Live data from Hacker News

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

techcrunch.com

821–829 of 829 posts

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

#821
post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The EU gave them six months after being designated as a gatekeeper. The regulation already entered into force an additional ten months earlier, so Apple arguably could have already prepared for their likely designation. The real issue, however, is that Apple is not saying “we need more time to implement the APIs”, which the EU would very likely concede, but “we don’t think it’s worth it for us”.

Is that teally an issue? From a legal perspective (as a layman) Apples decision seems fine for me. So how can we say "bad Apple" if they're legally doing it correct? That does not mean that their decision is the proper one, just that it's legally ok.

Why are you limiting this to the legal perspective? They are not doing what is in the interest of their users (and the spirit of the DMA), for petty reasons. As a user, that’s obviously bad.

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

#822
post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, as an abusive stepparent, you run the "Spy on Me" PWA on your stepdaughter's phone, and click the permission dialog, and she's none the wiser. Do you think that's great? Apple does not.

You can already do that with apps

But Apple can take those apps out of the App Store.

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

#823
post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Android "handles it" if you want to call shrugging it off "handling it," by making different security tradeoffs that do not emphasize security as much as Apple does.

Android zero days are worth as much as iPhone ones.

isn't this because so many researchers invested their time in apple zero-days there was a flood of vulnerabilities, reducing their value? I always had the impression ios devices were the prime target.

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

#824

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know what your setup is, but it did work for me, creating an app that shows as its own icon on the homescreen, without FF chrome, with a separate app-switcher entry. Using a S24 Ultra with whatever the current OneUI is.

I think it wasn't my setup but the app I tested on (Imgur). Trying another one worked. It looks like appsco.pe has some incorrect entries in its list of PWA.

Tried with Twitter, worked fine.

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

#825

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tell me, how do you see life being in the Consumerism States of America in the future where the handful of mega corporations, that will have been allowed to behave and merge for monopolistic dominance with impunity for decades, will have such power and size that their employees will work in horrifying conditions for wages that barely (if even) can support them, all the while making the very few individuals at the top…

I see a life made far easier by AI that Europeans simply lack because they have adopted a "technology bad" mindset oblivious of the fact that half their siblings would have died in childhood if it wasn't for the technology they hate so much. Don't know where you're getting your views on consumerism from, but it's not anything I've seen here. Why as a tech worker do I need a union? Have you seen how they operate? They…

As an American citizen, let me assuage your concerns; nobody here is adopting technology any faster than you are in Europe. We don't even accept cardless transactions in the majority of places, you're straight-up delusional if you think our proximity to Apple and Google helps us. No, we get dogfooded the worst technology and watch as it rots out beneath our feet and companies avoid taking responsibility. We let businesses expand to unrealistic, dangerous sizes and then shirk away from regulation and standardization because we're afraid of making it worse. American citizens are conditioned to accept whatever insane demand or TOS they are presented, because their FUD is stronger than their consciousness. Our lack of mediated progress has arguably ruined television, telecommunications, advertisement, and now the internet and software distribution at-large.

> Don't know where you're getting your views on consumerism from, but it's not anything I've seen here.

You won't hear it "here" because Hacker News is a bubble. Conversations shy away from disparaging consumerism because half the people here would sell their own mom to a pimp for investment funding or stock in Apple. Go read Y-Combinator's request for startups and just try getting optimistic for "America's future". It has the same nuance and vision as a loaf of sourdough bread.

If you don't yet understand why unions are necessary, just keep watching the American labor market. It will get far, far worse before anything gets better over here in the esteemed Land of Opportunity.

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

#826

So you can build a website that runs on iPhone using some other browser engine that requests permission to use the camera... But if you want to move that website into a PWA that runs on iPhone that uses some other browser engine that requests permission to use the camera then, that browser engine can't be trusted?

I think PWA integration architecture needs to be rebuild for supporting different browsers and it was not a priority because of low usage (their words). I can imagine an architecture where every pwa does not run a whole Safari instance but just a tab. Then all those ‘app looking’ pwas run in the same actual app. Or they just dont trust google to make no native apps anymore for the app store…

> I think PWA integration architecture needs to be rebuild for supporting different browsers and it was not a priority because of low usage

Just more evidence of their Anti-Competitive practices, giving preferential access to Safari to the system.

Where Apple are providing the 'platform' (i.e AppStore) and are competing against other users of that platform, those departments should be treated as any other user of the platform.

Safari/iMessage/etc.. should only be able to use the same API's that every other developer can access and should have the same level of access to the AppStore as every other developer.

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

#827

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We can't expect normal people to understand why there are a dozen different cable types that all have the same tip but charge at vastly different rates Is the part of the GP comment I was responding to. The connectors form part of the standard. There’s no way to identify a standards-conforming cable from a non-standards-conforming cable by looking at it. They all look the same.

This applies to any kind of cable. How can you tell that a HDMI cable isn't empty inside, missing all its wires? It looks the same!

You plug in an HDMI cable, it either works, or it doesn’t. It might only work at specific resolutions, but you get immediate feedback when it’s working or when it’s not, at whatever resolution you try.

You plug in a USB-C cable, you might get a quick charge. You might not. Unless you have a USB-C power meter, you have no way to tell unless you know how quickly your device should charge in 5, 10 or 15 minutes, and hang around to wait and see if it does or not.

I think there’s a meaningful difference there!

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

#828

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…

The “low usage” comment is going to be more ammo against Apple unfortunately. The whole reason they are low usage on PWAs is because of a lack of investment from Apple and a lack of parity, yet for the longest time Apple has played both sides by saying PWAs are a viable alternative to the App Store, all while channeling people to App Store for actual app downloads and not providing similar marketing or anything for P…

welcome to tradeoffs and unintended consequences.

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

#829
post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you sure this isn't a tech industry viewpoint? I don't know anyone who knows what the difference between an app and a PWA is. I don't think I've seen anyone outside of the tech industry with a PWA active. In context 99% of the users I meet don't even know what USB-C is.

Correct on it being a tech industry viewpoint— people think "apps come from the App Store" and therefore anything else that's clunky requires a fair amount of education and payoff for users to adopt. It's off balance, and it shows now that the tech has to be removed since it wasn't actually at parity despite it being an argument for it unfortunately. The worst part? This has been the case for 15 years. It's not like…

On Android you can install PWA's from the App Store, no reason why Apple couldn't also support it.
Post reply on HN