The official examples no longer working on iOS/iPadOS

[1GR3]

Description

None of the examples are working neither on iPhone nor iPad any more while the websites built on Three.js are still working fine.

Reproduction steps

1.try to open any of these https://threejs.org/examples/ on iPhone or iPad
2. not working

Code

// code goes here

Live example

• jsfiddle-latest-release
• jsfiddle-dev

Screenshots

No response

Version

0.159.0

Device

No response

Browser

No response

OS

No response

[Mugen87]

I've tested some examples for another issue yesterday on an iPad with iPadOS 17.1.2 and they work as expected.

What kind of device and OS version are you using? Also please verify if errors or warnings are printed in Safari's browser console.

[Mugen87]

Also, as mentioned in #27327 (comment), saying that something "does not work" is not helpful in software development.

You should always describe the error situation as detailed as possible. We can reopen the issue if you do so.

[1GR3]

On an M1 iPad Pro (5th generation) running iPadOS v16.2, I get this kind of errors for every example I tried:
[Error] TypeError: Module specifier, 'three' does not start with "/", "./", or "../". Referenced from https://threejs.org/examples/webgl_animation_skinning_blending.html

[Mugen87]

Ah okay. That's because your device does not fully support import maps yet (see #26836). The issue should go away if you update your OS to at least 16.4.

[1GR3]

I could (and will eventually)update my iPad to 16.4. (and beyond) but I can't, for example update my iPhone anymore, and it is a shame that three.js which was running just fine on it won't be able to run any new projects which might be far less complex than the older ones. Is there a way to maintain the progress without breaking everything for those who're not running it on the latest and greatest devices/OS's? According to Statcounter, it means cutting out roughly 10% of the global users.

[Mugen87]

No sorry, we won't do that. We want to move forward without relying on polyfills and fallbacks even if this means a small number of devices will be excluded.

[1GR3]

What was the last version of three.js that was supported on iOS/iPadOS prior to v16.4?

[Mugen87]

It is not the version of three.js that causes the breakage. It is the missing polyfill in each example page. It has been removed with r157. If you add the following line back to the HTML, the example should work again:

<script async src="https://unpkg.com/[email protected]/dist/es-module-shims.js"></script>

[1GR3]

Thanks for clearing this out! I'm about to start a new project for a client and I'd like to insure it will be supported even on a bit older devices. What would be the easiest way to achieve that?

[Mugen87]

It's best if you ask such a question at the https://discourse.threejs.org/. We focus here on bugs and feature requests.

[1GR3]

Thank you!