SharePoint Web Clips Blank Screen with Content Filtering after iOS 16.4

[techjason]

I am not sure if it is a coincidence or not, but we have seen the following problem happen on devices after updating to iOS 16.4 +.

We have web clips on our devices that point to MS forms pages on our SharePoint environment. They will load once, but any other reloads bring up a blank page. All other web clips (non-Microsoft) work fine. These devices do have a Content Filter Configuration Profile installed on them. When we remove it, the SharePoint web clips work as expected. So the problem is with the filtering. 

I am hoping someone has had a similar issue and was able to determine the additional site that need to be added for Forms in SharePoint to load properly. I really do not want to enter in the long list of servers that Microsoft has, in the link below. We did test it on Edge, thinking it might be Microsoft being Microsoft, but unfortunately with the same results

Microsofts Listing of Servers 

Did try diagnosing with Charles Proxy and WireShark, but the sites we got that way still did not help. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. 

[dmccluskey · Accepted solution]

Solved: Webfilter broken in iOS 16.4.1? - Jamf Nation Community - 288629

[Bobwardt · Accepted solution]

Hi, it is an Apple issue as we have the same in Workspace one, updated to 16.4 and some webclips fail but if I use the  VM Web browser they work fine, I suspect Safari has had a security update of some sort.

[dmccluskey · Accepted solution]

Solved: Webfilter broken in iOS 16.4.1? - Jamf Nation Community - 288629

[techjason]

@dmccluskey Thank you. 

The odd thing is that all other Web Clips work, it is only the Microsoft ones that have the problem. So I am not sure if it is just an Apple issue. 

[Bobwardt · Accepted solution]

Hi, it is an Apple issue as we have the same in Workspace one, updated to 16.4 and some webclips fail but if I use the  VM Web browser they work fine, I suspect Safari has had a security update of some sort.

[Ojok]

We have had the same issue with Microsoft Forms after users updated to 16.4+. Safari seems to work for the first signing to Forms but if you quit the browser you get a blank page. You then have to clear Safari cache and then it works. As for Chrome it does not work at all. 

We even attempted to add asterisk to the urls but still get the same issue.

Some of the urls we added to the filter are 

msauth.net

office.com

sharepointonline.com

microsoft.com

office.net

azure.com

login.microsoftonline.com

login.ourtesco.com

When the filter is removed completely then all works fine.

[Bobwardt]

I think this is what has broken the filtering it is a patch on ios 16.4, it blocks what it thinks is an app creating bookmarks

About the security content of iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4 – Apple Support (UK)

Safari

Available for: iPhone 8 and later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad Air 3rd generation and later, iPad 5th generation and later, and iPad mini 5th generation and later

Impact: An app may be able to unexpectedly create a bookmark on the Home Screen

[Ojok]

Following up with this blank page issue, a colleague laboured through all the settings in Safari and he came across this minor solution, though not the ideal solution but at least points to an issue with the settings in the update

If you go to Settings > Safari > advanced > experimental features >  Service Workers and you disable Service Workers, the blank forms load fine.

Not sure why this is affected in 16.4+. I am not sure if older iOS has this disabled by default or not

[techjason]

@Ojok I will have to try that. The problem is that the bulk of our devices are locked down, and do not even have Safari accessible. With that restriction it is not even an option in Settings. So it will take some doing to test without removing other settings. 

[Bobwardt]

I have just checked our 16.3 and it is enabled in there also.
but as you said disabling this on 16.4. x works :-)

[Ojok · Accepted solution]

My colleague has tested forms in the beta version 16.5 and the issue is resolved. So hopefully when iOS 16.5 is released this should be fixed.

[techjason]

UPDATE: iOS 16.5 did drop today and as @Ojok stated, the problem is fixed.