iOS 5.1 and Safari Mobile restriction

Question

It seems Apple have (once again) added restrictions to Safari Mobile and javascript HTML5 development with the iOS 5.1 update. However, finding the facts about these changes is frustrating due to the level of gossip.

Some say only localstorage objects have been moved to the cache, while globalstorage and sessionstorage work as before (since larger sites use these, like facebook, to log in through partner websites).

Some also say that databases are still persistent, while others say that these are now also stored in the cache of the browser - and will thus be flushed whenever iOS feels like it.

Could someone please enlighten us with the facts? Preferably with source references if possible.

Answer 1

The broken localStorage for WebViews is documented, (see http://www.sencha.com/blog/html5-scorecard-the-new-ipad-and-ios-5-1/#date:15:00)

"In iOS 5.1, this data is no longer considered persistent and is treated as temporary or transitory data, so iOS can destroy it at any time, without warning, including during low memory scenarios."

For phonegap, there are fixes around this issue: http://community.phonegap.com/nitobi/topics/phonegapbuild_localstorage_on_ios_5_1

Answer 2

I've had no issues working with localstorage and iOS 5.1

It seems to be okay for me, using PhoneGap.