51–60 of 230 posts
Maybe I don’t get it? I look at the list of features Apple is removing and they all seem like things I wouldn’t want a web browser to have to begin with.
And there is a simple solution too: just offer multiple browsers in the appstore.
Maybe I don’t get it? I look at the list of features Apple is removing and they all seem like things I wouldn’t want a web browser to have to begin with.
It's just nonsensical to use a device that dictates what you can install on it. Well, Androids don't come with root permissions either ( you should be able to get it easily if you want imo ) but at least you can install any app, even just create your own.
For me, the issue is, who do I distrust less - Google or Apple? Yes, they're both shitty in a number of ways. And while is is easier to root Android devices than it is to root iOS ones, last I checked you were still dependent on the vendor kernel and parts of the vendor display server on Android because not all of the necessary drivers and related config are upstreamed (and the lack of TIVO clauses in GPLv2 makes thi…
Maybe I don’t get it? I look at the list of features Apple is removing and they all seem like things I wouldn’t want a web browser to have to begin with.
If only Apple just removed them from Safari, and allowed other browsers to compete...
Not an IPhone user: but honesty I'd rather have things open an actual browser tab, as then I can interact with it via all my standard extensions (e.g. adblockers), rather than be opened in a webview. Also, given how often you need to change phones (given build quality), if I have important data and you're a web app, I rather the server be the source of truth, and the phone a cache (so I don't loose data when the phon…
Web apps are mostly optional and otherwise work as a normal web site. Differences are that some functions are exclusive to web apps, so you wouldn't get them on a web site anyway. A feature I do find annoying is the ability to save a page onto my (Android) phone screen is taken away and replaced by "install app". I work around that by going into airplane mode, fetching the page unsuccessfully, and saving that!
Else iOS would be like macOS, with every second app from a major vendor people need to run (for work, school, banking, etc) would be the equivalent of an Electron monstrocity.
Apparently that's the dream of the author.
Maybe I don’t get it? I look at the list of features Apple is removing and they all seem like things I wouldn’t want a web browser to have to begin with.
Just look at the timing. And there is a simple solution too: just offer multiple browsers in the appstore.
I think removing persistent storage and the ability to add websites to the home screen makes it obvious what their strategy is. The EU shows that they want interoperability for big players like they do with messenger interoperability in the DMA. The web is such a fundamental standard and its interoperability is so important I guess the EU will fine Apple for such behavior. The question is how soon this will happen.
They aren’t making any policy changes relating to storage.
Apple have been progressively locking down methods websites use to persistently track people for privacy reasons. All forms of permanent storage (e.g. cookies, local storage) are limited to a seven day lifetime unless the user interacts with that website / web app. If the user keeps visiting the website / web app at least once a week, the storage remains.
Another thing Apple have been doing is using the act of installing a PWA as a signal that it should be trusted more than anything you happen to come across in a browser. So the seven day lifecycle doesn’t apply to PWAs that you install to the home screen.
What is happening now is that because PWAs installed to the home screen are no longer available in the EU, people use those PWAs through a web browser. And due to this, the seven days lifetime without user interaction starts to apply.
It’s a problem, but this specific thing isn’t a recent policy change from Apple regarding storage, it’s fallout from PWAs not having the elevated privileges from being installed to the home screen.
Off topic: This site is next to unreadable on my phone. Zigzagscrolling is an insult to the audience.
If iOS supported other browsers then you could read it in a Chromium based browser, where it appears completely readable.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Creating your own app is actually pretty easy on iOS. I run an app on my phone right now that I built myself and that is not on the app store.
Is the $100 developer fee not required for own - non app store - apps?