iOS 17.4 Public Beta Removes Help for Progressive Net Apps on iPhone in Europe: Report

Apple rolled out the iOS 17.4 public beta to beta testers globally final month, and the replace was notably vital for European customers. It introduced help for third-party app shops on the iPhone within the area, whereas permitting third-party browsers like Firefox and Google to make use of their very own engines as an alternative of Apple’s WebKit. Nevertheless, some testers have now identified that the replace has eliminated the help for progressive net apps (PWA) on their units. A developer has claimed that this could possibly be an intentional transfer to adjust to the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

Developer Maximiliano Firtman posted on X (previously often known as Twitter) highlighting the difficulty. He first posted in regards to the elimination of PWAs on his iPhone on February 2 after the primary public beta of iOS 17.4 was launched. On the time he known as it a bug, however after the discharge of iOS 17.4 beta 2 earlier this week, Maximiliano now claims that net apps might need been deliberately eliminated in Europe as a system alert is notifying customers that net apps “will open out of your default browser any more”.

The tipster mentioned that the doable motive for this transfer could possibly be the European Union’s DMA. Apple added help for PWAs by WebKit, its browser engine for Safari. The corporate additionally made it a requirement for third-party browsers to make use of the identical engine for his or her apps. Nevertheless, with the DMA rules that go into impact subsequent month, the iPhone maker is now permitting browsers corresponding to Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox to run their browser engine, which is not going to help PWAs. The conflicting half behind this argument is that Safari ought to nonetheless be capable of help these net apps.

Whether it is true, because of this customers in Europe will not get the online push notifications from a PWA, a function which was added with the iOS 16.4 replace. Additional, this might additionally lead to customers dropping the information saved in these net apps. Nevertheless, it’s price noting that the tipster highlighted that “nothing is talked about on launch notes about this alteration”. Moreover, one other person has additionally reported that they’re unaffected by the difficulty.

Apple additionally rolled out the iOS 17.3.1 replace to all customers on Thursday, forward of the anticipated launch of iOS 17.4 in March. It’s a small replace that focuses on bug fixes and addresses just one challenge. As per the changelog, some customers reported a difficulty the place whereas typing, the textual content unexpectedly duplicated itself or overlapped within the textual content area. Customers who confronted the difficulty ought to discover that it has been resolved, after updating to the newest model.