Safari not recording history from embedded browser launches

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Level 1

6 points

Safari not recording history from embedded browser launches

I found out recently that my child is able to circumvent having google searches be recorded to Safari browsing history by launching google search using a url that is in in their email (Gmail app).

My understanding is that when urls are clicked from within another app (Gmail, Slack, etc.) that the website is launched using WebView (or UIWebView or WKWebView). My question is why isn't this activity also tracked in browser history? Having this gap pretty much defeats the purpose for having browser history locked on the device (as my child's school district has done through device management) if you can do all your browsing history via this method.

Posted on Sep 30, 2021 2:22 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 9, 2021 7:04 AM in response to rupunzlkim

rupunzlkim, Thanks for letting us know and for giving the previous troubleshooting steps a try. At this point, we recommend that you Contact Apple Support using the link below so that they can help you find a solution to the issue that you’re experiencing. Contact Apple Support Cheers!

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Answer 2

SnickZ.

Community Specialist

Oct 1, 2021 5:36 AM in response to rupunzlkim

Hello rupunzlkim, Thanks for reaching out. You’re in the right place to get support with Safari on your iPad. You mentioned that Safari is no longer keeping a record of your browsing history. Is that correct? If so, please make sure that Private Browsing is not enabled, followed by testing, and let us know if the original issue persists.

Turn Private Browsing on or off on your iPad

Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities. Cheers!

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Answer 3

rupunzlkim Author

Level 1

6 points

Oct 6, 2021 2:08 PM in response to SnickZ.

Thank you for reading my post. If you check it again, you'll see that I was not saying that Safari was no longer recording browser history, but that browsing using UIWebView or WKWebView is not recorded in Safari history. And to your question, Private Browsing is/was disabled on the iPad.

So my overall question is how to know what browsing is occurring when UIWebView or WKWebView is used?

I'll check again, but I thought when I was looking at this before that when the browser was launched from Gmail that it said Safari in the top left corner, but I'll double check again tonight.

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Safari not recording history from embedded browser launches

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