Thread by @OpenWebAdvocacy

What does 🇪🇺🇬🇧🇯🇵🇦🇺 @EFF @mozilla @Google @Microsoft @Meta @telegram & others say about the #AppleBrowserBan?

⚠️With submissions due 2022-07-22, The #AppleBrowserBan ending globally & the success of Web Apps depends on getting support from you and your company.

🧵 Lets go....

Anti-Competitive behaviour harms us all. The more support we can show, the greater the chance we have at ensuring a bright future for the web.

See:

https://twitter.com/OpenWebAdvocacy/status/1537676458478702594

First up, the EU's Digital Markets Act specifically references banning browser engines:

🇪🇺 EU: "When gatekeepers operate and impose web browser engines, they are in a position to determine the functionality ... that will apply not only to their own web browsers, but also to competing web browsers and, in turn, to web software applications"

🇬🇧 UK: "Apple mandating the use of WebKit for browsers on iOS, controlling the boundaries of quality and functionality of all such browsers. This ... materially inhibits the functionality of web apps and prevents third-party web engines from serving browsers on iOS." - @CMAgovUK

🇬🇧 "— it severely limits the potential for rival browsers to differentiate themselves from Safari"

"it inhibits the functionality of web apps, which raises developers’ costs, deprives consumers of innovative apps"

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/62a0d8ef…

🇯🇵 Japan (HDMC): "Third-party browsers are forced to provide services based on WebKit, which lacks support for web apps, and competition through ingenuity among browsers may be impeded."

🇯🇵 "functions provided by WebKit are not always of the highest quality to ensure security, and the mandatory use of WebKit makes it difficult for third-party providers to offer functions, including security, and it may prevent the opportunity for fair and equitable competition"

🇯🇵"Third-party browsers are forced to provide services based on WebKit, which lacks support for web apps, and competition through ingenuity among browsers may be impeded ... which may discourage investment and hinder the development of web apps"

🇯🇵 "This may also impede competition between web apps and native apps, and by extension, between the gateways of service provision, the browsers and app stores."

kantei.go.jp/jp/singi/digit…

🇦🇺 Australia (ACCC): "Apple's requirement to use WebKit in effect restricts 'every browser installed on iOS [...] to the functionality and features of Safari, giving users an 'illusion of choice' among browsers on iOS" @acccgovau

Electronic Frontier Foundation (@EFF):

Apple’s restrictions on third-party browsers, and the limitations it puts on Safari/WebKit (its own browser tools) have hobbled “web apps,” which run seamlessly inside a browser.

This means that app makers can’t deliver a single, browser-based app that works on all tablets and phones - they have to pay to develop separate apps for each mobile platform.

eff.org/deeplinks/2022…

@mozilla: "Apple's control over WebKit inhibits Mozilla (and other browser developers) from improving iOS
browsers."

"A browser is complex and expensive software to develop. Maintaining a browser engine and building a browser on top of another browser engine is a major cost"

@Mozilla recommendation in their submission to the NTIA:
regulations.gov/comment/NTIA-2…

@Google "Android provides extensive support for web apps... we do not impose any restrictions on which browsers can be used to access web apps, and we enable any web browser to use the browser-engine of their choice on Android ...

@Google The ability to use any browser engine (the core software that enables a browser to function) is particularly significant for web apps because the engine powering the app determines how developers can innovate and compete on key features."

@Google On Apple's mobile operating system, all browsers are required to use Apple's WebKit engine, limiting the functionality of non-Apple browsers and web apps.

@Google Researchers found that Apple's browser engine is significantly slower than other browser engines to fix reported bugs, making users less safe when using browsers on iOS because they have no ability to use another browser engine.

regulations.gov/comment/NTIA-2…

@Microsoft "Apple requires that any mobile browsers on iOS, use Apple's own WebKit browser engine... has consequences for consumers, who experience lower quality web apps and less innovation in browsers."

@Micosoft "Blink, provides objectively better standards support and performance than WebKit. Edge on iOS is slower than Edge on Android, and new and evolving web standards that Microsoft incorporates into its browser engine are often not supported on iOS's WebKit"

@Microsoft "The restrictions on Safari's and other iOS web browsers' capabilities prevent web pages and web apps from providing consumers with robust, cross-platform experiences pages that would lower switching barriers."

@Microsoft "In a world in which Apple sells dominant share of U.S. smartphones, this refusal to permit users and developers to transact without unreasonable restrictions places enormous drag on innovation ... to the detriment of the economy as a whole."

regulations.gov/comment/NTIA-2…

@Meta "While other mobile browsers are available on the App Store, Apple requires these mobile web browsers to use WebKit, a degraded version of Apple's Safari browser ... This restriction ... limits the capabilities of third-party web browsers to compete against Safari."

@Meta "Apple's restrictions on independent web browsers prevent web apps from emerging as
viable, operating system-agnostic alternatives to native apps"

@Meta "Safari, Apple's default mobile web browser, incorporates many restrictions that ensure that web pages and web apps are not suitable alternatives to native apps in iOS."

@meta "By implementing these restrictions, Apple incentivizes developers to focus on creating native apps rather than building mobile web pages or web apps. As the functionality restrictions make the user experience much worse, the restrictions lead to lower consumer traction

Developers then reduce their investment in the web experience, leading to further reductions in consumer traction. For that reason, both the Facebook and Instagram web page formats nudge consumers to use the native app version of these products as they offer consumers a better

experience. These restrictions collectively prevent web pages and web apps from providing a robust consumer experience, and prevent them from emerging as viable alternatives to native apps on iOS.

regulations.gov/comment/NTIA-2…

@telegram "We suspect that Apple may be intentionally crippling its web apps to force its users to download more native apps where Apple is able to charge its 30% commission (I wrote about why it is harmful here)."

t.me/durov/186

@telegram Does Apple intentionally prevent Safari from being a modern browser?

On iOS, Apple doesn't give its users the freedom to choose a web browser that supports feature-rich web apps.

t.me/WebK_en/5

@chriscoyier: "But what sucks about this lack of browser choice on iOS isn’t just the philosophy of gatekeeping, it’s that WebKit on iOS just isn’t that great"

css-tricks.com/ios-browser-ch…

@bramus "Even if the Firefox or Chrome teams want to add a web platform feature to their browser on iOS, they can’t, because Apple says so. This lock-in reeks of monopolistic behavior."

bram.us/2022/02/11/not…

@html5test Safari has fallen behind and struggles to keep up with where the web platform is heading... Even ... widely supported features in other browsers can take years to appear in Safari.
nielsleenheer.com/articles/2021/…

@brucel Apple’s own policies prevent Progressive Web Apps being a viable alternative. It’s time to regulate Apple into allowing other browser engines onto iOS and giving them access to the underlying platform–just as they currently are on Apple’s MacOS
brucelawson.co.uk/2022/my-commen…

@sil "But this is wildly disingenuous when there's only one browser engine shared between them all! This is not true on any other OS; even Chrome OS, which is named after a browser, does not restrict other browsers from running."

kryogenix.org/code/cma-apple/

🤝Let's end this together, speak up today

👇 Submit as an individual and ask your company to do the same.

❤️ You’ll be helping your business, the web and every consumer who uses it.

https://twitter.com/OpenWebAdvocacy/status/1537676458478702594