Apple has changed its mind and has re-released web apps on iPhones sold in Europe. The big tech company has updated its support page to inform that this feature will be supported again in iOS 17.4. Coincidence or not, Apple’s change of plans comes days after the European Union said it was keeping an eye on the case.
On Monday (Feb. 26), the European Union asked for clarification on the end of support for progressive web apps (PWA) in the bloc’s member countries. When announcing the end of PWAs in iOS 17.4, Apple stated that this decision was made because of the DMA — Digital Markets Act.
The DMA, which aims to improve the user experience on platforms and other digital products, forced Apple to allow the use of different engines for browsers. Before the law went into effect, all browsers used the Safari engine. Apple said it could not guarantee the security and privacy of users with other development kits, opting to end support.
According to the big tech, it would be possible to create an integration architecture, but the low adherence to the PWA and other demands of the DMA would make the project unfeasible — it would have to spend a lot of money and time to do so.
Web apps in the EU have a big break
However, Apple has released the web apps so that they can continue to work with WebKit. Apparently, it’s possible to restrict the PWA engine. Thus, this feature will continue to use the system behind Safari. Now we have to wait and see if the EU will not contest this WebKit restriction for web apps.
According to Apple, users in the European Union will be able to reinstall PWAs within the next few days.