iPhone Safari 26.4.1 errors: IPv4 & Host

[Pfui]

Just discovered that the newest Safari update on my iPhone 16 Pro incorrectly displays IPv4 and Hostname details. Thing is, our server requires IPv4 or Hostname so all iPhone users attempting to reach us using 26.4.1 time out. Not good. Not good at all.

ERROR examples, from myip.ms using iPhone Safari 26.4.1:

Your IP Address (IPv4): N/A (Your internet connection is not IPv4 capable)
Your IP Address (IPv6): [correct? omitted here]
Your Hostname: [incorrect; same as IPv6; omitted here]

CORRECT examples, from myip.ms using iPhone Firefox (FxiOS 149.3) and iPhone DuckDuckGo (Ddg/26.4):

Your IP Address (IPv4): [correct; omitted here]
Your IP Address (IPv6): N/A (Your internet connection is not IPv6 capable)
Your Hostname: [correct; omitted here]

Anyone else running into this all of a sudden? My plethora of other Apple devices (old and newer iPads, desktop iMac and MacBook Air) are A-OK, even those running 26.4.1. If possible, please check via myip.ms, thanks.

[Pfui]

I may be talking to myself here but FWIW, late yesterday's OS X update, 26.4.2, did not resolve the aforementioned problems with incorrect IPv4 and Host identification.

[lucy24]

Holy ###. I would never have thought this kind of thing could have anything whatsoever to do with the UA rather than the IP relaying the request.

Looking myself up at the same site, I was bemused to learn that my hostname is {ISP I left 20 years ago}. Further cross-checking suggests that somewhere along the line they bought my current ISP, meaning that I'm back with a company I thought I'd never see again.

And what do they mean, not IPv4 capable? If you visit a website that doesn't have an IPv6 address, your IPv4 will show up loud and clear in access logs. (I can see the opposite. My test site has a fixed IPv6 address. Some visits get logged as IPv6, but if I visit the site myself, I come through as IPv4.) What do you see in logs when you visit your own site?

I don't have an iPhone but I checked Safari on the iPad. As expected, IPv4 but not IPv6.

[Pfui]

Thanks for replying, Lucy! When I visit my own site using Safari -- starting with 26.4.1 and now 26.4.2 -- on my iPhone, I time out. So there's nada-zip-zilch in my logs. The server requires an IPv4 number and/or a Hostname or else it's no-go from the top down.

Every other Apple device is fine, including iPads that also just updated to 26.4.2. The snafu is just with iPhone Safari not broadcasting/identifying itself correctly. Other iPhone UAs are A-OK, accurately showing my IPv4 and Hostname.

[lucy24]

Yup, that definitely sounds like a product booboo. Now, if anyone knows how to make Apple aware of the problem...

[Pfui]

SOLUTION courtesy of Apple guru Adam Engst* of TidBITS.com fame!

In the recent iPhone 26.4.1 and .2 updates, "iCloud Private Relay" suddenly defaulted to ON. So I went to Settings > [My] Name > iCloud > Private Relay and turned it OFF, and ta-da! Back into my site, with IPv4 and Hostname info properly appearing again!

Thing is, I never turned iCloud Private Relay on but someone at Apple thought it should be. Pfffffft. FYI: [support.apple.com...]

*I knew Adam and his wife Tonya from literally decades ago, via dBUG, an Apple User Group in Seattle. I figured if anyone would know what was going on, it would be him. I was right. Even more to his credit, he fielded my e-mail after a mere 30 years:)

[lucy24]

Hurrah! And what a relief to know that it wasn't, strictly speaking, the UA after all.