Google Drive and the fullscreen issue in Safari/iPAD Options

[Perene]

Guys,
I asked this question all over the internet and no one knows the reason why. I hope you can help me on this. I don't understand coding, so I have no idea:

1) If Google is to be blamed for this. Looks like it is.

2) If it's Apple's fault. Someone posted this: http://caniuse.com/#feat=fullscreen but I have no idea what it means for my argument.

3) If there's a workaround for it.

Here's the problem:

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I uploaded a video to Google Drive;
Created a blog in Blogspot (also tried elsewhere, the results were the same);

Then I inserted a code like this in one of my blog posts:

CODE

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://drive.google.com/file/d/0B21fQyiIJBBnWms0S2UyaUFNeWM/preview" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe>

1) When using my PC, I can go to fullscreen and select the video quality/subtitles (another button);

2) When using Safari for iPAD, I can see the video quality/subtitles button, but can't go to fullscreen;

3) >>>>> When using Mercury Browser for iPAD with user-agent "Safari (iPhone Mobile)", I can't see/use the video quality/subtitles button, but now I am able to go fullscreen;

4) >>>>> Google Drive's app from Applestore can't use the video quality/subtitles button, but is also able to go fullscreen;

5) >>>>>>> Puffin browser (app from Applestore) is able to use the video quality/subtitles button and go fullscreen. However I stopped using for good, for 2 reasons:

- Video takes a lot of time to load. In Safari, it takes a couple of seconds. Using Puffin, over 10. Don't know why, but it looks like it's either my iPAD that is slow (4th gen, last iOS), or this is to be expected;

- Even when the video is playing, it looks like playback is stuttering. I mean, not running smoothly, as the same browser does in the Youtube website. BTW, Puffin supports Flash, but until recently, this functionality was paid and lasted only a short time;

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My question is: why 2) is happening? Can it be fixed by using another CODE in my personal blog/website or I need to wait for future iOS updates? This is a major letdown.

Here's what a user replied in the ipadforums:

Since many sites can go full screen video in Safari on the iPad, I can only guess that it has something to do with Blogspot's video service. Not a help, I know; but you might find a better answer in their support forums. Perhaps a better chunk of code to use to insert videos.

As for Puffin, it can be (and often is) slow because it routes websites through a browser on a remote server, then re-serves the content to your iPad. Besides the extra steps, if their servers are loaded down things get even slower.

They do this because Puffin's primary feature is the ability to show Flash sites and content. There is no support for Flash on the iPad, so using a remote browser with Flash support is just about the only way to get around the limitation.

For what they do, they are the best; but there are no 'excellent' Flash work arounds for iPads.

I wasn't trying to imply that the problem was due to Flash; only explain why Puffin was so slow. While it was not your primary question, you did say you didn't know why it was so slow in Puffin. Puffin is slow because of the way it works, and it works that way because it supports Flash.

I did understand that the problem was that the video was not playing in full screen. Since Safari does play full screen video from some sites, then the problem is that however you are embedding full screen (there is more than one way) is not supported in Safari. The first, logical, place to look was the site itself. Since that's not the problem then it must be something else.

Looking closer, I see you are hosting the video from Google Drive. So my next guess is that whatever video streaming service Google Drive uses has compatibility problems with Safari. Remember this is a guess. I'm just following a chain of possibilities, hoping we'll eventually discover the culprit; and hopefully find a way around the issue along the way.

I have Google Drive, so I'll do a little experimenting and see if I can stream video directly, and whether I can use full screen in the app, and/or in Safari from there. It will take a bit. First I need to find and upload a test video.

Ok. I tested it, and yes it seem to be a problem between Google Drive and Safari. Playing directly from the Google Drive app I can get full screen. Heck, it was full screen before I tapped the expand button. All the expand button did was change where the controls showed up. Weird.

In Safari, going to the Google drive site, the video could not be expanded. I got the same error you did when attempting it. I then followed the Learn More link, which was mostly uninformative about Safari. It did say one interesting thing. It talked about 'enabling' full screen on your browser. There is no such permission or setting in mobile Safari, or most browsers. The only browser they mention by name is Firefox. Well, and Chrome (which also doesn't expand the video).

It is highly unlikely that either Apple or Google is intentionally blocking the feature. Safari does full screen with many other sites. Google obviously wants you to be able to do full screen. So it's a bug. On who's end is hard to say. Google is always 'adjusting' it's services with new and innovative (and not always standard) features; and of course all OS's have bugs. Apple is no exception.

You can send feedback to Apple here: Apple - iPad - Feedback Don't expect an individual response, but it may help in the long run.

You could send feedback to Google as well, since there's no telling who's fault it is. It could easily be a bit of both.