No video in Safari (or Chrome) on iOS 8

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Level 1

27 points

No video in Safari (or Chrome) on iOS 8

I have a NAS (Netgear ReadyNAS Duo) in my house with a basic webserver running on it. I have a folder with a series of mp4 video files in it and could browse to this folder using both my iPad and my iPhone to play the videos without any issue.

I updated to iOS 8 and now, all that happens when I click on the link is a new tab opens, and the video instantly doesn't play! I get the white circle with a 'play' arrow symbol inside it drawn in white on a black background. That's it.

I've even tried installing Chrome thinking it's a Safari bug, this will get around it, but no. Chrome does the same thing. Before anyone asks, yes, these videos are in a valid mp4 format and 100% did play until I upgraded to iOS 8.

I've searched around but can't find anyone complaining of the same issue? Has nobody else noticed this? Any ideas on a workaround or should I submit to Apple as a bug? Webkit bug or Quicktime bug?

Thanks for any workarounds / advice!

(Is there really no iOS 8 forum? all I could find was iPhone or iPad)

iPhone 5, iOS 8

Posted on Sep 22, 2014 12:28 PM

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Answer 1

Jemster Author

Level 1

27 points

Sep 22, 2014 1:05 PM in response to Jemster

Interesting. It appears that the problem is passwords. I have a password on the webserver, and previously, once I had keyed it in using Safari, I could open the video links.

However, it now appears that if I edit the url of the link that won't play, and insert:

http://<user>:<password>@ ....

at the beginning of the link, it opens and plays fine. Anyone any thoughts on why operation has changed here? Is it a security "thing"? And if so, is there an option to get back the old operation?

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Answer 2

Oct 3, 2014 4:33 AM in response to Jemster

thanks I have the exact same issue with an Y-cam security camera. Putting http://<user>:<pass>@ in front of the URL solved the issue.

I hope Apple is reading this forum, because IOS8 for me has been one of the worst IOS upgrades ever.

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Answer 3

Jemster Author

Level 1

27 points

Oct 21, 2014 2:47 AM in response to Voyager72

I see now that iOS 8.1 hasn't fixed the issue either. 😟

Has anybody ANY idea where this problem may be? It seems more fundamental than Safari as it affects Chrome as well. But I'm struggling to even find words to succinctly describe it to Apple in a bug report as I don't know enough about how the authentication should pass through to the browser session.

It's something along the lines of a pre-authenticated session on a website publishes a link to a video, but when accessing the link, Safari "forgets" the authentication and it has to be manually entered into the URL causing the Phishing Site warning to be displayed.

But where is the fault? What is the usual mechanism for passing this authentication through? Is this a cookie usage? Could it be a cookie policy that has changed?

I'm just kinda stumped, and equally am tired of having to manually edit the URLs...

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Answer 4

Oct 21, 2014 2:53 AM in response to Jemster

yes, same here with iOS 8.1. The way I can live with it was by saving the edited url as a bookmark, but still getting the "phishing" warning.

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Answer 5

Jemster Author

Level 1

27 points

Oct 22, 2014 12:46 PM in response to Voyager72

You know what else is interesting... I've just tried this on Safari 7.1 on my iMac (still on Mavericks, after iOS8 it's going to be a while before I jump to Yosemite!) and it pops up a dialog after clicking on the file, re-requesting the username and password.

Better than that, the dialog for username & password cannot be selected! I can't get focus to swap to the dialog despite it being on the screen... no amount of clicking through Safari windows or other applications will bring it forwards.

I also tried putting a text file on the same password-protected share, and it loads up no problem in a new browser window without requesting username & password.

Perhaps something similar is happening in iOS... and perhaps it's to do with QuickTime, not with Safari or WebKit.

Good idea on the bookmark. Doesn't work for me as my filenames change frequently. There must be a workaround for this one...

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Answer 6

Oct 23, 2014 12:35 AM in response to Jemster

interesting. I'm not a Mac user, and on Windows at least it works fine when opening the page in Firefox or Chrome with the Quicktime plugin. I didn't test Safari on Windows... One way for you to test whether it's Quicktime, would be to try other browsers as well.

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Answer 7

Jemster Author

Level 1

27 points

Oct 24, 2014 7:04 AM in response to Voyager72

Yeah... I just tried firefox and it works without prompting for passwords. It just works. The way Safari used to under iOS.

So, seems they've broken Safari iOS and OS X. And somehow Chrome on iOS is the same... but then I remember reading somewhere, correctly or incorrectly, that the underlying web engine on iOS is the same regardless of which browser you run, they are more of a skin than a new implementation.

Yay! Go Apple! Standardisation means everything is broken with no possible workarounds until Apple do something about it 😟

Although maybe things have changed - is there any iOS browser that isn't relying on the same underlying code as Safari?

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Answer 8

Oct 24, 2014 11:23 AM in response to Jemster

Hi Jemster - I just tried another free browser on iOS, the "Mercury" free version and it works fine. Apparently it's a known issues because one of the app reviewers says:

In iOS 8, Apple introduced an issue in Safari where media files stored behind HTTP basic authentication cannot be played. The in-browser media player does not seem to share the browser’s authenticated session. This is a problem for me because I have always used Safari on my iPhone to play music off a server of mine. With Safari not working in iOS 8, I tried Chrome and Opera but they seem to share the Safari web view and behavior. Atomic did not have the authentication issue, but there was a separate issue where when it played the media there was no sound. The only two browsers I tried that worked for me were Mercury and Dolphin. These are now my go-to alternatives for playing music off my server."

I thought it may help you.

Also I couldn't try Safari on Windows because that's been discontinued for over two years :-)

Best Regards

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Answer 9

Jemster Author

Level 1

27 points

Oct 24, 2014 11:42 AM in response to Voyager72

Fantastic find Voyager! Yep, that works perfectly.

Thanks very much for letting me know, looks like Mercury will be my new Safari for at least a while!

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Answer 10

Dec 11, 2014 11:22 PM in response to Jemster

I have the same problem as you Jemster... Running my Netgear ReadyNas. I made the mistake to update from IOS 7x to IOS 8xs now. Both my iphone 5 and ipad 3 cannot play anymore mp4 or mp3 or anything anymore. It is important for me to play these file from withing my home network and from away from home through safari. Google's chrome vent kaput in the same time because probably uses safari's settings and protocols just like in windows chrome uses IE settings. Yes I always had the Mercury browser which is puts all and leaves safari and chrome in the dust and I can work with it. But I don't want to use that.
What's the point of having and IOS device if I can't use it anymore. Another iphone also iphone 5 is still working and can stream because I haven't updated to IOS. I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT APPLE IS NOT NOTICING THIS NOW HAVING THE THIRD UPDATE ! Here's another INTERESTING THING I FOUND !
Lets say I login to my nas through my webpage using the usual user name and password and want to stream my home movies or audiobook which I cannot
anymore just like you because apple is screw it up. I found through an experiment if I move any media file outside the login area in a "secret" public folder
than I can play it with safari from my iphone and from my ipad again with safari or chrome. Example let say my home nas web server address is http://blah01.blahblahblah.com/Public - the webpage comes up and I have to login with my user name password soon as I click on anything I programmed to click on. No problem, I log in and of course can't play any media files. Now I copy some mp4 and mp3 files out under the public folder...example
http://blah01.blahblahblah.com/Public/001 (notice I added a folder 001 for easier access so I can see the media files immediately) and from here because
it's open and public and no authentications are required I can play it with even the new screwed up safari or IOS 8x or both. I don't know what's the problem
and I don't think apple cares or know this or read this. It does sounds like an authentication problem just like others have suggested here for answer and solution for you and for all of us. Thank You all who's contributed to this and I will try out those methods too. However, this I'm so fed up with because I heavily use this and my visitors that no one can't play or stream my media from ios safari or chrome. Yes Mercury browser works but frankly it's a killer browser but
who knows if you can trust in it or not ? But who knows if you can trust in any browsers at all? Above all probably safari is the most primitive of all. I give credit
to safari thought if I open an ebook after I login to my nas it ask me if I want to open in ibook and I say yes and bingo it downloads it from Starbucks into my iBook and puts it on the bookshelf and it's ready to be read. I'm surprised that apple didn't screwed that one up yet.......

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Answer 11

J.C.G

Level 1

4 points

Dec 18, 2014 6:13 PM in response to Voyager72

Thank you, Voyager72. I searched for days trying to find an explanation for why my iPhone 4S (iOS 8.1.2) wouldn't play the videos embedded on my website. After finally finding this thread late last night, I downloaded Mercury and confirmed not only that my pages display correctly but also that the embedded videos play as they do when I'm on my OS X desktop or laptop. Today I confirmed that the problem involves the password protection on my site by briefly disabling it and finding that videos play as they should. I look forward to Apple eventually fixing the problem, but for now I will recommend to kinfolk who visit my family history site that they download Mercury if they want to access from an iOS device.

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Answer 12

dgnelson

Level 1

0 points

Jan 22, 2015 7:23 AM in response to Voyager72

Hope Apple fixes this one. From a development standpoint I need to be able to password protect websites to protect client information. But I also need video to work on iPad so those CEO types can have the demo work 100%. Super frustrating.

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Answer 13

Jemster Author

Level 1

27 points

Jan 22, 2015 1:31 PM in response to dgnelson

I do wonder at Apples seeming inability to fix issues like this. Widely reported (not just here) and ignored for several releases. I continue to use Mercury. Seems an obvious bug and I'm sure a fix can't be too hard as its a fairly basic ability.

Oh well, the more I use Mercury, the more I like it. I'm not holding my breath for an 8.2 fix.

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Answer 14

Bjorn S

Level 1

16 points

Mar 27, 2015 11:32 AM in response to Jemster

I came across this issue while searching for external storage to our Apple devices who are all running out of room rapidly. According to manufacturers of external storage it is Apples inability to recognize rightfully purchased content from iTunes in Safari. We do know this for sure by now. We are at 8.2 and this has not been addressed by Apple in any way, shape or form. At this moment it virtually renders my iPads useless to watch movies on since 16Gb storage on it is barely enough for 2 movies, iCloud is super hard to access while on long international flights, and the external devices that worked just fine before 8.0 are now trash in Apples eyes. This might just turn the opposite way that Apple products become trash since they are just not working with our needs.

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