Odd routing behaviour using get_url_hash()

Anvil Q&A
1

Hi all,

I have an app that routes users to a specific page if the app’s URL contains parameters (using get_url_hash).

This works perfectly when I click the app’s URL from my computer and smart TV. The link is presented in an email.

However, on my iPhone, when I click that same link, the URL parameters seem to be ignored since I am not routed to the correct page.

I have tried clicking the link from my iPhone mail client as well as just pasting it into my phone’s Chrome browser, the result is the same.

I’m still going to do more testing to see if I can figure out what is happening.

Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this behaviour?

2

Here is a simple app to demonstrate the issue:
https://anvil.works/build#clone:D443LA6XRPAXNQYK=YKMNITLKXZSFLZRSGXACZYYT

That is, the app will send you an email with two links back to the app: one with URL parameters, one without URL parameters.

sc

When clicking on the URL with parameters, you should see this page:
sc1

On iOS I’m still redirected to form1.

According to the following posts, the issue may be due to iOS stripping the # from the URLs on redirect. Indeed I have only experienced this on iOS. On other devices that I’ve accessed (computers, TVs, Android phone), everything works as expected. The solutions in the posts below did not change anything (e.g., adding a / before the #)

Is anyone on iOS able to test this out for me?

3

Works for me in Chrome and Safari on iOS (and Chrome and Firefox on Mac OS. Yes, I’m an Apple Fanboy)

4

Would you mind mentioning which iphone version you use? I’ve tried the above app on iPhone 8 and 5, and neither work as expected (i.e., I always go to form1)

5

iPhone SE on 12.1.2

6

Well, through testing, I discovered that it must be an interaction between my organization’s safety protocols, MS Outlook, and cell phones.

If I access the URL through Outlook (for work) and I am using my cell phone, the parameters are not preserved.

Any other combination works as expected. For example:
Outlook on a computer
Gmail on a computer
Gmail on a phone

So, if my app emails someone inside my organization to their standard work email address, URL parameters will be ignored if they access the email on their phone.

I’m going to follow up with IT to see if I am understanding this correctly.

Thanks for the help testing Shaun.

1 Like