I just downloaded the latest update to the WordPress iOS app (version 16.0) for my iPhone. And guess what? There’s a bug! A big, ugly bug.
Now, when I go to my reader and then click to visit posts, I can no longer “like” any post and when I go to comment, it doesn’t recognize that I’m logged into the app and asks me to enter my name, email address and blog URL. I’ve never had to that before from within the WordPress app on my iPhone.
Why is it suddenly doing this? I never before had problems in the iOS app visiting another blogger’s actual post from the reader, liking it, and/or leaving a comment. This is so frustrating!
I opened up a help ticket and hope that the Happiness Engineers will be able to address this soon. In the meantime, I trust that you’ll understand that I can’t like or comment on your posts at the moment, so please forgive me.
This, That, and the Other 
I recently contacted the Happiness Engineers about the same problem and they were no help. I solved it myself by making a comment which asked me to log in and then it knew who I was and that fixed it.
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I tried that. Didn’t work for me.
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Or refresh. a few times, even. That’s the only way I’ve found to get past that. Mostly.
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I tried that and I even rebooted my iPhone. Still doesn’t work. 😡
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No worries! I dont use the reader, I use email notifications, and so am able to comment using my computer, but I’ve had it where I couldnt like posts in the past also. Its so weird! Hopefully its fixed soon! 🙂
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Thanks. Me too!
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🙂 Hi, Fandango. I would like to suggest, that you access your WordPress account via the Safari web browser in the meantime on your iPhone.
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I tried using Safari, Chrome, and Firefox. Same issue.
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🤔 Well, in that case, the problem is WordPress-related.
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Oh that’s a bummer.
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I have that on my phone, having to repeatedly enter my info if I like or comment. That’s why I reply in email form. Very irritating. Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
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It’s a bug. Many people have had this problem, including me. Report it. It’s a problem they can fix.
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I did report it. So far no fix.
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Annoying! Hope it gets fixed ASAP!
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Me too.
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I use my computer and I have had the exact same problem many times.
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Yes this is a bug that even I experienced. However, from my personal experience WordPress is still far better than most other CMS platforms. In terms of support and theme management, they have a great support team.
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Bit by bit, WP are making you choose, the phone or their site!
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It happens to me. 😦 and has for about 6-12 months.
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I have had that problem for some time. For some blogs I follow, such as yours Fan, it seems to remember that and I don’t need to sign in to comment (forget “like” that’s a whole other issue). However there are still many others that I follow and I have to log in every time to comment. It is the most frustrating thing about iphone for me. Similar problems with the app on iPad.
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It is extremely frustrating, especially since, up until yesterday when the update to the WordPress app for iOS was installed, I never had this problem when I visited sites from my reader.
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Each time they ask me to log in I always click the button “Remember me” but that never works either. I feel like throwing my phone every time it happens 😳😕😦
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It’s maddening.
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That sounds like a royal pain! I hope they get it fixed soon.
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I’m not holding my breath.
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Hi Fandango
I’m one of the folks who work on the WordPress iOS app. One of our happiness engineers shared this post with the development team, and we wanted to share an update. The issue with likes has been frustrating for us too.
We’ve been working on the problem, and I’d really like to say we have it fixed, but we’re not quite there yet.
Two different things happened at the same time that led to the trouble with liking a post from an in-app browser, (like the one that’s opened from the View Site menu.)
First, version 16.0 of the WordPress app included a fix to a different feature (https://github.com/wordpress-mobile/WordPress-iOS/issues/14220) that, unfortunately, had a side effect that would cause the in-app browser to be logged out for certain sites. Once we learned about the problem we put together a fix (https://github.com/wordpress-mobile/WordPress-iOS/pull/15309) which is still being tested, but if all is well should be coming in version 16.3.
Second, and apologies if this sounds a little technical, between version 15.9 and version 16.0 we updated our tools to the latest version provided by Apple. Specifically the iOS 14 SDK and Xcode 12. This version includes some changes Apple has made to browser security and privacy (https://webkit.org/blog/category/privacy/), particularly with cookies — like the ones the app sets in the browser so you’re logged in.
While we applaud Apple for making things more secure, the security improvements meant our in-app browser would be logged out of certain sites. It’s very frustrating.
I’m sad to say, we don’t have a great solution for this right now, but it’s something we are working on. We welcome anyone who is interested to follow along with our progress on GitHub:
https://github.com/wordpress-mobile/WordPress-iOS/issues/15390
https://github.com/wordpress-mobile/WordPress-iOS/issues/15386
Cheers!
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Thank you, Eric, for taking the time to explain what has happened in version 16.0 to have caused this very annoying and frustrating issue. It’s strange that there is no problem both liking and commenting on posts that I visit from the reader or from notifications when they have “wordpress.com” in the blog’s address (URL). But trying to like or comment on a blog that does not have “wordpress.com” in the address isn’t possible.
I’m eagerly looking forward to the release of version 16.3 with a fix the Reader issue and that will ultimately address the Apple security issue, as well.
Again, thanks for the update. I appreciate it.
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Eric,
I just updated my WordPress iOS app to version 16.3 and I am extremely disappointed that the issue remains unresolved. In your comment you said that your team was working on a fix and that you thought that it would be addressed when version 16.3 was released. Sadly, that’s not the case.
Do you have any updated information regarding when I (and other iPhone users) can expect a resolution to this bug?
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Hi Fandango,
I’m afraid I don’t have anything new to share yet. I wish I did.
The fix I mentioned was only addressing the issue that we accidentally introduced inversion 16.0. It did not address issues created by Apple’s updated privacy and security updates — something for which we still have not found a good solution.
Keep an eye on those two GitHub issues I linked above. As soon as we have a path forward it should be reflected there.
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Thanks for taking the time to update me, Eric. Hopefully you guys will find a workable solution soon.
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Hi Fandango.
Hoping all is well. I wanted to quickly check in.
A few days ago our developers made a change to address some of the issues we’ve been having with cookies and Apple’s privacy and security policies. The team has seen improvements in desktop browsers and we’re optimistic that it will address at least some of the issues we’ve seen with mobile Safari, and with the browser screens inside the WordPress app.
I’m curious if likes and comments are now working as expected for you.
Please let us know!
– Eric
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Thanks for reaching out, Eric. Unfortunately, likes and comments are not working as they used to before version 16.0 was released. If the blogger’s address has “wordpress..com” it it, when I visit it from my Reader or from Notifications, I can both like and comment on it. But if the blogger’s address does not have “wordpress.com” in it — even my own blog: fivedotoh.com — I still cannot like it. For some, I can make a comment, but only if I enter my email address, name, and blog address. But on others, it asks me to log in or to verify who I am, but even then, I can’t like or comment. And this is still the case with version 16.9. So basically no fix and no change since 16.0 was introduced almost five months ago.
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