iOS 26 keyboard automatically pops up in Captive Portal

Question

iOS 26 keyboard automatically pops up in Captive Portal

How can I prevent the iOS keyboard from automatically popping up on every input field in a Wi-Fi Captive Portal (iOS 26)?

After updating to iOS 26, my smart device’s Captive Portal shows a new behavior: as soon as the webpage loads, the iOS keyboard pops up even though no input element is focused. If I manually close the keyboard, it appears again a moment later.

This happens even with simple fields like:

<input inputmode="numeric" type="text" value="0">

or

<input placeholder="Search..." type="text" value="">

Is there anything I can do as a web developer to prevent iOS Safari (Captive Network Assistant) from automatically opening the keyboard?

Has iOS 26 changed Captive Portal behavior, and is there a recommended workaround (e.g., readonly inputs, disabling focus, delaying DOM rendering, etc.)?

Posted on Dec 6, 2025 2:17 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Chloeree

Level 1

19 points

Dec 6, 2025 7:20 AM in response to artem_russkikh

iOS 26 does seem to have changed how the Captive Network Assistant handles input fields. The keyboard now shows up more aggressively, even when nothing is actually focused, and this behavior isn’t something you can disable directly from web settings.

What usually works is controlling when the input becomes editable. The most reliable approach is to load your inputs as readonly and only remove that attribute after the user taps the field. That prevents the keyboard from opening on page load but still lets the user type normally when they choose to.

You can also avoid any autofocus or scripted focus calls, since CNA treats those more strictly now. Some developers have had luck using inputmode="none", but support is inconsistent, so it shouldn’t be your only fix.

In short, nothing changed on the development side, but the CNA browser in iOS 26 definitely changed its behavior. Handling the keyboard by delaying focus or making the fields editable only after the user interacts is the most dependable workaround right now.

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Answer 2

LD150

Level 10

99,541 points

Dec 6, 2025 3:40 AM in response to artem_russkikh

I will request this is moved to the developer forums.

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