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Notifications: WebSocket connection blocks pages from back/forward cache (bfcache) eligibility #45149
Description
Impacted plugin
Jetpack
Quick summary
When the Notifications module is active, a WebSocket is open on every page when a user is logged-in and the Admin Bar is showing. As noted in the web.dev article on Back/forward cache, such WebSocket connections make pages ineligible for bfcache. This means that users cannot take advantage of instant back/forward navigations. This was previously in #44322.
When Jetpack's open WebSocket is on the page, the Back/forward cache panel in Chrome DevTools reports the following:
This connection is opened via an iframe'd page located at https://public-api.wordpress.com/wp-admin/rest-proxy/?v=2.0
To fix this issue, the aforementioned article advises to Close open connections before the user navigates away.
Guidance, with code samples, was also recently added to MDN: Working with the bfcache.
Steps to reproduce
- Enable the Notifications module
- Navigate from the WP Admin dashboard to another admin screen, and then try navigating back.
- Notice that the navigation is not instant, even when you have the No-cache BFCache plugin active (soon to be renamed “Instant Back/Forward”). Confirm this via a bfcache test in Chrome DevTools.
Site owner impact
More than 60% of the total website/platform users
Severity
Minor
What other impact(s) does this issue have?
No revenue impact
If a workaround is available, please outline it here.
As advised in the FAQ for the No-cache BFCache plugin, a workaround is to just disable the Notifications module.
Platform (Simple and/or Atomic)
Self-hosted
Activity
haqadn commentedon Nov 11, 2025
Thanks for the report @westonruter. It should be solved now.
gilbertococchi commentedon Nov 11, 2025
Wow, this is great news, thanks @haqadn for fixing this!
westonruter commentedon Nov 11, 2025
This seems improved, but still not 100% resolved. I just tested from the WP Admin, and I'm getting about 50% success for bfcache:
Screen.Recording.2025-11-11.at.09.28.08.mov
haqadn commentedon Nov 11, 2025
I've deployed another patch. Please let me know if you find anything else. @westonruter
westonruter commentedon Nov 12, 2025
@haqadn Success!
Screen.Recording.2025-11-11.at.16.58.59.mov
gilbertococchi commentedon Nov 12, 2025
BTW: @haqadn did also restart your WebSocket connection when
pageshowwithevent.persisted=truetriggers?This is important so a page restored from BFCache would restart the WebSocket connection otherwise the user will go back to a page with the connection closed.
haqadn commentedon Nov 12, 2025
Yes