Sudden Inexplicable "Browser Not Supported"

[blackLuna]

I'm suddenly getting a "400: Unsupported Browser" notice, preventing me from accessing the site with my usual browser, Safari (version 15.6.1).

Thing is, it was working just fine about a week ago, and when I checked the compatible versions (here), it should be definitely within the permissible range. Additionally, using a search engine, I found no indications of any recent updates which might have caused it. Stranger still, my backup browser, Opera One (version: 114.0.5282.222), is working (which is how I'm posting)… despite being slightly older (I think).

For the record, I'm running the most recent version of Safari my OS and computer permit (and my OS is likewise the most recent I can run).

What is going on and is it solveable without spending more-money-than-I-have on a newer computer?

 

[Angry_Panda]

This list has been superseded; most recent list from the #support channel on the Discord:

Verified working minimum browser versions: Firefox 80 (latest is 151)

• Released: 2020-08-25
• EOL: 2020-09-22

Chrome 70 (latest is 149)

• Released: 2018-10-16
• EOL: 2018-12-04-

Opera 67 (latest is 132)

• Released: 2020-02-25
• EOL: 2020-04-22

Brave 1.3 (latest is 1.91)

• Released: 2020-01-30
• EOL: 2020-02-26

Vivaldi 2.11 (latest is 8.0)

• Released: 2020-02-12
• EOL: 2020-04-15

Tor Browser 12 (latest is 15)

• Released: 2022-12-07
• EOL: 2023-10-12

Microsoft Edge 100 (latest is 149) Somewhat inconsistent, 104 and later should work just fine

• Released: 2022-04-01
• EOL: 2022-04-28

Safari's not expressly spelled out, but from skimming through the comments there, it looks like it needs to be 16+ at least (don't quote me on this - it may need to be more recent than that). Hopefully a mod will wander through shortly and give better information.

Edit: per a mod in one of the forum channels:

Safari Mobile & iOS - iOS 15.8, 16.4, 17.2 or newer.

 

[josie_paru]

Having the same issue and I'm on Chrome 125

 

[blackLuna]

This list has been superseded; most recent list from the #support channel on the Discord:

Safari's not expressly spelled out, but from skimming through the comments there, it looks like it needs to be 16+ at least (don't quote me on this - it may need to be more recent than that). Hopefully a mod will wander through shortly and give better information.

Edit: per a mod in one of the forum channels:

I'm talking about an OS, NOT iOS.

iOS is for mobile devices, not actual computers.

And again, my usual browser was working less than a week ago, no signs of updates to the site in that time frame.

 

[blackLuna]

Ah, an additional problem to solving this issue which I forgot to mention: since Discord automatically updates to the most recent version, it comepletely has jilted any backwards compatibility.😡 So as of late last year, I haven't been able to access it at all.

 

[RogueKitsune]

For the record, I'm running the most recent version of Safari my OS and computer permit (and my OS is likewise the most recent I can run).

What version of MacOS are you running? 15.6? You should be able to update to 15.7.7 (I think that's the latest Sequoia release). According to Apple (and the Internet) 15.7.7 supports up to safari 26

I looked it up and even MacOS 14 gets you support for Safari 18.
MacOS 13 gets you up to safari 16.

Edit:
Did even more digging and it looks like macOS 11 might be the oldest version you can use if you want to use Safari. MacOS 11 is listed as supporting devices back to 2013. If you are on an older MacOS version then you are out of luck and will have to use a browser that is not Safari.

Disclaimer: I am not much of a MacOS person my knowledge is more skewed towards the iOS side of Apple

 

[wiz_gmc]

An error 400 comes from the server. It's not the web page doing it, so it won't necessarily be from an update you can see.

I can only guess, but it could be that mangadex will be rolling out a feature that absolutely requires javascript features you won't have. Or it could be that most entities on the internet reporting browsers so outdated are bots/automated tools and you're getting filtered for that.

The most current version of Safari appears to 26.0, so 15.6.1 is very old at this point. It's probably better to not be using it at all if you're not getting security updates for it. I assume you have an old intel Mac and have been cut off from updates by Apple.

As for fixes:
You can try to set your user-agent in Safari so that it tells everyone it is version 26, if the server is just filtering you by useragent then that should put a stop to it. But it may not work and it may break other sites.

If your backup browser is still being updated then I would recommend switching to that. But 114.0 for that browser also seems incredibly out of date. Does MacOS not support automatic updating for third-party applications?

If you want to keep the computer modern, even though Apple has stopped supporting it, then the Linux operating systems will probably still support your hardware fully. But that is a big step if you're not a computer person.

 

[blackLuna]

What version of MacOS are you running? 15.6? You should be able to update to 15.7.7 (I think that's the latest Sequoia release). According to Apple (and the Internet) 15.7.7 supports up to safari 26

I looked it up and even MacOS 14 gets you support for Safari 18.
MacOS 13 gets you up to safari 16.

Edit:
Did even more digging and it looks like macOS 11 might be the oldest version you can use if you want to use Safari. MacOS 11 is listed as supporting devices back to 2013. If you are on an older MacOS version then you are out of luck and will have to use a browser that is not Safari.

Uhm, not sure what you were trying to say with most of that.

For starters, macOS Sequoia is the second-most recent OS (it was launched in September 2024). And it can't run Safari 15, because Apple switches CPUs like socks.

My lovely laptop can "only" run macOS Catalina at the latest, the last version of which is what I'm using. Backwards compatiblity for my laptop's model was removed from updates to macOS in 2020. So, when I said I'm running the most recent versions I can for both my browser and OS, I meant it.

---

An error 400 comes from the server. It's not the web page doing it, so it won't necessarily be from an update you can see.

I can only guess, but it could be that mangadex will be rolling out a feature that absolutely requires javascript features you won't have. Or it could be that most entities on the internet reporting browsers so outdated are bots/automated tools and you're getting filtered for that.

The most current version of Safari appears to 26.0, so 15.6.1 is very old at this point. It's probably better to not be using it at all if you're not getting security updates for it. I assume you have an old intel Mac and have been cut off from updates by Apple.

As for fixes:
You can try to set your user-agent in Safari so that it tells everyone it is version 26, if the server is just filtering you by useragent then that should put a stop to it. But it may not work and it may break other sites.

If your backup browser is still being updated then I would recommend switching to that. But 114.0 for that browser also seems incredibly out of date. Does MacOS not support automatic updating for third-party applications?

If you want to keep the computer modern, even though Apple has stopped supporting it, then the Linux operating systems will probably still support your hardware fully. But that is a big step if you're not a computer person.

Those are excellent suggestions for a general problem, and if the issue is in fact my browser, I'll take them with gratitude.

However, I've only ever had this problem with MangaDex, so I'm not sure if the issue is my browser or something with the website itself (or, as you suggested, the server).

I could still access the website just fine on Friday (the 12th). So, while it could be the result of an unannouced update, some kind of bug seems more likely. Especially since, according to the most recent information I've found, my browser should still be supported.

Does anyone have an up-to-date list of compatible versions of Safari for macOS (not iOS)?

 

[RogueKitsune]

Uhm, not sure what you were trying to say with most of that.

For starters, MacOS Sequoia is the second-most recent OS (it was launched in September 2024). And it can't run Safari 15, because Apple switches CPUs like socks.

My lovely laptop can "only" run MacOS Catalina at the latest, the last version of which is what I'm using. Backwards compatiblity for my laptop's model was removed from updates to MacOS in 2020. So, when I said I'm running the most recent versions I can for both my browser and OS, I meant it.

Thanks for providing more details. Lots of people tend to throw around the word "latest" when they actually mean the newest version they feel like being on or they actually don't know what version they are on and don't want to appear "dumb". I know you don't fall into either but not everyone knows MacOS and which releases support what versions of safari, so it's nice to have the extra details whenever possible.

Now given that your device is on Catalina you are out of luck when it comes to using Safari. MD has implemented some changes that block versions of Safari older than 16 for MacOS (iOS got Safari 15.8 but MacOS did not). To the best of my knowledge there is no plan to roll back this requirement at this time.

For workarounds you could try spoofing the user agent Safari sends to make it seem like a newer version, but that could get you banned or the website could just no longer work because of compatibility. The other option is to use another browser such as Chrome, Firefox, etc.

 

[blackLuna]

Thanks for providing more details. Lots of people tend to throw around the word "latest" when they actually mean the newest version they feel like being on or they actually don't know what version they are on and don't want to appear "dumb". I know you don't fall into either but not everyone knows MacOS and which releases support what versions of safari, so it's nice to have the extra details whenever possible.

Now given that your device is on Catalina you are out of luck when it comes to using Safari. MD has implemented some changes that block versions of Safari older than 16 for MacOS (iOS got Safari 15.8 but MacOS did not). To the best of my knowledge there is no plan to roll back this requirement at this time.

For workarounds you could try spoofing the user agent Safari sends to make it seem like a newer version, but that could get you banned or the website could just no longer work because of compatibility. The other option is to use another browser such as Chrome, Firefox, etc.

Thank you for the warning about the work-arounds possible back-fire.

Could you please be more specific about the server/website requirements?

As per my previous post, I've only had this issue with MangaDex, and only since yesterday afternoon — all on Safari version 15.6.1. (The last time I accessed the site before that was Friday; there were no problems at all.) Why MangaDex would suddenly have significantly higher requirements than most websites is honestly beyond me; it honestly seems like that would be something they would try to avoid.

If the cause is a solid requirement (rather than something else, such as a glitch), the update would necessarily have been put into play some time between Friday night and yesterday afternoon. That'd be extremely recent.

Hence why I'm a bit dubious of immediately blaming it on my older browser without examining other possibilities or finding any solid current requirements — thus far, you're the only person to so much as touch on it without focusing on iOS, which is somewhat seperate (that probably happened because an older device stands out in this age of replacing fully-functional devices every two–five years and because it is overwhelmingly common for people to speak of macOS when they mean iOS).

You mentioned something about versions of macOS Safari older than version 16 no longer being supported. Do you know when that particular move occurred? Since, again, it was still working for me just this Friday. (I'm resonably certain that it was Friday, and if I am off, it would only be by one day. Of that much I'm positive.)

 

[Angry_Panda]

Thank you for the warning about the work-arounds possible back-fire.

Could you please be more specific about the server/website requirements?

As per my previous post, I've only had this issue with MangaDex, and only since yesterday afternoon. (The last time I accessed the site before that was Friday; there were no problems at all.) Why MangaDex would suddenly have significantly higher requirements than most websites is honestly beyond me; it honestly seems like that would be something websites would try to avoid.

If the cause is a solid requirement (rather than something else, such as a glitch), the update would necessarily have been put into play some time between Friday night and yesterday morning. That'd be extremely recent. (Hence why I'm a bit dubious of blaming it on my older browser.)

Bear in mind I am neither staff nor a developer - this is what I have gathered from some posts here in the forums and on the Discord:

The past week or so has seen recurring instances of scrapers striking the site, including the forum, each day in the late evening UTC. The load on the site from these has been heavy enough to cause parts of the site to fail. Staff have been putting measures in place over the last couple days to begin to mitigate these instances, which has necessitated the requirement for a more up-to-date browser.

 

[blackLuna]

Bear in mind I am neither staff nor a developer - this is what I have gathered from some posts here in the forums and on the Discord:

The past week or so has seen recurring instances of scrapers striking the site, including the forum, each day in the late evening UTC. The load on the site from these has been heavy enough to cause parts of the site to fail. Staff have been putting measures in place over the last couple days to begin to mitigate these instances, which has necessitated the requirement for a more up-to-date browser.

Thank you. That would explain it, and how incredibly recent the problem is.

If your conjecture is correct, I wish there had been an annoucement that they were doing updates or maintenance (or even just "making improvements").

But in that case, why is a similarly old version of Opera working just fine?

 

[wiz_gmc]

But in that case, why is a similarly old version of Opera working just fine?

Assuming that it is happening to prevent bots, it is likely because bots will always pretend to be one of the mainstream browsers. I mostly see them pretending to be using a really outdated version of Chrome, but I have seen some pretend to be Safari. I can't say I have ever seen a bot pretending to use Opera.

So the reason Opera works is likely just that no Opera user has ever committed a crime against MangaDex so heinous it required them to retaliate against all Opera users.

Blocking things at a browser ID level, at least when I do it, is reactive. So the thinking is "the bots have updated their Chrome version? I will just update my filter so that Chrome users have to have a version even newer than that." It's essentially arbitrary and the underlying thinking is "any legitimate user should be able to update easily" which holds true for most people, but unfortunately not when Apple (or Google for Android users) can cut you off from updates.

 

[RogueKitsune]

But in that case, why is a similarly old version of Opera working just fine?

Pure guess but it probably comes down to browser capabilities.

From a staff member on discord

on TLS level: TLS 1.3 now required, and also added PQC support
on browser level: Sec-Fetch spec now required

It's not until the last couple of major versions that Safari has caught up to other browsers when it comes to certain features and web standards compatibility. Opera on the other hand is a Chromium based browser so broadly speaking if Chrome supports it so does Opera.

Edit:
Based on a quick search Opera 114 seems to be based on Chromium 128.

 

[blackLuna]

Thank you all for your assistance!