mobile safari

Notice those Smart App Banners that appear when you're visiting a website in Safari on the iPhone? They can be convenient, reminding you that an app is available for download in iOS 6. If you already have the app installed, they will even prompt you to open the app.

Now it turns out a bug has been discovered, which according to AppleInsider will circumvent user-defined JavaScript settings. The strange behavior is only noticeable if you're in the habit of keeping Settings -> Safari -> JavaScript -> OFF. Once a Smart App Banner appears your JavaScript setting will automatically revert to ON.

Apple has announced improvements and better functionality in the iOS 5 version of Safari mobile web browser. Did you know you can have all of these features and more without even jailbreaking your iPhone? Two apps get rave reviews and already incorporate the changes coming to iOS 5 later this fall and more. We'll start with the one of the best replacements for Safari, the Atomic Web Browser.

This app is only $0.99 in the Apple App Store, but it packs a punch when it comes to web browsing features you're used to seeing on the desktop. Tabbed browsing is only the beginning. Atomic has a private browsing mode, colored themes, custom gestures and full screen browsing to start.

You don't hear much about web apps these days, but there are some that look and function so well you might forget you're using Safari. Google has been constantly improving its Gmail web interface and they've recently revamped the mobile site again. Similar to the native Apple Mail app, the mobile version of Gmail's website is designed with the iPhone touch screen in mind.

You can swipe to archive a message, and now Google has improved the scroll speed to simulate the same quick flick of the finger to jump down in the mailbox. The toolbar has been anchored to the top of the screen, a welcome reversal of a recent change that had the toolbar floating over emails.

Comex's release of in-browser jailbreaking software for the iPhone has revealed a major security hole in all iPhones. Turns out the exploit used to download and install the jailbreak in Mobile Safari could also be used by malicious programmers to install spyware or other data-stealing software on iOS.

By creating a jailbreak procedure that can be performed anywhere (pictured above by 0xcharlie in the Apple Store) Comex has also made it clear that Apple has some security patching work ahead. What happens is that anytime a PDF file is accessed from the Safari browser, the PDF is capable of running programs that would normally be prevented from execution.