Apple has just made an extremely rare reversal of one of its initial decisions about its iPhone software. The company today updated its developer documentation to announce that it won’t block home screen web apps, also known as progressive web apps (PWAs), on iPhones in the European Union (EU) running iOS 17.4.
Today’s decision comes after the Cupertino-based giant initially blocked and reduced features from PWAs in iOS 17.4 to the point where they only acted as shortcuts to websites. Apple cited security risks as well as the Digital Markets Act (DMA) that forced Apple to allow alternative browsers on iPhones as part of the decision. This angered developers and Open Web Advocacy, which wrote a letter to Tim Cook and pushed for changes. Things even went so far that the European Commission got involved, digging into the problem and reaching out to developers for comment. In today’s updated documentation, Apple addressed all of these issues, noting:
“The need to remove this capability was driven by the complex security and privacy issues associated with web apps to support alternative browsers that would require building a new integration architecture that does not currently exist in iOS. We’ve received requests to continue offering support for Home Screen Web Apps on iOS, so we’ll continue to offer the existing Home Screen Web Apps capabilities in the EU. This support means that home screen web apps continue to be built directly on WebKit and its security architecture, and align with the security and privacy model for native iOS apps.”
The change is set to take effect in early March when iOS 17.4 is released and has far-reaching effects. If Apple hadn’t reversed this decision, cloud gaming services or anything without a native iPhone app and working as a PWA would have been severely limited on iPhones. Essentially, PWAs wouldn’t work as native or wouldn’t work in full screen. However, it’s important to note that Apple still maintains that the change would only affect a small number of users, but the developers behind apps like Spotify are still angry and have written a letter to the European Commission over Apple’s non-compliance with the DMA.
Although iOS 17.4 RC was pushed earlier this week, today’s decision shows that Apple has a lot of work ahead of it in making localized versions of iOS. Today’s change does not apply to anyone outside the EU.