Well, seems like I’m having one of those unlucky months (1, 2) This morning I’ve started receiving messages about XKit Mobile crashing upon startup, which is related to the “Net Neutrality” theme of the dashboard (spinning wheels instead of photos). Since this effect is only visible to United States users (although I’ve received messages about it being visible to UK and Australian users - and I’m not in any of these countries) the most I could do was post a tip I’ve received from a user.  

Turns out, even though this fixes the problem on some accounts, on some accounts, the problem is still there. I’ve used a USA based VPN service (a proxy service) to test the application and it indeed crash on 2 of my 3 test accounts.

I wrote a fix and submitted it to Apple. As you know, on desktop versions, I can/do push updates instantly, but on App Store, I have to wait for review process, which can take several days. I’ve requested an expedited review, which reduces that time to less than 24 hours, and am waiting for their approval.

The best case scenario is that they’ll review and publish it, and it will be fixed in a few hours. Worst case scenario is that they will not accept the expedited review request, and it will be fixed once Tumblr stops the themed dashboard, which should be less than 24 hours. 

Once again, I’m terribly, terribly sorry about this. You have every right to be mad, since this is an oversight on my behalf (the original code was missing a check that could prevent this from happening) but my hands are completely tied and for now there is nothing I can do but apologize and ask for your patience and support.

Thank you so much,
The Xkit Guy.

I’ve received a lot of asks (most of them I couldn’t reply to yet, I apologize for that) asking me if I would reconsider adding Safari support back to XKit with the release of Safari 8 and OS X Yosemite.

The short answer is: “probably”. I know about the improved HTML5 support and other improvements, so it should be easier to write code for, but I will probably end up re-writing the whole Safari version of XKit (even if it’s not required) and I can’t upgrade to OS X Yosemite for now, so I can’t say anything yet.

I know a lot of people love Safari, but as you probably already know, I had to drop support about a month ago for various reasons. As I’ve said in that post, I know it’s absurd to ask people to switch browsers just to use XKit, so if everything goes well, Safari support might be back in a few months.

As you know, I’ve been really busy for the past couple of months, so I could not reply to all your asks, nor could add new features/extensions to XKit. Once again, I apologize deeply for that. In a couple of weeks, my workload will lighten, and hopefully I will be able to finish the surprise I’ve been working on, and get back to adding new features.

That being said, I would like to inform you about a few changes to XKit in the meanwhile:

1. XKit Changelog

Whenever I make a change on any extension, I post it on this blog. I know some people want to know which bugs were fixed, but most are simply not interested at all with small bugs fixes. For that reason, from now on, bug fixes will be posted to XKit Changelog blog, while new extensions/features and announcements will be posted here.

2. Safari Support

A couple of months ago, I’ve written about how hard it is to develop XKit for Safari. It lacks most HTML5 features, and it’s (incomplete) documentation is still not updated for Safari 7, a browser released nearly a year ago. Not to mention that the Windows users are still stuck at Safari 5, released almost 4 years ago.

Sorry to say this, but it looks like even Apple doesn’t care about Safari anymore, and due to fact that nearly 50-60% of the bug reports I receive are from Safari users, who make up less than 5% of the whole XKit user base, I am forced to discontinue XKit for Safari completely. 

I am terribly sorry about this. I know it’s absurd to ask people to switch browsers to use an extension, but I’m left with no other choice. I hope you can understand. If you decide to switch to another browser, you can use XCloud to sync your settings and pick up where you left off.

3. Third Party Extensions

There are a few third party (not written by me) extensions on XKit Gallery, but unfortunately, most of them weren’t updated past their initial release, causing some problems. I will wait for their developers to update them, or I will re-write them myself in order to provide a more stable XKit for you.

Once again, I’m really sorry about the lack of updates for the last couple of months. I will be back with new features as soon as possible. Thank you for using, and supporting XKit.

Since today’s update was the first in the last 6 days (and that I usually update XKit every single day), I feel bad and would like to clarify a few things, especially related to the Safari support and the asks you’ve sent.

1. Safari Support

As of today, XKit download page for Safari says it’s “unsupported” and provided “as-is”. There was always a warning message on the Safari download page, the new message is just a stronger worded version of that.

And yes, XKit on Safari is buggy, for reasons stated here, but that does not mean that I will not continue updating XKit for Safari. It just means that Chrome and Firefox will have a higher priority from now on (so, for example, when I release XKit 7.5, Safari users will get it a few days later.) 

I still recommend switching to Chrome, but don’t worry, XKit for Safari isn’t “dead” and you can still use it.

2. Your Asks

I’ve spent quite a time today (~2.5-3 hours) replying to asks I’ve received since my break, but still could not reply to all (there are still around ~300 posts in my inbox.) Once again, I apologize if you haven’t received a reply, I will be replying to you as soon as possible.

3. Updates

I also apologize for the lack of updates lately, I’ve been very busy with work and school. I’ve tried to fix as many problems as I could today, but there are still a few known bugs (and a lot of features requested), mainly with XCloud and Post Archiver, which I will try to fix as soon as possible. I apologize for this and thank you for your patience.

I’ve been reading the bug reports I’ve received in the last 5 days, and I’ve realized that most of the bug reports come from people using Firefox or Safari. What makes this even worse is, according to the last survey, 77% of XKit users use Chrome.

As part of my policy on transparency, I’m writing this in order to let you know why that is happening and what might happen in the future.

(Read Mored, I apologize deeply if you are on mobile.)

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