Site Broken on iOS

[LordVile95]

Anyone else having issues with this site and iPhones (any browser) trying to download TechSpot rather than open a page and none of the photos loading on the rare occasions where the site actually loads a page?

 

[Julio Franco]

Hey, thanks for the report. We use TechSpot on iPhone every single day without a problem but admittedly it's the second time someone mentions this to us this year. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to reproduce this on our end, but what you’re describing usually comes down to a caching or network hiccup rather than a site-wide issue.

A couple of quick things worth trying:
• Open the site in Private browsing (this bypasses Safari’s cache)
• Clear Safari data: Settings > Safari > Clear History & Website Data
• Try switching between Wi-Fi and cellular to rule out a network/DNS issue
• Temporarily disable any content blockers or ad blockers

If Safari thinks a page is a file download instead of a webpage, it’s often because something in the cached data or network response got corrupted. That can also explain images failing to load intermittently.

If the issue persists or if any of the above solves it, but please let us know so we can narrow it down better. Also your iPhone model, iOS version, thanks again.

 

[LordVile95]

Hey, thanks for the report. We use TechSpot on iPhone every single day without a problem but admittedly it's the second time someone mentions this to us this year. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to reproduce this on our end, but what you’re describing usually comes down to a caching or network hiccup rather than a site-wide issue.

A couple of quick things worth trying:
• Open the site in Private browsing (this bypasses Safari’s cache)
• Clear Safari data: Settings > Safari > Clear History & Website Data
• Try switching between Wi-Fi and cellular to rule out a network/DNS issue
• Temporarily disable any content blockers or ad blockers

If Safari thinks a page is a file download instead of a webpage, it’s often because something in the cached data or network response got corrupted. That can also explain images failing to load intermittently.

If the issue persists or if any of the above solves it, but please let us know so we can narrow it down better. Also your iPhone model, iOS version, thanks again.

Works in private

Loads one page after clearing cache but doesn't load it properly with media, then reverts to asking download on refresh.

Issue persists across networks and cellular

Issue persists with VPN on and off and ad/content blockers. All extensions turned off in settings, no Private replay enabled.

iPhone 17 Pro, iOS 26 26.3.1

No Issues with the website on macOS Tahoe 26.3.1

 

[Julio Franco]

Thanks, that helps narrow it down a lot. The fact that it works in Private browsing, but then breaks again after a normal reload, strongly points to something going wrong with how Safari is caching the site on iOS rather than a general compatibility issue.

Since that rules out networks, VPN, and blockers, this looks like a Safari/WebKit caching bug triggered by a specific response from our CDN that only affects certain users or regions.

A couple of things that can still help as a workaround:
• Try disabling “Preload Top Hit” in Safari settings if it’s enabled
• If you use iCloud Private Relay, toggling it off/on can sometimes reset routing

We’ll dig into this from our side as well, particularly around how some iOS devices are caching responses and media assets. If you notice it suddenly fixing itself, that’s usually a sign the CDN cache refreshed or Safari dropped the bad entry.

A couple more questions:
• Did this start happening just recently or has been a longer standing issue?
• Is it only happening for the homepage or any TechSpot URL?

 

[Julio Franco]

Just reset something server-side, any improvements?

 

[LordVile95]

Thanks, that helps narrow it down a lot. The fact that it works in Private browsing, but then breaks again after a normal reload, strongly points to something going wrong with how Safari is caching the site on iOS rather than a general compatibility issue.

Since that rules out networks, VPN, and blockers, this looks like a Safari/WebKit caching bug triggered by a specific response from our CDN that only affects certain users or regions.

A couple of things that can still help as a workaround:
• Try disabling “Preload Top Hit” in Safari settings if it’s enabled
• If you use iCloud Private Relay, toggling it off/on can sometimes reset routing

We’ll dig into this from our side as well, particularly around how some iOS devices are caching responses and media assets. If you notice it suddenly fixing itself, that’s usually a sign the CDN cache refreshed or Safari dropped the bad entry.

A couple more questions:
• Did this start happening just recently or has been a longer standing issue?
• Is it only happening for the homepage or any TechSpot URL?

Neither workaround changed anything

It’s started happening within the last two weeks

The issue is now affected on MacOS. On safari it prompts to download the webpage and on edge it encounters error 400.

Any URL is affected. If I clear page data it normally loads one page, incorrectly, then rhe issue starts properly when navigating to any other page.

 

[Julio Franco]

so it’s actually gotten worse. I’ve been unable to replicate this but I’m concerned about this happening for some people. Apparently it’s prevalent in the UK for some reason.

 

[LordVile95]

so it’s actually gotten worse. I’ve been unable to replicate this but I’m concerned about this happening for some people. Apparently it’s prevalent in the UK for some reason.

It could be an issue with cloudflare as the first time I get the download prompt it’s after the cloudflare verification passes, the prompt comes up and when dismissed the verification text does an infinite loop.

EDIT:

If I use a VPN and set my location to Canada the cloudflare issue is resolved and it behaves as normal it could be a specific location based issue regarding that?

 

[Burty117]

Hi, I just wanted to add here, I'm getting this exact issue myself, I'm from the UK, tried on my misses iPhone and got my brother (lives in Scotland) to test, happens to him as well.

I can confirm it happens on Safari, Firefox and Chrome on iOS, really annoying as it makes Techspot impossible to browse on the phone, Will get a couple of screenshots below:

Oh, it won't let me upload the other screenshot as its too large apparently, but it's Safari on 5G having the same issue.

 

[Julio Franco]

We've made a few changes to see if it helps. If you can let me know if the error is gone it'd be appreciated.

 

[LordVile95]

We've made a few changes to see if it helps. If you can let me know if the error is gone it'd be appreciated.

I’ve been able to access the site without private browsing enabled on safari as of this morning so seems to have fixed it

 

[Burty117]

We've made a few changes to see if it helps. If you can let me know if the error is gone it'd be appreciated.

Working on my end now, just checked with my brother in Scotland and working for him as well, thank you!

 

[Julio Franco]

This is great, thanks so much for your help troubleshooting. We've tracked down the potential issue and it's not even ours but cookies/EU consent related (I honestly hate that).

Please if you come across any persistent issue let me know. We're still working to improve upon our current fix.