
            return 'uiwebview';
        }
    }
    return 'another';
}

static fixIOSLinks() {
    const scope = Utils.getIOSScope();
    if (scope !== 'standalone' && scope !== 'uiwebview') {
        return;
    }
    // _blank links open inside
    const links = document.getElementsByTagName('a');
    for (let i = 0; i < links.length; ++i) {
        if (links[i].getAttribute('target') == '_blank') {
            links[i].removeAttribute('target');
            links[i].setAttribute('data-target', '_blank');
        }
    }
    // not _blank links open outside => iOS is piece of shit
    document.addEventListener('click', function (e) {
        let element: Element = e.target as Element;
        while (!/^(a|html)$/i.test(element.nodeName) && element.parentNode) {
            element = element.parentNode as Element;
        }
        if (element.getAttribute) {
            const href = element.getAttribute('href');
            const target = element.getAttribute('data-target');
            if (target) {
                return;
            }
            const protocol = (element as any).protocol;
            const isHrefDefined = !!href && '#' !== href;
            if (isHrefDefined) {
                const isWebProtocol = !protocol || protocol !== 'tel:';
                const isRelativePath = Utils.isRelativePath(href);
                const pattern = new RegExp("^[a-z][a-z0-9+.-]*:\/\/" + window.document.location.host);
                const isCurrentHost = pattern.test(href);
                if (isWebProtocol && (isRelativePath || isCurrentHost)) {
                    e.preventDefault();
                    window.document.location.assign(href);
                }
            }
        }
    }, false);
}

@ganar
Copy link

ganar commented May 3, 2018

@irae @khovanskiy Is there a way to execute on links that load within AJAX content? For instance: I have a featherlight loading AJAX content. Is there a way to prevent links loaded on AJAX to open pdf or XLSX files within the app?

@MovingGifts
Copy link

@khovanskiy I think you forgot to include the Utils.isRelativePath(href)function used in your code snippet:

const isRelativePath = Utils.isRelativePath(href);

Can you please include it to complete the solution you were sharing?

@garygrubb
Copy link

Could someone please help me with similar code for a HTML form post ?

@aaronhb
Copy link

aaronhb commented May 10, 2019

I am trying to find a solution so that i can have it open PDF files or other links open in mobile web browser but all others stay in the PWA. Anyone know how to do this?

I am using the following code

<script>(function(a,b,c){if(c in b&&b[c]){var d,e=a.location,f=/^(a|html)$/i;a.addEventListener("click",function(a){d=a.target;while(!f.test(d.nodeName))d=d.parentNode;"href"in d&&(d.href.indexOf("http")||~d.href.indexOf(e.host))&&(a.preventDefault(),e.href=d.href)},!1)}})(document,window.navigator,"standalone")</script>

@ssfinney
Copy link

ssfinney commented Jul 1, 2019

Works for me!

@SarKaa
Copy link

SarKaa commented Nov 2, 2019

Is there any way to make this work on iframes. I mean all links opened within the iframe open in the web app?

@justinputney
Copy link

This solution appears to launch URLs in a lightbox from the Web App in iOS 13.2. Is anyone else seeing this behavior?

@johnbarratt
Copy link

@justinputney Yes, seeing same thing here.

@justinputney
Copy link

@johnbarratt Thanks for the confirmation. Let me know if you find a fix where it doesn't trigger a ligthbox.

@johnbarratt
Copy link

@justinputney : Just found this, seems to fix it, you just need a bare bones manifest, though it only works for pages added after the manifest was added to the site : https://stackoverflow.com/questions/58210991/peculiar-pwa-bug-on-safari-ios-13-1-2

@justinputney
Copy link

@johnbarratt Thanks!

@joe182
Copy link

joe182 commented Feb 18, 2021

correct me if I'm wrong, but to prevent links from opening in safari, isn't just the scope the only thing you need to add to your manifest? No javascript, no hacks no nothing just a single line in the json file.

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment