On mobile, after sending information after a proof request, vc-authn does not receive or provide feedback of the information sent

[knguyenBC]

Description of problem

When a person attempts to access a service page on a mobile device using BC Wallet, they are able to successfully open the wallet via deeplink, receive a proof request and send the info over, however when they return to the service page, vc-authn does not provide any change to the interface. The page still displays the button "BC Wallet" in a pressed state.

Troubleshoot attempts:

• No change after waiting after 1 minute
• Did not fix after changing to LTE/mobile data
• Did not fix after uninstalling and reinstalling app
• Also does not work on test builds

Expected behavior

When the person returns to the service page after sharing information, vc-authn should display the correct message (either accepted, declined, not accepted etc.) and direct people through to the service (if accepted).

Steps to reproduce

• on mobile device, go to either ACM or Courthouse libraries
• access the service using BC wallet
• Accept the proof request
• return to service page

Screenshots and/or log output

2024-05-16_BC.Wallet.CLBC.iPhone.Test.MP4

Environment

• Occurs on Android
• Occurs on iOS

Build #: 1.0.16

Android Device Model:

iOS Device Model:

Workaround

none. use desktop?

Severity

• High
• Medium
• Low

[loneil]

Note that in any situations when going back to the app the BC Wallet button will be disabled and a pending message displayed. This is not deployed past VC-AuthN DEV yet though (can be seen here).
Though that change should not affect ability for the verified case to go through described here.

[loneil]

This behaviour is working for me correctly consistently in any case I can try so far. (Need to try on an iPhone, but have used iPad)

Cases I am testing:

• Go to a2a test https://a2a-test.apps.silver.devops.gov.bc.ca/pre-vc-auth/
• Log in with VC-AuthN and hit BC Wallet button
• Accept proof in BC Wallet app, repeatedly tested various navigation cases:
  • Wait in the App for the proof to complete, go home, navigate back to browser
    • Try multitask app navigation (iOS and Android)
    • Try iOS top left previous app link
    • Try Android back gestures
  • Immediately multitask back to browser without waiting
    • Sit on page until proof completes
  • Wait a long time in BC Wallet app, click around to other things
    • Eventually go back to browser
    • Proof has completed in the background and logged in DARS audio page is sitting there

Above successful cases are working for me consistently on following cases

• Pixel 6. Android 14 AP1A.240505.005
  • Chrome 125.0.6422.112
  • Firefox 126.0.1
  • Home WiFi
  • LTE
• iPad Air 4th. iPadOS 17.4.1. Home WiFi.
  • Safari
    • Request Mobile Site
    • Request Desktop Site
  • Chrome
    • Request Mobile Site
    • Request Desktop Site

Android recording

file.mp4

iPad recording

PXL_20240530_195229035.1.mp4

[esune]

It appears that the issue is with websockets being severed once the browser goes to the background (switch to wallet) and never re-established when the focus is regained (wallet back to browser). The issue seems to be more prominent with iOS.

Aiming to resolve this in bcgov/vc-authn-oidc#548

[loneil]

I believe this is fixed in the next version of VCAuthN (currently in Dev environment). Tested out with Clecio on his iPhone a while back and was unable to get any failures.

[knguyenBC]

I tested production credentials and Courthouse libraries.
iOS (iPhone SE) did not work
Android (Pixel 8) worked
bcgov/vc-authn-oidc#548 did not resolve the issue for iOS it seems.

[esune]

Unless I am missing something, I think what @loneil did in bcgov/vc-authn-oidc#548 is all we could do on our end (i.e.: all that can be done in the webapp to ensure websockets reconnect). We may have to look more in-depth at how app switching in iOS works and whether this is something we could solve in the mobile app code (maybe there's a way of specifying an app should not freeze for the specified interaction with another app?) or it is an issue that needs to be solved/supported at the OS level.