iOS6 webkit timer bug workaround

ios6-timers.js

(function (window) {

        // This library re-implements setTimeout, setInterval, clearTimeout, clearInterval for iOS6.
        // iOS6 suffers from a bug that kills timers that are created while a page is scrolling.
        // This library fixes that problem by recreating timers after scrolling finishes (with interval correction).
	// This code is released in the public domain. Do with it what you want, without limitations. I do not promise
	// that it works, or that I will provide support (don't sue me).
	// Author: rkorving@wizcorp.jp

        var timeouts = {};
        var intervals = {};
        var orgSetTimeout = window.setTimeout;
        var orgSetInterval = window.setInterval;
        var orgClearTimeout = window.clearTimeout;
        var orgClearInterval = window.clearInterval;


        function createTimer(set, map, args) {
                var id, cb = args[0], repeat = (set === orgSetInterval);

                function callback() {
                        if (cb) {
                                cb.apply(window, arguments);

                                if (!repeat) {
                                        delete map[id];
                                        cb = null;
                                }
                        }
                }

                args[0] = callback;

                id = set.apply(window, args);

                map[id] = { args: args, created: Date.now(), cb: cb, id: id };

                return id;
        }


        function resetTimer(set, clear, map, virtualId, correctInterval) {
                var timer = map[virtualId];

                if (!timer) {
                        return;
                }

                var repeat = (set === orgSetInterval);

                // cleanup

                clear(timer.id);

                // reduce the interval (arg 1 in the args array)

                if (!repeat) {
                        var interval = timer.args[1];

                        var reduction = Date.now() - timer.created;
                        if (reduction < 0) {
                                reduction = 0;
                        }

                        interval -= reduction;
                        if (interval < 0) {
                                interval = 0;
                        }

                        timer.args[1] = interval;
                }

                // recreate

                function callback() {
                        if (timer.cb) {
                                timer.cb.apply(window, arguments);
                                if (!repeat) {
                                        delete map[virtualId];
                                        timer.cb = null;
                                }
                        }
                }

                timer.args[0] = callback;
                timer.created = Date.now();
                timer.id = set.apply(window, timer.args);
        }


        window.setTimeout = function () {
                return createTimer(orgSetTimeout, timeouts, arguments);
        };


        window.setInterval = function () {
                return createTimer(orgSetInterval, intervals, arguments);
        };

        window.clearTimeout = function (id) {
                var timer = timeouts[id];

                if (timer) {
                        delete timeouts[id];
                        orgClearTimeout(timer.id);
                }
        };

        window.clearInterval = function (id) {
                var timer = intervals[id];

                if (timer) {
                        delete intervals[id];
                        orgClearInterval(timer.id);
                }
        };

        window.addEventListener('scroll', function () {
                // recreate the timers using adjusted intervals
                // we cannot know how long the scroll-freeze lasted, so we cannot take that into account

                var virtualId;

                for (virtualId in timeouts) {
                        resetTimer(orgSetTimeout, orgClearTimeout, timeouts, virtualId);
                }

                for (virtualId in intervals) {
                        resetTimer(orgSetInterval, orgClearInterval, intervals, virtualId);
                }
        });

}(window));

also a newer solution in here

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12855123/ios-6-js-events-function-not-called-if-has-settimeout-in-it

Can anyone confirm is this problem has been resolved in iOS6.1?

I've tried it on iOS6.1, and it seems that the problem has gone away!

Hi.. I have added the fix.js in my header and issue seems to be fixed. But my images are inside a link (anchor tag), while clicking the image, its not redirecting. Just showing the loading icon and nothing happens after that. Please, need help on this :(

You don't need to track timers and intervals separately. You can pass interval IDs to clearTimeout, and the numbers will never overlap, since they use the same underlying list. http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/#dom-windowtimers-settimeout

novocaine: requestAnimationFrame isn't a great workaround, since it'll force a much longer delay for small timers (up to 16ms extra).

I wonder what the timing overhead of using a worker comes out to. The onscreen keyboard opening/closing inside a UIWebView (not in Safari) can also cause this issue.

@zewt I figured it wasn't required, but I also didn't want to introduce new cross-browser issues while trying to resolve one. Played it safe there. If all known browsers play nice with this, I guess that could be unified.

Although the bug is fixed in iOS 6.1, is anyone willing to document it on https://github.com/scottjehl/Device-Bugs for posterity? @pixelscript, can yours Radar issue description be used as Device Bugs issue description?

not work for me ;(

I was getting cb.apply is not a function error. It's because native setTimeout allows you to pass a String, which gets eval'd when the timeout expires. This code doesn't handle that case. I had to make this change to function callback():

        if (cb) {
            if ("string" == typeof cb) {
                if ("()" == cb.substring(cb.length - 2, cb.length)) {
                    cb = cb.substring(0, cb.length - 2)
                }
                cb = eval(cb);
            }
            cb.apply(window, arguments);
                           // etc.

this cods for some reason broke Hammer.js press event, in case any one has the same problem...