New 3 Mobile App won’t load account details

[Timrivergod]

Hi since updating the 3 mobile App I can’t access the account details just get a white screen. iPhone7+ 15.8.3 IOS loaded. 
App opens OK 
Any advice would be appreciated. 
cheers Tim

[Expert4Hire]

Hi @JonathanB ,

The iPhone App Store informed me there was an update to the app available this morning.

So I have installed the app on my iPhone, and can confirm this has fixed the issue for me.

Thanks for getting this sorted, and keep up the good work.

(P.S. I wouldn't have your job for all the tea in China 😀 )

[Harovitch]

Just to be absolutely clear, the Three customers with iPhones who have not experienced any problems at all in accessing the mobile app are those with later phone models all having iOS of 17 and above. So nothing really has changed on this front. All of the problems are with iPhones with an iOS below 17 many of which who like myself with an iPhone 7 with 15.8.3 installed (the latest update for this phone) could access the app without any problem until of course it was replaced and modified on 13th of September. Logically speaking it is immensely difficult to accept that the modified app is not causing the problems, and it is in fact the browsers on the phones of all the people who could previously access the app!  This really doesn't make any sense at all. Would you not agree?  You're right, it's very frustrating for us the customers, who can see no solution to the problem and equally frustrating for you and your team who clearly after seven weeks still have no idea of what is causing the problem.  

[PeteG]

Hi there, Harovitch. 

I can understand the frustration and concern around not having access to the account, and the thought of not having access going forwards. 

I also understand that it's difficult to accept that the app is not causing the problems, and maybe it is, I'd have no way of confirming. I can however see that lots of the examples within this, and other threads indicate that users who are having the issue also have the issue even when they are not trying through the App.

I think one common thing between all of these is Webkit. Each iOS release usually has the most recent updates to webkit, and webkit is used by almost all iOS apps that surf the web. It's also used by other developers releasing apps on iOS. It's possible that there was a change made somewhere in the website that just isn't clicking with the older versions of webkit. Something like that could cause an issue that would impact both the app and the browser on a device. To be clear, I'm not saying this is the issue, I'm not from the technical team, but it's a good example of something that could make accepting the possibility that it's not Three app issue specifically - a bit easier to accept. 

Whatever is actually causing the issue, I don't think it would have been the teams intention to change anything relating to compatibility on older iPhones or iOS versions. I have a feeling that once this issue is corrected, there will still be a decent amount of support for previous iOS versions for both the app and the browser version of My3. Fingers crossed their will be an update on this issue soon.  

Pete. 

[Harovitch]

Good evening PeteG,  Many thanks for further trying to clarify what appears to be the inexplicable!  It seems from your opening comments that the team at Three are no nearer understanding, let alone finding a solution to this problem than they were seven weeks ago.                                                        Looking at the situation objectively as an unaffected and detached outsider might, if a technology company encounters an unfortunate 'glitch' affecting one of their systems which is later seen to have 'unintended' beneficial effects in that this companies customers eventually realise that this glitch is never going to be eliminated and the only solution for them to continue enjoying the feature or service they had before this very unwelcome glitch created the problem would be to exchange their equipment for updated models which the company would of course be only too pleased to supply, then human nature being such, nobody in their right mind would expect the company to be too concerned with investigating the problem in order to find a solution!  I suppose this hypothetical observer might be a tiny bit cynical and suspicious, but there again, probably no more than most of us.      

[ChrisAO]

Hello @PeteG Two things strike me from your reply.

1) You say, quote "I also understand that it's difficult to accept that the app is not causing the problems, and maybe it is, I'd have no way of confirming.". You obviously provide feedback to Three based on what customers are saying on the forum, I'd have expected them to have provided some updates for you on the issue. Not only based on this, but Three need to get their act together, they are really BAD at keeping their representatives updated on issues whether eg. it's here, on the phone or webchat.

2) Whilst this thread (OP's and several subsequent and recent posts) have been about IoS (as well as web) there have been problems with Android as well. I've had identical issues both with current Android and an older Android 8.1.

I've experienced it in exactly the same way as others, App update then can't access the account when Go To Account is selected. Stuck with revolving blue dots! As I've had problems with unknown errors on some web pages in addition, I had assumed it was related to the way some pages are written, but then again ......

Thankfully, due to the analysis by @Expert4Hire (top of p11) there could be a handle on this issue. The browser that I regularly use has had occasional "funnies" at random with several websites and pages including Three, and I'd suspected for a while that it could be Javascript related. Browsers that I initially tried (inc. MS Edge) all rely on the Chromium engine - whether the js issues are within it I don't know, I'm no expert. I've had to switch to another browser that I know doesn't use Chromium and also seems more tolerant of js errors to make this post as even this page randomly crashed whilst trying to reply here!

I hope that this potential "'Regex lookbehind'" issue has been passed to someone senior enough to understand and investigate and also make it clear it's not just App and Account with the issues but a variety of webpages.

[Expert4Hire]

So I've had this issue on my iPhone SE (iOS 15.8.3) for quite a while, and have had to top-up by accessing my three account on a Windows PC with a Chrome browser.

So I'm not a specialist website front-end developer, but I do dabble.

Having fired up my old Mac-Mini, which hasn't been updated for months (Safari 16.2). This exhibits the same issues when trying to login to the Three.co.uk site - it just shows continuous spinney blue dots. But unlike the iPhone, the Mac-Mini gives access to the error logs and developer tools.

So the first error is coming from your script 'digitalBundle-Common-7a85ef2abfc2c5cb0ec7.js'

and the error reads 'SyntaxError: Invalid regular expression: Invalid group specifier name'.

So I've copied the compressed JS file into an online beautifier so it can read it, and did a bit of Googling on the error message. It would seem to be coming from the Regex statement in your code on line 42876...

return e.replace(/[^.\d]+|(?<=\.\d{2})\d+/g, "")

The segment '?<=' is called a 'Regex lookbehind' and isn't supported in older versions of Safari (or some other browsers).

There is a full compatibility list on this reference site https://caniuse.com/?search=%3F%3C%3D 

So for people seeing the issue, updating your iPhone OS should update Safari, and hopefully fix the issue.

And for the people at Three, how about making your code backward compatible ?

[JonathanB]

Thanks for this insight @Expert4Hire, I've shared your feedback with the teams investigating the issue. Just to reassure you, the team are still working on this. We appreciate that older Apple devices aren't supplied with continuing software updates, so not everyone is able to resolve this by updating. Hopefully it won't be too much longer till this issue is resolved for everyone.

As you've mentioned though, anyone with a iPhone eligible to update to iOS 17 onwards should complete this software update, we're finding this resolves issues accessing My3 on both Safari and the Three App.

Thanks,
Jonathan

[Harovitch]

So Jonathan, are you saying that that my iPhone 7 with iOS 15.8.3  installed is now too ancient to gain access to the Three app?  If anyone using an iPhone with an iOS earlier than iOS 17 is excluded from gaining access to their accounts this will write off a large proportion of your customers won't it?  You say the team at Three are still working to find a fix for this problem, this is after nearly seven weeks of  many of us being totally left in the dark without any sort of viable progress. or updates from Three. If this goes on much longer when customers patience is already stretched to the limit there's likely to be a mass exodus of us going to other providers regardless of whether  we are on contracts or not. As you will no doubt be aware, no Company can hold it's customers to a contract if it fails to honour it's obligations under that contract by consistently failing to provide and maintain the services it promised.  

[JonathanB]

Hi @Harovitch,

I appreciate your frustration, but I'll be quite frank here, I didn't say anything of the sort. From the very initial reports of these issues the team and I have been quite clear that this is a fault under investigation, we're not deliberately excluding anyone from access to their accounts. I don't want to split hairs here either, but the issue is not with the app itself. As has been confirmed by many Community members, the issue is present when accessing My3 from a browser on these software versions also.

If you have access to an alternative suitable device such as a PC/Laptop then you can use this to login, and if not anything that can usually be viewed or changed via self service is still accessible by calling or chatting with our customer services teams. The team and I are continuing to provide what information we can in terms of updates, and we are highlighting the feedback we receive here.

Thanks,
Jonathan