Question iPhone completely unable to log into websites, had a talk with the Apple experts but they couldn't fix it, phone is still under warranty ?

[atifpolitici]

Hello All, so I purchased an iPhone 15 in December 2023, and it's been working all good, until the latest IOS update. I completely cannot log in to any website, I use my phone everyday and every two weeks, I have meetings. Today, I spent over an hour with the Apple technician, over the phone, they couldn't fix it. I have tried everything including factory reset, the phone is still under warranty, I am concerned, it will still pass Apple's test and they won't do much to fix it. Does anyone know what's broken or damaged with the phone?
A new phone shouldn't be doing this!!

 

[NedSmelly]

Banking apps, I have been able to log into and other apps such as Tesco. Gmail I couldn't log into, so I downloaded YouTube then, it somehow managed to log me in, then I had to download Gmail and I got logged in. Doing that factory reset was a flipping nightmare, I almost got locked out of my own phone, it's clearly faulty.

Yep sounds like a WebKit problem.

 

[atifpolitici]

Yep sounds like a WebKit problem.

Safari is my backup browser, Brave browser is my main one. I just created a new profile on Safari, no help at all, same issues!

 

[slightnitpick]

You're obviously from the UK. I wonder if somehow Safari updated to a US, Australian, or other English language locale. I don't know anything about Apple software, but it's possible something like this could mangle logins to certain British websites, or with certain passwords.

Remote chance it's worth checking and updating your Safari language and region settings? https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/change-the-language-and-region-iphce20717a3/ios

 

[NedSmelly]

One potential fix is to downgrade to previous iOS version using a signed IPSW image and iTunes restore. Depends on whether Apple has kept or withdrawn its signed status.

This is a hacky techy method that is definitely at your own risk, so I’m not going to link to file sources.

The safest option is proceed with Genius Bar.

 

[atifpolitici]

One potential fix is to downgrade to previous iOS version using a signed IPSW image and iTunes. Depends on whether Apple has kept or withdrawn it’s signed status.

This is a hacky techy method that is definitely at your own risk, so I’m not going to link to file sources.

The safest option is proceed with Genius Bar.

Unfortunately I don't want to take such risks, because I only have one phone, and I really need this issue sorted fast, I truly hope they'll give me a new phone, because nobody else is reporting these problems. I think something internal inside the phone is broken. The Apple advisor, mentioned somehow a problem with the Wi Fi band, but I don't think so!

 

[slightnitpick]

You're obviously from the UK. I wonder if somehow Safari updated to a US, Australian, or other English language locale. I don't know anything about Apple software, but it's possible something like this could mangle logins to certain British websites, or with certain passwords.

Remote chance it's worth checking and updating your Safari language and region settings? https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/change-the-language-and-region-iphce20717a3/ios

And check if it's possible to verify that Safari itself is using the same language and region settings as your phone. Apparently a bad website mangled the region settings for a person on MacOS. I don't know if the advice there would help you on iOS though. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251181013?sortBy=best

 

[atifpolitici]

And check if it's possible to verify that Safari itself is using the same language and region settings as your phone. Apparently a bad website mangled the region settings for a person on MacOS. I don't know if the advice there would help you on iOS though. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251181013?sortBy=best

Safari is looking good, just restarted the phone and made sure it was using local settings, nothing. I truly suspect that something internal in the phone is wrong, it has to be. I can't walk out of Apple tomorrow with a non working phone

 

[PEnns]

I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a Safari bug. OP didn’t mention if dedicated apps such as banking or Gmail can still log in without problems. AFAIK some apps still authenticate via WebKit.

That iOS 17.3 keyboard bug I mentioned earlier? Only applied to Safari.

Have you tried updating to the latest version (17.4.1)??

There is a text bug in earlier version(s)

From support.apple.com:

iOS 17.3.1​

This update provides bug fixes for your iPhone including:

• Text may unexpectedly duplicate or overlap while typing

 

[atifpolitici]

Have you tried updating to the latest version (17.4.1)??

There is a text bug in earlier version(s)

From support.apple.com:

iOS 17.3.1​

This update provides bug fixes for your iPhone including:

• Text may unexpectedly duplicate or overlap while typing

I always update my phone promptly, I am on 17.4.1 when this issue started happening. I will update everyone later today.

 

[atifpolitici]

So bad news Apple are stumped as well, my phone passed all the diagnostic tests, they gave me another iPhone and I couldn't log onto those sites either. However, weirdly on desktops and tablets, I can log on to those sites. My phone network isn't blocking me either. I can't get a new phone, since the phone isn't faulty. I am seriously stuck now!

 

[COLGeek]

Sending you a private message.

I know you are confident you are inputting correctly, but the most obvious issue is one of user error (trying not to add insult to injury).

Did you try an external keyboard with the alternate iPhone?

 

[slightnitpick]

And have you tried resetting your passwords on these sites? Or installing an alternative keyboard app?

 

[atifpolitici]

Hello everyone, okay problem solved, what's been happening, is that according to the engineers, websites don't like complicated passwords, LOL, so now before I go to websites that require a username and password, I have to go to Settings, Passwords, and make a Key Chain for iPhone, to recognize it and ultimately log me in. This issue, has never happened on desktops and laptops. It still doesn't solve or answer the question, why other's were not having that problem, and I don't really like Key Chain that much!

 

[COLGeek]

Hello everyone, okay problem solved, what's been happening, is that according to the engineers, websites don't like complicated passwords, LOL, so now before I go to websites that require a username and password, I have to go to Settings, Passwords, and make a Key Chain for iPhone, to recognize it and ultimately log me in. This issue, has never happened on desktops and laptops. It still doesn't solve or answer the question, why other's were not having that problem, and I don't really like Key Chain that much!

Really? That seems a rather unsatisfactory answer, especially if you were manually entering the information correctly on the sites.

 

[CodeConnoisseur]

Hello everyone, okay problem solved, what's been happening, is that according to the engineers, websites don't like complicated passwords, LOL, so now before I go to websites that require a username and password, I have to go to Settings, Passwords, and make a Key Chain for iPhone, to recognize it and ultimately log me in. This issue, has never happened on desktops and laptops. It still doesn't solve or answer the question, why other's were not having that problem, and I don't really like Key Chain that much!

This makes no sense to me. Sure, some websites definitely don't support over a certain length and certain symbols (e.g. spaces) in their passwords, but you were saying that this was happening with every website. Also, all keychain does is store your credentials for those sites, so if it was due to their password requirements keychain should not fix it.

 

[atifpolitici]

This makes no sense to me. Sure, some websites definitely don't support over a certain length and certain symbols (e.g. spaces) in their passwords, but you were saying that this was happening with every website. Also, all keychain does is store your credentials for those sites, so if it was due to their password requirements keychain should not fix it.

They told me to reset the iPhone with iTunes, completely factory restore it, and then use keychain to add passwords, it somehow ended up working. What's baffling is that before all this, keychain was still active when this happened.

 

[CodeConnoisseur]

They told me to reset the iPhone with iTunes, completely factory restore it, and then use keychain to add passwords, it somehow ended up working. What's baffling is that before all this, keychain was still active when this happened.

Perhaps it is a WebKit issue and this is just a workaround, maybe keychain somehow submits the credentials differently than if they were manually entered. Maybe keychain compatibility is handled through a special API that the website needs to implement so there's an entirely different control chain that doesn't hit the bug.

 

[atifpolitici]

Perhaps it is a WebKit issue and this is just a workaround, maybe keychain somehow submits the credentials differently than if they were manually entered (though I don't think this is the case).

My phone passed all the diagnostic tests, so providing a new phone was a no go. I am going to test something for a while, I am going to delete all my passwords, from Key Chain, and then continue using the phone like that, I don't quite of feel satisfied, they said nothing is wrong with your phone.

 

[atifpolitici]

Okay, so I turned off the ability to autofill and submit passwords, then I deleted the Key Chain and guess what buddy? The problem is back again!

 

[CodeConnoisseur]

Okay, so I turned off the ability to autofill and submit passwords, then I deleted the Key Chain and guess what buddy? The problem is back again!

Thinking about it more, I do think that keychain is just a workaround. There must be a bug in WebKit that you're hitting when inputting your credentials manually that is bypassed through the website's client implementation of the keychain API.

 

[atifpolitici]

Thinking about it more, I do think that keychain is just a workaround. There must be a bug in WebKit that you're hitting when inputting your credentials manually that is bypassed through the website's client implementation of the keychain API.

The phone is too reliant on KeyChain now, this isn't good, something is wrong then within.

 

[atifpolitici]

In store, they gave me another iPhone and the problem happened there too, immediately upon entering the information, into a laptop or tablet, it worked, I am really confused and baffled!

 

[CodeConnoisseur]

In store, they gave me another iPhone and the problem happened there too, immediately upon entering the information, into a laptop or tablet, it worked, I am really confused and baffled!

Could you maybe try with someone else's Apple account or creating a new one? Maybe there's some weird setting that is being automatically migrated.

 

[atifpolitici]

Could you maybe try with someone else's Apple account or creating a new one? Maybe there's some weird setting that is being automatically migrated.

Apple are adamant it isn't the phone and it's a software issue, but the question is why should I be reliant on Key Chain, I want to manually enter my username and password, I don't really believe Apple in terms of security, and I am sure Key Chain can be hacked too!

 

[CodeConnoisseur]

Apple are adamant it isn't the phone and it's a software issue, but the question is why should I be reliant on Key Chain, I want to manually enter my username and password, I don't really believe Apple in terms of security, and I am sure Key Chain can be hacked too!

Quite frankly I agree with you about relying on keychain, but I would tend to agree with them that it's a software issue. A bizarre one, sure, but there's an explanation out there. The fact that it persisted across phones makes me think that there might be an issue with your Apple account saving some setting (unless of course you can break phones just by holding one or your account is cursed) or maybe you restored from an iCloud backup that had a broken setting.