Apple Forced to Remove Home Screen Web Apps from iOS in the EU Due to Digital Market Act (DMA)
Apple complies with EU regulations by removing Home Screen web apps on iOS, impacting user experience in the EU.
Apple has announced that it is compelled to remove Home Screen web apps from its iOS devices in the European Union (EU). This move comes as a result of the EU's Digital Market Act (DMA), which mandates that users have the ability to choose a browser that does not utilize Apple's WebKit browser engine.
Home Screen web apps on iOS are built on WebKit and are designed to align with the security and privacy measures implemented for native apps on iOS. These measures include isolating storage and enforcing system prompts for privacy-related permissions on a per-site basis. By doing so, Apple ensures that malicious web apps cannot access data from other web apps and cannot use the device's camera and microphone without the user's consent.
However, addressing these security and privacy concerns for web apps that utilize alternative browser engines would require the development of a new integration architecture. Apple has deemed this impractical given the demands of the DMA and the low user adoption of Home Screen web apps. As a result, Apple had no choice but to remove Home Screen web apps in order to comply with the EU regulations.
Although EU users will no longer be able to access Home Screen web apps, they can still visit websites directly from their Home Screen through a bookmark.
Apple has also removed support for Home Screen web apps on Safari in the EU, as the DMA advocates for equality among all browsers. This change was first noticed with the release of iOS 17.4 beta 2, and it will affect all iOS users in the 27 EU member states once iOS 17.4 is officially launched in the first week of March.
Disclaimer: This article is based on the sources cited and does not necessarily represent the views of Bloomberg.
Analyst comment
This news can be seen as negative for Apple and its market. The removal of Home Screen web apps in the EU is due to compliance with the DMA, which introduces greater browser freedom. This may lead to decreased user adoption and potentially impact Apple’s market share in the EU.
