Question

So, on an android tablet I'm getting a 404() for site/apple-touch-icon.png. Which, the 404 makes sense because no such file exists. But what's more, that file is referenced no where in the markup. I understand that apparently this icon can be automatically sought out depending on the inclusion of certain mobile-related META tags, but no such tags are anywhere in the code either. With the exception of the title, description, and keyword tags the only meta tag in said code is a

<meta name='viewport' content="width=1000">

and from what I've found, this wouldn't cause this 404.

Additionally, the only time said 404 seems to occur is when the user 'logs in.' The user can log in from any page on the site, but navigating such pages normally causes no problems. The login flow takes the user to a designated url, performs validation etc. and then redirects the user back to wherever they came from. No meta tags are output prior to the redirect. But somewhere in this flow, the tablet's browser believes it needs to seek out the 'apple-touch-icon.png' file.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what might be the culprit? Is it the result of a redirect without any output? If so, how might I discourage the client from behaving as such? I'm just at a loss trying to figure out what's causing it.

In case someone thinks it relevant, the site is built with codeigniter, and the redirect is using their core method. Thanks very much for any help.

EDIT To clarify, because I realize this was written poorly (my bad), the tablet is NOT getting a RESOURCE 404. The tablet's browser is actually navigating to the url of the non-existent file. The result is a dead page.

No correct solution

OTHER TIPS

Apple devices make a request to apple-touch-icon or apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png to use that image as a bookmark for your site, similar to how desktop browsers request favicon.png.

Presumably the android devices are just copying the IOS behaviour as they are hoping an icon will be available in that location.

I'm seeing requests for this image, plus apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png too, in my Apache http log.

Obviously, I don't carry any apple content on my site. It's probably the result of either someone's client or their carrier botching an ad injection when they visit my site. Favicon requests would be .ico files. I'm thinking of having some fun and putting goatse up with those image names, lol.

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