Telegram criticizes Apple for 'intentionally crippling' web app features on iOS
- Reference: 1655215204
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/06/14/telegram_safari/
- Source link:
Durov would very much like his web-based messaging platform, Telegram Web, to be delivered as a web app rather than native, but is prevented from offering users a full-fat experience on Apple's mobile devices due to limitations in the iOS Safari browser.
There's no option for web developers on Apple's iPhone and iPad to use anything but Safari, and features taken for granted on other platforms have yet to make it to iOS.
[2]
"We suspect that Apple may be intentionally crippling its web apps," [3]claimed Durov, "to force its users to download more native apps where Apple is able to charge its 30 percent commission."
[4]Apple dev roundup: Weather data meets privacy, and other good stuff
[5]We sat through Apple's product launch disguised as a dev event so you don't have to
[6]Microsoft: You own the best software keyboard there is. Please let us buy it
[7]Your snoozing iOS 15 iPhone may actually be sleeping with one antenna open
[8]At the end of last week the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it would be taking a close look at Apple and Google's market power with respect to mobile browsers. Enforcement action is a potential outcome, depending on the findings of the investigation.
In April, Durov [9]published a list of limitations in Safari and, while some (such as Push Notifications) look set to be addressed in the upcoming IOS 16, others remain. The result is that a native app is needed, effectively pushing developers toward Apple's store and its fees and policies.
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Readers might point out that Durov has perhaps a particular interest in being able to do more through Safari because of last week's announcement of the Premium version of Telegram, which would require a paid subscription, alongside the free tier. Apple will want its cut. A web app could, in theory, bypass that.
However, thanks to [11]Apple's insistence that its Webkit browser engine lurk behind the scenes regardless of browser, getting close to native functionality remains unattainable for now.
[12]
Commending the efforts of the regulators, Durov noted that: "It's sad that, more than 10 years after Steve Job's death, a company that once revolutionized mobile web turned into its most significant roadblock."
We have asked Apple for comment. ®
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[1] https://t.me/durov/185
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YqiwnoNPCtajCK1W0ZNdJwAAAJQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://t.me/durov/186
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/08/apple_wwdc_dev_roundup_weather/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/06/apple_wwdc_2022_the_m2/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/06/swype_come_back/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/19/apple-iphone-malware/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/12/uk_competition_watchdog/
[9] https://t.me/WebK_en/5
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YqiwnoNPCtajCK1W0ZNdJwAAAJQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/23/opinion_column/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YqiwnoNPCtajCK1W0ZNdJwAAAJQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
It's a far cry from when the iPhone first came out with no app store. I recall a certain Mr Jobs back then stating that there was no need for one as web apps could provide 3rd party content on the iPhone. How times have changed...
My experience with web apps when I have used them have been disappointing. Slow and bloated seems to be the usual.
In all honesty I prefer native apps.
The only people who really want web apps are web developers and their managers who don't want to employ client app developers. For everyone else it's trying to turn a screw with a spanner.
And those who simply don't want, for whatever reason, to be forced to use a client application if a web application exists.
Those must be the people with a huge mob... Web on mobiles is pathetic no matter the browser. Whaddya mean I have to scroll five times to see the whole screen? I'm open to knowing what works for people in iOS, really I'd like to understand.
There seem to be three separate significant issues.
The first is that the web experience is degraded (for whatever reason) and you can't replace it.
The second is that you can't build any other app that dynamically loads its executable content, so you couldn't, for example, create a portable app format other than HTML/Javascript to get around the ban on web engines.
These seem to be a necessary precursor to the third: the app store and its price-gouging ways. It's not by accident that native apps are "preferred".
So that's why Safari remains in the stone age.
To avoid webapps taking away their AppStore revenue stream.
Surprised?