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Apple limits third-party browser engine work to EU devices (www.theregister.com)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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The Register has learned from those involved in the browser trade that Apple has limited the development and testing of third-party browser engines to devices physically located in the EU. That requirement adds an additional barrier to anyone planning to develop and support a browser with an alternative engine in the EU.

It effectively geofences the development team. Browser-makers whose dev teams are located in the US will only be able to work on simulators. While some testing can be done in a simulator, there's no substitute for testing on device – which means developers will have to work within Apple's prescribed geographical boundary.

... as Mozilla put it – to make it "as painful as possible for others to provide competitive alternatives to Safari."

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[–] dojan 3 points 7 months ago (2 children)

I don’t see third party engines making it to the market unless the US also slams down some regulations. How many Firefox users are there in the EU? How many use iOS, and how many of those are likely to use the iOS version of Firefox? Is it worth maintaining two to four separate apps for this?

[–] Viking_Hippie 24 points 7 months ago (1 children)

How many Firefox users are there in the EU?

More than in the US.

Firefox has a 5.07% share of European users, versus 4.21% in the US.

The population of the EU as per January 2023 is 448.8 million, compared to the 2023 US estimate of 334.9 million.

[–] dojan 5 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Well I suppose the question really is; how many Firefox iOS/iPad OS are there in the EU and does that amount of users make it worth maintaining another 1-2 apps for the EU market, while dealing with Apple's shenanigans? Like Firefox Browser for iOS and iPad, as well as Firefox Focus are already 2 apps, if you want to replace the back-end specifically for the EU you'd have to maintain that back-end, deal with Apple working against you, and maintain separate versions of those apps specifically for the EU.

It's worth noting that Firefox for iOS is already leaps and bounds behind Firefox for Android in terms of UX. There are features missing that they could add regardless of whether they are using WKWebView or not, but they haven't, either because Apple doesn't want competition, or because they don't consider the Firefox browser on iOS to be particularly high priority.

If the latter, why on Earth would they port Gecko to iOS/iPad OS when a vanishingly small subset of users might use it? I am a European Firefox user, but I don't use Firefox on iOS because the UX compared to Safari is incredibly lacklustre. Switching the back-end to Gecko wouldn't do anything to fix that.

[–] Viking_Hippie 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

does that amount of users make it worth maintaining another 1-2 apps for the EU market, while dealing with Apple's shenanigans

I'd say that's a resounding "no", but I must admit that basically nothing is worth dealing with Apple's shenanigans in the first place if you ask me.

Especially when it's likely that they'll eventually play themselves out of the European market completely with their anti-consumer bullshit and the EU's increasing courage in protecting consumers from such abuse as is integral to all things Apple.

[–] dojan 2 points 7 months ago

That echoes my thoughts.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I think many Firefox users are tech savvy enough to know that Firefox for iOS is just a reskinned Safari. They know that it isn't the real-deal and so any stats on who uses Firefox on iOS are kind of misrepresenting the situation.

[–] dojan 2 points 7 months ago

Yeah. The main reason I could think of is if you use Firefox Sync. I actually do have that on my iPad, though it’s rare that I’ll ever open something on my PC and then resume it on my iPad.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It's guaranteed that Google will create a version of chrome of the EU market as well. Yea it's another big tech, but app devs having the same browser engine working on iOS and droid will be a boon. Since ff has the android app already, it's also not like they will have a new greenfield development for it.

[–] dojan 1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Google has infinite money to throw at shitty projects, and the more marketshare they control the better for them since that just means more data that they can sell, so I can see that happening. I don't think Mozilla has the same luxury. I'd sooner stick to Safari than use Chrome.