Event playback issue with Frigate 0.16.1 PWA on iOS 26.0.1

[b-klaas]

I don't know exactly when this started, but as far as I remember it began after I had upgraded Frigate to 0.16.
I have added Frigate to my iPhone homescreen as a PWA, which is working fine for a while and then I am suddenly unable to watch event recordings.
The GUI shows the event thumbnails like it always does, loads the video player fine but then keeps hanging on the shown videoframe, without showing any loading icon/animation.
Nothing relevant is shown in the system logs, and statistics are all OK (green graph bars).
When I launch Frigate's URL in Safari on the same iPhone or on my MacBook playback works fine.
This was al tested on my local network, without forward proxies or anything application specific in between.
What can I do to resolve this?

[inkeep-ai-assistant[bot]]

Based on the available documentation, there are several known iOS Safari/PWA playback issues that might be related to your problem.

For iOS devices, the API documentation specifically notes that you should use the master.m3u8 HLS link instead of clip.mp4, as Safari does not reliably process progressive mp4 files (1). This could explain why the PWA (which uses Safari's engine) has playback issues while regular Safari works fine.

If you're using H.265 cameras, you should enable the apple_compatibility option in your configuration (2):

cameras:
  your_camera:
    ffmpeg:
      apple_compatibility: true

(2)

There's also a known issue where Safari on iOS may struggle with HLS playback compared to other browsers. The documentation indicates that Safari supports HLS natively while other browsers use hls.js, which can lead to different performance characteristics (3).

For iOS notifications specifically, some users have reported that the Notifications switch needs to be enabled in iOS Settings → Apps → Safari → Advanced → Features (4).

Since the issue started after upgrading to v0.16, you might want to check if your PWA installation needs to be refreshed. Try removing the PWA from your home screen and reinstalling it, as PWA behavior can sometimes be cached from previous versions.

The fact that regular Safari works while the PWA doesn't suggests this is specifically related to how the PWA handles video playback versus the browser implementation.

📚 Sources:

1. GET /{camera_name}/start/{start_ts}/end/{end_ts}/clip.mp4
2. Camera Specific Configurations
3. Recording segment load times in Safari [iOS]
4. Notifications

---

Have another question? Just tag @inkeep.

[b-klaas]

I have already tried removing and re-adding the PWA to my homescreen. I am not using H.265.
My configuration is:

mqtt:
  enabled: true
  host: <redacted MQTT IP>
  port: 1883

ffmpeg:
  hwaccel_args: preset-intel-qsv-h264

ui:
  time_format: 24hour

auth:
  enabled: true
  cookie_secure: true
  session_length: 43200
  refresh_time: 21600

timestamp_style:
  # Optional: Position of the timestamp (default: shown below)
  #           "tl" (top left), "tr" (top right), "bl" (bottom left), "br" (bottom right)
  position: tl
  # Optional: Format specifier conform to the Python package "datetime" (default: shown below)
  #           Additional Examples:
  #             german: "%d.%m.%Y %H:%M:%S"
  format: '%d %b %Y %H:%M:%S'

detectors:
  ov:
    type: openvino
    device: GPU

model:
  path: plus://<redacted model ID>
  #model_type: yolonas
  #width: 256
  #height: 256
  #input_tensor: nchw
  #input_pixel_format: bgr
  #path: /config/yolonas-s-256/yolo_nas_s.xml
  #labelmap_path: /labelmap/coco-80.txt

objects:
  track:
    - person
    - face
    - bicycle
    - car
    - license_plate
    - motorcycle
    - bird
    - cat
    - dog
    - horse
    - cow
    - umbrella
  filters:
    person:
      min_score: 0.65
      threshold: 0.80
    bicycle:
      min_score: 0.75
      threshold: 0.80
    car:
      min_score: 0.65
      threshold: 0.85
    cat:
      min_score: 0.75
      threshold: 0.85
    dog:
      min_score: 0.75
      threshold: 0.85

review:
  alerts:
    labels:
      - person
      - bicycle
      - car
      - motorcycle
      - cat
      - dog
      - umbrella
  detections:
    labels:
      - person
      - bicycle
      - car
      - motorcycle
      - bird
      - cat
      - dog
      - horse
      - cow

record:
  enabled: true
  retain:
    days: 14
    mode: motion
  alerts:
    retain:
      days: 28
    pre_capture: 10
    post_capture: 10
  detections:
    retain:
      days: 14
    pre_capture: 10
    post_capture: 10
snapshots:
  enabled: true
  retain:
    default: 28
  quality: 100

cameras:
  carport:
    enabled: true
    ffmpeg:
      output_args:
        record: preset-record-generic-audio-copy
      inputs:
        - path: 
            rtsp://frigate:{FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}@<redacted cam IP>:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=2
          roles:
            - detect
        - path: 
            rtsp://frigate:{FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}@<redacted cam IP>:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0
          roles:
            - record
    detect:
      enabled: true
      width: 1280
      height: 720
      fps: 10
      annotation_offset: 0
    zones:
      Voordeur:
        coordinates: 
          0.043,0.139,0.048,0.276,0.074,0.498,0.115,0.694,0.215,0.558,0.184,0.313,0.163,0.316,0.159,0.305,0.156,0.288,0.153,0.219,0.146,0.073
        loitering_time: 0
        inertia: 1
        objects:
          - dog
          - horse
          - person
          - umbrella
          - cat
          - cow
      Straat:
        coordinates: 
          0.459,0.174,0.562,0.192,0.765,0.252,0.827,0.27,0.911,0.289,1,0.314,1,0,0.459,0
        loitering_time: 0
        inertia: 1
      Oprit:
        coordinates: 
          0.47,0.239,0.388,0.353,0.209,0.568,0.113,0.699,0,0.863,0,1,1,1,1,0.508,0.893,0.291,0.729,0.233,0.576,0.188,0.461,0.164,0.471,0.219
        inertia: 2
        loitering_time: 0
        objects:
          - bird
          - cat
          - cow
          - dog
          - horse
          - person
          - umbrella
      Oprit-fietsstrook:
        coordinates: 0.49,0.214,0.428,0.299,0.979,0.493,0.983,0.446,0.932,0.345
        inertia: 1
        loitering_time: 0
        objects:
          - bicycle
          - motorcycle
      Oprit-alarmtrigger:
        coordinates: 
          0.468,0.256,0.511,0.272,0.411,0.435,0.704,0.519,0.756,0.533,1,0.628,0.999,0.999,0,1,0,0.86,0.135,0.668
        loitering_time: 0
        objects:
          - person
        inertia: 2
      Oprit-autostrook:
        coordinates: 0.362,0.387,1,0.57,1,0.581,0.357,0.396
        inertia: 1
        loitering_time: 0
        objects: car
    snapshots:
      required_zones:
        - Voordeur
        - Oprit
        - Oprit-autostrook
        - Oprit-fietsstrook
    review:
      detections:
        required_zones: Straat
      alerts:
        required_zones:
          - Voordeur
          - Oprit
          - Oprit-fietsstrook
          - Oprit-autostrook
    motion:
      mask:
        - 0.423,0,0.426,0.207,0.454,0.185,0.45,0.017,0.704,0.022,0.705,0.121,0.817,0.154,0.907,0.198,1,0.256,1,0.348,0.904,0.287,1,0.461,0.999,0
        - 0.173,0.329,0.177,0.365,0.185,0.361,0.182,0.326
        - 0.058,0.168,0.065,0.285,0.076,0.378,0.086,0.467,0.146,0.405,0.132,0.277,0.124,0.124
      threshold: 30
      contour_area: 10
      improve_contrast: true
  schuur-voorzijde:
    enabled: true
    ffmpeg:
      output_args:
        record: preset-record-generic-audio-copy
      inputs:
        - path: 
            rtsp://frigate:{FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}@<redacted cam IP>:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=2
          roles:
            - detect
        - path: 
            rtsp://frigate:{FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}@<redacted cam IP>:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0
          roles:
            - record
    detect:
      enabled: true
      width: 1280
      height: 720
      fps: 10
    motion:
      mask:
        - 0.041,0.171,0.106,0.161,0.113,0.352,0.124,0.524,0.062,0.513,0.049,0.346
        - 0.402,0.175,0.498,0.177,0.497,0.496,0.405,0.492
        - 0.785,0.053,0.698,0.048,0.698,0,1,0,1,0.497,0.777,0.289,0.781,0.202
      threshold: 30
      contour_area: 10
      improve_contrast: true
    zones:
      Oprit-achterzijde-fietsstrook:
        coordinates: 0.774,0.387,0.881,0.388,0.953,0.461,0.769,0.444
        inertia: 1
        loitering_time: 0
        objects:
          - bicycle
          - motorcycle
      Schuur-voorzijde-zone:
        coordinates: 0,0.639,0,1,1,1,1,0.574,0.776,0.323,0.751,0.75,0.415,0.716
        loitering_time: 0
        inertia: 3
        objects:
          - bird
          - cat
          - cow
          - dog
          - horse
          - person
          - umbrella
    review:
      alerts:
        required_zones:
          - Oprit-achterzijde-fietsstrook
          - Schuur-voorzijde-zone
      detections:
        required_zones: Schuur-voorzijde-zone
    objects:
      filters:
        bicycle:
          mask: 0,0.639,0,1,1,1,1,0.593,0.768,0.582,0.751,0.75,0.415,0.716
        motorcycle:
          mask: 0,0.639,0,1,1,1,1,0.593,0.768,0.582,0.751,0.75,0.415,0.716
        person:
          mask: 
            0.785,0.053,0.698,0.048,0.698,0,1,0,1,0.503,0.779,0.288,0.781,0.202
  schuur-zijkant:
    enabled: true
    ffmpeg:
      output_args:
        record: preset-record-generic-audio-copy
      inputs:
        - path: 
            rtsp://frigate:{FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}@<redacted cam IP>:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=2
          roles:
            - detect
        - path: 
            rtsp://frigate:{FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD}@<redacted cam IP>:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0
          roles:
            - record
    detect:
      enabled: true
      width: 1280
      height: 720
      fps: 10
    motion:
      mask:
        - 0.687,0.048,0.681,0.408,0.761,0.472,0.875,0.57,0.887,0.37,0.9,0.07,0.783,0.054
        - 0,0.166,0.112,0.147,0.196,0.109,0.309,0.096,0.44,0.088,0.526,0.061,0.647,0.047,0.687,0.046,1,0.058,1,0,0,0
        - 0.23,0.36,0.23,0.416,0.237,0.447,0.24,0.47,0.235,0.511,0.249,0.517,0.243,0.556,0.245,0.6,0.252,0.636,0.261,0.661,0.27,0.661,0.283,0.68,0.29,0.71,0.305,0.732,0.311,0.77,0.333,0.782,0.35,0.782,0.365,0.773,0.373,0.751,0.376,0.727,0.375,0.696,0.375,0.658,0.368,0.631,0.378,0.631,0.395,0.618,0.402,0.597,0.403,0.578,0.405,0.553,0.402,0.535,0.396,0.516,0.34,0.373,0.33,0.336,0.32,0.308,0.312,0.281,0.297,0.262,0.277,0.246,0.25,0.24,0.24,0.271,0.235,0.295
    zones:
      Plantsoen-autodetectie:
        coordinates: 
          0.626,0.27,0.629,0.119,0.574,0.119,0.541,0.121,0.496,0.13,0.494,0.159,0.382,0.158,0.378,0.278
        inertia: 1
        loitering_time: 0
        objects: car
      Schuur-zijkant-zone:
        coordinates: 
          0,0.333,0,1,1,1,0.998,0.682,0.626,0.368,0.625,0.318,0.625,0.204,0.582,0.203,0.477,0.208,0.356,0.221,0.24,0.243,0.129,0.264
        loitering_time: 0
        inertia: 3
        objects:
          - bird
          - cat
          - cow
          - dog
          - horse
          - person
          - umbrella
    review:
      detections:
        required_zones: Plantsoen-autodetectie
      alerts:
        required_zones: Schuur-zijkant-zone
    objects:
      filters:
        car:
          mask: 0.31,1,0.24,0.388,0.625,0.326,0.624,0.374,1,0.679,1,1
        bicycle: {}
        motorcycle: {}
version: 0.16-0
semantic_search:
  enabled: false
  reindex: false
  model_size: large
camera_groups: {}
detect:
  enabled: true
face_recognition:
  enabled: false
  model_size: small
lpr:
  enabled: false
classification:
  bird:
    enabled: false

[hawkeye217]

Frigate doesn't handle History playback any differently for PWA compared to standard mobile browsers, so this may be something iOS related. I run Frigate as a PWA and don't have any issues, but I'm not on iOS 26 yet. Do you have another non iOS 26 device you can test with?

[b-klaas]

Thanks for your reply, unfortunately all our devices are on iOS 26 already.
I am thinking maybe this maybe related to caching on device side, but I am not sure on which components that can cause issues if it is the case.
Can I turn on some debug logging in Frigate specifically for video player issues?

[hawkeye217]

There is no frontend debug logging available, unfortunately.

Debugging a mobile browser or PWA on Apple devices is not straightforward - you need to connect it to a Mac (ideally with a cable) and then use the Mac's Safari in developer mode to show network requests and the console on the iOS device.

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/safari-developer-tools/inspecting-ios

[b-klaas]

I got that working using my MacBook, when trying via PWA I got failed requests in Network console for several "seg-1-v1-a1.ts" files.
When trying via Safari on iPhone playback is working and I still got failed "seg-1-v1-a1.ts" ones, but succeeding and increasing seg-109-v1-a1.ts ones, where the number behind seg- is incrementing with 1.
The number incrementing is also the case with PWA, but it stops soon after the video player is loaded with the "frozen" frame.
What do I need to look for?

[hawkeye217]

I'm not sure what to look for beyond that - if it works with Safari but not with Safari PWA, something is odd with iOS. Frigate has no special handling in the History section in particular for PWAs. Maybe @NickM-27 has some ideas?

[b-klaas]

Today I have upgraded the Frigate container to 0.16.2, that did not change the behavior.
Is it perhaps possible modify the embedded nginx configuration to inject some "no cache" headers?

add_header Cache-Control "no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate, proxy-revalidate, max-age=0";
add_header Pragma "no-cache";
add_header Expires 0;

[hawkeye217]

You could bind mount a modified nginx configuration with Docker.

[b-klaas]

I have just added the headers to the nginx.conf as follows:

...
location / {
            # do not require auth for static assets
            #add_header Cache-Control "no-store"; --> moved to below
            expires off;

            # Disable caching with HTTP headers
            add_header Cache-Control "no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate, proxy-revalidate, max-age=0";
            add_header Pragma "no-cache";
            add_header Expires 0;

            location /assets/ {
...

During the next few days I will keep an eye on the behavior and reply here on the results.

[b-klaas]

Unfortunately the additional headers did not fix the playback issue on PWA. Can someone guide me in the process where to look for next?

[hawkeye217]

None of the other devs nor myself can reproduce this issue, and we have not had any other reports of it. It's difficult to know what could be causing your issue.

[robbins]

It seems I’m also experiencing this issue too on iOS 26.0.1. Event videos never load (constant loading icon) in Frigate as Safari PWA, but some load when accessing Frigate directly through Safari or Chrome. However, there are some event videos that never load (or in rare cases, keep displaying the loading circle while displaying a frame every ~2 seconds), even in browser.

I have another iOS 26.0.1 device that doesn’t experience this issue, event videos always play fine (but there’s another issue with not receiving notifications that I need to look into).

Can share my config later.

[b-klaas]

I have just added:

add_header Cache-Control "no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate, proxy-revalidate, max-age=0";
add_header Pragma "no-cache";
add_header Expires 0;

to the nginx configuration, but this time on the /vod/ location instead of the root location (/).
I will let you know the results asap

[b-klaas]

So far, the additional config mentioned in my last post seems to have fixed the issue. Will keep an eye on it the coming days, but is this something which can be included in the main frigate release nginx configuration?

[NickM-27]

I don't see any reason that this would make a change in the behavior you described, the segments are pulled by hour so they will be unique and not interfere with other hours. And more generally caching is a good thing here as it will speed up subsequent playbacks, I don't think disabling caching is a good idea.

Frigate 0.17 will no longer use mpeg-ts and instead will use fragmented mp4, so that might improve this issue for you since browsers prefer fragmented mp4

[b-klaas]

I didn't dive into the internal logic Frigate has for this functionality to further narrow down what the issue could be, but apparently those headers did fix it for me.
No iOS updates or network or server changes/updates have been done...

[robbins]

FWIW, after I commented I can never reproduce the issue anymore. So it seems to be very transient at least for me.