Browser tabs usually close upon returning to 1P

skippingrock

Hi, I thought I had already talked about this one, but it seems I haven't.

One thing that really bugs me when I use the 1P browser (my preferred browser when I am doing secure stuff) is that I will be using a bunch of tabs and then I will have to switch to another app for various reasons, perhaps to go to the Contacts app or to copy a link from Safari or an ID from another.

Anyway, when I come back to 1P iOS and re-unlock to return to 1P browser, I find that all of my tabs have been closed.

I then have to go back in and do it all again.

This may be a security feature, but I find it an annoyance and would like to have 1P remember what pages are open over subsequent launches and uses of the 1P app on iOS. If it is a feature, could you please add the ability to turn it off?

Thanks, Skippingrock.

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1Password Version: 5.5
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: iOS 8.3
Sync Type: Dropbox

skippingrock

I don't think it is a security "feature" as it's inconsistent in its occurrence. But when it does happen, I remember and frustrated.

Ben

Hi @skippingrock,

Sorry to hear about the trouble. This is not a feature, and I can't say I've personally seen it happen. I just tried it now and couldn't make it happen. I opened two tabs in 1Browser, switched to another app, came back to 1Browser and opened another tab, switched to another app, and lastly came back to 1Browser and opened another tab. In all instances all of my tabs remained.

Could you please see if there are specific repeatable steps you can follow to cause this issue to occur?

Thanks!

Ben

skippingrock

I will see if I can get more specifics.

Ben

Thanks!

skippingrock

You know what, I think I have been able to figure out why this is happening.
Basically, I sometimes turn off Background app refresh in the settings to save on power, speed, cellular usage, etc.
I've turned it off for specific apps too, and 1Password has been one of them because I didn't think that it really needed to be running in the background for anything until I needed it. I'm thinking that this shows up when I have turned off background refreshing for 1P. I'm thinking that when it is off and I've got tabs open in the 1P browser and then I go away from the app and then return, perhaps the reason that the tabs are closed is because 1P wasn't able to maintain a connection to the webpages, and/or perhaps "forgot" what pages were open.

I've since have had background refresh turned back on for 1P and I haven't seen this error anymore.
Is there a flag or anything that you can call upon to see if 1P has had it's background refresh turned off? If you can and if it turns out that this is what is causing the problem then perhaps if there isn't a way for you to get around this then you could at least warn the users that Background Refresh is turned off and that opened webpages in 1P browser may not be able to be maintained open.

I will try turning off background refresh for 1P again and see if it happens again but it would be good for you to try also as I'm thinking that most all of you may not have thought to test how the app behaves without the refresh setting on. Or maybe you have. Dunno.

Again, thanks for looking into this and I hope that we can get to the bottom of this.
Cheers!

AGAlumB

You know what, I think I have been able to figure out why this is happening. Basically, I sometimes turn off Background app refresh in the settings to save on power, speed, cellular usage, etc.

@skippingrock: Aha! Yes, that makes sense. Background App Refresh essentially 'buys us some time' when it comes to getting purged by iOS. 1Password isn't particularly resource-intensive, so you shouldn't notice any adverse effects from leaving Background App Refresh enabled for 1Password. And of course the benefit is that it allows 1Password to work as you expect.

Honestly, I don't think this has come up before since most folks just leave all of these deep per-app settings alone (often not even knowing they're there). Thanks for bringing this to our attention! Much like cellular data, I don't believe that iOS lets us 'peek' to determine if our app is being limited in this fashion. We'll look into this further ourselves, and be sure to let us know if you notice anything else in your own use. Cheers! :)