Last month, Apple introduced the iOS 17.4 public beta worldwide, with a significant focus on European users. This update brought support for third-party app stores on iPhones in the region, along with the freedom for third-party browsers like Firefox and Google to utilize their own engines instead of Apple’s WebKit. However, some beta testers have observed the removal of support for progressive web apps (PWA) on their devices.
Developer Maximiliano Firtman brought attention to this issue on X (formerly known as Twitter). Initially noting the disappearance of PWAs on his iPhone on February 2 after the first public beta release of iOS 17.4, he attributed it to a bug. However, following the release of iOS 17.4 beta 2 earlier this week, Maximiliano now suggests that the exclusion of web apps in Europe might be deliberate, as a system alert notifies users that web apps “will open from your default browser from now on.”
The speculation behind this move stems from the upcoming Digital Markets Act (DMA) in the European Union. Apple had previously facilitated PWAs through WebKit, the browser engine for Safari, and mandated third-party browsers to adopt the same engine. However, with the DMA regulations taking effect next month, Apple is permitting browsers like Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox to operate their own browser engines, which do not support PWAs. Nevertheless, Safari should theoretically continue to support these web apps.
If true, this development implies that European users may lose access to web push notifications from PWAs, a feature introduced in the iOS 16.4 update. Additionally, users may face data loss stored within these web apps. Notably, there is no mention of this change in the release notes. Some users have reported being unaffected by the issue.
Furthermore, Apple released the iOS 17.3.1 update on Thursday to all users, anticipating the launch of iOS 17.4 in March. This minor update primarily addresses a bug wherein text unexpectedly duplicated or overlapped while typing in a text field. Users experiencing this issue should find it resolved after updating to the latest version.
