school.apple.com - site is not usable

[webcompat-bot]

URL: https://school.apple.com

Browser / Version: Firefox 68.0
Operating System: Windows 10
Tested Another Browser: Yes

Problem type: Site is not usable
Description: Apple will not support Firefox
Steps to Reproduce:

Browser Configuration

• None

From webcompat.com with ❤️

[ksy36]

Thanks for reporting. The issue is reproducible, moving to needsdiagnosis

[miketaylr]

I wonder if we can just spoof this one.

[ksy36]

This is probably a related issue #18964

[wisniewskit]

I can bypass that by spoofing as Chrome, but all I get is a login page where my own Apple ID isn't recognized as valid, so I cannot test further to determine why they would intentionally not support Firefox. The same is true for #18964 as @ksy36 suggests.

@miketaylr, do we know anyone who has a valid login for either of these Apple sites, or should we just reach out and ask why they are intentionally blocking Firefox?

[miketaylr]

@wisniewskit I don't know about this school one... but I would bet someone from Mozilla IT would have access to a business login.

[karlcow]

I moved to contactready because That would probably take a lot of time to explore all areas of what's behind this. Just let ask them, what was the primary reason for blocking firefox, and what was potentially missing on Firefox to block it, so we can improve if necessary.

[karlcow]

As a note this is a tightly integrated system for managing apple devices.
https://support.apple.com/guide/apple-school-manager/what-is-apple-school-manager-tes7909096bf/1/web/1

[karlcow]

@jonathandavis who is at Apple
might be able to help us find the right person.

[woacademy]

Our school currently uses this service and can provide a temporary managed Apple ID to someone if it would help move things along.

/cc @ksy36 @miketaylr @wisniewskit @karlcow

[miketaylr]

Thanks @woacademy. Conveniently @karlcow works for Apple now, so hopefully he might be able to help out here.

[karlcow]

@woacademy do you use (or want to use) non Apple browsers to access school.apple.com?

(asking for having a better understanding on the scenario)

[karlcow]

This seems to a very similar issue to #18964

            var i = /(school|business)\.apple\.com.*\/index\.html/,
              o = /(school|business)\.apple\.com.*\.js/;

The redirection is done here.

if (
    ((a =
    a ||
    function (e) {
        try {
        const o = new window.XMLHttpRequest();
        o.open(
            "POST",
            "https://feedbackws.icloud.com/reportStats",
            !1
        ),
            o.setRequestHeader("Content-Type", "text/plain");
        var t = (i ? "ASM" : "ABM") + ".LoginApp";
        const n = {
            stats: [
            {
                appName: t,
                statName: t + ".blockedBrowser",
                userAgent: navigator.userAgent,
                reason: e || "UA",
            },
            ],
        };
        o.send(JSON.stringify(n));
        } catch (o) {}
        window.location.pathname = i
        ? "/unsupported_browser"
        : "/abm_unsupported_browser";
    }),
    "undefined" != typeof Promise)
)

tracked at rdar://95174355

[woacademy]

@woacademy do you use (or want to use) non Apple browsers to access school.apple.com?

@karlcow yes, that's correct. Firefox is my primary browser, and since macOS server/Profile Manager has been discontinued, flicking between a cloud MDM in Firefox and ASM in Safari is quite awkward. UA spoofing appears to avoid being redirect but logging in still doesn't work under Firefox.