• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

OrganicWeb

Mailchimp Training & Consulting

  • Home
  • Services
    • Mailchimp Training
    • Mailchimp Consulting
  • Free Tools
    • Mailchimp Tutorials on YouTube
    • Subject Line Generator
    • Marketing Ideas Generator
    • Map Maker for Email
    • WhatsApp Click to Chat Generator
    • Avoid Email Going to Spam
    • Email Link Generator
    • Is Mailchimp Down?
    • Marketing Facts and Stats
  • Content
    • Blog
    • Videos
  • Contact & About
    • Contact
    • About

Fix WordPress menus not working on iPhone & iPad

WordPress logoOne thing that drives me nuts is, when using an Android or iOS device, I click a menu item and the sub-menu flashes before my eyes whilst I’m taken to a new page. No matter what I do I cannot click any of the sub-menu items because the parent menu item is hyperlinked (and therefore takes me to a page when I click the parent item). This is always an indication of a website that hasn’t been tested on mobile devices.

How to create a non-clickable top-level menu item in WordPress

In WordPress, the issue as described above is very easily avoided by using a custom link as the parent menu item (also called the top-level page or menu item) in a custom menu. The parent menu item is then assigned a URL of # (hash) or is left empty to deactivate the menu-item as a link.

Why doesn’t my WordPress sub-menu show on iPhone and iPad?

A client of mine recently had an issue where their WordPress website sub-menus weren’t displaying when the top-level menu item was clicked on an Apple iPhone or iPad. The WordPress parent menu-items had been created as custom links with the URL field left empty so the parent item wasn’t hyperlinked. On Android, Windows and Blackberry devices the sub-menu showed when the parent item was clicked but it just wasn’t working on iPhone or iPad (with Safari or Chrome browsers).

The solution is that the URL field of a parent menu-item can’t be left empty as it won’t work on iOS. A # (hash) should be used instead of no URL at all. For whatever reason, iOS doesn’t like the URL field of a menu item being empty.

Found this useful? Please share:

Related

  • How to get Mailchimp Subscriber Popup working in WordPress
  • Add a navigation menu to Mailchimp campaigns
  • Fix WordPress image rotation problem

Filed Under: WordPress

Watch Gary in action

Gary frequently adds Mailchimp instructional videos to his YouTube channel. Subscribe to keep updated.

→  Subscribe   ←

How to add an editable attachment to a Mailchimp campaign.

How to add, and send, coupon codes in Mailchimp.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Buzz says

    December 10, 2015 at 4:30 pm

    Thanks for the WordPress solution! What a difference a # (hash or pound sign) makes. Most forums say create the parent menu item with a #, create sub menus, then delete the # from the parent. Worked on my MacBook and pc . Even worked on iPhone, just not elegantly. On iPads, tho, the parent menu was deactivated as intended, but subs did not display at all. Your fix fixed that. (My twenty twelve site is still not beautiful on iPhone but maybe that’s the theme.) Great job, organicwebcomau.wpcomstaging.com.

    Reply
  2. Shakya Kumara says

    December 8, 2016 at 3:51 am

    Many thanks for the tip – yes, the # did the trick 🙂

    Reply
  3. Brian says

    December 24, 2016 at 3:31 am

    I’ve been searching all over for this solution. Like Shakya said above, the # did the trick. At least I still have half my hair left after pulling the first half out trying to get this figured out. Thank you so much! 🙂

    Reply
  4. AdvanceWebSolutions says

    September 5, 2017 at 1:30 am

    Thank you just had a client ask me about this today, had no clue why this was happening…

    Reply
  5. Chris Gomperts says

    October 18, 2017 at 11:13 pm

    where do you find the parent menu?

    Reply
  6. Danie says

    May 30, 2018 at 5:23 pm

    Thanks for help !

    Reply
  7. mojtaba says

    March 7, 2019 at 4:31 am

    Hello Guys.
    How can i add hash in menu link?

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You are here: Home / WordPress / Fix WordPress menus not working on iPhone & iPad

Primary Sidebar

Mailchimp write about my work

Read on Mailchimp.com

Learn from a Mailchimp Pro Partner

Signup to receive info about Gary's Mailchimp beginner and advanced classes.

Sign up

Gary on Australian National Radio

Changes are coming to the Australian Spam Act

Read Gary's article in SmartCompany

Meet Gary, Mailchimp Expert

Gary is a Mailchimp Expert and Partner. He delivers Mailchimp training and consulting services in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. Gary presents at Mailchimp events and hosts the first, and only, Australian Mailchimp sponsored event. He is M.B.A. qualified from Henley Business School, U.K.

Contact Gary for your Mailchimp needs

Footer

Customer Rating

Mailchimp Pro Partners

Contact

Contact Gary for all your Mailchimp training, consulting and integration needs.

Contact Gary.

Copyright © 2022 · Sitemap · ABN: 40800872179 · Privacy Policy · Terms of Service