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        macOS 14.3.1, iOS 17.3.1, and iPadOS 17.3.1 Fix WebKit Text Bug

   Adam Engst

   You'll want these updates. Apple has just released [1]macOS 14.3.1
   Sonoma, [2]iOS 17.3.1, and [3]iPadOS 17.3.1 to fix a bug in WebKit that
   has been causing significant annoyance among Apple users since
   mid-December 2023 (see '[4]macOS 14.3 Sonoma Text Display Bug to Be
   Fixed Soon,' 7 February 2024).

   The bug caused words or entire lines to seem to disappear and reappear,
   jump around, or overwrite other text while you were typing in any app
   that relied on WebKit, most notably Mail, Notes, and Safari, but also
   including third-party apps like Mimestream and MarsEdit. The problem
   was disconcerting but only cosmetic'the actual text wasn't changing.
   Any action that caused the window to be redrawn'resizing, switching to
   another window and back, closing and reopening'would return the
   affected text to its correct state, at least temporarily. Although most
   reports revolved around Mac apps, iOS apps were also affected.

   Users and developers alike have been reporting the bug to Apple for
   some time now, and it was [5]fixed in the open-source WebKit browser
   engine several weeks ago. There's no telling why it took Apple so long
   to deploy these updates, but the company may have been waiting to see
   if it could include security fixes ([6]there aren't any) or delay until
   the next scheduled updates. (One developer told me that the bug was
   present in macOS 14.1 beta 1 but was fixed in 14.4 beta 2.)

   Apple also released [7]watchOS 10.3.1, noting only generic
   'improvements and bug fixes.' Since watchOS also relies on WebKit, it
   probably received the update, but Apple didn't see the need to mention
   that fact in the release notes, given that text entry on the Apple
   Watch is uncommon. [8]tvOS has seemingly not received an update, likely
   because text entry is even less common there, though I expect Apple to
   integrate the new WebKit version in a future update.

References

   Visible links
   1. https://support.apple.com/en-us/109035
   2. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213781
   3. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213780
   4. https://tidbits.com/2024/02/07/macos-14-3-sonoma-text-display-bug-to-be-fixed-soon/
   5. https://github.com/WebKit/WebKit/commit/fe1e4812260edf0b2117c1f78ddecd7c3d584f86
   6. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201222
   7. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213782
   8. https://support.apple.com/en-us/106336

   Hidden links:
   9. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2024/02/macOS-14.3.1-notes.png
  10. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2024/02/WebKit-text-bug.png

.