Browsers like Chrome and Firefox can abandon WebKit in EU

EU regulations in the Digital Markets Act have forced Apple to allow full versions of third-party browsers on iPhone, and Apple isn't happy.

Safari runs on Apple's WebKit engine, and other browsers on iPhone have been required to use WebKit until now, at least in the EU. Starting in iOS 17.4, users will be prompted with the ability to set up a default third-party web browser upon launching Safari.

The change arrives alongside many other sweeping changes enacted by the Digital Markets Act. It forces Apple to change how the App Store and commerce works in the EU.

Besides side loading and alternative app stores, Apple snuck in another change required by the DMA — alternative browsers and engines. Chrome can now use Chromium, for example.

When users first launch Safari while running iOS 17.4 in the EU, they will be presented with the option to change to a different default browser. Apple's messaging on this change was clearly negative.

This change is a result of the DMA's requirements, and means that EU users will be confronted with a list of default browsers before they have the opportunity to understand the options available to them. The screen also interrupts EU users' experience the first time they open Safari intending to navigate to a webpage.

Any browser available in the App Store may appear as an option. Updates with the new web engines will likely come as soon as the developers can implement the change.

11 Comments

zeus423 272 comments · 19 Years

About 10 months ago

I can't wait to have Google Chrome as my default browser! Oh, never mind. I *can* wait.

chasm 3612 comments · 10 Years

About 10 months ago

I’m generally okay with most of the things the EU has done to foster competition, but this might be a step too far. Hijacking the landing page of my default browser, even only once, is a security risk. If the EU can do it, so can hackers.

Also, hey EU peeps, the reason Safari is opening on my device is because a) I pressed on the app icon to open it, or b) it’s already my default browser. Either way, trying to force me to look at your **AD** for other browsers is the absolute LEAST LIKELY way to get me to consider changing browsers.

Now it’s not like there aren’t other very fine browsers out there. I know, I check around from time to time. On my own. Without help from the nannies at the EC.

With Safari, I know exactly what I’m getting in terms of privacy and security — the best available. With DuckDuckGo and browsers similar to it, I know what I’m getting. With some very well known browsers, however, I **do not** know what I’m getting because they are obtuse about their actual security and privacy, especially Chrome (which only got to be the world’s most popular browser by literally **nagging** people — nobody’s stupid enough to think it’s the world’s best browser).

If the EU would truly focus on user privacy and security on the web, Chrome would be off the market (at least in the EU) in a week. And the EU would finally have done the world some good for internet users.

22july2013 3725 comments · 11 Years

About 10 months ago

The EU has now learned that when it makes any demands, of any type, hardware or software, even against user privacy and security, Apple will capitulate.

cincytee 420 comments · 18 Years

About 10 months ago

22july2013 said:

The EU has now learned that when it makes any demands, of any type, hardware or software, even against user privacy and security, Apple will capitulate.

You say that like the company is spineless. The EU is the master regulatory body for the continent. If Apple wants to sell its products in EU countries, it can file a few years' worth of appeals on rules it doesn't like, but, in the end, it has no choice but to capitulate if it wants to keep doing business there. The same situation applies in China.