Safari in ios8 is scrolling screen when fixed elements get focus

Question

In IOS8 Safari there is a new bug with position fixed.

If you focus a textarea that is in a fixed panel, safari will scroll you to the bottom of the page.

T

Answer 1

I found a method that works without the need to change to position absolute!

Full uncommented code

var scrollPos = $(document).scrollTop();
$(window).scroll(function(){
    scrollPos = $(document).scrollTop();
});
var savedScrollPos = scrollPos;

function is_iOS() {
  var iDevices = [
    'iPad Simulator',
    'iPhone Simulator',
    'iPod Simulator',
    'iPad',
    'iPhone',
    'iPod'
  ];
  while (iDevices.length) {
    if (navigator.platform === iDevices.pop()){ return true; }
  }
  return false;
}

$('input[type=text]').on('touchstart', function(){
    if (is_iOS()){
        savedScrollPos = scrollPos;
        $('body').css({
            position: 'relative',
            top: -scrollPos
        });
        $('html').css('overflow','hidden');
    }
})
.blur(function(){
    if (is_iOS()){
        $('body, html').removeAttr('style');
        $(document).scrollTop(savedScrollPos);
    }
});

Breaking it down

First you need to have the fixed input field toward the top of the page in the HTML (it's a fixed element so it should semantically make sense to have it near the top anyway):

    
      
    

    
        

            
        

        
(content)

    

Then you need to save the current scroll position into global variables:

//Always know the current scroll position
var scrollPos = $(document).scrollTop();
$(window).scroll(function(){
    scrollPos = $(document).scrollTop();
});

//need to be able to save current scroll pos while keeping actual scroll pos up to date
var savedScrollPos = scrollPos;

Then you need a way to detect iOS devices so it doesn't affect things that don't need the fix (function taken from https://stackoverflow.com/a/9039885/1611058)

//function for testing if it is an iOS device
function is_iOS() {
  var iDevices = [
    'iPad Simulator',
    'iPhone Simulator',
    'iPod Simulator',
    'iPad',
    'iPhone',
    'iPod'
  ];

  while (iDevices.length) {
    if (navigator.platform === iDevices.pop()){ return true; }
  }

  return false;
}

Now that we have everything we need, here is the fix :)

//when user touches the input
$('input[type=text]').on('touchstart', function(){

    //only fire code if it's an iOS device
    if (is_iOS()){

        //set savedScrollPos to the current scroll position
        savedScrollPos = scrollPos;

        //shift the body up a number of pixels equal to the current scroll position
        $('body').css({
            position: 'relative',
            top: -scrollPos
        });

        //Hide all content outside of the top of the visible area
        //this essentially chops off the body at the position you are scrolled to so the browser can't scroll up any higher
        $('html').css('overflow','hidden');
    }
})

//when the user is done and removes focus from the input field
.blur(function(){

    //checks if it is an iOS device
    if (is_iOS()){

        //Removes the custom styling from the body and html attribute
        $('body, html').removeAttr('style');

        //instantly scrolls the page back down to where you were when you clicked on input field
        $(document).scrollTop(savedScrollPos);
    }
});