Under pressure from the European Union, Apple has brought three major changes in iOS 17.4 Beta. First, Apple allows users to download applications from third-party app stores; second, third-party browsers can use web engines other than Apple WebKit on the iPhone; third, third-party wallet applications can access the iPhone's NFC chip to enable contactless mobile payments.
Among them, after opening sideloading, I originally thought that Apple would not be able to extract commissions, but I did not expect that it would still need to pay the 17% Apple tax. At the same time, whether it is software on the App Store or on the third-party application market, after the installation volume exceeds 1 million times, Apple will charge 0.5 euros for each new user's installation, which is also a point complained by users.
In addition to this, after Apple recently launched iOS17.4Beta2, the Open Web Advocacy organization found that PWA network applications have also been severely weakened.
The organization stated that in this version, PWA applications cannot be launched in the top-level window, cannot be full screen, and can only be opened in Safari, causing PWA applications to be downgraded to pure website shortcuts. This change has seriously affected the user experience and functionality of PWA applications.
Moreover, after iPhone users in Europe try to click to open the PWA application, the system will pop up a reminder asking whether they want to call the Safari browser to open it, or cancel it.
In other words, starting from iOS17.4Beta2, PWA applications can only be opened like bookmarks or shortcuts, losing the dedicated window, notification function and long-term local storage of PWA.
PS: PWA (Progressive Web App: Progressive Web Application), its launch purpose is to use various Web technologies to achieve a user experience similar to native App, such as supporting offline use, sending notifications and other features.