March is shaping up to be a very busy month for Apple in the European Union. Throughout this month we will be able to see iOS 17.4, the new version of iOS, which is still in the beta period but which lays the foundations for the future of the operating system in many respects, especially in the Union European. This version will certainly comply with the European Digital Markets Act and has many implications such as the removal of web applications as we knew them in iOS 17.4, due to incompatibility with WebKit hegemony with the LMD.
Goodbye to web apps in iOS 17.4
Application development is a constant evolution in which developers participate. Since the launch of the first iPhone and the first iOS, there have been many differences compared to the moment we find ourselves in. Actually, iOS 17.4 in the European Union will change everything we know so far about iOS and iPadOS. In this article we talked about the implications of iOS 17.4 and in this other about all the changes that will be included in the version to comply with the European Union Digital Markets Act, a small overview of the changes that will arise in the month March on European territory.
Related article:
All Apple changes in Europe explained to everyone
However, iOS 17.4 will introduce a new setback for developers: web applications will be deleted. It is progressive web apps or progressive web apps were a type of applications that were not installed on the device itself but could be launched directly from the browser. This allowed developers to effortlessly take their tools and port them to the iOS SDK and Use the web browser as a source to create your applications. These web apps have improved, and iOS 16 introduced the ability to receive notifications directly from these web apps for the first time.
But iOS 17.4 will terminate web applications, Since Apple has based the web apps on its WebKit SDK and with iOS 17.4 it can’t do that compulsorily, the essence of these apps would be a bit lost.
The iOS system has traditionally supported home screen web apps by relying directly on WebKit and its security architecture. This integration means that Home screen web apps are managed to align with the security and privacy model of native apps on iOS, including isolating storage and applying system prompts to access features that have an impact on privacy per site.
Apple’s goal is not to completely eliminate these web applications but that the adaptation period is so short that there is no time to design a new architecture which is secure with any web browser. In fact, this is how it is stated on its official website:
Addressing the complex security and privacy issues associated with web applications using alternative browser engines would require the creation of an entirely new integration architecture that does not currently exist on iOS and was impractical to implement given other requirements of the DMA and the very low adoption of the technology by users. So, to comply with DMA requirements, we had to remove web app functionality from the home screen in the EU.
