IPhone – Browser partial autocomplete

auto-completeiphoneweb-browser

I come from the Android world and I have a new iPhone. I am trying to find how to replicate a feature that I am used to, about the browser search autocomplete.

Say I want to search Google for the following phrase: "wikipedia star wars a new hope". Of course in this particular case I could use a Wikipedia search provider, but that is not the point.

In the Android browser, I can start typing "wi" and the browser will search and suggest "wikipedia". I can then click on a button and complete "wikipedia" and keep writing. At this point, maybe I will write "sta" and the browser will suggest "wikipedia star wars". Again, I click and have this phrase in the search bar, and keep writing. I then add "a n" and probably the browser will suggest the complete phrase "wikipedia star wars a new hope" that I can click to actually search.

This is an enormous time saver whenever searching for longish phrases. In Safari, I get the autocomplete, but if, say, after writing "wi" I click on the suggestion "wikipedia", it is searched immediately, which makes impossible to keep writing.

Is there a way to activate this feature in Safari? Does any other browser provide it?

Best Answer

Turns out Firefox does not implement this, while Chrome does.

Related Solutions

Autocomplete is broken in Google Chrome

Try this (reference):

Turning on/off Auto-Suggestions
1. Clear your browsing history
2. Click the Tools menu
3. Select Options
4. Click the Under the Hood tab and find the Privacy section
5. Select/deselect the 'Use a suggestion service to help complete searches and 
   URLs typed in the address bar' checkbox.
6. Click Close.

IOS – Force autocomplete form save on iPad

Add the following bookmarklet to safari:

javascript:(function()%7Bvar%20ca,cea,cs,df,dfe,i,j,x,y;function%20n(i,what)%7Breturn%20i+%22%20%22+what+((i==1)?%22%22:%22s%22)%7Dca=cea=cs=0;df=document.forms;for(i=0;i%3Cdf.length;++i)%7Bx=df%5Bi%5D;dfe=x.elements;if(x.onsubmit)%7Bx.onsubmit=%22%22;++cs;%7Dif(x.attributes%5B%22autocomplete%22%5D)%7Bx.attributes%5B%22autocomplete%22%5D.value=%22on%22;++ca;%7Dfor(j=0;j%3Cdfe.length;++j)%7By=dfe%5Bj%5D;if(y.attributes%5B%22autocomplete%22%5D)%7By.attributes%5B%22autocomplete%22%5D.value=%22on%22;++cea;%7D%7D%7Dalert(%22Removed%20autocomplete=off%20from%20%22+n(ca,%22form%22)+%22%20and%20from%20%22+n(cea,%22form%20element%22)+%22,%20and%20removed%20onsubmit%20from%20%22+n(cs,%22form%22)+%22.%20After%20you%20type%20your%20password%20and%20submit%20the%20form,%20the%20browser%20will%20offer%20to%20remember%20your%20password.%22)%7D)();

You will need to know how to manipulate an existing bookmark to paste this small program in the place a bookmark normally has the URL. This is exactly how programs like Instapaper and Pocket and others use a bookmarklet (which is really a program stored as a bookmark) to change or act on the page you are currently browsing.

Since you should always be a little suspicious when someone posts a program for you to run - here is a clearer version that shows we just loop over all the elements and blindly turn on autocomplete for each.

This makes up for web developers that forgot or intentionally did not enable autocomplete.

Same script as above, but nicely formatted and without the bookmarklet wrapper:

function () {
    var ca, cea, cs, df, dfe, i, j, x, y;

    function n(i, what) {
        return i " "
        what((i == 1) ? "" : "s")
    }
    ca = cea = cs = 0;
    df = document.forms;
    for (i = 0; i < df.length; i) {
        x = df[i];
        dfe = x.elements;
        if (x.onsubmit) {
            x.onsubmit = "";
            cs;
        }
        if (x.attributes["autocomplete"]) {
            x.attributes["autocomplete"].value = "on";
            ca;
        }
        for (j = 0; j < dfe.length; j) {
            y = dfe[j];
            if (y.attributes["autocomplete"]) {
                y.attributes["autocomplete"].value = "on";
                cea;
            }
        }
    }
    alert("Removed autocomplete=off from "
    n(ca, "form")" and from "
    n(cea, "form element")", and removed onsubmit from "
    n(cs, "form")". After you type your password and submit the form, the browser will offer to remember your password.")
}

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