The new Safari extension 2.0 does not work

happy-dude

Both these devices are affected
Iphone 13 mini
iOS 17.2.1

Ipad mini 6
Ipados 17.2

Using extension v2 since I didn't get the update yet unfortunately -- anyway to force update it?

I'll take a screencast when the problem occurs again as safari hasn't gone idle/backgrounded yet

happy-dude

After getting it to idle, here's a video from the iPhone

Dustin

@happy-dude likely you are using the old extension. The link here is the current one: https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/kagi-search-for-safari/id1622835804

It is somewhat confusing

Xavez

Same issue on:

iPhone 14 Pro
iOS 17.2.1
Search engines tried: Bing, Ecosia, DuckDuckGo
Problem: works for a little while and then stops working with no apparent clear reason
Solutions found so far: disabling permissions and enabling them again for the extension seems to make the forward to Kagi work again for a while, but not permanently.
Trying now: only enabled the permissions on the specific search engine to n stead of “all sites”

Dustin

After about 15 searches which worked successfully, I can report that the issue persists on iOS 17.

I reset everything as my above post
With Ecosia set as the default and Kagi set to match with permission for Ecosia correctly set, searches work fine
I went back to the Home Screen, locked the phone and put it down for a few minutes
Next search on a blank Safari with no tabs open results in all searches going to Ecosia
Tapped on the site settings, tapped on the Kagi extension and verified it is reporting as set up correctly
Closed all tabs, closed Safari, put the phone down
Tested private browsing searches: works
Tested regular searches: works

Vlad

Dustin Can you show a video of your setup and the bug happening?

Dustin

I will definitely try if I can recreate it reliably. Currently it is working normally again.

Dustin

Ok, so I needed to go out and do some errands and my phone was untouched after my last post. At that time, Kagi searches were working properly.

I picked up my phone just now to test and the extension was again not responsive. Searches went to Ecosia.

Here are my settings:

Here is a clip:

Tapping the extension in the settings appears to "wake it up" again for a period of time.

awu

One thing that confused me that I didn’t realize is that there’s 2 Kagi Search for Safaris in the App Store. One of them is currently at 2.0.0 and the other is at 2.0.2. I had the first one installed since over a year ago and I came here because I was having issues and wasn’t seeing a 2.0.2 update. I had to install the new one to get the 2.0.2 update but I’m confused as to the difference between them (besides bug fix) because superficially they look exactly the same.

Edit: okay I read the release notes and understand now. It would’ve been helpful to put a splash screen on the old app to say “install the new one”.

Xavez

awu wow yes, this is super confusing and I had exactly the same problem. The release notes made it seem like the one that was updated two days ago was actually the one we needed… okay now testing with the other one. Let’s hope that was the issue 😅

NickD

Maybe I'm missing the point because I'm not a developer but what was the point in completely rewriting the extension from scratch? It literally worked 100% of the time before the update and now it almost never works. You guys put a bunch of time and effort into making your product significantly worse. Part of me feels like you're intentionally making the safari extension a terrible experience so everyone just installs Orion.

Vlad

NickD Last thing in the world we want to do with our scarce resources is (re)building Safari extensions, heck, we even have our own web browser.

But for many people it didn't work. Also many people did not like its broad permissions. Safari extension issues remains number one reason cited in cancellation reasons. So we had motivation to fix it, and there will be a bumpy period because of the new architecture but once we are past that we should be fine.

CrunchyFritos

Vlad I for one appreciate these changes to the extension, especially the narrower permissions required for it to operate. That’s a meaningful improvement in my book, and it speaks to the care the Kagi team takes to address even potential privacy and security concerns. Kudos 👏👏👏

TheBOT

1) there are two Kagi search apps in the app store, would not have known if I had come here, a status alert would have been helpful

2) i don't want to use orion that is not the answer!

3) when will the ultimate plan add on be available on the family plan so I can add for one user, thank you

metaeaux

I found the prior implementation was 100% reliable when “preload top hit” was disabled in Safari settings.

I’m guessing the new implementation is using declarative net requests to rewrite the URL of the selected search engine. The buggy behaviour suggests to me that the rewrites are generated dynamically from the selected default search engine. After some time when the Kagi extension is backgrounded, the rewrite is lost.

If that assumption is correct, then you would be better off writing a static set of rewrite rules that ship with the extension and not asking users to select the search engine in the extension, but instead ask them to enable permissions to use the extension on the domain of the Safari default search engine that they have selected.

metaeaux

Another benefit to shipping an extension with static rewrites is that I can choose DuckDuckGo as my search engine for privacy with search suggestions, and I can enable permissions on google.com to rewrite google search links to Kagi searches.

riddley

I'm seeing two extensions in the app store. Not clear what the difference is or which one I'm supposed to use.

I installed the more recently updated one (2.0.2) and it doesn't work.

On an up-to-date iPad, can't remember the iPadOS version but it's current.

bert

Which of these is the correct extension for iOS?

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/kagi-search-for-safari/id1607766153

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/kagi-search-for-safari/id1622835804

Ideally, if possible, the two extensions would just be combined into one cross platform app.

Erlend

Same bug here...

iPhone 13 Mini
iOS 17.2.1
Kagi extension 2.0.2

user41

iPhone 13 on iOS 17.2.1 with Kagi for Safari 2.0.0. I have noticed another version that has redownload icon even though I don't remember uninstalling Kagi for Safari. I think that other one appeared after update to 2.0.0.

I have noticed immediately after updating to 2.0.0 that Kagi randomly fails to catch redirect from default search engine (Ecosia in my case). Since it is random it was hard to reproduce the issue but I got two vids attached below. Issue seems to be completely random using Look up from any app or Safari search field and issue before 2.0.0 did not exist.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that issue stops randomly or you can stop it by restarting Safari (dismissing it from multitasking menu).

Second vid is interesting because it was first and only time that after failed redirect from default search engine it actually did redirect but with significant delay. Usually it just fails to redirect randomly.

bert

I've noticed that when this issue occurs, force killing Safari always fixes it (temporarily).

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