iOS 17.4 It will arrive with important new features for the European market, such as the ability to download apps from alternative stores to the App Store. However, Apple appears to be pulling the plug in Europe. The feature has been present in iOS for many years: Progressive Web Apps.
According to various media and users, ability to use web applications directly on the iPhone home screenas if it were an app that wasn’t available in the first beta versions of iOS 17.4.
Now developer Maximiliano Firtman has highlighted in a post on X (Twitter) that this feature is also missing from beta version number 3, which was rolled out just a few days ago. He claims this is intentional on Apple’s part. “We can confirm that PWA[прогрессивные веб-приложения]in iOS 17.4 are disabled for EU users in b3,” he says. “At this point[siglasdeProgressiveWebApps)eniOS174estándesactivadasparalosusuariosdelaUEenb3”asegura“Enestepunto[siglasdeProgressiveWebApps)eniOS174estándesactivadasparalosusuariosdelaUEenb3”asegura“EnestepuntoThis feature is disabled intentionally and they want to keep it that way so that the stable version will be sent to all users in a few weeks,” concludes Firtman in his publication.
Currently, any user wishing to open the web app on their iPhone with the latest beta version You will notice that the application opens directly from your default browser.showing both the address bar and the browser bar. Macrumors It highlights that PWAs also no longer display notifications and no longer take up local storage, causing some users to lose previously saved data.
Apple is preparing to release iOS 17.4
This function, we repeat once again, was limited to the European market only. Probably thanks to the new features that the company will include in iOS 17.4. Remember that Apple is required to provide alternative app stores to the App Store, as well as allowing platforms like Spotify to use their own payment gateways.
Until now, Progressive web applications have become an alternative to App Store applications. Although they didn’t offer an experience even remotely similar to a proper app. Either way, it doesn’t make much sense for Apple to continue to offer this feature, which also doesn’t bring any benefit to Apple if users can download apps from other stores.
iOS 17.4 will officially release in March next year and will bring more news for EU users regarding the Digital Markets Act. In addition to alternative app stores, Apple will allow users They will be able to use a different wallet app for mobile payments.. Among other improvements, the new update will also include the ability to more easily select your default browser.
Source: Hiper Textual
I’m Ben Stock, a highly experienced and passionate journalist with a career in the news industry spanning more than 10 years. I specialize in writing content for websites, including researching and interviewing sources to produce engaging articles. My current role is as an author at Gadget Onus, where I mainly cover the mobile section.
