As early as mid-February, Apple announced that iOS 17.4 would remove support for EU Progressive Web Apps. The company blames this on the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which comes into effect next week, and why iOS 17.4 will support alternative app stores.
After facing backlash online, today Apple changed its mind and revealed that Progressive Web Apps will still be supported even in iOS 17.4 in the EU. So, like before, you’ll be able to add a Progressive Web App to your home screen, and it will launch in its own top-level window rather than being relegated to a simple shortcut that opens in Safari.
Apple explained in an update posted on its developer website:
Previously, Apple announced plans to remove home screen web app functionality in the EU as part of our efforts to comply with the DMA. Complex security and privacy issues related to web apps dictate the need to remove this feature in favor of an alternative browser engine, which requires building a new integration architecture that does not currently exist on iOS.
We have received requests to continue supporting Home Screen Web Apps in iOS, so we will continue to provide existing Home Screen Web App functionality in the EU. This support means that home screen web apps continue to be built directly on WebKit and its security architecture, and are consistent with the security and privacy model of native apps on iOS. Developers and users who may have been affected by the removal of Home Screen Web Apps from iOS betas in the EU can expect the existing functionality of Home Screen Web Apps to return with the release of iOS 17.4 in early March.
Last month, Apple claimed that this would only affect a small group of users, but at the same time it may have learned that these users are very vocal about such things.
Therefore, Progressive Web apps will still use Apple’s WebKit rendering engine, even if you choose to use its own default browser (support for third-party browsers that use their own rendering engines is part of a series of measures Apple must implement, in order to comply with DMA).
Source | via