Safari iOS 7 keeps flashing previously closed tabs upon reopen? Security Problem

Called Apple and they said that this is a known issue and there is a fix:

1.) Connect iPad to computer and launch iTunes.

2.) Hold down power button and home button on iPad UNTIL you see the iTunes logo on the iPad (it will be after the apple logo).

3.) Click Restore on the prompts on the computer and it will begin downloading a fresh iOS.

I was assured this would solve the issue since it will be erasing the entire iPad and installing a completely new iOS.

They said there was a problem with the update feature in the iOS and this bug only exists on iPads that were updated on the device itself.

I'm hoping this solves the issue as well, I'll get back to you in a week or two.

Just saw a snapshot and wanted to report back that the so called 'fix' did not resolve the problem. Sad really, this problem may never be fixed.

I've had the same problem for a week or so now. iPad air >IOS 8.2

After reading though this huge thread I decided to give it a go...I'm in noway a computer person but the following seemed to fix the issue

1) on the iPad i went into general and pressed ERASE ALL CONTENT AND SETTINGS

2) just to be sure, I then attached my iPad to my mac and selected restore but then set the iPad up as new as opposed to restoring from backup

3) replaced aps , music and books and synced

took a long *** time to complete but I'm happy to report, no phantom web pages load and I managed to get rid of some stuff I wasn't using anyway.

hope this helps.

I have noticed this problem (bug), I've almost been in awkward situations at school when this happens.

Also happens to me, a lot. I have 5 Iphones (an Iphone 5, 5s and three 6 pluses 64 gig) and an Ipad 3. I've had enough. Just waiting for the Galaxy S6 to come out, then I'm gone!

Thanks for the tips, appleho. Have you tried to recreate the issue yet or seen any old snapshots come up yet? Safari would be the one to show it first.

So gleaning from what appleho and johnmaxwell have found this is what seems to be the case:

• Apple has allegedly fixed the issue but the fix only works if you install a fresh iOS. If you update your existing iOS the bug persists.
• If you Erase and Restore your device from a previous backup you are carrying the bug with you and the bug persists.
• If you Erase the device and set it up as if it were new device then the bug should go away.

I am still skeptical that this is a working solution, but I'll give it a whirl since my iPad is not inundated with apps and media. I'll report back with results when it's all complete and I have run some tests. ...Shoot! I guess this means I have to accept those bad app updates that I have been avoiding. I wish there was a way to revert to previous versions...

Okay folks, I have mixed results. Yes, the appleho's (really Apple's) method on Page 12 worked on my iPad Air 2 (iOS 8.2), but only if I completely close out of Safari from running in the background. However, now that I have completely erased and updated my iPad I cannot test to see of these results were the same before I erased it all and updated the iOS. Can anyone confirm these results using the test I listed here, but without erasing/updating their iPad? Thank you.

The Safari Test:

1. Pull up pictures of Bad Apples (hint hint), leave the tab with the Bad Apples open and then close Safari.
2. Rotate the iPad 90°, open Safari again, close the Bad Apples tab, and load pictures of Happy Cats in a new tab. Again, leave the Happy Cats tab open then close Safari.
3. Rotate the iPad back to the Bad Apples orientation, open Safari again and see if Bad Apples show up for 1-2 seconds.
4. Repeat for all orientations.

If Bad Apples show up temporarily at the end of Step 3 the issue still exists. If not, the issue is gone.

The Results:

The issue persists if: you only close Safari by sending it to background at each step. [Tap Home]

The issue is gone if: you completely close Safari at each step. [Tap Home to send Safari to the background >> double-tap Home >> slide up to close Safari in the background]

It appears that when you completely close out Safari all cached images are deleted.

Hello,

Thanks for your input and steps on recreating this issue but your steps did not work for me. Here should be a sure fire way to recreate the issue.

FIrst, follow these steps in order to start from scratch:

1. PIck an orientation that will be your base-line. For example, landscape, Home button on the right.
2. Open up Safari and open two or three tabs then use the Home button to hide Safari
3. Rotate 90° and open up Safari & wait until the two or three tabs are displayed.
4. Repeat Steps 3 until you are back to your orientation base-line.

Now once you have completed the above, follow these steps:

1. Again, starting from the same base-line orientation, open up Safari. You should see the two or three tabs opened.
2. Open up a new tab to a "Bad Apple" website.
3. Using the Home button, hide Safari.
4. Rotate 90° degrees and open up Safari.
5. Wait until the tab with the "Bad Apple" website is displayed along with the two or three other tabs.
6. Repeat steps 3 through 5 until you reach your base-line.

At this point you should already see the issue occurring, except instead of a tab that you previously closed reappearing for a few seconds, that tab os now taking a few seconds to be displayed. Lets continue...

Now you should be seeing two or three tabs along with the "Bad Apple" tab present while at your base-line rotation. The next few steps will reveal the issue immediately If present on your device.

1. Close the "Bad Apple" tab & hide Safari using Home button.
2. Rotate 90° and open Safari. The "Bad Apple" tab should appear for a few seconds then dissappear.

If you hide Safari and repeat steps 2, each different rotation will show the "Bad Apple" tab until it's refreshed.

Thank you very much, Rick. This is a pretty much foolproof method to recreate the issue. As it seems there is a separate cache for all four orientations that flashes for a second before it's finally overwritten with the current tabs.

I just rebuilt (full reinstall) my iPad Air with the newest iOS version 8.3 as Johnmaxwell described above and the issue still persists. Very, very disappointing. I don't know about you guys but I really consider this a major deal breaker that keeps me from using the device the way I once used to.

My recent observations show that Private mode and Normal safari modes don't have same orientation screen pictures saved.(By that I mean 4 normals 1 for every orientation, 4 privates 1 for every orientation) But this was when I tried manually recreate screen flashing. So far private mode is safe, but I came here because private mode shots somehow got into normal, by that I mean be careful, use other programs for secret stuff and that. Ipad Air 2, ios 8.x(Upgraded to 8.3 just just now). I will try to this all out some more.

So earlier I used basic flash-screen finding and changing using home-button and then turning device 90`. So now I found out it keeps some more stuff. I turned off devices screen simply with off button and turned ipad 90`. It showed 4 more old pictures. So that makes 12 now. (Normal mode) Then I did the same with private mode, but results were kind of unpredictable- one was blank, at least one was one I saved previosly earlier(not with this mode) and one was from normal mode, the last one was one of these or something I don't remember. I will change all 16 possible saved images and will continue working around. So far no privates seen in normal mode(one made me find this thing earlier however)

EDIT: Latest try in changing pictures showed me 8 or less pictures

I had this problem with my iPhone. There is an app called Battery Doctor that someone suggested getting on this forum: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1828082&page=2

I got the app and used the "Clean Up Cache" function that can be accessed through the "Junk" tab on the bottom of the app. This appears to have solved the problem for me. I'm not trying to promote this app or anything but this is the only thing I've come across that seems to work, and you can always just remove the app if you don't want it.

Good luck.

When I have unlocked my phone I have seen the screen briefly flash up private pictures that I have locked away in a private pics app and not accessed in a while. I am filled with horror about this because I've let others use my phone thinking private stuff is safely locked away

I had a successful outcome with performing a restore. But I added a couple of steps. I connected my device to my computer, did a fresh backup and did a restore from iTunes. This wipes the device and installs a new version of iOS. In this case 8.3. When the step came asking about restoring from back up I chose the restore as New option. Once this was completed I went through the final start up steps with setting up a pin etc. On each of the questions about icloud and the other misc stuff i either skipped them or tapped not now or no. Once the device was ready to use, I opened safari and it showed only the default icons. I went through each orientation and opened the app, closed it in each orientation. I then reconnected the device and restored my last back up. This next step, I think is important. Once i restored my backup, set up the pin, went through all the icloud stuff, the first thing i did was open safari and go through the orientations, opening and closing the the app. I did this before ever loading any external pages. As the backup restore had replaced my bookmarks the default page now showed them. I have not had the flashing problem since.

I used some of the other comments in the thread. I think the first time you close the application through the switcher it creates the snapshot file in the system. This file is saved in the system memory at var/mobile/Library/Caches/Snapshots which is not accessible. Even then I don't know how you would overwrite it, perhaps you can delete it and then reinstall. I don't think the snapshot is saved in a backup, but remains in volatile memory until it is overwritten. If you restore before you overwrite it, it will reappear. Therefore opening the apps after ios install running through the orientations before restoring apps etc seemed to do the trick. I only had this issue with Safari, but it could work for other apps too.

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I have noticed this and wondered why it acted that way. I have an app called secret apps lite that I use for holding notes and info I don't want available to anyone who looks at my ipad and iphone. It locks with a pin and has a web browser and photo storage also. Whenever you leave the app for any reason it changes to a lock screen that asks for a pin. Every time I have started up the app, or looked at the screenshot of the app, it just shows the lock screen, so that may work for some people who have a problem with this.