Safari Can’t Parse ‘2018‑12‑10 11:11:11’: Why and How to Fix It

When converting a string like "2019.06.06 13:12:49" to a timestamp with new Date(), Chrome works but Safari on iOS throws “Invalid Date”. The problem is Safari only parses dates in the yyyy/mm/dd format.

Testing with both “2018.12.10 11:11:11” and “2018-12-10 11:11:11” confirms that Safari fails on the dot or hyphen variants.

The fix is to replace the dot or hyphen with a slash before creating the Date object:

let dateStr1 = '2018.12.10 11:11:11';
let dateStr2 = '2018-12-10 11:11:11';

function dateToTimestamp(dateStr) {
    if (!dateStr) {
        return '';
    }
    let newDate = dateStr.replace(/\.|\-/g, '/');
    let date = new Date(newDate);
    let timestamp = date.getTime();
    return timestamp;
}

dateToTimestamp(dateStr1);
dateToTimestamp(dateStr2);

According to a Stack Overflow discussion, Safari’s new Date(string) only supports the yyyy/mm/dd format, while Chrome accepts both.

Tip: When developing mobile web or mini‑programs, be aware of such browser‑specific date parsing quirks to avoid compatibility pitfalls.