According to the latest report, during the WWDC22 keynote speech, Apple announced a new Web push service that will improve notifications from Web applications. But looking back, Apple has always had its own ideas on Web technology.
In the early days of the iPhone, Apple founder Steve Jobs was against running third-party applications on the device. He wants developers to create web applications that work on the Safari browser. Web standards such as HTML5 are key to making it a viable platform for applications. This type of markup language builds multimedia content and interactive elements.
Apple is committed to improving HTML5 performance on its devices. When the company launched iOS 8 in 2014, it included WKWebView, the new browser engine that allows hybrid apps to behave like native apps. Jobs agreed to HTML5 as a replacement for Adobe Flash. When he wrote “Thoughts on Flash” in 2010, he praised companies like Netflix and YouTube for moving to HTML5 video content.
Apple also encouraged the use of web apps on iOS 13, purged low-quality apps from the App Store, and said certain features and functionality are best offered through the Safari browser. The main accusation from critics is that Apple is pushing users from web apps to the App Store, which supports native apps and rules.
When it launched in 2008, Apple charged a 30 percent fee for apps published on the App Store platform. Jobs praised native applications and said they were better than Web-based applications. This has long been the subject of lawsuits, but it’s not the only aspect of the app’s contention. Telegram founder Pavel Durov wrote a post on the matter after Telegram web developers shared 10 list issues with the iOS Safari browser in April.
Pavel Durov’s post, published on June 13, said the comments by the UK regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), provided an “accurate summary”. The UK’s CMA, which has conducted a year-long study of Apple’s mobile ecosystem, has raised concerns about the browser on iOS, another aspect of the app debate.
Apple prohibits third-party browser engines, so each browser on iOS and iPadOS is built on Apple’s WebKit engine. As a result, the UK CMA said Apple had little incentive to improve the WebKit engine, killing consumers and businesses alike.
Apple’s goal is to fend off competitors such as Google’s Blink browser engine, part of the open-source Chromium project whose stated mission is to make the Web the focal point for accessing information.
Google Chrome uses the Blink engine on all platforms except iOS. The iOS version of Chrome uses the WebKit engine, which means Google has been forced to catch up with Apple. WebKit is also open source, and the project aims to be a common content engine for browsers and applications. Sources say Apple believes browsers should stick to displaying content rather than running apps.
But developers want web apps because they can run on any platform without the rules and restrictions of app stores. Apple changed its mind and is now moving forward, albeit slowly. As revealed at the WWDC keynote in June this year, the web application experience in Apple’s operating system will be improved.
Also, joining the Apple Developer Program to send web push notifications is not a requirement.
Web push
The feature won’t appear until 2023, and it consists of the Push API, Notifications API, and Service Worker. A service worker is a piece of JavaScript code that runs on behalf of a web domain that is separate from an open browser tab. Sites may not push notifications without the user’s permission. Websites can only request push subscriptions in response to mouse clicks or keystrokes.
Users can click the “Subscribe” button and then click “Allow” in the permissions dialog that appears. The notification switch for the website will be found in the device settings, just like the native app.
The Push API uses a JavaScript interface that allows websites to use push subscriptions. The ServiceWorker API supports push messages, while the Notifications API allows service workers to push notifications without opening a browser.
In macOS 13 Ventura, the new program web push can be installed as LaunchAgent. It receives push subscription requests from web pages and converts them to push subscriptions using the Apple Push Notification service.
The results show that web applications will feel closer to native applications. Using the share menu in Safari, users can add web application pages to the home screen to blend in.
Apple is improving Web applications, possibly in a way that appeases developers or regulators who are overly concerned about its tight control over the App Store. Apple might also adopt these web apps as a secondary ecosystem but still doesn’t want to be forced to open up the iPhone to sideload native apps.
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