Apple's new browser rules are "as painful as possible" says Mozilla

Mozilla spokesperson Damiano DeMonte decries Apple’s new browser rules, according to The Verge, calling them “as painful as possible”. The European Union has recently been warring against what it deems anti-consumerist practices from Apple. Despite being forced to comply, developers claim the tech giant is making things as difficult as possible. The EU forcing Apple to comply to its laws has shaken up the “walled garden” Apple has prided itself on for years. Now that the EU has forced Apple to allow third-party browser engines for iOS, Mozilla claims it has doubled their burden.

Apple’s new browser rules for the EU

The EU’s new Digital Markets Act has ruled that users be allowed to uninstall preinstalled applications. This includes Apple’s Safari browser, amidst other things. Because of this ruling, it now meant Apple would be forced to let third-party browsers use their own engines. For example, Google Chrome uses the engine Blink, and Mozilla’s Firefox uses the engine Gecko. Before the DMA, all of these browsers had to be recreated on Safari’s engine; WebKit.

However, much like being forced to allow users to sideload apps, Apple is only allowing this change in the EU. Apple claims letting users sideload third-party applications is dangerous for them. It also made the change while still being able to review said apps, as well as charge developers for them. This move was, naturally, not well-received by developers and consumers alike.

These changes are “as painful as possible”

Damiano DeMonte, in his statement to The Verge, says these changes are painful for Firefox. According to DeMonte, Mozilla will now have to maintain two different versions of the browser. One built on WebKit for non-EU users, and the other on Gecko for EU users. Clearly the forced compliance doubles the burden for developers, perhaps in the hope it will discourage them from using their own engines altogether.

“Apple’s proposals fail to give consumers viable choices by making it as painful as possible for others to provide competitive alternatives to Safari,” said DeMonte. “This is another example of Apple creating barriers to prevent true browser competition on iOS.” DeMonte also said that Mozilla was “extremely disappointed” with how Apple had decided to comply with the EU’s DMA.

This change is one of quite a few that Apple has recently had to comply with. The iPhone 15 lineup was the first line of iPhones with USB-C ports instead of Apple’s proprietary Lightning ports. This change was also forced upon Apple courtesy of the EU. Alongside sideloading apps, Apple has also had to allow third-party payment services access to its NFC contactless payments. This change is also exclusive to the EU and its 27 member states.

The DMA is in its infancy at the moment, and it remains to be seen if it will become stricter going forward. If it does, Apple might eventually be forced to allow these changes all over the world just for its own ease of production and design.