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JustinBW

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 5, 2009
93
42
Hey All,

I just upgraded to 8.1.2 on my 5s the other day and I am noticing that when I browse in Private Mode in Safari (which is 100% of the time) I no longer receive search engine suggestions.

In iOS 7.1.2 I was getting suggestions and still do on my iPad which is still at 7. Did Apple intentionally remove the ability to get suggestions in Safari Private Mode or is there some setting I have not enabled? It's beyond frustrating, so I would really like to get these back.

Further, I am aware Apple no longer signs 7.1.2 for downgrading, but if I restore to a previous versos of iOS7, will I be able to upgrade to 7.1.2 or will my only updates be 8+? The last time I did a full backup was pre 7.1.2.

Like an idiot I didn't do a backup before updating to 8; I had no idea there'd be so many annoyances.

Thanks in advance.
 
Further, I am aware Apple no longer signs 7.1.2 for downgrading, but if I restore to a previous versos of iOS7, will I be able to upgrade to 7.1.2 or will my only updates be 8+? The last time I did a full backup was pre 7.1.2.

I don't know the answer to your question about the search suggestions, but you can't downgrade to any version of iOS 7 now that you are on 8 you are stuck with it.
 
I don't know the answer to your question about the search suggestions, but you can't downgrade to any version of iOS 7 now that you are on 8 you are stuck with it.

I got ya; I already tried that before posting, but I was wondering if I went to an old backup where my phone had 7.0.x, if I would be able to just upgrade to 7.1.2, but I am guessing thats not possible either.
 
I got ya; I already tried that before posting, but I was wondering if I went to an old backup where my phone had 7.0.x, if I would be able to just upgrade to 7.1.2, but I am guessing thats not possible either.


Restoring a backup doesn't restore your iOS version. All it does is restore your applications and data to the point of the backup.
 
Restoring a backup doesn't restore your iOS version. All it does is restore your applications and data to the point of the backup.

Well that solves that!

Now on to the search suggestions in private browsing, anyone have any ideas?
 
Not sure why that's happening. I get history and suggestions from my non private browsing when in private mode. But as it should be nothing is saved from my private browsing.
 
For me it's the myriad of sites that install tracking cookies.

What issue do they cause?

This may open up a can of worms, and maybe i'm being a bit ignorant here but, I have never used Private browsing, and haven't had any issues.
 
Why do you always have it in Private Mode?

Apologies for the silly question.

It's a fair curiosity. I don't like to have to manually clear my history/autofill. Kids use my phone and are getting pretty tech savvy, don't want them to see everything I've been looking up. Also the cookie stuff as well.

I am fairly certain this was deliberate on Apple's part because Safari for desktop also doesn't supply search engine suggestions whilst in private mode any longer. I am just hoping I can turn them back on somehow.
 
So, I'm guessing no one knows how to enable search engine suggestions while in private mode?
 
Intended privacy feature; limits the number of queries sent to search engine. Working as intended (spoke to someone at Apple).

Hoping for a settings to add SES back into private browsing.
 
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