Third party browser & JavaScript engine + ability to install web apps on the Home screen = third party app store that doesn’t have to pay Apple’s fees.
When Apple could force everyone to use Apple’s WebKit, web apps didn’t matter as much as Apple could limit WebKit features to push people to the App Store. E.g. it took ages to get push notifications on WebKit. If Google and Mozilla are free to make whatever improvements to their browser engines, the need to have native apps on the phone decreases considerably.
He pushed everything into apps though. Getting rid of flash was a big part of that because JavaScript wasn’t capable of all of the same things at that time. The canvas wasn’t fully supported yet. That meant games and anything with crazy animations needed to be an app.
Killing flash was one of the first steps to where we are now. It may not have been perfect but it did a lot for its time.
An update from Apple. Apple actually reversed that decision. Finally. Tested on latest stable version of iOS 17.4 and it works. (from developer.apple.com/…/dma-and-apps-in-the-eu/#dev… ):
Why don’t users in the EU have access to Home Screen web apps?
UPDATE: Previously, Apple announced plans to remove the Home Screen web apps capability in the EU as part of our efforts to comply with the DMA. The need to remove the capability was informed by the complex security and privacy concerns associated with web apps to support alternative browser engines that would require building a new integration architecture that does not currently exist in iOS.
We have received requests to continue to offer support for Home Screen web apps in iOS, therefore we will continue to offer the existing Home Screen web apps capability in the EU. This support means Home Screen web apps continue to be built directly on WebKit and its security architecture, and align with the security and privacy model for native apps on iOS.
Developers and users who may have been impacted by the removal of Home Screen web apps in the beta release of iOS in the EU can expect the return of the existing functionality for Home Screen web apps with the availability of iOS 17.4 in early March.
This f*cking sucks. I hope they don’t bring this to Australia, I want to make my native app a web app to save money so I don’t have to pay their bullshit fees and own their shit computers
If I’m understanding right, I believe Xbox Cloud Gaming and Geforce Now have used this. They get access to better video APIs by running as a home screen webapp, and aren’t at risk of popping the address bar from touch confusion.
Voyager, a client for Lemmy, also installs as a webapp. Similarly, it doesn’t show the address bar when you scroll up and down.
But we don’t only have to build an environment that allows the doing of popular things. We also need to maintain a society in which unpopular or unusual things can be done. The doing of unpopular or unusual things is itself popular.
My guess is that the majority doesn’t know what web apps are. Most people I know either have an app for that or consider a function not worthwhile or necessary.
Don’t forget the walled garden. Apple does have a reputation they worked hard to achieve, and people who don’t know better feel compelled to try, but than, switching to Android becomes a very difficult task
Sure others have the same build quality, but not the decades of marketing that Apple has. You gotta have both to get people to be irrationally loyal to a company.
Welp, this might be kbin for me. It’s the only circumstance I’ve really found a PWA necessary, although I’ve considered making PWAs of some online shops I frequent.
I suspect Apple is eliminating PWAs from safari in the EU just because they don’t want to be forced to allow 3rd party browsers to do the same. Let’s go ahead and throw the baby out with the bathwater.
I’ve actually got a U.S. apple account on an iPhone bought in Japan, and living in the EU temporarily. It’ll be interesting to see how this is going to play out for me.
This is probably motivated by the EU decision that since no uses iMessage in the EU, Apple is not legally a “gatekeeper”. Perhaps no one (i.e. fewer than 40 million people) uses web apps in the EU, therefore they are gambling that they are allowed to legally gatekeep in that market
Their own Facebook App Store would have to pay the same fees to Apple as the Apple App Store under Apple’s generous terms. Losing the web app escape hatch is a 30% revenue loss
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