Back in mid-February, Apple announced that iOS 17.4 would remove support for Progressive Web Apps in the EU. The company blamed the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which comes into effect next week and is the reason iOS 17.4 will come with support for alternative app stores.
After a lot of online backlash, Apple changed its mind today and revealed that Progressive Web Apps will continue to be supported even in iOS 17.4 in the EU. So, as 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.
In an update posted on its developer website, Apple explains:
Previously, Apple announced plans to remove home screen web app capabilities in the EU as part of our efforts to comply with the DMA. The need to remove this capability was driven by the complex security and privacy issues associated with web applications supporting alternative browser engines 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. Developers and users who may have been affected by the removal of Home Screen web apps in the EU beta of iOS can expect the return of existing Home Screen web app functionality with the availability of iOS 17.4 in early March.
Last month, Apple claimed that this would only affect a small number of users, but it may have learned in the meantime that they are very vocal about this sort of thing.
So advanced web apps will still use Apple’s WebKit rendering engine, even if you’ve chosen a default browser that uses its own (support for third-party browsers that use their own rendering engines is part of a series of measures Apple must implement to comply with DMA).
Source | Over it