Context: Apple disabled home screen web apps, also called progressive web apps (PWAs), for EU-based users, thereby affecting (among other things) the user experience of many web games (February 13, 2024 games fray article). Apple argued that this was a necessary security measure as the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) opens the door to alternative browser engines. Two weeks later, the European Commission confirmed preliminary investigations of that decision (February 28, 2024 games fray article).
What’s new: Apple today updated its DMA-related Q&A and announced that when iOS version 17.4 is final, home-screen web apps will be supported again, but only for browsers that use Apple’s own browser engine, WebKit (i.e., the Safari engine). This means browsers using their own engine, which could deliver a superior user experience as Apple is not interested in web apps becoming a serious competitive constraint on native iOS apps, will be disadvantaged. Apple attributes this (credibly) to feedback from users.
Direct impact: Apple’s partial backtrack makes things worse from an DMA compliance point of view. As games fray explained in the previous article on this topic, the legal challenge for DMA enforcement action against the disablement of home-screen web apps would have been that the DMA does not specifically require Apple to provide that feature. The fact that Apple re-enabled web apps (albeit only for browsers using its own engine) because of user feedback belies Apple’s claim that the feature wasn’t popular enough to be worth supporting. The worst effect of this is that Apple self-preferences its own browser engine, giving it an exclusive feature that browsers using alternative browser engines will lack. That is irreconcilable with the DMA. It remains to be seen whether Apple will make the development effort to enable web apps to run on alternative browser engines in order to avoid competition enforcement issues in the EU as well as the UK, where a market investigation over browser engines is underway.
Wider ramifications: This situation does not enhance Apple’s credibility or improve its relations with competition enforcers and competitors. There is no reason to assume that Apple will make meaningful concessions concerning rival app stores anytime soon. Apple appears to have identified that topic as its highest priority.
Normally, one would assume that Apple backtracked to appease the EU Commission’s DMA enforcers. The timing would suggest so: shortly after the EC’s preliminary investigations became known (and were officially confirmed), Apple backtracked.
But in this case, it is not a victory for competition enforcers. Apple actually makes things worse by disadvantaging rival browser engines. Home Screen web apps are actually the single most important use case for rival browsers from a competition point of view. Apple’s Safari and its WebKit browser engine are good enough for web apps that aren’t too demanding with respect to performance and user experience (UX). Browsers with alternative engines would be in a position to take the performance and the UK of web apps to a new level. But based on today’s announcement, Home Screen web apps will be strictly limited to browsers that use Apple’s own engine.
If the EU Commission told Apple that they would let the company off the hook on this basis, it would mean that the EC encourages and rewards anticompetitive behavior. That would be out of character for the EC.
It is credible that Apple was contacted by users who complained because of a degradation of their user experience. Many of Apple’s most loyal users install beta versions of new iOS versions early. Certain web apps, such as Microsoft’s xCloud cloud gaming service, provide a substantially inferior UX if they cannot run in full-screen mode. Apple presumably did get messages from people adversely impacted by the disablement of home-screen web apps.
The DMA’s purpose of achieving “contestable and fair markets in the digital sector” is defeated by Apple’s self-preferencing. That may trigger public and/or private (from rival browser makers) enforcement.
Apple previously said that it did not want to make the substantial effort to provide operating system-level functionality (through additional application programming interfaces (APIs)) that would enable web apps to run as securely on alternative browser engines as on Apple’s WebKit. Actually, browser makers like Google (Chrome), Microsoft (Edge, using the Chromium engine) and Mozilla (Firefox) can make web apps at least as secure as Apple, and they tend to provide security updates much faster. But Apple’s theory is that a third-party browser engine is inherently untrustworthy.
It’s possible that Apple will now make the necessary changes so that rival browsers will be able to run home-screen web apps at a later stage. If that happened in the not too distant future, it would solve the DMA-related problem. Apple would be able to argue that there aren’t currently any rival browser engines available on iOS. It will likely take some time before any browsers using their own engine are offered. So there would be an exclusive feature for WebKit, but such an exclusive doesn’t matter if there is no competition in place yet.
Apple also has to bear the UK market investigation into mobile browsers (and cloud gaming) in mind. That one is not yet at the point where Apple must comply with any particular remedies. But it’s very likely to happen in the not too distant future, and that may be another reason for Apple to ensure that rival browser engines will be able to execute home-screen web apps.
In another article today, games fray discussed a whitepaper published by Apple on its DMA compliance. For the most part, that paper is just advocacy, but the DMA could have pre-empted those arguments by defining criteria for who may operate alternative app stores.