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Apple is finally allowing Firefox to use its own engine on the iPhone (but only in the EU)
(www.theverge.com)
this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2024
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
With iOS 17.4, Apple is making a number of huge changes to the way its mobile operating system works in order to comply with new regulations in the EU.
One of them is an important product shift: for the first time, Apple is going to allow alternative browser engines to run on iOS — but only for users in the EU.
Apple is clearly only doing this because it is required to by the EU’s new Digital Markets Act (DMA), which stipulates, among other things, that users should be allowed to uninstall preinstalled apps — including web browsers — that “steer them to the products and services of the gatekeeper.” In this case, iOS is the gatekeeper, and WebKit and Safari are Apple’s products and services.
Even in its release announcing the new features, Apple makes clear that it’s mad about them: “This change is a result of the DMA’s requirements, and means that EU users will be confronted with a list of default browsers before they have the opportunity to understand the options available to them,” the company says.
Apple argues (without any particular merit or evidence) that these other engines are a security and performance risk and that only WebKit is truly optimized and safe for iPhone users.
But in the EU, we’re likely to see these revamped browsers in the App Store as soon as iOS 17.4 drops in March: Google, for one, has been working on a non-WebKit version of Chrome for at least a year.
The original article contains 596 words, the summary contains 248 words. Saved 58%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
What is this even supposed to mean? All other browsers are pre-installed alongside safari? It's hard for users to choose a browser because they're able to use others as well?
Corpo doublespeak on overdrive. My guess is that they mean that the rules say they have to give a list of alternatives without running the user through a 20 click session on why their option is the only sensible one. "Understand the options" usually means a lot of screens telling the user the "right choice". "Being confronted with a list before understanding" means you need to think for yourself on your decision, rather than Apple making it for you.
On Windows, the EU Browser Selection system basically meant, during setup, you would be asked which browser you wanted. Internet Explorer would be hidden, and whatever you selected would be installed and set to default. I guess for non-techy users, they might not know what the difference between Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and whatever else was in the list. But its not like they couldn't go to the store and grab another one if they weren't happy.