iOS 17.4 Public Beta Removes for Progressive Web Apps on iPhone in Europe e4a6o Report

The reported stopping of for progressive web apps (PWA) has resulted in push notifications and in-app data being removed. 674f1

Written by David Delima | Updated: 9 February 2024 16:01 IST

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

Photo Credit: Lucas Hoang/Unsplash 3w69e

The web app feature was first added to the iPhone in 2008

Highlights

Web app in iOS 17.4 beta could be removed to comply with DMA
Web apps are now reportedly opening in default browsers
Apple also released iOS 17.3.1 update with bug fixes

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Apple iPhone in the region, while allowing third-party browsers like Firefox and Google to use their own engines instead of Apple's WebKit. However, some testers have now pointed out that the update has removed the for progressive web apps (PWA) on their devices. A developer has claimed that this could be an intentional move to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

Developer Maximiliano Firtman posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) highlighting the issue. He first posted about the removal of PWAs on his iPhone on February 2 after the first public beta of iOS 17.4 was released. At the time he called it a bug, but after the release of iOS 17.4 beta 2 earlier this week, Maximiliano now claims that web apps might have been intentionally removed in Europe as a system alert is notifying s that web apps “will open from your default browser from now on”.

The tipster said that the possible reason for this move could be the European Union's Mozilla Firefox to run their browser engine, which will not PWAs. The conflicting part behind this argument is that Safari should still be able to these web apps.

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If it is true, this means that s in Europe will no longer get the web push notifications from a PWA, a feature which was added with the iOS 16.4 update. Further, this would also result in s losing the data stored in these web apps. However, it is worth noting that the tipster highlighted that “nothing is mentioned on release notes about this change”. Additionally, another has also reported that they are unaffected by the issue.

Apple also rolled out the iOS 17.3.1 update to all s on Thursday, ahead of the expected release of iOS 17.4 in March. It is a small update that focuses on bug fixes and addresses only one issue. As per the changelog, some s reported an issue where while typing, the text unexpectedly duplicated itself or overlapped in the text field. s who faced the issue should find that it has been resolved, after updating to the latest version.

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Further reading: DMA

Akash Dutta Email Akash Dutta

Akash Dutta is a Senior Sub Editor at Gadgets 360. He is particularly interested in the social impact of technological developments and loves reading about emerging fields such as AI, metaverse, and fediverse. In his free time, he can be seen ing his favourite football club - Chelsea, watching movies and anime, and sharing ionate opinions on food. More