First things first, seeing Safari (in-app) does not mean that somehow all your Safari users are suddenly accounted for differently than in the past. Safari (in-app) visits probably don't come from the main Safari app on iPhones.
The Use Case
I created a dashboard for a client. The dashboard contained the typical Sessions by Browser widget. Since the traffic on the site is low, the client immediately noticed the Safari (in- app) browser listing. The client then asked what the row meant. Across the internet, folks have been asking the same question since at least 2013.
So where do those sessions come from?
'Add to Home Screen' function, rather than via the Safari browser are listed as 'Safari (in-app)'. I'm looking at a GA account that only watches iPads displaying a 'WebApp'. It looks like those devices running 10.3.2 and higher display as 'Safari (in-app)' and those below show as 'Safari' only. This would also explain the sudden jump in metrics.
Safari In Apple Devices
- Intelligent Tracking Prevention. Remember when you looked at that green mountain bike online?
- Safari is the built-in browser on Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Fast and energy efficient, Safari delivers innovative features while also protecting user privacy. Safari is built to ensure websites keep working as expected while blocking unwanted cross-site tracking.
Built-in search with Safari in iOS 6.0+ might have been counted as Safari (in-app) traffic. Not all searches in Safari 6.0+ are considered Safari (in-app) visits, though. Today, if you did a test, you'd find that built in searches don't get counted that way.
Free movie app for ipad 2015. The main culprit seems to be links in social media posts. Unlike searches in the Safari app, all links in Facebook that a user clicks on their phone will be considered Safari (in-app). This happens in all social media, like twitter, and google plus.
Conclusion
You might think you probably want to minimize in-app browsing if people are using your sites from phones a lot. Adobe photoshop 2010. The reason is that in-app browsers are generally inferior to other internet browsers on mobile devices. But how would you do that? Hunt down twitter users? In this use case, that's exactly what I recommended to the client; it's not necessarily a public facing site with a small user base.
Safari In Apple
For your average site, the good news is that there's a likelihood that if you're seeing a bunch of Safari (in-app) visits, then someone is talking about your site via social media. Many analysts note that the Safari (in-app) appears out of no where, and comes in waves. It's the social media effect that accounts for this.
