In iOS 14, Apple released a new feature that allows users to turn any website into an app by adding it to their home screen with just a few clicks. Then, in iOS 17, the functionality was boosted by allowing these shortcuts to send notifications and display unread badges, like a real app. Unfortunately, if you live in the European Union, Apple is about to disable this feature.
As part of the iOS 17.4 beta that brings major changes to the App Store on iPhone, Apple also announced that users will no longer have access to web apps from the Home screen. Of course, users will still be able to bookmark their favorite sites in Safari, but Apple removes the convenience of a single click of a dynamic home page icon. As Apple explains:
Malicious web apps could read data from other web apps and steal their permissions to access a user’s camera, microphone, or location without the user’s consent. Browsers could also install web applications on the system without the user’s knowledge or consent. Addressing the complex security and privacy issues associated with web applications using alternative browser engines would require creating an entirely new integration architecture that does not currently exist in iOS and was not practical to undertake given other DMA requirements and very low user adoption of Web Apps on the home screen. So, to comply with DMA requirements, we had to remove web app functionality from the home screen in the EU.
Basically, Apple doesn’t want to waste time securing home screen web apps for third-party browsers and app stores because most people don’t use them. Web apps could be a way to avoid Apple’s fees and restrictions, so it would be easier for Apple to simply remove the feature.
iOS 17.4 includes many App Store changes effective only in the EU, including alternative app stores and payments, third-party browser engines, and access to NFC for mobile payment systems. It also introduces some 600 new APIs, but unfortunately Progressive Web Apps aren’t one of them.
