iOS 17.4 is here for our iPhone, a version lots of news for users in the European Union. And the Digital Markets Act (DMA) led Apple to implement numerous changes such as the arrival of alternative stores to the App Store or modifications to the browser.
Because yes, Browsing the Internet on iPhone will now be something different, starting with the default browser we want to use. The fundamental thrust of it all is that there is greater freedom when using a web browser and with Safari in mind, iOS 17.4 brings some significant changes.
First things first: choose the browser you want to use
It has been possible for several years to change the default browser on the iPhone, but this must have been an action caused by user impulse, because if you didn’t dig into the settings you wouldn’t find this option. In iOS 17.4, directly A window opens as soon as you open Safari in which this possibility is discussed to choose another predefined browser.
This is what Safari looks like as soon as you open it with iOS 17.4
This message appears both when you open Safari for the first time after updating to iOS 17.4 and when you set up an iPhone for the first time. As you will see, everything is very intuitive. You are first informed of the possibility of choosing another browser and, when you click ‘Continue’, Various browser options offered. There are some of the most popular ones such as Firefox, Edge, Chrome or Safari itself.
Once you have made your choice of browser, the system directs you to the App Store to download it and set it as default. If you choose Safari anyway, the App Store will also open, but in this case you can close it or click ‘Open’ and everything will continue as before.
Browser engine no longer needs to be the same as Safari
Apart from Safari, we have long seen how it is possible to use other web browsers. However, even though they came from different developers outside of Apple, the truth is that they all came to share the same navigation enginewhich comes from Apple and is called WebKit.
Sharing the same engine meant that no matter which browser you used, they were all essentially the same. The name, some elements of the interface have been modified and some options specific to each of them have been added, but for practical reasons, it has remained the same. That might change from now on.
Developers can now use their own browser engines, so from now on it is possible that we will see much more complete versions of it and with added options that until now could not be implemented because they are under the protection of WebKit. Advanced Chrome extensions could be a good example.
Now though, So far, none of them have launched their own engines.. Obviously they will, but since the update to iOS 17.4 is so recent, none of them have done it yet. When they do it, it will be done relatively silently, since it will be through an update of the application and that’s it, so we will have to pay attention to the notes that they add on this version to know if they incorporate this change engine or not.
Webapps will still be on your home screen, but only with Safari
Webapps will remain and be accessible from the home screen… but only if it is with Safari or a browser that uses its engine (WebKit)
Webapps are also known as Progressive Web Application or PWA. If this doesn’t sound familiar, these are web pages that open from the browser and which, on a technical level, are a little more advanced than a classic website, although less than an application. Their advantage is that they can be added to the iPhone home screen and opened independently as another application, even if they are running in the background in the browser.
With the implementation of the new browser engines, Apple announced that it would stop supporting web apps on the home screen. The argument they used is that technically it would be difficult for them to manage them if other browser engines other than WebKit were used and that this also involved security and privacy risks.
Well, the European Union began to investigate this restriction, believing that it fell outside the new legality. It is not known if this investigation finally led to a decision, but the truth is that after a few days Apple reversed course and decided that Finally the webapps would follow and could be added to the home screen. Everything is the same. Or not…
Yes, there is a important nuance in all this And Apple guarantees the continuity of webapps as long as the browser used is powered by the WebKit engine. That is, we can continue to use them with Safari and everyone who maintains the engine, but if someone decides to implement their own engine, they will not be able to allow users to add web applications to their screens. ‘welcome.
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