Apple is reversing its decision to remove support for home screen web apps in iOS 17. 3 in the EU. The company quietly released an update on its progress site today (via 9to5Mac) stating that, after hearing feedback, it will not move forward with the EU replacement.
The company’s initial announcement about the deprecation of home screen Internet apps in the EU was quite controversial. In fact, Apple explained that it was doing this to comply with the European Digital Markets Act, which will require Apple to allow choice of browser engines on iOS. Apple said that due to the low usage of home screen Internet applications, it may not justify the architectural work to create home screen web applications that would use select browser engines that would be as secure as existing web applications that They use Apple’s WebKit engine.
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By removing support for home screen web apps in the EU, Apple was preventing services that are not currently allowed in the App Store, such as cloud gaming services, from offering a native experience on iOS. While it’s mostly for Apple to finally maintain the prestige quo, it’s still not ideal for Internet app support on iOS. You can find Apple’s full explanation below:
Previously, Apple had announced plans to remove the ability of internet apps on the home screen in the EU as part of our efforts to comply with the DMA. The desire to remove this feature was due to the complex security and privacy issues related to internet applications. to alternative browser engines, which would require the creation of a new integration architecture that currently does not exist in iOS.
We receive requests to continue offering internet apps for the home screen on iOS. Therefore, we will continue to offer the Internet Apps feature for the existing home screen in the EU. This means that Internet applications for the home screen continue to be created directly. in most of WebKit and its security architecture, and align with the security and privacy design of native apps on iOS.
Developers and users who would have potentially been affected by the removal of Internet Apps from the Home Screen in the iOS beta in the EU can expect the existing capability for Internet Apps from the Home Screen to be restored. with the availability of iOS 17. 4 in early March.
Apple’s moves to comply with the European Digital Market Act have sparked widespread complaints from Spotify, Epic Games, and other corporations accusing Apple of malicious compliance. And it’s probably not over yet. Today, Spotify and 32 other organizations also sent a letter to the European Commission urging the regulator to “take swift, timely and decisive action against Apple, to protect developers and gain advantages for consumers, as soon as the obligations of the DMA are implemented. “
Laurent, senior editor at Thurrott. com. Il has been writing about the tech industry for many years and his favorite topics are big tech, media and gaming.
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