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After Apple confirmed yesterday It’s breaking web apps for customers Due to this in the European Union compliance With EU regulation Digital Markets Act (DMA), Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney As suggested in a post on There’s another reason behind Apple’s decision: iPhone web apps don’t make money from Apple. Sweeney, whose company Apple sued over antitrust concerns As for App Store fees, there’s obviously a biased source on this matter, but he raises a question that’s on everyone’s mind. Did Apple break iPhone web apps because it wanted to protect customers from security risks arising from third-party browser engines, as it claims, or was the decision made to eliminate a potential threat to Apple’s business? was about?
Would Apple really go to such lengths to degrade the consumer experience on the iPhone, in other words, to protect its revenues?
The iPhone maker published an update for it on Thursday Website details its DMA-related changes in the EU To address the matter, following the discovery that iPhone web apps – also known as progressive web apps or PWAs – were no longer functional in the recent iOS beta in the EU. Initially, there were concerns that the problems were simply a beta bug, but Apple soon shot down that theory.
On its website, Apple explains To comply with the DMA, it is being forced to support web browser engines other than WebKit – the browser engine used by Safari. iOS home screen web apps have relied on WebKit and its security architecture to keep users safe from online threats. This includes isolating storage and enforcing “system prompts to access capabilities that impact privacy,” Apple said.
The company said that without this isolation and enforcement, malicious web apps could read data from other apps and gain access to a user’s camera, microphone, or location with the user’s consent. Since Apple is being forced to allow alternative browser engines through DMA requirements, the company decided not to put users at risk and instead spoil the web app experience on iOS for users in the EU. done. Now, web apps will act as website bookmarks – without the support of local storage, badges, notifications, and dedicated windowing.
Although Sweeney certainly has the ability to compete with Apple, there may be some truth to his claims. In Apple’s explanation of why it ended support for web apps in the EU, the company acknowledges that there is a technical solution to the problem of security issues – but that it has decided not to implement it.
Apple wrote (emphasis ours):
Addressing complex security and privacy concerns associated with web apps by using alternative browser engines Will require the creation of an entirely new integration architecture It does not currently exist in iOS and was not practical to implement due to other demands of DMA and low user adoption of home screen web apps.
In short, Apple is saying it knows how to fix the problem, but because it has the burden of complying with the DMA — which it said requires “over 600 new APIs and a wide range of developer tools.” “Requires – He decided to leave it to fix it.
Although building “an entirely new integration architecture” may be no small feat, it’s not as if Apple was surprised by DMA, a regulation Work on which has been going on for years. He had time to prepare for this. To further deflect any culpability here, Apple suggests that people won’t mind that it broke home screen web apps because of their “low user acceptance.”
But Apple’s own moves contradict that explanation. Whatever the case, Apple has been working to make PWAs more useful for the past few years features This allowed web apps to function like native apps, and to be easily distributed outside of its app stores. Meanwhile, user acceptance is increasing, not decreasing. Analysts estimate that the PWA market will Will reach $10.44 billion by 2027At a compound annual growth rate of 31.9%.
It’s entirely possible that alternative browser engines could make PWAs even more useful, as Sweeney argues, which would be a threat to Apple’s App Store business, given that web apps are now nearly as functional. There are as many native apps as there are.
Apple was asked to comment on its decision regarding PWAs, but only published a clarification on its DMA website as its response.
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