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Despite Apple’s former plan to ditch supporting Home Screen web apps in the EU, the company has recently announced iOS 17.4 will continue supporting web apps in the continent, 9to5mac reports.
Last month, Apple notified iOS users that the operating system will no longer support web apps in the EU. Supposedly, in order to comply with Digital Markets Act (DMA) rules. At the time, iPhone users in the EU could not install web apps. Instead, Apple added support for alternative browser engines.
Meanwhile, Apple is reversing its decision, declaring on its developer’s blog that it will “continue to offer the existing Home Screen web apps capability in the EU” in iOS 17.4.
“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,” Apple said.
Progressive web apps make a comeback to iOS 17.4
The iPhone maker noted that Home Screen web apps will still be built directly on Safari’s engine, known as WebKit. Apple has already added support for third-party browser engines in the EU. However, the recent announcement could mean the web apps downloaded from Google Chrome or Firefox may not get support.
Apple’s decision to drop support for web apps in iOS faced much criticism from both advocacy groups and developers. The first negative impact is web apps can no longer send push notifications and store data. However, Apple first blamed the EU’s DMA rules for the limitation. It stated that such rules make them build an “entirely new integration architecture that does not currently exist in iOS.”
Apple also added that the move “was not practical to undertake given the other demands of the DMA and the very low user adoption of Home Screen web apps.”
EU is investigating Apple’s stopping support for web apps in iOS
Despite Apple blaming DMA, the European Commission has launched a probe into the iPhone maker’s decision to discontinue web apps in iOS 17.4. The officials reportedly requested Apple to propose more information regarding the change.