Japan Law Will Require Apple to Allow Non-WebKit Browsers on iPhone

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Japan's Mobile Software Competition Act will require Apple to allow non-WebKit web browsers in the App Store on the iPhone later this year.

webkit vs chromium feature
Specifically, the law "forbids designated providers from preventing individual app providers from using alternative browser engines."

In most countries, Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and other popular web browsers on iOS are all currently forced to use WebKit, which is the web engine that powers Safari. Apple has previously stated that the WebKit requirement is due to security and privacy considerations, but critics have argued that the policy is anticompetitive.

Japan's law will allow web browsers and in-app browsers on the iPhone to use alternative browser engines like Blink (used by Chrome, Edge, and Opera) and Gecko (used by Firefox). The regulation takes full effect in December.

Apple has already allowed non-WebKit browsers on the iPhone and iPad in the EU since iOS 17.4 and iPadOS 18, to comply with the Digital Markets Act. However, Apple has a long list of requirements for alternative browsers on the iPhone and iPad, and there are still no major non-WebKit browsers available in the App Store on those platforms.

As noted by the not-for-profit Open Web Advocacy group on Wednesday, Japan's law goes a step further to ensure that there is a viable path for non-WebKit browsers, by preventing Apple from imposing "unreasonable technical restrictions" on web browsers that wish to implement alternative browser engines on the iPhone.

Japan's law will also require Apple to show a default browser selection screen in Safari on the iPhone, and the requirements for that are similarly strict.

Alongside the EU and Japan, it is expected that the UK will also require Apple to allow non-WebKit browsers on the iPhone in the foreseeable future.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tags: App Store, Safari, WebKit

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Top Rated Comments

WarmWinterHat Avatar
WarmWinterHat
14 weeks ago

A government body is telling you how to run your business. Absolutely ridiculous.

Apple shouldn't be forced into anything on their platform by anyone except for Apple. It's their software, their business what they do with it.
Why are businesses so special they are should be exempt from laws? What you are suggesting is saying they should have more rights than citizens.

No, corporations exist at the pleasure of the government and the populace. If they want to operate in said country, they follow said countries laws.
Score: 53 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ItsASpider Avatar
ItsASpider
14 weeks ago

Have you studied Apple’s BrowserEngineKit implementation in detail so that you can say that?

What specifically in it is badly / maliciously implemented which prevents anyone from implementing their own engine?
No, but Mozilla has ('https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/26/24052067/mozilla-apple-ios-browser-rules-firefox'). As has Google ('https://9to5google.com/2024/02/02/google-chrome-blink-ios-browser-engine/').


Also, are you aware that Google’s engine is, in practice, the only other engine in existence? This decision will cement Google’s dominance of web technology and future direction.

New engines will not magically appear, even when Apple eventually allows alternative engines globally on iOS. Implementing a modern engine is so huge undertaking that nobody will probably ever do it again.

Even Microsoft gave up and adopted Google’s engine.
So your argument is "there is almost no other engine" and thus we should just continue to tolerate the behavior that got us to this point in the first place? Apple enforcing WebKit is in part to blame why other engine found themselves in a spot were it was increasingly hard to compete because more and more websites were optimized for it instead of the standards itself to the point where Presto and Trident eventually had to be killed off. This is exactly the kind of nonsense why we only have WebKit, Blink and Gecko left today...


most consumers and web developers do not want this. no thanks.
Hi, developer here. WebKit is a terrible engine with a ridiculous amount of long standing bugs and inconsistent behavior. The only thing its good at is showing what happens when you don't need to compete with anyone else...


Yeah but putting laws in place to directly target a company to force it into something they never wanted to do? Do you get me or not?
That's how every law is put in place. People did something that shouldn't be socially acceptable, and laws were put in place to make that behavior illegal.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
con2apple Avatar
con2apple
14 weeks ago

A government body is telling you how to run your business. Absolutely ridiculous.
I don't even know what to say to that.

There's a company that dumps unfiltered toxins from its factory into the river, poisoning everyone in Los Angeles, and then you come along and say, “That's business. A company don't need to care for everything."

And don't tell me it's different.

Just because you don't want to take the dangers of a software monopoly seriously – because the monopoly here is run by Apple rather than Microsoft – doesn't make it any less dangerous.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
con2apple Avatar
con2apple
14 weeks ago

Then buy something else? Like...didn't you know what you're buying into when you bought an iPhone?
Oh, so you admit that everyone knew Apple restricted the software freedoms of iOS.

Can you tell me the following:
First, where has Apple admitted this to date?
Second, why do you think it's right for the company to dictate how you use the products you buy?
Third, why is macOS treated differently?

And by the third question at the latest, it becomes clear how you are constantly lying to yourself.
Because Apple doesn't do it with macOS, because then no one would buy it anymore.
Because macOS is so insignificant that the company can't afford it. They don't have a monopoly to prevent users from choosing.

But there's only a choice between iOS and Android. A duopoly.

And you celebrate a company for taking away your freedoms. You even defend it by saying that it was everyone's free choice.
Just because Apple didn't force to buy an iPhone with a gun doesn't make it a free choice.
Or is it your free choice to die if a hospital monopoly won't treat you until you agree to a bill that you couldn't pay even if you had three lives?
That's the freedom Apple offers.

And you celebrate it. You defend the company as if it were your friend. As if it were a member of your family.
Newsflash: The company doesn't give a damn about you.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nikusak Avatar
nikusak
14 weeks ago

It's not punishing the engine, it's making it as hard as possible for developers to use their own engine. It's textbook malicious compliance, and it allows them to keep the WebKit monopoly on iOS whilst claiming that they are complying.
Have you studied Apple’s BrowserEngineKit implementation in detail so that you can say that?

What specifically in it is badly / maliciously implemented which prevents anyone from implementing their own engine?

Also, are you aware that Google’s engine is, in practice, the only other engine in existence? This decision will cement Google’s dominance of web technology and future direction.

New engines will not magically appear, even when Apple eventually allows alternative engines globally on iOS. Implementing a modern engine is so huge undertaking that nobody will probably ever do it again.

Even Microsoft gave up and adopted Google’s engine.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ifxf Avatar
ifxf
14 weeks ago

most consumers and web developers do not want this. no thanks.
I want the flexibility and the additional protection offered by multiple browser engines.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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