We had developed an iOS Safari web extension (which uses non-persistent background scripts) that functioned properly until iOS 17.3. However, I've encountered inconsistent behavior on iOS 17.4.1, 17.5, and 17.5.1. Upon further debugging, I noticed that the background scripts often become idle and are unloaded frequently. They are not loaded again even for the registered webNavigation events and only trigger when interacting with the extension popup menu. This is also mentioned here.
I had tried this in both manifest versions 2 & 3. I had tried using service_worker for background scripts. But, none of it seems to resolve this issue.
Could you please clarify if this is a bug or an intended behavior?
Our extension relies on webNavigation events without users having to interact with the popup menu often.