There’s something new in the latest versions of iOS. Unfortunately, these are regressions from previous versions of the operating system.
Some developers suspected it, it is now confirmed. Apple has broken the way web applications work in the latest versions of iOS. In all beta versions of iOS 17.4, the Progressive Web Apps (PWA) have ceased to function normally and become simple shortcuts to web pages. According to Apple, this would be a mandatory change to comply with the Digital Market Act (DMA) rules, the European directive that the company has been fighting with all its might for months.
What is a PWA?
PWAs have been installable proto-applications on iOS for years now. A sort of enhanced web favorite, they can be installed with a single click from the web page of a site supporting the standard. Once pinned to the home page, they act almost like a native application, offering a dedicated interface (rather than that of the browser), the possibility of sending notifications and storing persistent information (connection data, user settings). , etc.). All without going through the App Store and taking up much less space than software downloaded from the Apple store, since they are nothing other than an improved web page.
Due to the great freedom they offer, PWAs have become interesting alternatives to the App Store for developers. Some pornographic sites use this system in particular to bypass the limits of the App Store while offering an experience close to that of a native application. However, with the entry into force of the DMA, which requires, among other things, that Apple authorize the use of web browsers not relying on the Webkit rendering engine offered by Safari, Apple broke this tool and transformed PWAs into vulgar shortcuts to the desired web page.
Apple downgrades web applications
Citing security issues and the need to “build an entirely new integration architecture that does not currently exist in iOS“, Apple has therefore ended the possibility of using PWAs in Europe. Apple explains that without the control that the company exercises over the Webkit engine “Malicious web apps could read data from other web apps and steal their permissions to access a user’s camera, microphone, or location without their consent“. Please note that users outside of Europe are not affected by this change.
Many discordant voices were nevertheless heard, notably that of the Open Web Advocacy, an association which campaigns for the development of a free Internet and emancipated from “access controllers” labeled by the DMA. According to this collective of developers, Apple is under no obligation to downgrade PWAs as it has done. The company could very well have “create an API by which authorized browsers […] subject to strict safety rules […] could install web applications powered by the browser that each chooses to use.»
Technically, this is entirely possible, as proven by Android, which has allowed PWAs to run in the browser of your choice for several years now. However, due to “low use of web applications», Apple did not see fit to develop an architecture to really shake up Safari’s dominance on iOS.
Source : Apple via 9to5Mac
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