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this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2023
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This will be huge. I wonder if this way we could also get non-WebKit browser on iOS someday.
Yes, we will. This was also specifically demanded by the EU and has to be implemented by March 6th 2024.
It’s being said that Google and Mozilla already have iOS-versions of Chrome and Firefox ready for this.
This is the last thing holding Google back from total domination of the web browser space. You know most people will just download Chrome when something doesn't work, since they already use it on their PC/Mac.
While I don't think that holding users hostage is the best thing to do, the reality is that enough people just don't care, and the iPhone and iPad's popularity forces web devs to make their sites work on Safari and not just Chrome. Once a real Chrome is available on iOS, all bets are off.
There was a huge gush over Chrome by developers and powerusers, influencing many many users to adopt Chrime; the same gush that happened over IE back in the day.
Everyone developed everything for IE. Had to have it to be on a wide segment of the web. Same way with Chrome now.
People have started falling off of Chrime /Google browsers just as they did Microsoft and IE; both times users finally realizing just how shite the company and browser were/are.
Is there actually any proof of this?
From my quick check, Chromium-based browsers have a very steady market share. Firefox has remained exactly the same. Safari has went up 0.8% and is obviously going to drop substantially when other browser engines are allowed on iOS.
Sure, Chrome has went down by 2%, but Opera and Edge have captured that. And they're both just chrome under the bonnet.
Yeah, I know maybe like two other people who use Firefox. Everybody else uses Chrome. And it's been that way for the last decade or so.
I still prefer Firefox, but I worry about its future because most people, including web developers, just don't care.
Development of IE stagnated after Microsoft put Netscape out of business, because Microsoft got complacent, until Mozilla resurrected the remains of Netscape and saved the web. Then Chrome came along and Google convinced almost everybody to switch to it, including competing browsers like Opera. Chrome was originally based on Safari's WebKit (a fork of Konqueror's rendering engine KHTML), but then Google forked it (Blink) so they'd maintain control of it.
From what I've heard, most web devs only test on Chrome since every browser other than Firefox and Safari is based on it. And nobody seemed to care until very recently, because they didn't think a browser based on an open source project could possibly be a problem.
I'm honestly not surprised any of this happened, and I stick to Firefox and Safari myself, but I do worry about the ramifications of getting a real Chrome on the iPhone and iPad. I never liked Chrome and don't want to be forced to use it.
After Google EEE’d chromium it was all over. A perfect bait & switch by google after everyone switched to chromium bases. MS fumbled the bag and now Goog is doing the same thing. People generally don’t like to be forced to do anything; and I’m with you and them.
You can run Chrome on an iPhone now.
It’s reskinned safari. Same with Firefox. Apple doesn’t allow alternative browser engines currently, you have to use their WebKit frame to display the actual pages.
This is what is changing per the EU’s ruling, and why browser extensions from the desktop versions will start to work on iPhones.
Is firefox on iOS a webkit wrapper? https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/browsers/mobile/ios/
Yes, all browsers on iOS are
Unfortunately, yes.
Huh, interesting! (also 👎)
It won't be really. Android already has sideloading but the vast majority don't even know you can download stuff outside of the Play Store.