Apple plans to continue to support web apps in the European Union, the tech giant said in an update on its developer support page.
The turnaround comes after EU regulators said they had taken initial steps to investigate why Apple was considering discontinuing its support for web apps in the EU.
Apple said it is making the change to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which aims to make market competition in the EU more balanced by preventing large companies from misusing their market power.
Apple initially said the need to remove homepage web apps, which are known as progressive web apps, was due to the complex security and privacy concerns associated with building a new integration architecture that does not already exist in iOS.
Apple said it will now continue to support Home Screen web apps that were removed during the beta release of the iOS in the EU. It said it would continue offering Home Screen web apps in iOS after it “received requests” to do so.
To align with the security and privacy model for native apps on iOS, Apple said its Home Screen web apps would continue to be built directly on Webkit within its security architecture.
“EU users will be able to continue accessing websites directly from their Home Screen through a bookmark with minimal impact to their functionality,” Apple said in a statement. “We expect this change to affect a small number of users. Still, we regret any impact this change — that was made as part of the work to comply with the DMA — may have on developers of Home Screen web apps and our users.”
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Web-based apps have the capability to be set up and launched from the home screen of an iPhone, while also sending push notifications and storing memory independently from that of a web browser.
“Developers and users … can expect the return of the existing functionality for Home Screen web apps with the availability of iOS 17.4 in early March,” Apple said in its update.