Web App Installal Feature In Safari Disappears From IOS 17.4 Beta

UNSPLASH ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA Apple brought many changes to iOS 17.4 to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in the European Union. This update includes sideloads and third-party app store licensing.

Although iOS 17.4 was only launched in March, some users can already experience the new operating system (OS) through an experimental or beta version. However, this update apparently eliminates the progressive web application (PWA) feature in the browser.

Since 2018, Apple has added the PWA feature or installing a web application into the Safari browser. This feature is quite useful if iPhone users don't want to install the app on the App Store, but the feature just disappears in beta updates.

First reported by app developer on platform X, Maximiliano Firmman, the PWA feature went missing in early February. Initially, Firtman suspected that this was due to a bug, but after iOS 17.4 beta 2 was released, his suspicions changed.

Although users can still add websites to screens, their functions have disappeared. When a user clicks on its web app from the screen, this feature will work like a shortcut, not like a web-based app in general.

The iOS system will also display a warning explaining that the web application is no longer working as before. The message displayed will read, "From now on it will be opened from your default browser."

Not many iPhone users take advantage of the PWA feature in Safari. However, this feature remains useful for some users. With the loss of this feature, users must open the web directly from the browser or download the application.