Secret Browser for iOS @secretbrowser - Tumblr Blog

Dropping iOS 8.x support shortly after v3.4.0 is released

Secret Browser v3.4.0 is currently being worked on. It’s a relatively big update based solely on code changes because it is the first update to use Swift 3.1 instead of Swift 2.3. You won’t notice a lot of changes to the functionality but a couple of things, like a close button in the tab picker, will be evident.

As of right now, I intend for version 3.5.0 to drop iOS 8 support. A lot of great things were added to iOS 9 and I would be required to either implement some features more than once. This will make version 3.4.0 the last version of Secret Browser available to original iPad users as well as iPhone 4 or earlier users (iPhone 4S should still be supported). If plans change and I decide I don’t need to drop support just yet, I will update this, but iOS 8 support will need to be dropped eventually. No timetable yet.

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Pricing changes coming soon to Pro Mode

Secret Browser will celebrate it’s 7th birthday next month! Over those 7 years, I’ve put a lot of work into Secret Browser to make sure it stayed great. Pro Mode has always been available and it’s price has changed very little over that time. The time has come to change the pricing structure a little bit. In order to continue providing the level of support and updates that I have over the past 7 years, Pro Mode will be moving to Apple’s new recurring subscription plan.

Those of you who own (or purchase) Pro Mode before the change happens will continue to receive all of the benefits of Pro Mode without a subscription, but standard in-app purchase as it exists today will be removed and replaced with a recurring subscription with varying price points and lengths. If you currently run Secret Browser without Pro Mode and are happy with it, nothing will change for you! This change will only affect new customers of Pro Mode.

The current time table for release will be around the time iOS 10 is released. The first update around iOS 10 will probably bring the subscriptions. So if you want Pro Mode for life, now is the time to buy!

#news ios10

3D Touch Support

Today, a small update was released that included a little bit of 3D Touch support for Pro Mode users. You will now be able to setup (check the Settings.app) up to 4 websites that you would like to have shortcuts to by force touching the Secret Browser icon from your home screen.

I struggled to really find a good reason to implement this for a while and finally decided to just go ahead and do it. Because of the nature of Secret Browser, there are a lot of features that get added to iPhones and iOS that sound really neat, but don’t really fit with what Secret Browser is all about. Adding shortcuts to the icon would expose up to 4 websites that you use to people who happened to force touch the Secret Browser icon and this is completely against what I’ve tried to do from the start. At the end of the day, though, this feature is completely optional and only defaults to 2 pretty big sites (Google and Reddit). The responsibility, then, falls on the user. You can sacrifice some security to add some convenience, or you can just ignore the feature completely.

More 3D Touch support is coming! The quick actions wasn’t terribly complicated to implement so I was comfortable releasing it relatively quickly. I’m currently working on support for the tabs pickers, which will let you peek and pop into each tab and copy/close/etc from the peek screen instead of the tap and hold menu. I’m also working with the nice PeekPop library to also support older devices that don’t natively support Peeking and Popping with 3D Touch. I’ll be testing to see how well this works with some old devices I have as well as with beta testers.

I’m sure some people would also like to see peek and pop support with links and other data from inside the browser. Sadly, this is where the nature of Secret Browser will currently prevent this from happening. The way Apple’s WebKit allows for Peek and Pop in a web view, is that when the user pops, it opens that link in Safari instead of in the web view that peeked it. If it sounds really stupid, that’s because it really is. I’m not sure why Apple implemented it this way, but I can’t do much about it. WWDC is next week and I should learn all about iOS 10. Hopefully they give us some really cool updates to WebKit that I can pass on to you all. If peek and pop doesn’t change at WWDC, I will look into a custom implementation but I can’t promise anything on that front.

Stay tuned for more updates! Please take a second to write a good review if you like using Secret Browser! It helps me out a lot!

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3.2.0 Released!

Version 3.2.0 should be available to download for everyone by now. This release has a few more front facing changes that makes it a little more significant than a lot of updates.

For starters, Secret Browser will no longer completely hide itself during small losses of focus (like pulling up the Control Center or activating a Split Screen mode on the iPad). These events happen when you are still using your phone so it makes sense that the browser doesn’t completely shroud itself, especially for Split Screen modes.

I was able to (finally) find a workaround for an issue where the URL for a recently played media file would remain in the Control Center after Secret Browser was sent to the background. Apple doesn’t provide any sort of APIs to clear this so I had to resort in a little bit of trickery to pull it off. It seems to work pretty well, though, and this was one of the more reported issues so I’m happy to have it “resolved”.

Finally, although I was never able to reproduce the problem myself, a few people have sent in reports that the screenshot in the multitasking list would sometimes still contain content from Secret Browser. I’m now using a new method for taking this screenshot at just the right time instead of just hoping iOS did it when I needed it to. Hopefully this will clear up those issues for good.

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3.0.5 Beta

Secret Browser is now accepting beta testers! Head on over to beta.secretbrowserapp.com and signup for access!

Version 3.0.5 should be available to test very shortly (just waiting for Apple to approve it) and it resolves the insta-crash that happens when launching the current version of Secret Browser while running the iOS 9 beta. Anyone who wishes to help make Secret Browser the best it can be, sign up for beta access and beat up on the new version a little bit so I know I didn’t break anything else.

Betas will not be incredibly frequent but I do intend on releasing at least one or two betas before I each release I submit to the App Store to make sure nothing major is broken. After the 3.0.5 beta (barring any issues), I intend on testing the 3.1.0 version which will be built with the iOS 9 SDK and will be released when the new version comes out of beta.

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Secret Browser 3.0.2

The rough edges have been sanded down and polished on the initial 3.0.0 release! A lot of fixes have been implemented and all of the major issues have been addressed. If you notice any other issues, please don't hesitate to send me a message about it!

Known Issues (Also check the official bitbucket issues list):

Updating to 3.x has reset all settings, including Pro Mode. If you've previously purchased Pro Mode, you'll need to restore your purchase to re-enable it.

Loading another application that uses a lot of memory (SnapChat appears to have a big problem with this), Secret Browser will get reset. I'm constantly working to improve Secret Browser's memory usage, and I'll be working to improve the user experience when this happens.

Video player unresponsive. Sometimes, after scrubbing through a video, the video player will stop responding. The crash reports I've received has shown this issues exists in the actual WebKit video player. I'll continue to investigate if there's anything I can do to alleviate this but it may be an issues that has to be resolved by Apple.

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Secret Browser 3.0.0 Released!

3.0.0 was just approved and released to the AppStore! This is a complete rewrite of Secret Browser in Apple’s brand new Swift language and now uses the newer and faster WebKit engine. If you are coming from an older version of Secret Browser, you’ll want to review the application settings as they’ve been reworked and reset with 3.0.

As with any rewrite or major release, there are bound to be a few lingering issues that will be resolved in the very near future. Please let me know if you notice any issues yourself. I’ll update this post with known issues.

New Features

Totally rewritten in Swift!

Uses the new WebKit engine released with iOS 8.

Tabs! It was way overdue.

New Interface is both clean and familiar.

Social sharing and actions.

Easier to understand settings.

External application warnings. When a website tries to open a URL in another application, you’ll have the chance to stay right where you are.

1Password extension support. If you have 1Password installed, you can auto-fill (most) website login forms without leaving Secret Browser. Other password managers are being investigated for future implementation.

Currently Known Issues

Settings and Pro Mode reset. Settings had to be reset and will require you to review them.

Pro Mode may been reset with the update but you can safely restore your purchase to retain your Pro Mode functionality.

Unlocking Pro Mode might require you to restart Secret Browser before the advertisement on the bottom stays gone. This will be resolved in the next update.

Loading an application that uses a high amount of memory (I’ve noticed SnapChat to be a big culprit) will cause the entire browser to reset regardless of your reset settings. I’m working on making this a little more elegant in the future.

Resetting the browser after pressing home or lock doesn't work while you have the tabs screen open. This will be fixed for the next update.

Some websites (Google) may not log you out completely when the browser is reset. This is being investigated and should be fixed for the next update.

Clicking some links may redirect you to a Google search. This is being investigated and will hopefully be fixed for the next update.

Video freezes. I’m not sure if this is a Secret Browser issue or a WebKit issue and will investigate. I’ve noticed that sometimes when scrubbing through a video, the video fails to respond anymore and will be stuck on the screen. If I find a fix on my end, I will get this resolved.

Translations are on hold. I removed the previous translations because they were all done with Google Translate and I’m fairly certain they were terrible. When time and funds allow me to professionally translate Secret Browser, it will get done right.

If you'd like to keep an eye on current issues as they're resolved, I'll keep all of the issue statuses up to date on bitbucket.

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Secret Browser 3.0 Beta

Secret Browser 3.0 has been shaping up well and I'm about ready to try out a short beta period. Since iOS 8 introduced the ability to send out some betas, I'd love to take advantage of this to get feedback before the official release so it's as stable and great as possible.

Secret Browser has been rewritten from the ground up (in Apple's new language, Swift) and will be for iOS 8 and greater. It uses the new WebKit framework that came out with iOS 8 and uses the same, super fast javascript engine that Safari uses (3rd party web browsers used to be limited with a slower javascript engine). I've completely reworked the interface to be clean and simple as ever, but with even more functionality. Also, TABS! The most requested feature for Secret Browser has been on the back burner for too long. My original reasoning for not doing tabs at the very beginning was to keep memory usage down and make sure Secret Browser was also super quick. With iPhones and iPads that are faster than computers that came out 5 years ago, I think it's long over-due and this rewrite was the perfect opportunity to implement them.

If you'd like to join my small beta program, just send an email to [email protected] with the following information...

email address to be reached

device you can test on (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch)

device version (iPhone 5, iPad 4, iPod Touch 6th Generation, etc)

Apple ID email address

This will be my first TestFlight beta test with Apple's new system so I don't think I'll need any more information. Sign up today and I'll hope to have the first beta out in the next week or so!

#news #secret browser

2.4.0 is out!

I didn't realize I posted the last update to the wrong tumblr until just now. The update referenced in that post is now available, though! This will be the last update with official iOS6 support. The next big update/rewrite will be iOS7+ only. Thanks to the AppStore's new "install latest compatible version" feature, those who choose not to (or can't) update to iOS7 will still be able to download the version I just released. This update does add support for iOS7 and makes it look a lot nicer when used on iOS7. It also blanks the screenshot preview when going into the multitasking menu even if you don't have Background Reset or Panic modes on. I squished a few lingering bugs and polished things up for the long haul. Please let me know if you find any problems with this new version by shooting an email to support at secretbrowserapp.com. Enjoy!

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Secret Browser 3.0 (for iOS 7) details

I really wanted to get this out a lot earlier and I apologize to those who have (patiently) been waiting for the full iOS 7 update to Secret Browser. I want to give everyone a quick update on what's going on and what you can expect.

Secret Browser 3.0 will be for iOS 7 only. This is a complete rewrite of Secret Browser and if I wanted to keep support for iOS 6, I would have had to make too many sacrifices. It's not all bad news for those of you stuck on iOS 6, though! Since the AppStore now allows you to download the latest version of an app that's compatible with your OS, you will still be able to download the current Secret Browser 2.x version. On top of that, I will also (hopefully) be releasing a really small update to the 2.x branch of Secret Browser very soon.

Progress on 3.0 is coming along very nicely. I'm in a polishing and bug squashing stage and everything is working very nicely with all the amazing new features that iOS 7 provides. I wish I had a release date in mind at this time but just know that it will be released as soon as I feel it's as ready as I can make it. I'd rather take a little longer making sure it's as perfect as I can make it by myself.

Thanks for everyone's support and patience!

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iOS 7 Update

iOS 7 was released yesterday and (for the most part) Secret Browser still works without any major issues. I'm still working on the update to Secret Browser for iOS 7 which will bring an interface that's more in line with the new operating system and a lot of clean up under the hood.

For the time being, if you have updated to iOS 7, please be aware of the new multitasking screen. A snapshot is taken of the app when you switch apps or press the home button so you can see a full view of your apps when switching between them. If you don't have Background Reset enabled, that makes it very easy for prying eyes to see the most recent page you were viewing which could contain sensitive information. Make sure you close Secret Browser by swiping it up on the multi tasking screen. The updated version should take care of this issue.

As of right now, I do not have a time table but I am working hard to get it out as soon as possible.

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Update problem on the App Store

I hit the release button for an update yesterday (version 2.1.1) but it seems that the App Store has taken offense to that. You probably see that an update is available, but if it says that it’s version 2.1.0 then it’s mistaken. I’ve contacted Apple and am trying to get this resolved so that the correct version is finally available. Stay tuned!

Update: Seems all is now good. I just saw the correct version (2.1.1) in the App Store so it should be fine to update now.

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Problems resolved

The Pro Mode purchase problem seems to have cleared itself up. Please let me know if you are still having problems purchasing!

Also, I discovered a problem with the landing page search. The page links on the bottom were being mistaken for a phone number. I put a fix on the site so it shouldn't do that anymore.

#news #fixes

Pro Mode Purchase Problems?

Try saying that 10 times fast. As I'm working on the next update for Secret Browser, I'm noticing some problems with the Pro Mode purchase. It's looking like these problems are on Apple's end and I'm in the process of researching what the problem is. I'll report back with some more information as soon as I hear.

If you are having problems purchasing Pro Mode. For the time being, I've noticed restarting Secret Browser and trying again a few times sometimes clears up the problem. Make sure you quit from the multitasker tray.

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2.0.2 now available!

It took a bit longer than Apple's usual 7 days, but version 2.0.2 is now up and available on the App Store. This is a maintenance release and (hopefully) fixes the rest of the problems with purchasing Pro Mode, as well as puts the forward button back on the iPad and removes the annoying problem with the "Review Me!" box that caused it to pop up over and over and over again.

Next update will be a bit bigger with a couple of new features and fixes! Looking forward to finishing it soon!

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Secret Browser v2.0.2 Submitted for review!

As with any complete rewrite, a couple of bugs got overlooked and slipped by in Secret Browser 2.0.0. I addressed the biggest one with a 2.0.1 version that prevented anyone from purchasing Pro Mode. Now version 2.0.2 has been submitted and will take care of a couple more annoying issues like a "Please Review Me" alert that could pop up over and over and over again and a missing forward button on the iPad.

Apple has to approve the update so I hope to see the update go live in about a week or so.

A quick note about Pro Mode. If you are having a problem with your purchase, you may have to just try and purchase it again. If you tried to buy Pro Mode in version 2.0.0, the purchase more than likely never went through and Secret Browser simply tried to restore a previous purchase instead. Because of the way Pro Mode is set up with Apple, it is a non-consumable purchase. This means that it's impossible to buy Pro Mode twice. So if you try and purchase it again, you will either be charged for it because you never got charged the first time or you will not get charged again and it will simply unlock Pro Mode. Sorry for this slight inconvenience.

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Secret Browser v2.0 now available!

Apple has just approved version 2.0 of Secret Browser and you should be able to download it now from the App Store! This version has been completely rewritten from scratch and will provide a much more stable foundation going forward and allow for some future updates that I have in the works.

I won't lie, this version took a lot longer to get out than I wanted it to. I made sure to go back to the original foundation I built Secret Browser on. Simplicity and speed. The previous release was not tested very well and a few bugs slipped through, so I tried to make sure I took care of all the nagging issues that persisted throughout version 1.8.

Secret Browser is still FREE, so download it now!

#news #release

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