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Apple confirms it's breaking iPhone web apps in the EU on purpose

techcrunch.com

521–530 of 829 posts

Re: Apple confirms it's breaking iPhone web apps in the EU on purpose

#521
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

tbh, I thought the summary in techcrunch was much easier to read and concise. >Browsers also could install web apps on the system without a user’s awareness and consent. Couldn't this be entirely solved with an OS permission-like prompt "are you sure you want [progressive web app name] added to home screen?"

I guess that's why they say that "would require building an entirely new integration architecture that does not currently exist in iOS and was not practical to undertake given the other demands of the DMA and the very low user adoption of Home Screen web apps"

Well, this is just 'we don't want to do it because our market projections steer us in a different direction, but we really don't have any solid arguments so here is some blah our marketing & legal came up with'.

3 trillion company can implement this without breaking a sweat properly if they cared, what are they trying to say here - 'we are incompetent'? Not buying that for a second, we know they can deliver.

Re: Apple confirms it's breaking iPhone web apps in the EU on purpose

#522

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What exactly does that look like, in your mind? The EU coerces Apple engineers to work for free?

Apple want sell shiny device. Law say "don't trick customer". If apple trick customer, apple not allowed to sell no more.

Trick the customer how? By winning a sale in a competitive marketplace? The whole value proposition of Apple products is that they Just Work. PWAs reduce Apple’s ability to do exactly the things that make their devices appealing to consumers.

Re: Apple confirms it's breaking iPhone web apps in the EU on purpose

#523

Regardless of who is the bad guy here, the outcome of this is just devastating for the free web. For me the future trajectory of Apps were PWAs, which worked reasonably well lately. As small company, creating one App that works everywhere and is available without AppStores was just great. Much money spent on PWAs just wasted. This is a terrible outcome, again caused by "well meant" but unpractical EU regulation.

Why can’t the user be given the option of PWAs working like they do now with Safari or this new system that clearly sucks. It’s obvious Apple is having a temper tantrum about being regulated, but it’s not wise for a company to behave like this.

No denying that, but the objective outcome is bad.

Re: Apple confirms it's breaking iPhone web apps in the EU on purpose

#524
post #515

Since the article doesn't actually repeat what Apple has said, here's what Apple says: == Begin quote == The iOS system has traditionally provided support for Home Screen web apps by building directly on WebKit and its security architecture. That integration means Home Screen web apps are managed to align with the security and privacy model for native apps on iOS, including isolation of storage and enforcement of sys…

My hat's off to Apple PR on this one: they came up with some spin for why they were adding a malicious component to how they are complying with the DMA. They're likely not lying when they say that it's more difficult to maintain their security standards while at the same time allowing any browser engine to run PWAs. But this is a problem they absolutely could solve, and a company with Apple's size and skill absolutel…

> While the web platform is a bit of a mess, it actually does (or could) offer the same functionality that native apps do

I beg people making these claims to look outside their web bubble for at least a nanosecond.

> especially if Apple and Google had worked on that sort of thing over the past 15+ years rather than pushing native apps so hard.

Google couldn't care less about "as good as native". If they did, this project wouldn't have been started by devs from Microsoft (of all companies) in 2020: https://open-ui.org

> consider the savings in time and money if every company out there could just write a single PWA and not have to build two completely separate apps for iOS and Android.

Yes, you should be building native apps for each platform unless your "app" is a barely functioning text-only page.

Re: Apple confirms it's breaking iPhone web apps in the EU on purpose

#525
post #386
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have to trust someone if you're using a computing device connected to the Internet. The point of being in Apple ecosystem is that you trust Apple, and then (supposedly) you can not trust anyone else. To many that's a very strong proposition.

And to a degree, that’s why developers tend to hate Apple. They paint us as a pack of crims trying to steal from unsuspecting Apple users.

I think you are conflating the relationship between consumers/developers and the corporation (that you work for?).

I don't hate Apple, but rather realise that it's bottom line and fiduciary duty to its shareholders is stronger than what is best for us (consumers/developers).

I do not trust the corporate marketing one bit (and honestly, why should I?).

This behaviour of Apple just further supports that view. As a company, it seems to believe that it is somehow above following the rules meant to benefit consumers/developers, which goes against what the company has been marketing its self with since the 80's.

So lets stop the 'Leave Apple alone (and us that work there)' crying, and just acknowledge what the whole thing revolves around.

Re: Apple confirms it's breaking iPhone web apps in the EU on purpose

#526

Regardless of who is the bad guy here, the outcome of this is just devastating for the free web. For me the future trajectory of Apps were PWAs, which worked reasonably well lately. As small company, creating one App that works everywhere and is available without AppStores was just great. Much money spent on PWAs just wasted. This is a terrible outcome, again caused by "well meant" but unpractical EU regulation.

ROFL. This isn't "unpractical EU regulation" but once again a corporation doing malicious compliance. At some point they really should just get banned from the market with any IP rights getting invalidated.

The EU gave Apple an argument to kill PWAs (because the investment to support them is not worth it for them), while Apple does not like PWAs anyways. Bad for the citizens of the EU.

Re: Apple confirms it's breaking iPhone web apps in the EU on purpose

#527

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For Apple, ownership of the "trust problem" is an intrinsic part of "making good products". Yes, this might be true. And the majority of elected officials in EU fundamentally disagrees with that statement.

Because of course elected officials without any expertise, representing a very small minority of humanity, are the best arbiters of reality.

Unlike trillion-dollar corporations?
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