Apple announced a raft of iOS in the European Union yesterday, as it prepares for the March 7th enforcement of the bloc’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), including significant browser-related changes to iOS in the EU.
Natasha Lomas for TechCrunch:
Currently, Apple sets its Safari browser as the default on iOS — and while users of its mobile platform can dig into settings and specify another default browser (if they’ve downloaded one) Apple’s platform does not exactly make it obvious to iOS users that this is a possibility.
The regulation then essentially stipulates that gatekeepers must show a choice screen at users’ first use of a core platform service — letting them choose from a list of “main” rival service providers. So it’s no surprise that Apple’s DMA-related changes include the provision of a choice screen.
n a briefing the journalists yesterday, Apple representatives said that when users in the European Economic Area open Safari for the first time after they update to iOS 17.4 they will be prompted to choose a default browser from a list of the most downloaded browsers in their market.
Another huge change the DMA is driving on Apple will see the tech giant open up the underlying code-base browsers running on iOS can use. Currently Apple mandates third party browsers use WebKit, the same browser engine that underpins its own Safari browser. Which is why, even if you do make the effort to download and use a rival browser on iOS, the software experience can feel rather same-y.
This, too, is set to change after Apple announced yesterday it will start letting developers submit non-WebKit-based browsers — both for full web browser apps, which offer an alternative to using Safari, and for developers offering in-app browsers for displaying webpages within their iOS apps.
MacDailyNews Take: Non-WebKit web browser engines in iOS is the biggest change.
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