Oliver Haslam on March 2, 2024, 10:12 pm

iOS 17.4 Won’t Remove Web App Support In The EU After All

When Apple releases iOS 17.4 to the public next week it will make some big changes in the EU including support for third-party app stores, third-party browser engines, and more.

But one change that people were definitely not looking forward to was Apple’s decision to remove support for web apps — and now it seems that isn’t going to happen.

Apple had previously said that it would have to remove web app support — preventing websites from using storage, receiving notifications, and being added to the Home Screen — in an attempt to ensure that no issues cropped up from adding support for third-party web browser engines. However, Apple has now confirmed that it won’t be removing web app support after all.

Previously, Apple announced plans to remove the Home Screen web apps capability in the EU as part of our efforts to comply with the DMA. The need to remove the capability was informed by the complex security and privacy concerns associated with web apps to support alternative browser engines that would require building a new integration architecture that does not currently exist in iOS.

Apple’s press release went on to say that it had received requests for web app support to continue and “therefore we will continue to offer the existing Home Screen web apps capability in the EU.”

Apple says that while web apps had been removed from the EU version of iOS 17.4 during the beta process, it will be readded in the final version that will be released to the public.