For the past couple of months, Twitter users who click shortened "t.co" links with an HTTPS URL have noticed a frequent, irritating bug that prevents content from loading. Oftentimes, when a "t.co" link is clicked, it opens up a blank web page and hangs at a loading screen for several minutes before giving an error message.

There are threads about this issue on the MacRumors forums and the Apple Support Communities, with most people complaining that the problem started around the beginning of November.

safaribrokentcolink
Aside from reloading the t.co URL several times, removing the "https" from the URL, or switching to a different browser, there's no way to fix the link loading issue. Clearing Safari's cached files also helps, but only temporarily. Chrome and Firefox aren't affected, nor are links that do not use HTTPS.

In a recent post on the issue, The Verge uncovered a January 14 tweet from Timothy Hatcher, a WebKit Developer Experience Manager at Apple. Hatcher says the problem is lower level than WebKit (Safari is built on WebKit) and that Apple has a fix identified.

Hatcher did not specify when the fix might be implemented, and it is unclear if it could come in a standalone Safari update or if a full OS X update will be required.

Tag: Twitter

Top Rated Comments

JaJaWa Avatar
96 months ago
This is honestly the biggest advantage that Android has over iOS ... is that system applications and whatnot are updated like regular apps frequently without the need to update the entire OS. Apple really needs to do something like that. Bug fixes to the OS are one thing, but there's no reason you should have to wait months and months (or longer) for a bug with an app. It just makes no sense.
This is a bug with Safari on Mac OS X (comparable to Windows, not Android).
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
djeeyore25 Avatar
96 months ago
I noticed that Twitter had a hard time opening on Safari of late. I was going to tweet about it but...
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
zorinlynx Avatar
96 months ago
I'm surprised this isn't something that Twitter can fix on their end.

How hard can it be to redirect a browser?
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
soupcan Avatar
96 months ago
They should also fix the fun bug that prevents me from seeing my Google notifications in Safari. I have to open Chrome for that.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
\-V-/ Avatar
96 months ago
This is honestly the biggest advantage that Android has over iOS ... is that system applications and whatnot are updated like regular apps frequently without the need to update the entire OS. Apple really needs to do something like that. Bug fixes to the OS are one thing, but there's no reason you should have to wait months and months (or longer) for a bug with an app. It just makes no sense.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
pauldunlop Avatar
96 months ago
It's not just me! Woo!

I've actually had to switch to Chrome, this got so bad. Weird it hasn't received more press. I looked around for people reporting this issue, didn't find much,
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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