Apple requires manufacturers of browsers for iOS to use WebKit. This does not prevent Google and Mozilla from preparing browsers based on their own rendering engines.
Apple is known to impose sometimes very strict rules on the applications offered on its App Store. Among the limitations faced by developers is the requirement for iOS browsers to use the Apple brand’s WebKit rendering engine. Chrome and Firefox on iPhone and iPad are therefore not not strictly the same software as those available on Android.
Google and Mozilla are still preparing for thepossibility of a relaxation of the rules on the part of Apple. A piece of code recorded on Github in October 2022 suggests that the red panda foundation has made good progress on the subject, while the Mountain View firm does not hide having started designing a revamped version of Chrome for iOS. The small world of browsers is very fragmented, and each uses its own rendering engine. Mozilla’s Firefox is powered by Gecko, Apple’s Safari runs on WebKit, while Google Chrome and Edge run on Blink.
Firefox and Chrome on iOS could offer to switch between rendering engines
If most of the time, the actors of this microcosm manage to agree to offer common functionalities, it is not uncommon for the code bases to diverge. According to Open Web Advocacy, Safari is only used by 19% of Internet users in January 2023, but ” Cupertino-based constraints prevent interoperable, standards-based webto become a viable alternative to the native proprietary ecosystems offered by Apple and Google”.
For the Developer Lobby Group, the practice is not only anti-competitive, but it is also bad for the evolution of Internet. If Apple does not want to relax its rules, it seems that in the long term, it is the EU which could force it to do so. The company is already obliged to authorize other application stores on the iPhone and iPad, potentially from iOS 17. It is therefore very likely that it will soon have to let Internet users choose the rendering engine. to use on iOS.
Source: Ars Technica