From the very beginning, Apple has allowed users to add websites to the iPhone Home Screen, so that they can be used as web apps. Over the last few years, Apple has added many features to improve support for web apps.
But all those improvements seem to have gone now – at least for those in Europe. As noted by developer
Maximiliano Firtman, iOS 17.4 beta removes support for progressive web apps (PWA) from the system for users located in the EU.
At first, Firtman believed that PWAs weren’t working in the iOS 17.4 beta due to a bug. However, with the
release of iOS 17.4 beta 2 earlier this week, the system now shows an alert telling users that web apps “will open from your default browser from now on.” And although you can still add websites to the iPhone Home Screen, they simply open in the user’s default web browser.
This has a lot of consequences for users. For example, all data stored by these web apps is automatically deleted with the update. Websites can also no longer send push notifications to users.
