Open Letter to Tim Cook: Sabotaging Web Apps Is Indefensible

https://lemmings.world/post/6297182

Open Letter to Tim Cook: Sabotaging Web Apps Is Indefensible - Lemmings.world

We need to exert more pressure on apple and eu to not remove PWAs. Every signature counts, please sign and share EU has already started a preliminary investigation on this http://archive.today/2024.02.26-223134/https://www.ft.com/content/d2f7328c-5851-4f16-8f8d-93f0098b6adc [http://archive.today/2024.02.26-223134/https://www.ft.com/content/d2f7328c-5851-4f16-8f8d-93f0098b6adc]

Someone fill me in:

Can they really force this once EU opens the gates to the third-party app stores?

They will try. This is about OS-level APIs. In order for a browser to to install and run PWAs, it needs certain OS APIs for e.g. home screen installation, storage and notifications. iOS currently has these APIs but Safari severely limits what you can do with it. Now the DMA will force Apple to accept other browsers, which have no such limitations. So, Apple now wants to remove these APIs altogether and kill PWA support outright, before that portion of the DMA takes effect.

There probably will be a lawsuit and Apple will probably lose, but it will take years to resolve that. And in the mean time PWAs remain dead and the only way on the iOS home screen in paying the 30% app store cut.

I see. So it doesn’t look good for now. Thanks for the insight!
Isn’t it the other way around? Afaik the EU commission investigates them, makes a decision, and sets a due date for Apple to comply or pay a potentially hefty fine. It would be Apple who’d have to sue against that, and they’d have to pay the fine until a court confirms or nullifies it.

The fine will have to be pretty hefty to cancel out the risk to Apple of PWAs taking off.

A free and open app platform sitting above the OS is surely a terrible threat to both Google and Apple.

Up to 10% of global revenue, 20% if they keep repeating the same offense, so nothing to sneeze at.
Is that revenue from all sources, the mobile division, or just the revenue from this particular mechanism (essentially zero)?
Pretty much all sources as far as I understand it. The exact definition is here if you’re interested (Article 5).
Regulation - 139/2004 - EN - European Union merger law - EUR-Lex

not exceeding 10 % of the aggregate turnover of the undertaking concerned within the meaning of Article 5

So I’m not sure what “the undertaking concerned” means exactly, but it’s probably the mobile portion of the business (and maybe just app store sales). But I guess that’s yet to be determined.

The article even explicitly lists subsidiaries and shares with >50% of the ownership or voting rights, so I don’t think it’s limited to just one department of a company. But yea, we’ll have to wait and see how this is applied in a real case.
Google and apple both allow pwas right now though, don’t they? I don’t think it’s a threat. It’s just apple trying to say fu to the eu. The eu will slp a billion dollar fine on them. They’ll pay it.

A PWA running in a browser engine that they can’t control can have access to features that they can’t vet and restrict. If PWAs aren’t restricted to 50MB of storage and have near feature-parity with native apps then they’ll eventually lose the ability to enforce their revenue cut on In-App Purchases.

Not sure how it works on android, but on iOS I’m pretty sure this means that mobile game devs will start shipping games as WebGL/WASM with asset streaming and implement their own payment channels for micro-transactions.

Apple can’t risk it and I believe they will fight it tooth and nail to the bitter end.

Yes because what they are doing is just removing websites from the app-store. Other app-stores might add those websites to their store if they want but for the user it is almost always better to just save the website to their homescreen, which gives the exact same UX as previous web-apps but now you don't need to go to the app-store to download it, the app takes up no storage on your device and the web app can't access your privacy sensitive device IDs that might be used for cross-app tracking.

The company said cutting off PWAs was part of an effort to comply with the Digital Markets Act, arguing browsers other than its own Safari software would expose users to security and privacy risks that were not permitted under the law.

They are so full of shit, it’s unbelievable!

It’s blatant anti-competitive behavior and anybody who cares about antitrust should be outraged about this and similar efforts. Getting legal protection for such decisions is nothing but regulatory capture.
Don’t they already force every browser on their app store to use the safari engine because “security”?

@ICastFist
Yes, however the EU enacted new regulations to put a stop to that practice, so that Apple will be required to allow other browsers on their platform.

Disabling PWAs is how Apple has chosen to retaliate against those new regulations.

Yes, although that recently changed in the EU (only) with the Digital Markets Act.
This is so frustrating because this is a big hit to browsers like firefox because Apple has such a large userbase, but this same userbase does not give a shit, and this is because they bought an apple in the first place. Frustrating
Move away from apple products & taste the freedom…

The problem is the only alternative (on phones) is handing over all my data to Google, the world’s largest ad company. I’m not sure that’s better…

Desktop is easy. Install Linux. But on phones, there’s 2 bad choices.

You don’t have to install Gapps though.
If you skip GApps & install a custom ROM, chances are banking & government apps won’t work… & you see some places removing their websites forcing users into the app duopoly… which is why web apps matter.
Worth trying first. In my experience, almost every app works without the Google store. You can also block the internet access for any Google service or app via its settings.
And second step could be trying microG, which also usually works.
The best middle ground is probably GrapheneOS with sandboxed Google Play Services. At that point, most things “just work” and you can at least mitigate Google’s spyware.
Middle ground option has a weirdo author & is limited to Google’s Pixel line only (which eliminates one of the best parts about Android vs. iOS: device variety so you can find something specific to your needs)
I wish I could find something specific to my needs still. Headphone jacks, front facing speakers, mSD cards, and hole-less screens are hard to come by now.
Xperia 10 iii has all those things, and you can run Sailfish OS on it, including VoLTE and Android app support with it.
It doesn’t look like it has front facing speakers, it looks like it has that earpiece+bottom facing bs that is popular now.
Whoops, yes you are correct, you would need to go to Asus for front facing speakers. Maybe the Asus Rog 2, which can run degoogled Bliss ROM
Crazy how these went from standard features to niche in a generation. Like a sibling comment mentioned, I picked up an Sony Xperia III 5 with microG for Lineage OS installed (tho I swap OLED + <6" screen for your front-facing speaker requirement). Stupidly, not-rooted I still can’t run banking apps since custom ROMs are dangerous (but make me safer). Ironically, the banking apps I would use have trackers in them since it’s their security/privacy that matter, not mine.
I had a Nexus 6 and miss it all the time for watching videos. It was a 6" AMOLED screen with front facing speakers and wasn’t this long aspect ratio thing that they do now. I wish it had a micro SD card but even then it would eventually just be too old.
Feel ya. The Xperia line still has them where you have to choose between dual SIM or microSD, but if it’s that simple why aren’t more phones offering that in their SIM tray (oh wait, they want you to use e-SIM so you can’t just physically swap it to another phone with ease)
Yeah, which is why I use de-googled “vanilla” Bliss ROM 17.2 (Android 14 with latest security patch) on my Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro instead of going the Graphene or Calyx + Pixel route. This way I have the hardware features I wanted (headphone jack, micro SD cars slot, 5000mAh battery, 108mp camera, stereo speakers, 120mHz refresh rate) all for cheaper than a Pixel, and the Bliss ROM community is pretty friendly and dedicated in my interactions with it.
Is bliss compatible with apps and stuff?
There are “vanilla” versions (which is what I use) that are basically de-googled AOSP which work well with apps from F-droid, Izzy-on-droid, and free apps from Aurora stores, which you can also install MicroG on if you wanted to - and there are “Gapps” versions which have Google Play Services, the Google Play Store and some of the basic Google apps pre-loaded.
is your phone still officially supported by the oem with security patches? Because if not, no custom rom update can have the full range of security patches.
What is the issue with the author? I was thinking of installing graphene
He stepped down last year. A bit toxic and troubled. A lot of social media drama around it.
In USA I’ve found it’s pretty easy to live without banking on your phone, although you can’t say the same for some other countries. Granted I have a job where I am working with my own desktop computers most of the day, so I can pay bills and transfer funds on them during those times - and lots of people might not have the same luxury. But I’ve yet to feel a need for any of them while out and about beyond a few occasions of Venmo’ing funds on the go - and at least Venmo still allows you to use their site via browser.

Venmo is a VC-funded social media (weirdly) + money transfer app which takes a cut for doing like nothing just because you want your cash instantly. Many other countries have built-in bank-to-bank transfers with no fees or wait time & other that there’s no money to extract from this, I don’t know why it doesn’t exist in the US.

Where I live, cash is luckily still king (no one uses credit & if you do, you are (rightfully) paying the credit card fee yourself), but more vendors are starting to prefer QR code payments & this year one of the banks leading the trends eliminated their online banking forcing you to use an app or do cash.

FWIW I’ve got grapheneOS without google play services on a financial profile, and all of my financial apps work including: -Two credit card apps -Bank app -Three investing apps -Two direct transfer apps

One of the credit cards apps (amex) does give a “warning” on each page that it needs play services to function but if I click Ok it actually still just works.

You are also locked to a Pixel device so GG if you want features Pixels do not offer
Fortunately those apps are not required (and dangerous to use anyway)

And this is why I’m getting a Pixel for my next phone, it’s the only phone line GrapheneOS works on, and it has a nice long support cycle.

I wish it was available on more phones though. I know there are other projects, but they don’t seem as well run as GrapheneOS.

Pixel is garbage hardware though. I’m on pixel 7 pro now and it is the worst phone I’ve ever had. Shit battery life, shit reception, shit processor that lags constantly, absolute shit Bluetooth chip that randomly disconnects in crucial moments when I’m on important calls or REALLY need android auto. This phone is only good at taking pictures and the fact that I get exclusive spam filtering features. We badly need another alternative.

Also fuck Google.

Really? What are you comparing it to?

The problem is that options are very limited for privacy-respecting ROMs. I honestly don’t care about the camera, but I very much want to avoid both Google and Apple software nonsense, and Bluetooth is also pretty important to me.

My current phone (Moto G Power) is a piece of crap, but it’s reasonably consistent in most regards. I’m interested in the Google Pixel 8a (assuming they release one), and I only want it to get GrapheneOS and a few years of security updates. I don’t expect a ton from my phone (I don’t play games, or use any intense apps), but Bluetooth, battery life, and privacy are very important. Unfortunately, Linux phones aren’t reliable at all, otherwise I’d just go that route.

I’m running GrapheneOS on a 7 pro. Battery isn’t great, but I’ve not had any major issues… At 44% with about 2 hours screen time and 16 hours since last charge. Downloaded a bunch of updates including a system update / reboot / optimize. Listened to a few hours of music over Bluetooth. Also forgot to shutoff location services after using the GPS last night. Bluetooth connected Garmin watch. Dual e-sim (Fi and JMP).

I normally end the day around 60%.

You might checkout DivestOS. Last I heard they had e-sim support without needing to install any of Google’s software. GrapheneOS didn’t have this feature when I got this phone. If its not on GrapheneOS when I upgrade next I plan to try and get the e-sim on with it before installing GrapheneOS.

Home - DivestOS Mobile

add e-sim directly on GOS I actually think it is working now, think I saw something about it. worth checking out at least.
Oh that’s awesome. Appreciate the heads up!

My previous phone was OnePlus 8 pro and 5t before that. Both still work more reliably than this pixel.

I did hear that Pixel 8 pro is a better phone but I don’t think Tensor will ever be as good as Qualcomm’s offerings.

I’m not one of the people willing to sacrifice convenience for privacy. I really like Android auto and Google pay so imnho Android phone is useless without Google services, but I agree that there are simply no good alternatives at the moment, so I’ll probably get another pixel when I smash this one against the wall from frustration.

Your issues is about stock OS not hardware. And yea shit works without that or gapps.

Android auto works on GOS with sandboxed playservice.

So your “convenience” is just laziness to actually look it up.

I do love how you dismissed my “inconvenience” and then immediately said that one of the two things I listed is a

huge inconvenience of no gpay and have to use their cards

Looks like AA is a fairly recent addition to apps that work on GrapheneOS and GPay will never work.

I wonder if I set up GPay on my watch and then switch to GrapheneOS if it’ll still work?

Yea AA works as I said , get a case with room for your cards , issue resolved. I said it was lazy ,pointing out one small thing like that is just trying to find something to blame, imho.

But if you really want Gpay, get a ROM and flash gapps on it . Mileage may vary so check your phone and roms.

Never used watches but yea I assume it would work.

I never used stock OS on pixels but of what I read it is a world of difference with something better on them.

Been using pixel phones for that reason, since… Pixel XL, and six pixel phones since then. Used several different AOSP based OS-es, most recently CalyxOS on Pixel 4a, and then GrapheneOS on Pixel 6a and now the 8 Pro.

Everything works, and you can choose how much of Google you invite back in. The best part is that the Google stuff doesn’t get any special treatment. Which means that the Pixel Camera app and Google Photos isn’t allowed access to Internet, because why should it?

The only thing that is still fundamentally flawed, are remote push notifications. And I don’t mean that it’s flawed for GeapheneOS, they work fine. It’s flawed in the sense that information goes through Google or Apple. The privacy concerns there are significant. It’s not end-to-end encrypted. You cannot avoid the problem either by disabling them on your phone. Each application, be that a Ring Camera, or backend messaging system, etc, that sends the stuff to Google through notification apis, will do so regardless of how much you sandbox or disable those services on the phone-receiving end. Conveniently, there is no effort by Apple or Google to make this core functionality any less tied to Apple or Google. The “asynchronous” nature makes it a problem that needs to be solved for each and every backend service system, for remote notifications. Some privacy conscious apps/services might let you limit what is sent to Google so you only get instead of <“… remember to buy the paint for the baby-room! I’m so excited”>.

Anyways… Not sure why I went on such a long tangent. I was done pooping a while ago.

CalyxOS on a Pixel is as great as it currently gets. But stuff can get better.

Do you like the Pixel 8 Pro? I’m waiting to see what the Pixel 8a looks like. I don’t expect a lot from my phone so I don’t need a flagship, but I do value long term security updates and the 8 series has 7 years of updates.
@sugar_in_your_tea @okamiueru 7 years of updates is great, but will the phone's battery last for 7 years, though?
I can replace a battery, that’s not an issue. I can’t realistically provide my own security updates.