Open Web Advocacy Says Apple is Making Web Browsers With Alternative Engines “Financially Unviable”

The Open Web Advocacy (OWA), a not-for-profit organization supported by software engineers from all over the world is blaming Apple for the absence of web browsers using alternative engines in the EU. To comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act, Apple allowed alternative app stores and browser engines on iOS in the EU last year. However, very little has changed since these DMA-related updates were implemented back in March 2024.

“At the recent Digital Markets Act (DMA) workshop, Apple claimed it didn’t know why no browser vendor has ported their engine to iOS over the past 15 months. But the reality is Apple knows exactly what the barriers are, and has chosen not to remove them,” the OWA claimed earlier this week.

The organization pointed out several barriers preventing other browser vendors, such as Google and Mozilla, from releasing new versions of their browsers using engines other than Apple’s WebKit in the EU. Firstly, Apple will force these developers to release standalone versions of their web browsers using their own engines, and convincing users to move away from the version of Chrome or Firefox they already use may not be worth the effort.

Moreover, Apple’s current rules may lead to updates for web browsers using alternative engines to be blocked if an EU user travels outside the EU for more than 30 days. This is obviously not ideal from a security perspective, despite Apple often emphasizing security and privacy in its marketing efforts.

All in all, the OWA believes that Apple isn’t fully complying with its DMA obligation to allow alternative web browsers to favor its own Safari browser. Google also pays Apple about $20 billion a year to have Safari use Google as its default search engine, and Safari losing market share on iOS could harm that.

“Apple will continue to reap billions per year as a reward for its defiance of the DMA, revenues that are extracted from consumers and businesses via denying them meaningful choice and locking them into Apple’s services on Apple’s terms. We call on the Commission to investigate Apple’s compliance and to compel Apple to make the necessary changes that would allow browser vendors to port their engines to iOS and, for the first time in 15 years, compete on fair terms,” the OWA concluded.