Well, it turns out it’s not a bug that broke iPhone web apps, also known as progressive web apps (PWAs), in the EU. After developer complaints and press reports about how PWAs no longer worked in the EU after installation of the latest iOS betas, Apple updated its website to explain why. Unsurprisingly, the tech giant blames the new EU regulation, the Digital Markets Act, for the change, saying the complexity associated with the DMA’s requirement to allow different browser engines is the root cause.
To catch up with you, security researcher Tommy Mysk and Open Web Advocacy first noticed that PWAs had been relegated to website shortcuts with the release of the second beta of iOS 17.4. Initially, it was unclear whether this was a beta bug – stranger things have happened – or whether it was intended to undermine the functionality of PWAs in the EU, a market where Apple is now forced to allow alternative app stores, third-party payments, and alternative engines browser, among others. In the betas, PWAs, which typically allow web apps to act and feel more like native iOS apps, no longer worked. The developers noticed that these web apps will open like a bookmark saved on your Home screen.
As MacRumors pointed out at the time, this meant there was no “dedicated window, notifications or long-term local storage”. iOS16.4 also allowed PWAs to badge their icons with notifications, just like native apps could. iOS 17.4 beta users reported that when they opened a web app while running iOS beta, the system would ask them if they wanted to open the app in Safari or cancel it. The message indicates that the web app will “open in your default browser from now on,” it said. Then users said they experienced data loss issues as a Safari website shortcut didn’t offer local storage. Notifications were also no longer working.
However, there was reason to be cautious about whether the change was intentional or not. Multiple TechCrunch staff members repeatedly reached out to Apple for comment, but did not receive a response. (We wanted to know if the company would confirm whether this was a beta bug or an intentional change, and if it was the latter, what Apple’s reasoning was for this.) After the next beta version appeared, The lip ran a report that showed that Apple “it seems to be“ breaking PWAs in the EU, since it is also unlikely to receive an official response from the tech giant.
Now Apple has responded in its own way. Today, he updated it webpage detailing the DMA-related changes in the EU to take up the matter. In a new update, the company explains how it had to make so many changes to iOS to comply with EU guidelines that continued support for PWAs was simply off the table.
Traditionally, the iOS system provided support for Home Screen web apps by building directly on WebKit (Safari’s browser engine) and its security architecture, Apple said. This allowed web apps to align with the same security and privacy models found in other native apps. But with DMA, Apple is forced to allow alternative browser engines. It argues that without the isolation and enforcement of rules applied to WebKit-based web apps, malicious apps could be installed that could do things like read data from other web apps or “access the camera, microphone or a user’s location without consent,” Apple said.
“Addressing the complex security and privacy concerns associated with web applications using alternative browser engines would require the creation of an entirely new integration architecture that does not currently exist in iOS and was impractical to undertake given the other DMA requirements and very low user adoption of home screen web apps. And so, in order to comply with the DMA requirements, we had to deprecate the Home Screen web apps feature in the EU,” the website states.
The company is informing EU users that they will be able to access websites from their Home screen via bookmarks as a result of the change, confirming developers’ concerns that PWAs in the EU were effectively disabled.
“We expect this change to affect a small number of users. However, we regret any impact this change – made as part of DMA compliance work – may have on Home Screen web app developers and our users,” Apple says.
critics I have he argued that Apple’s desire to maintain its power in the iOS app ecosystem was so intense that it would break web app functionality for users of its devices. Apple’s defenders, meanwhile, will likely argue that the company’s explanation is reasonable and in line with Apple’s desire to keep iOS safe for its users. The truth, as is often the case, probably lies more in the middle.
Apple still hasn’t responded to requests for comment.
