Apple is working on bringing web-based notifications to iOS, iOS 15.4 which will solve a long-standing problem of web-based app developers who have been unable to deliver alerts to users on Apple mobile devices, significantly restricting the user experience and usefulness of web-based apps.
Apple included a “Push API” checkbox in the Experimental settings page for Safari with the release of the first betas of iOS and iPadOS 15.4 last week, as observed and explained by developer Maximiliano Firtman. While the option is visible, the API is not yet enabled, and Apple has yet to develop a UI prompt in Safari on iOS to ask users for permission to display web-based alerts, as Maximiliano pointed out. Also Burkina Faso vs Senegal live stream: watch AFCON 2021 semi-finals online worldwide
On iOS, only applications downloaded from Apple’s App Store may deliver alerts, unlike on macOS, where web-based notifications are widespread. Apple appears to be setting the basis for web-based alerts on its mobile devices with the introduction of the “Push API” toggle in iOS 15.4.
Web-based apps are created fully on the web and are available via any browser having a URL. Web-based applications are not new, but the Epic Games v. Apple litigation has focused attention on the experience of web-based apps on iOS and iPadOS. The lack of options for customers to download apps is a fundamental tenet of Epic’s case against Apple’s dominance of the App Store and iOS ecosystem.
Apple refuted Epic’s allegation that iOS users had few alternatives for where to obtain apps in a response to the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) in February of last year. Apple specifically said that iOS and iPadOS users had “unrestricted and uncontrolled access” to web-based apps, and that “the entire web is open to them.”
“Web browsers are utilised not just as a distribution mechanism, but also as platforms, hosting “progressive web apps” (PWAs) that eliminate the need to download a developer’s app via the App Store (or other ways). “PWAs are becoming more available for and through mobile-based browsers and devices, including on iOS,” Apple stated in a part of their contribution headed “Distribution options inside the iOS ecosystem.””
Epic explicitly took issue with the limits of WebKit, the architecture on which all iOS and iPadOS browsers are built, in a court filing dated May 2021. Epic also out that web-based apps accessed via the browser lack access to APIs provided by native apps published via the App Store, such as PushKit, which provides alerts.
In the same document, Epic said that during testimony, Apple’s former vice president of developer relations, Ron Okamoto, “couldn’t name a single developer who pulled a product from the App Store because the developer could replace delivering a web app.”
Apple may be attempting to buttress its claim that web-based applications are an alternative to App Store apps by introducing PushKit to WebKit for iOS and iPadOS. In September, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Apple must enable applications to link to external payment methods for in-app purchases in the Epic vs. Apple litigation. Epic had hoped that the court would order Apple to support third-party App Stores, but this did not happen.
While Apple appears to be preparing the framework for incorporating PushKit into WebKit for iOS and iPadOS, it is unclear when the API will be available. We’ve contacted Apple for further information.
Apple is presently testing iOS and iPadOS 15.4, the most significant upgrade to iOS and iPadOS 15 since its first release last autumn. The first beta of iOS 15.4 contains the option to utilise Face ID while wearing a mask, Universal Control, better ProMotion compatibility for iPhone 13 Pro models, and other features.