Wp-calypso: Safari Storage Prompt

[GeoJunkie]

Steps to reproduce

1. Using specific Browser/OS version below
2. Starting at URL: Varies

What I expected

To use the browser without prompting for storage

What happened instead

Users are periodically receive a variation of this message:

Do you want to allow "https://wordpress.com" to use up to X.X GB of storage on your Mac?

We haven't been able to reproduce the error locally, but have received multiple user reports. It seems to be related to the MacOS Catalina release and/or the Safari 13.0.1 release.

For several users, even after accepting the local storage the message continues to pop up. Even if the initial notification is necessary, having to repeatedly answer this prompt is a bad UX. The size of the data varies from several hundred MB to several GB.

Browser / OS version

Safari 13.0.1
MacOS 10.14.6

or

iPadOS13 with Safari

Screenshot / Video

Context / Source

Discussed in p2EDhh-Us-p2
Reported in:
14160447-hc
1041772-hc (follow-up in 2382371-zen)
15565796-hc
15472317-hc
15522283-hc (This one is on iOS with iPadOS 13)
8031519-hc
2411378-zen (iPad)
14339371-hc

[edequalsawesome]

Another report in #16032814-hc

macOS 10.14.6, Safari 13.0.2, on a MacBook Air (2018).

Suggested they try using Chrome or Firefox in the meantime, since AFAIK that hasn't been an issue with those browsers.

[msilbers]

Reports have also been made by a12s. They are not using the Progressive Web App when this happens so I've removed that part from the original issue

One example on MacBook, macOS Mojave version 10.14.6, Safari version 13.0.2

[goblinartificer]

also in #642068-hc , macOS Mojave Version 10.14.6 on a MacBook Air, requesting 12GB.

[thebud15]

As mentioned above, noting that this is taking place not only in Calypso, but also in HUD while chatting for a12s.

[carladoria]

reported also on #2447379-hc

[jonnyruzek]

Reported in #16217643-hc

Safari 13.0 on Mac OS X 10.15.0

[GeoJunkie]

If possible, please have users follow the steps at the bottom of this post: p2EDhh-Us-p2

This will collect additional information to help narrow down what data is being downloaded.

Tagging @thebud15 @elibud @arunsathiya @p3ob7o as people who have reproduced the error on either Calypso or HUD and may be able to collect this information, as well.

[liviopv]

User from #2447379-zen provided this:

Screenshot: https://cld.wthms.co/qXftnP

[elibud]

@GeoJunkie will do if I get the message again, didn't happen gain after the day when I reported.

[Robertght]

Reported as well in #16441653-hc

[htdat]

2482997-zen

[gracie]

16662618-HC too

[retnonindya]

17064238-HC

[dromero20]

2512544-zd

[kriskorn]

Also reported in 17068895-hc.

[sophiegyo]

Another report: 744991-hc

[rickmgithub]

User from #2447379-zen provided this:

Screenshot: https://cld.wthms.co/qXftnP

User also provided additional screenshot - https://d.pr/i/t7DuUZ

[dromero20]

2545646-zd

[donalirl]

10539048-hc

[katiebethbrown]

17747626-hc
Safari 13.0 on Mac OS X 10.14.6

[nagpai]

2622232-zen

[jerrysarcastic]

Also reported in #2626532-zen

• Mac OS 10.14.6
• Safari 13.0.4

[donalirl]

2619534-zen

[amamujee]

Do we know how prevalent this issue is? Could we add some logging to figure out how frequently this is happening for real users before prioritizting? cc @gwwar so it's on the manage focus radar.

[gwwar]

@amamujee this is already being investigated by @blowery see https://github.com/Automattic/wp-calypso/pull/38781 and p7H4VZ-2qV-p2

[jacoswan]

Another: #2657284-zen

1. Catalina 10.15.2
2. Safari 13.0.4
3. Just after I was typing a message to you in the chat-box.

[AtrumGeost]

Got another case here 14765053-hc but I wasn't able to get browser details from the user

[cecilearkay]

Another report in #2659608-zen

User is on Mac OS Catalina 10.15.2 with Safari 13.0.4. The pop up appears randomly when they write content in their posts, so many times per hour.

[blowery]

We're now reporting an MC stat (see https://github.com/Automattic/wp-calypso/pull/38976) when we see browser quota errors.

[blowery]

Found one more mitigation: if the user refreshes the page, the storage counter should reset... If they just click Allow, they'll get reprompted sooner than if they don't.

[chaitanyamsv]

18315914-hc

[gwwar]

Let's not close this until https://github.com/Automattic/wp-calypso/pull/39219 lands

[blowery]

The mitigation is currently live on staging. If you'd like to test, that's a great place to try.

[blowery]

And we're live! Reloading Calypso will pick up the fix.

[blowery]

Reopening because it appears the mitigation does not work in some cases.

[blowery]

Tracking bug over in webkit land

[blowery]

New mitigation is now live. Hope this one sticks.