Yep, Apple’s breaking iPhone web apps in the EU
www.theverge.com
Apple says web apps from third-party browsers are a security risk.

Apple is officially dropping iPhone support for web apps in the EU - The Verge::Apple will no longer support web apps in the European Union in iOS 17.4. The company says building the feature would be “impractical” on top of the other changes it’s been asked to make.

  • Rob@lemdro.idEnglish
    14·
    9 months ago

    Wait, if they allow 3rd party browser engines in the eu anyway? I got to ask,

    What. Is. the Benefit. of. dropping. web. apps. for. Apple? In theory it shouldn’t hurt them at all. Web apps, on Chromebooks tend to use less battery life… ohh. They would rather use apps to run down you Iphone batteries life faster.

    I suspect this will also be rolled out in other countries?

    • mryessir@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
      3·
      9 months ago

      I doubt that web apps use less power then native apps. Especially because native apps can be entirely compiled to the architecture. It always depend on the software in question.

      By dropping pwa they most likely prohibit an api to use any os interface at all. PWA additionally circumvent their store. And therefore steering developers back to their known ecosystem - which requires apple hardware to develop on. Additionally it may “preserve” the dedicated knowledge to develop against their os.

      • Rob@lemdro.idEnglish
        21·
        9 months ago

        I should had elaborated. When I close, say a web app for the Facebook website on my Chromebook, it’s closed. When you close the native Facebook app, it lurks and runs in the background.

        The webapps themselves aren’t necessarily less power consuming by themselves.

        Would PWA really circumvent their app store if it’s really just a site you could access on Safari anyways just made easier to use for a modern user base use to apps? It’s almost like bookmarking in a browser. Apple should totally target bookmarks in Safari next, because what if someone bookmarks the Epic Games store in the u.s or any other unapproved country. What if someone uses Safari bookmarks as their alternative to Apple apps entirely? Can’t have that on Iphone since something might not be approved by Apple.