[Immortal]

Interesting idea, what prompted the addition?

[Wilmer]

Anybody know how to double click on android? I haven't owned a PC in a while. Even when I did I'd say I've spent 90% of my time on here in mobile. Android specifically because you know this is HF after all.

[Positive]

Wish this was a thing back in 2015-16 ish when I asked to get all my donation awards removed 😂
Glad to see you’re still making updates!

[Jamika]

Anybody know how to double click on android? I haven't owned a PC in a while. Even when I did I'd say I've spent 90% of my time on here in mobile. Android specifically because you know this is HF after all.

Same problem here
Probably will need to work from a pc

[Wilmer]

Same problem here
Probably will need to work from a pc

I suppose I'll do that as well but you'd think there was a way to double click with how advanced phones are these days. I'm sure there's other applications as well that double clicking would be nice for.

[Omniscient]

Added long-press option for mobile users.

Please be aware that Mobile often caches pages and js. Look to see if the Sort description says, "Double-click or Long-Press (Mobile) an award to hide/show it (greyed-out = hidden)."

I'm having a hard time testing on mobile because of it. LMK if it works. It's working on desktop for sure.

[Omniscient]

Also, try a gesture like swiping. Basically Swipe an icon which seems to work on my Android as a Long-Press.

[Terry A. Davis]

Added long-press option for mobile users.

Please be aware that Mobile often caches pages and js. Look to see if the Sort description says, "Double-click or Long-Press (Mobile) an award to hide/show it (greyed-out = hidden)."

I'm having a hard time testing on mobile because of it. LMK if it works. It's working on desktop for sure.

You've been doing this longer, but can you add a custom header like max age that just sets a crazy short expiry time for cache expiration suggestions? I don't know what the coverage of mobile browsers that support it given data saver tech and stuff like that probably being on at an OS level not a browser level.

Then remove it after testing, or is MyBB a bit odd about that

[Omniscient]

You've been doing this longer, but can you add a custom header like max age that just sets a crazy short expiry time for cache expiration suggestions? I don't know what the coverage of mobile browsers that support it given data saver tech and stuff like that probably being on at an OS level not a browser level.

Then remove it after testing, or is MyBB a bit odd about that

This AI response should enlighten you.

AI Quote: Mobile caching is infuriatingly stubborn*, and what you’re describing is completely normal — even if you clear Cloudflare’s cache, clear your browser cache, and hard-refresh. Mobile networks add *extra layers of caching that desktop connections often don’t.

Here’s the full breakdown of why mobile takes longer, and why you can’t force it, even as the site owner.

---

✅ Why Mobile Cache Is Harder to Bust

1. Mobile carriers (ISPs) do “transparent caching”

Most mobile networks (especially AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Optus, Vodafone) run intermediate proxy-cache layers to save bandwidth.

These caches:
store CSS/JS/images automatically
ignore your Cache-Control headers may keep files for 24–48 hours
sit outside Cloudflare, so purging CF does not affect them

Your phone → carrier cache → Cloudflare → your server

Because the carrier cache is in front of Cloudflare, your Cloudflare purge may have zero immediate effect on mobile.

This is the #1 culprit for slow HF asset updates on mobile.

---

2. Android WebView-based browsers have extra caching layers

On Android, many apps (including Brave, Opera, and even parts of Chrome) use the system WebView, which has:
its own image & file cache
“predictive caching” offline storage
service worker cache “optimization cache" (a hidden layer used for prefetching)

Even if you clear browser cache, Android WebView keeps some stuff around unless the app is restarted or the WebView cache is flushed.

If you’ve ever edited CSS on HF and mobile STILL shows stale CSS, that’s why.

---

3. Chrome & Brave on Android use “Lite/Optimization Proxies”

Even when the “Lite Mode” setting is gone, the browser still uses:

Chrome Data Saver proxies Brave compression/CDN layer

They cache images, static assets, and fonts automatically.

Often:

Computer Chrome = direct request Mobile Chrome = hits Google’s CDN cache first

Brave especially is known for strong aggressive local caching.

---

4. DNS caching on mobile carriers is long-lived

DNS caching on desktops is short.
DNS caching on mobile carriers can be:

2–24 hours sometimes 48 hours

So even after a Cloudflare purge, if the DNS still points to a cached edge route, carriers may serve their stale version.

---

5. Cloudflare Mobile Edge PoPs have longer cache retention

Cloudflare has separate mobile edge routing in some regions.
Mobile traffic often hits a different CF PoP than desktop.

Some mobile PoPs (example: LAX, SFO, DAL nodes) are known to keep assets cached longer even after purges (especially for F-cached static assets like CSS and JS).

This depends on:

Tiered Caching setting Always Online
Cache Reserve Device type (mobile user agent is treated differently)

---

🔥 Why You *Cannot Force a Cache Update on Mobile

Because:

You cannot purge:

carrier (ISP) caches
Android WebView caches hidden optimization proxies
mobile browser compression layers OS-level DNS caching

As the site owner, you only control Cloudflare + your server.

Mobile networks do NOT respect your purge. They only update when *their own TTL expires*.

This is why desktop updates instantly while mobile takes 6–48 hours.

---

🔧 How to Actually Fix This for HF

1. Enable Cloudflare "Cache Busting" version strings

You already do this for many things. Do it aggressively for HF CSS/JS:

Example:

```
global.css?v=20251123
```

Even if the carrier caches the old file, this creates a new URL, forcing a fresh fetch.

This is the #1 reliable solution.

---

2. Set stronger no-cache headers for fast-changing assets

For your dynamic CSS/JS:

```
Cache-Control: no-cache, no-store, must-revalidate
Pragma: no-cache
Expires: 0
```

You can set this per-file or per-path in Cloudflare Rules.

---

3. Disable Cloudflare “Cache Everything” for critical paths

If you are caching too broadly, mobile becomes more stubborn.

Exclude:

`/jscripts/*` `/cache/*`
`/images/*` your theme directories

Let Cloudflare serve fresh from origin more often.

---

4. Use “Bypass Cache on Cookie” for logged-in HF users

HF logged-in users should always bypass cached CSS/JS if the cookie is present.

This ensures staff/dev don't get stale cached files.

---

5. Clear Android System WebView cache

Most browsers on Android are wrappers around WebView. You can instruct users to:

Settings → Apps → Android System WebView → Storage → Clear Cache

This forces all browsers on the phone to reload assets.

---

6. Use CDN-provided versioned assets for the forum theme

This is what big forums and WP sites do:

Instead of:

```
/images/gradient-bg.png
```

Use:

```
/images/gradient-bg.2025.11.22.png
```

Mobile can’t reuse the old file.

---

🎯 Summary

Mobile caching sucks because it's not just your cache. It’s:

Cloudflare cache Mobile carrier cache
Browser optimization cache Android WebView cache
OS DNS cache
* Network-level compression proxies

Desktop bypasses almost all of these layers. Mobile doesn’t.

That’s why mobile takes 24–48 hours and you can’t force purge it.

The true fix is changing the file URL with versioning, not relying on purging.

I suppose I could do versioning but that's kind of shitty if I have to do that for every js or css page. Waiting 48 hours in most cases doesn't kill us.


btw, I do versioning for certain JS files like Convo to ensure any fixes or updates are immediate.

[Terry A. Davis]

This AI response should enlighten you.

I did read it, interesting to see you use your own CoPilot internally these days. I just don't really care for "A.I." in dialoge.

I understand, the joys of mobile throwing hissy fits, I use Firefox Mobile, and as far as I can tell, it mostly is feature compatiable with the desktop version, so a lot of the stupid quriks of how Google think the world should work don't appply to me.

It sometimes makes me yearn for the good old days when you could just slap PHP to say add a header and pages would invalidate instantly. Simpler easier times.

Thanks

[Omniscient]

I did read it, interesting to see you use your own CoPilot internally these days. I just don't really care for "A.I." in dialoge.

I understand, the joys of mobile throwing hissy fits, I use Firefox Mobile, and as far as I can tell, it mostly is feature compatiable with the desktop version, so a lot of the stupid quriks of how Google think the world should work don't appply to me.

It sometimes makes me yearn for the good old days when you could just slap PHP to say add a header and pages would invalidate instantly. Simpler easier times.

Thanks

I do not use Co-Pilot, it's disable on my Windows. Using Grok and GPT in browser. I also mainly use Firefox but on Desktop, on mobile I use Brave as default. But it doesn't matter, have same issues no matter what mobile browser that's how I know it's ISP's who cache to save BW.

[Terry A. Davis]

I do not use Co-Pilot, it's disable on my Windows. Using Grok and GPT in browser. I also mainly use Firefox but on Desktop, on mobile I use Brave as default. But it doesn't matter, have same issues no matter what mobile browser that's how I know it's ISP's who cache to save BW.

I'm a faux Boomer, I call CoPilot the general name for any AI that is helping a person in the task, taken from GitHub not Microsft's one.
I could see it for US, don't think ours do it here. Never noticed or bothered to care if they do.

I would ask how you find Grok for programming assistance, but that might derail a little bit into anything, so if I see you in Chats sometime, expect a question or two.

Have a good... Evening?

[Omniscient]

I'm a faux Boomer, I call CoPilot the general name for any AI that is helping a person in the task, taken from GitHub not Microsft's one.
I could see it for US, don't think ours do it here. Never noticed or bothered to care if they do.

I would ask how you find Grok for programming assistance, but that might derail a little bit into anything, so if I see you in Chats sometime, expect a question or two.

Have a good... Evening?

GPT does slightly better but when it's not helping me Grok often fixes it. I tend to use both but lean towards GPT for now. I haven't even used Gemini (Google) which I'm hearing v3 has become very good for programming.

[Terry A. Davis]

GPT does slightly better but when it's not helping me Grok often fixes it. I tend to use both but lean towards GPT for now. I haven't even used Gemini (Google) which I'm hearing v3 has become very good for programming.

Go be the unironic user of Claude, then come back shouting about how good it at is at programming like one of the guys at my work.
Then I might just buy you a bottle of Soylent for Christmas.
I have not used Gemini at all past the prompts in your face when you Google stuff.


I'll wait for LLMs and coding specific ones at that to get to a point where their offline version is onpar with their oinline version and train it on local code, and my communication for language style, then I can call it a bitch-face and not feel bad.