Following the release of the second beta version of iOS 17.4, it emerged that Apple had restricted the functionality of iOS web apps in the EU. Web apps could no longer launch from the Home Screen in their own top-level window that takes up the entire screen, relegating them to a simple shortcut with an option to open within Safari instead.
The move was heavily criticized by groups like Open Web Advocacy, which started a petition in an effort to persuade Apple to reverse the change, and it even caught the attention of the European Commission. Now, Apple has backtracked and says that Home Screen web apps that use WebKit in the EU will continue to function as expected upon the release of iOS 17.4.
Great news! Web apps represent the democratization of mobile apps, empowering independent developers free from the constraints of the App Stores
Eh, they’re good in that way, but there’s trade-offs too. Not every app needs to be always online, but web apps do.
It’s also nice to be able to control what version of an app I’m using. I’ve got a couple apps that won’t be updated any time soon because the new version changed or broke something, removed a function, or had a terrible redesign, etc.
PWAs are able to have some offline functionality. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Progressive_web_apps/Guides/Offline_and_background_operation
Not every app needs to be always online, but web apps do.
No, they do not.
That’s great news. Not that I like Apple anyway with such douchy move.
Oh look, the EU threatens to investigate and potentially fine them, and suddenly there IS a way to preserve “security and privacy” with web apps. It’s almost like the initial reasoning for the change was complete bullshit!
It’s still only halfway there, but at least they are not removing existing functionality anymore. Let’s see how the EU likes this new “only WebKit” restriction.
I think they just stuffed something worse relatively unnoticed, and this thing was intended to divert attention.
Last minute change, even the release candidate doesn’t have the functionality restored.
Yeah but it’s only for Webkit. Apple Webkit is deliberately neutered so webapps don’t work well with it so that people don’t use them and rather buy “real” apps in the app store
And now they sell it as a feature, huh?
Incredible innovation, so brave!
Is this just for EU? Being in the states, will I be losing my Overseerr and Homarr web apps?
It was just for the EU, because they didn’t want to add a whole framework and support for third-party browser engines to act as home screen web apps. Now they’ll continue to offer those based on WebKit everywhere.
And that a week after eu announced they’d investigate apple for excluding the feature in the eu.
Looks like somebody was called out for having bullshit hehe
More like “MacRumors walks back falsely reporting something that never was…”
Ah yes, MacRumors falsely reporting… Apple’s own statements, right…:
Previously: https://web.archive.org/web/20240216001557/https://developer.apple.com/support/dma-and-apps-in-the-eu/
Why don’t users in the EU have access to Home Screen web apps?
To comply with the Digital Markets Act, Apple has done an enormous amount of engineering work to add new functionality and capabilities for developers and users in the European Union — including more than 600 new APIs and a wide range of developer tools.
The iOS system has traditionally provided support for Home Screen web apps by building directly on WebKit and its security architecture. That integration means Home Screen web apps are managed to align with the security and privacy model for native apps on iOS, including isolation of storage and enforcement of system prompts to access privacy impacting capabilities on a per-site basis.
Without this type of isolation and enforcement, malicious web apps could read data from other web apps and recapture their permissions to gain access to a user’s camera, microphone or location without a user’s consent. Browsers also could install web apps on the system without a user’s awareness and consent. Addressing the complex security and privacy concerns associated with web apps using alternative browser engines would require building an entirely new integration architecture that does not currently exist in iOS and was not practical to undertake given the other demands of the DMA and the very low user adoption of Home Screen web apps. And so, to comply with the DMA’s requirements, we had to remove the Home Screen web apps feature in the EU.
EU users will be able to continue accessing websites directly from their Home Screen through a bookmark with minimal impact to their functionality. We expect this change to affect a small number of users. Still, we regret any impact this change — that was made as part of the work to comply with the DMA — may have on developers of Home Screen web apps and our users.
Now: https://developer.apple.com/support/dma-and-apps-in-the-eu/
Why don’t users in the EU have access to Home Screen web apps?
UPDATE: Previously, Apple announced plans to remove the Home Screen web apps capability in the EU as part of our efforts to comply with the DMA. The need to remove the capability was informed by the complex security and privacy concerns associated with web apps to support alternative browser engines that would require building a new integration architecture that does not currently exist in iOS.
We have received requests to continue to offer support for Home Screen web apps in iOS, therefore we will continue to offer the existing Home Screen web apps capability in the EU. This support means Home Screen web apps continue to be built directly on WebKit and its security architecture, and align with the security and privacy model for native apps on iOS.
Developers and users who may have been impacted by the removal of Home Screen web apps in the beta release of iOS in the EU can expect the return of the existing functionality for Home Screen web apps with the availability of iOS 17.4 in early March.
Yes, it is. The only change being made is that WebKit home apps are being allowed. Since Apple couldn’t create the Home app frameworks for third party apps, they disabled all of them to comply with the new rules. This just means that, unless the EU says otherwise, Home Screen WebKit apps are still ok without needing to open to third-party engines. This is a non-story as that is already the currently released functionality and the change was only made because Apple was attempting to be conservative with its compliance.
I bet they could if they wanted to tbh.
You bet they could place shortcut icons to websites on a grid of icons? Pretty bold statement there.
I don’t think they could, at least not in the timeframe provided by the EU. That’s the entire (and only) reason they’re reverting to the existing implementation. The existing law, as written, doesn’t seem to apply to PWAs.
Apple had disabled PWAs in iOS betas, it was definitely a thing.
I’m a little sad that MacRumors survived and As the Apple Turns didn’t.