Open Web Advocacy (OWA) is a non-profit organization founded by two brothers, Alex and James Moore, who run a web development services company in Australia. They’re up in arms about Apple’s decision to effectively withdraw support for progressive web apps (PWAs) in Europe, as a way to comply with the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). Apple’s decision has been pilloried by influential figures in the web developer community, who see it as another strike against the open web.
Update: an hour or so after this article was published, 9to5Mac reported that Apple is now walking back its PWA decision and says it will “continue to offer the existing Home Screen web apps capability in the EU.”
I spoke with the Moore brothers over Zoom, to find out what is driving them in a now years-long battle with Apple — and how it all impacts web developers the world over.
I first communicated with Alex Moore in September 2021, when he reached out to me via an anonymous Twitter account to talk about Apple’s rule of not allowing competing browser engines on its iOS platform. Even though I didn’t know who Moore was at that point (he was using a pseudonym), the facts of the matter were plain enough: By forcing browser vendors like Google, Microsoft and Mozilla to use the WebKit browser engine on iOS, Apple was deliberately restricting the functionality of web apps on iOS.
Two and half years later, Apple has finally opened up to alternative browser engines… well, at least in Europe and with a major caveat. Apple has released a beta of “BrowserEngineKit,” which browser vendors like Google and Mozilla are invited to use to roll their own EU-only browsers. This is slated to take effect when iOS 17.4 is released.
Now for that caveat; as the OWA reported on Feb. 3: “We have been alerted that Apple has broken Web App (PWA) support in the EU via iOS 17.4 Beta. Sites installed to the home screen failed to launch in their own top-level activities, opening in Safari instead.”
OWA’s blog, including a ticker showing how many days until the DMA ruling takes effect.
No More ‘Home Screen Web Apps’
Apple later confirmed that PWAs — or “Home Screen web apps” as it bizarrely labeled them — have been disabled in the EU. Alex Moore said he noticed other changes too. Previously, PWAs would open full-screen in Safari, but with the iOS 17.4 beta, they were now opening in a browser tab. Other features of PWAs that will likely be gone in iOS 17.4 are notifications, badging (having a custom icon on your phone’s screen), and permanent storage.
“If you don’t visit a website for seven days, Safari deletes everything on that website,” said Alex, explaining the storage issue. “There’s nothing you can do about it.”
He said this decision by Apple will affect many businesses that rely on web apps to reach their European users on iOS. (It’s worth noting here that the Moores build such web apps for a living — Alex confirmed they don’t do native app development for iOS.)
“So what it means is that there’s all these companies that have spent huge amounts of effort and development in web apps. Suddenly, they’re not going to be viable anymore. And I’ve talked to many of these company owners and they’re like, I don’t know how we’re going to survive.”
These businesses are “panicking in different ways,” he continued — for instance, wondering if it’s possible to build an iOS app before iOS 17.4 is released (likely in a matter of days, since the DMA has a deadline of March 6).
Why PWAs Are Kind of a Big Deal
I’ve been tracking this issue on Mastodon and other social media platforms, and one of the pushbacks from Apple-friendly developers has been that PWAs represent a very small percentage of apps. In other words, they’re arguing that PWAs are too niche and not worth all the hassle. I asked the Moores how they respond to that.
“Apple’s put their thumb on the scales for the last 15 years,” said Alex. “The only reason they built notifications [in PWAs] was because we — via regulators — applied huge amounts of pressure on them to develop notifications. And that was [the] number one feature we needed.”
However, he said that Apple made installing a PWA (and hence getting notifications) difficult to do on iOS, whereas it’s a simple process on Android. The clear implication is that PWAs aren’t well-used because Apple makes them difficult to use.
“On Apple, you have to tap the ‘share’ menu, scroll up, find ‘Add to Homescreen,’ tap that, and then install the web app, and then you get notifications — it’s just completely obscured. You look at native apps and you can get pop-up banners, and you tap a link and it opens the App Store, and there’s all these pathways for installing apps.”
Is OWA Tackling the US Market too?
It’s important to reiterate, Apple’s actions around browser engine choice and PWAs are specifically targeted at European users. Apple has also been under pressure by UK regulators, and there is regulatory activity in Japan and Australia, but so far there hasn’t been much talk about the U.S. market. So I asked the brothers whether U.S. regulators are doing anything about browser engines on mobile?
“No, they’re not,” Alex replied. “The problem in the U.S., it comes down to, you’ve got very traditional antitrust rules, and they’re very difficult, [it’s a] very slow process, and they need to pass new laws.”
So if Europe and the U.K. effectively crack down on Apple on this issue, will that apply enough market pressure for Apple to also open up in the U.S.?
“No, our plan is dominoes,” said Alex. “We’re just going to hit every other major jurisdiction, and then hopefully convince Firefox and Google and all the other browser vendors to start using their real browser engines everywhere else. And then we can say to the U.S., hey, it works better over there — you guys are missing out. And people in the U.S. hate missing out on things. So that will then build pressure to change the laws in the U.S.”
Of course, that depends on whether Apple will let PWAs run in Europe and in any other country that regulates against the company. It seems that before the OWA gets to play dominoes, it’ll be a game of whack-a-mole — trying to fight back against whatever new obstacles Apple throws up as it complies with regulators.
What About Google?
All of the OWA’s focus is currently on Apple, but there is another very powerful platform on the web and on mobile. Google has the dominant web browser engine on the market, with Chromium, and the dominant consumer browser (Chrome). It also is effectively in a duopoly with Apple in mobile operating systems, thanks to Android. So I asked the Moores whether they have any concerns about Google’s power.
“So we do have big concerns with Google,” Alex replied. “The only reason we don’t focus on them as much is they’re kind of right down the list because the Apple stuff is just so outrageous that all our attention is on that.”
In a 2023 submission to the U.K. regulators, OWA wrote that “Google has denied rival browsers access to WebAPK minting, which has the effect of denying rivals the ability to provide competitive Web Application PWA experiences.” In our conversation, Alex Moore mentioned other issues with Google, too — such as “pushing Chrome in situations where they shouldn’t” and “not respecting the user’s choice of default browser.”
But ultimately, in 2024 it is Apple that is the key focus for OWA. So if you consider yourself an open web advocate (and I certainly do) then you should support the OWA in its ongoing efforts to fight back against Apple. The web is the only truly open development platform we have on the internet, and we need to actively protect it. You could start by signing OWA’s open letter to Tim Cook.
Originally published at The New Stack: https://thenewstack.io/apple-vs-web-apps-why-open-web-advocacy-is-fighting-back/