"Open Letter to Tim Cook, Sabotaging Web Apps Is Indefensible
We write to express our concern at Apple’s decision to remove Web Apps (PWAs) from iOS and Safari in the European Union (EU), and to avail ourselves of our rights under the Digital Markets Act (DMA)."
I saw a comment on a recent ArsTechnica article on #Apple killing #PWA s in the EU that stated "nobody uses PWAs". (Protip: never, ever, read the comments 🙄). Not including @phanpy , I have an entire folder of PWAs on my #Android homescreen.
Additionally, these run in the browser of my choice @Vivaldi so they include ad and tracker blocking. I get UberEATS without having to install the Uber app. It's brilliant and extremely sad so many have been deceived about these. #webdev
Apple support for Progressive Web Apps has always been minimal. Look no further than searching for "PWA" on Apple Developer website; 0 hits. But Apple's move to support PWA push notifications lured developers into thinking that Apple would empower PWAs more in the future.
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This was also confirmed by supporting PWAs in macOS Sonoma. As a result, developers invested more in PWAs. This is why developers are extremely disappointed with Apple's unexpected decision to remove PWA support in iOS 17.4 for EU users. Many saw the support of push notifications as a positive signal. In hindsight, that was a bait.
So, what exactly did Apple break in the EU 🇪🇺? A new blog post in which I analyze the current situation for Home Screen Web Apps on iOS 17.4 in the European Union.
On short notice, Apple announced that iOS 17.4 will not support PWAs in the #EU, leaving developers with little time to react. This will disrupt many businesses. This video shows how already installed PWAs behave when opened in iOS 17.4 for the first time.
I know I’ve been going on about this (and boosting related things) quite a bit over the past few days, but this is a topic that is very near and dear to me.
#Apple is obliterating #PWA in the EU with the update to #iOS 17.4, which will be out soon. A third of the apps on my Home Screen are PWAs, all the apps I’ve built in recent years are PWAs. They are a vital part of free and independent app distribution on all platforms.
Many EU businesses outsource web development to developers in countries outside the EU. #Apple should provide a method for non-EU developers to test or simulate the behavior of PWA apps as if they were EU users. Especially because Apple didn't allow developers much time before announcing this breaking change.
#AAPL's recent changes to #PWA (#ProgressiveWebApp) functionality in #iOS, specifically in the #EU, has sparked outrage among #webdev. The company's late acknowledgment of intentionally limiting PWA capabilities, presented as compliance with the EU's #DigitalMarketsAct, has been criticized as deceitful. This move, seen as an attempt to protect its #appStore#monopoly, undermines open #webStandards and harms #developers and users.
One thing that annoys me in the #Chrome implementation of #PWA is that while the PWA can have a share intent (which is used by Android to be able to share something onto the app), there's nothing in Chrome that consumes that.
I can't just right click on a link I want to share and have it open in Mastodon or share to my Tagger. Only extensions are added there, so I get Google Drive and Wallabag only :/
Magento, a company based in Berlin offering hosting and e-commerce platform, posted a video illustrating to their EU customers the significant impact of removing PWA support in iOS 17.4 on their services.
Don't understand why people are so angry about Apple turning off PWAs in iOS.
iDevices are proprietary, closed ecosystems. Apple decides what runs on it and any tech-savvy user buying Apple hardware knew that from the beginning.
"How outrageous they do that!". No, it's not. It's the nature of proprietary software and hardware. But you can change that any time. Vote with your pocket.
Magenta Musik is an entertainment service -part of the German telecom company - offering information about concerts and festivals. In 2022, Magenta Musik shut down their native apps on both #iOS and #Android and replaced them with a single Progressive Web App (PWA). #PWA#Web
They have invested two years in their PWA app. Now the service is telling customers in the FAQ that PWAs won't work in iOS 17.4. The information is short and confusing. It doesn't tell iPhone customers what other alternatives they have, leaving them lost in a cycle of confusion. This is because Magenta Musik themselves don't even know what to do. This confusion is caused by #Apple.
Apple has already decided to disable Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) in the EU, but PWA developers in the EU should have an option to run and test their PWA apps on an real iPhone for users outside the EU.
A developer mode or Safari feature flag to enable PWAs would suffice.
Why don't users in the EU have access to Home Screen web apps?
[…] EU users will be able to continue accessing websites directly from their Home Screen through a bookmark with minimal impact to their functionality. We expect this change to affect a small number of users. Still, we regret any impact this change — that was made as part of the work to comply with the DMA — may have on developers of Home Screen web apps and our users.