Embedded Paypal adapative payments (using Lightbox) doesn't work on mobile web

Question

Until recently I used a non-embedded Paypal Adaptive payments (Even in Mobile). I am trying to move to the embedded version (using the iFrame/Ligthbox method). It works perfectly on desktop, yet it doesn't work on mobile.

In mobile platforms, the Lightbox modal does open, but if I'm not logged in to PayPal, and click the log in link, the lightbox content is just refreshed and asks me to log in again. I tried to mimic the problem by setting my desktop user agent to a mobile one, and the issue is recreated.

Note: in the ligthbox flow, if a user is not logged in, the entire payment process happens in a popup window and not in the lightbox iframe.

Is there a solution to this? I looked everywhere but there's no documentation for this problem.

UPDATE: After investigating a bit, I found this piece of code in the PayPal javascripts in the iFrame:

if (ua.match(/iPhone|iPod|Android|Mobile|Blackberry.*WebKit/i)) {
        window.location.href=this.href;
} else { // open popup code }

Which simply refreshes the login page! Is there a reason for this?

Hi Indignon, I'm having the EXACT same problem and it's driving me nuts. Did you ever get to the bottom of this? — Ben Y
I submitted this as a bug back then to PayPal, and moved to the Minibrowser flow. We had to remove this feature anyway after a few months since the flow was simply ugly and didn't work. — Indigon
Geez, we ended up doing the same thing and ditching the AP. It'd be nice if PayPal could get their act together. — Ben Y

James James · Accepted Answer · 2013-07-18T16:51:55

I ran into this same issue with the Lightbox flow and found the mini browser experience to work better on mobile devices.

More information regarding the mini browser experience (expType=mini) can be found here:

Adaptive Payments without modal box or popups?

Embedded Paypal adapative payments (using Lightbox) doesn't work on mobile web

1 Answers