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Apple rejects Puffin Browser on iOS

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21–30 of 64 posts

Re: Apple rejects Puffin Browser on iOS

#21
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except Apple themselves...

Why does it benefit Apple? Imagine if you could only use Safari on macOS...

Don't give Apple ideas. The cat's already out of the bag, but if Apple could force people to obtain MacOS apps only from the Mac App Store, which does not have other rendering engines, they would. See also: Windows 10 S.

Re: Apple rejects Puffin Browser on iOS

#22
post #4

I’ve never understood why Apple doesn’t allow other browser engines on iOS. It seems a really ridiculous policy that doesn’t really benefit anyone.

Isn't that obvious? With iPhone being major mobile device they put enough pressure on web developers to support WebKit which benefits Safari not just on iOS, but on macOS as well. This also not just wins better support for Safari, but give Apple some foot in making of web standards.

If they allow alternative engines on iOS they'll just slowly lose browser market share they still have which likely end up in death spiral for Safari support.

It's extremely hard to compete with Google since even Firefox on Android is still extremely rare no matter how much effort Mozilla put into it.

Re: Apple rejects Puffin Browser on iOS

#23
Full text from their Facebook post, so you don't have to go to FB

"Many of you have asked why we haven’t updated our iOS app and we’re finally ready to share our story – Puffin is a victim of Apple's abuse.

In 2010 we brought our cloud-based Puffin browser to iOS, allowing iPhone users to enjoy the wicked fast speed, frugal data usage, and extreme virus protection available through server-side rendering.

But, Apple has now decided to reject our app, claiming it violates its guidelines. For seven years, Puffin has been approved with no mention of this violation. But now that Puffin has grown to almost 100 million active loyal users, such as yourself, Apple wants to sabotage Puffin in order to protect the billions of dollars of search revenue from it receives Google.

It’s time to call out the #BadApple and if you agree, feel free to share your comments via the hashtag. For our full story, please visit us on Medium: http://bit.ly/2BsLqI2"

Re: Apple rejects Puffin Browser on iOS

#25
post #19

for those who don't like to visit Facebook https://hackernoon.com/its-time-to-bringappletojustice-cf12c...

>Puffin is a victim of Apple’s abuse. Puffin is a server-based web browser where web browser sessions are executed on the cloud servers You and me know to not use something like this for any kind of sensitive site. But the common iOS user doesn’t know this. Apple is protecting their users and their platform. It’s 2018. making a web browser where all traffic goes through the browser makers server, being unencrypted an…

Especially when you read their privacy policy, realize they're a Chinese company, and see this: "However, be aware of the possibility of surveillance by intelligence agencies in your home country and our home country."

Re: Apple rejects Puffin Browser on iOS

#26
post #4

I’ve never understood why Apple doesn’t allow other browser engines on iOS. It seems a really ridiculous policy that doesn’t really benefit anyone.

I thought it had to do with sandboxing and remote code execution. I think they still restrict what interpreters/scripting languages can be used for in apps.

Re: Apple rejects Puffin Browser on iOS

#27
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the Medium post: Puffin releases were rejected citing app review guideline 2.5.6: “Apps that browse the web must use the appropriate WebKit framework and WebKit Javascript.” Our server-side web browser is based on Chromium instead of Apple’s WebKit, therefore, Puffin is rejected. We disputed and escalated but Apple insisted it has jurisdiction over our server-side technology.

Seems like a pretty clear violation of the rules. Trying to find a loophole doesn't work, the rules aren't an Ethereum smart contract, they're actually subject to human judgement.

I thought the stated reasoning for the rules was that Apple for safety reasons didn't want apps downloading and running code (javascript in this case). Clearly that justification doesn't apply if the code runs on a server and not the device.

Re: Apple rejects Puffin Browser on iOS

#28
post #5

Apple's App Review guidelines used to say something along the lines of "If you have a problem, trashing us in the press never helps." I'm not trying to place judgment on Puffin, but this seems to be the wrong strategy. False negative App Store rejections are typically due to a misunderstanding than a nebulous "corporate greed" angle... or sometimes they were even (at least sort of) justified in the first place [0]. S…

From the Medium post: Puffin releases were rejected citing app review guideline 2.5.6: “Apps that browse the web must use the appropriate WebKit framework and WebKit Javascript.” Our server-side web browser is based on Chromium instead of Apple’s WebKit, therefore, Puffin is rejected. We disputed and escalated but Apple insisted it has jurisdiction over our server-side technology.

Most likely insisted upon due to the obfuscation of user privacy

Re: Apple rejects Puffin Browser on iOS

#29
post #4

I’ve never understood why Apple doesn’t allow other browser engines on iOS. It seems a really ridiculous policy that doesn’t really benefit anyone.

Locking out other engines does a few things:

- Ensures a minimum level of battery performance for users browsing the web. Chrome and Firefox for macOS are notoriously hard on your battery and iOS versions would likely have the same issue.

- Reduces the number of vulnerabilities present on the platform.

- In the event that a bad vuln does crop up, Apple can and will scramble out a WebKit patch to fix it, quickly protecting all users, even those using browsers by small/independent developers. This would be impossible if said indie devs were using Blink or Gecko or something instead.

These problems could be worked around if alternate engines were bundled with the OS as part of a partnership with Google and Mozilla, but such a scenario seems unlikely at best.

Re: Apple rejects Puffin Browser on iOS

#30
The bigger problem with iOS is that its a complete lock-in. Even if users want the app, Puffin is unable to distribute its app to users since Apple doesn't approve it.

This doesn't happen on Android, if you don't like Play Store, you can still distribute apk and ask the user to download & install.

People may spin it any way they want but this is corporate greed !

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