iOS 10 Defaulting to Mobile Site

[Crimson36]

So I'd been using iOS 9 on my iPhone 6S until a couple days ago, when I downloaded iOS 10. Most of it is fine but there is one issue that really irks me. I use Safari frequently and in iOS 9 my phone didn't default to the mobile site of any website after I had corrected it once. So I'd go to a site like Youtube and the very first time (not each time after turning on the phone, literally the first time after downloading iOS 9) it would be the mobile site. I would ask for the desktop site, and in any subsequent instance, I would type in youtube.com and it would default go to the desktop site. This is what I preferred.

However now, with iOS 10, every single time I am brought to the mobile site and have to switch to the desktop site. And if I click a link on that page (in this example a video on Youtube's front page) I am brought to the mobile site for that video and have to ask for the desktop site once again. It's infuriating. I frequently browse the web on my phone and I usually am trying to access something either hidden on the mobile site or completely unavailable. So it's not a matter of "me getting used to mobile sites" (unless mobile sites change drastically to include a great deal more functionality) it's a matter of "finding a way to make my phone stop defaulting to mobile sites".

Anyone have any ideas? I'm a little desperate. Other phones (Android, Google phone) can actually do this quite easily, I just can't figure out how on an iPhone. And please don't suggest I simply use apps and mobile sites. That really isn't an option.

 

[beernut]

you didn't happen to activate private browsing, did you?

 

[Crimson36]

you didn't happen to activate private browsing, did you?

I did not. I mean I have also used that feature since downloading iOS 10 but not in these instances, no.

 

[beernut]

hmm...looking into it further -- it's kind of a mystery how you got them to stick to desktop sites in iOS 9. past articles (from 2015 / 2014 ios 9 and 8), gives instructions on how to request desktop site but also note that the process is temporary. i would imagine that's why it's happening in 10.

 

[Crimson36]

I have found the same thing when I looked. But I know I had iOS 9 and really never had this issue. And even though in my opinion this is a really basic function every iPhone should have, I would settle for a temporary fix that lasts longer than "while I'm on that specific page". I don't like being on a desktop site, clicking a link that directs me to a different page on the same site, and then I'm in the mobile site again. I feel like I should be able to stay in the desktop version as long as I don't leave that site at the very least.

 

[beernut]

here's something else you can do, at least for youtube -- in the mobile site, click the 3 vertical dots in the upper right and then select "desktop". that should set the cookie specifically for youtube to serve up the desktop site (should stick until you clear cache/cookies).

other sites may have similar function.

 

[Crimson36]

See that would explain my experience with iOS 9, where I'd only have to change to desktop once, but I have to select Desktop by that method every single time I open a youtube page, even from another youtube page. I haven't reset my cookies/cache in days so that shouldn't be the issue. But for whatever reason the cookie won't stay set to desktop.

 

[beernut]

that's weird. i tried on my phone before posting the suggestion (and tried again just now) and it's working correctly serving up desktop site on each click.

you're not blocking cookies in safari settings are you? (settings --> safari --> block cookies)

 

[BrianBaughn]

here's something else you can do, at least for youtube -- in the mobile site, click the 3 vertical dots in the upper right and then select "desktop". that should set the cookie specifically for youtube to serve up the desktop site (should stick until you clear cache/cookies).

other sites may have similar function.

Having the Youtube app installed messes with this procedure in iOS 9. When I select Desktop at that point my choice is either "Open in Youtube" or Cancel.

The Yahoo site is an example of one that remembers your desktop preference in Safari/iOS 9.

 

[Crimson36]

that's weird. i tried on my phone before posting the suggestion (and tried again just now) and it's working correctly serving up desktop site on each click.

you're not blocking cookies in safari settings are you? (settings --> safari --> block cookies)

Yeah, I thought of that too, and it is set to "allow from websites I visit", so I should be fine there. And it's still not working.
[doublepost=1475789012][/doublepost]

Having the Youtube app installed messes with this procedure in iOS 9. When I select Desktop at that point my choice is either "Open in Youtube" or Cancel.

The Yahoo site is an example of one that remembers your desktop preference in Safari/iOS 9.

I don't have the Youtube app installed for that exact reason. I require the desktop version of Youtube for a number of reasons so neither the mobile site or the app will serve the purpose I desire. I can open a Youtube page, which opens in the mobile site, and select "desktop" every single time but that is frustrating, I'd like my phone to remember (like beernut was saying, using cookies or a setting of some kind) that I would like the desktop site so I don't have to keep switching back and forth.

 

[beernut]

Yeah, I thought of that too, and it is set to "allow from websites I visit", so I should be fine there. And it's still not working.
[doublepost=1475789012][/doublepost]
I don't have the Youtube app installed for that exact reason. I require the desktop version of Youtube for a number of reasons so neither the mobile site or the app will serve the purpose I desire. I can open a Youtube page, which opens in the mobile site, and select "desktop" every single time but that is frustrating, I'd like my phone to remember (like beernut was saying, using cookies or a setting of some kind) that I would like the desktop site so I don't have to keep switching back and forth.

do you have any ad blockers / add-ons that could possibly be overriding the default cookie settings? (i'm not able to test that as i don't have any enabled)

 

[BrianBaughn]

Yeah, I thought of that too, and it is set to "allow from websites I visit", so I should be fine there. And it's still not working.
[doublepost=1475789012][/doublepost]
I don't have the Youtube app installed for that exact reason. I require the desktop version of Youtube for a number of reasons so neither the mobile site or the app will serve the purpose I desire. I can open a Youtube page, which opens in the mobile site, and select "desktop" every single time but that is frustrating, I'd like my phone to remember (like beernut was saying, using cookies or a setting of some kind) that I would like the desktop site so I don't have to keep switching back and forth.

Just tested Safari in iOS 9 with no Youtube app installed and switching to the desktop site is "sticky"...subsequent restarts of Safari remember the "preference" I am logged in at Youtube and don't know if that makes any difference.

If there are any sites (did you test Yahoo?) that work in this "sticky" way in iOS 10 then there are differences somehow and somewhere in how that interaction occurs.

 

[Crimson36]

do you have any ad blockers / add-ons that could possibly be overriding the default cookie settings? (i'm not able to test that as i don't have any enabled)

I actually do not. I have considered it but never ended up actually putting any on.
[doublepost=1475857897][/doublepost]

Just tested Safari in iOS 9 with no Youtube app installed and switching to the desktop site is "sticky"...subsequent restarts of Safari remember the "preference" I am logged in at Youtube and don't know if that makes any difference.

If there are any sites (did you test Yahoo?) that work in this "sticky" way in iOS 10 then there are differences somehow and somewhere in how that interaction occurs.

It does seem there are some sites that work in this sticky way for me, yahoo being one of them. Youtube still does not.

 

[BrianBaughn]

It does seem there are some sites that work in this sticky way for me, yahoo being one of them. Youtube still does not.

Well, hopefully it'll get sorted out but until then you could use the Mercury browser and switch the user agent to "Chrome".