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open-web-advocacy.org
Open Web Advocacy
@open-web-advocacy.org
1.2K followers 0 following 170 posts
Developers fighting self-serving restrictions imposed on the web by tech giants.

Help us end #AppleBrowserBan & make web apps 1st-class. https://open-web-advocacy.org
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open-web-advocacy.org
Big thank you to Tim and Nilay for discussing this important topic!
@reckless.bsky.social @timbl.bsky.social
November 13, 2025 at 8:04 AM
open-web-advocacy.org
Watch the original Verge interview here:
4/4
www.youtube.com/watch?v=78w6...
Sir Tim Berners-Lee doesn’t think AI will destroy the web | Decoder
YouTube video by Decoder with Nilay Patel
www.youtube.com
November 13, 2025 at 7:39 AM
open-web-advocacy.org
3/4
We've discussed the web as an application at an all-time high. Right? On desktop, if you have a Mac or a Windows PC or Linux, you are using web apps. Like mostly what you're using is applications expressed through web technology. Even if they appear to be native, right? Electron and other wrappers are just presenting web apps to you in ways that feel native. That is not true on mobile. It just really is not. [...] Do you think a more powerful browser on the iPhone would ever change that dynamic or do you think people just want apps on phones? - Nilay Patel - The Verge I think a more powerful browser on the iPhone would change that dynamic - Sir Tim Berners-Lee
November 13, 2025 at 7:39 AM
open-web-advocacy.org
2/4
But up until now, Apple has not allowed anything but WebKit on the iPhone. Even Chrome on the iPhone is a skin over the top of the core browser engine, WebKit. Do you think that Apple being made to allow Chromium to run on the iPhone, for example, will actually lead to new browser innovation? - Nilay Patel - The Verge When you have a competition between different sections of the layer, it tends to increase innovation. You get more bright ideas out there. - Sir Tim Berners-Lee
November 13, 2025 at 7:39 AM
open-web-advocacy.org
Read our full analysis here:
open-web-advocacy.org/blog/what-ap...
12/12
What Apple’s UK Strategic Market Status Designation means for Browsers and Web Apps - Open Web Advocacy
open-web-advocacy.org
November 4, 2025 at 8:14 AM
open-web-advocacy.org
Stay tuned for updates on the CMA’s upcoming investigation into browsers and web apps, starting in the first half of next year. We’ll share more details as they become available.
11/12
November 4, 2025 at 8:14 AM
open-web-advocacy.org
The CMA highlight that Apple can and does profitably forego innovation without fear of losing customers to competitors with this quote:
10/12
Apple’s vice president of iPhone marketing who explained in February 2020:‘In looking at it with hindsight, I think going forward we need to set a stake in the ground for what features we think are ‘good enough’ for the consumer. I would argue were [sic] already doing *more* than what would have been good enough.’ After identifying old features that ‘would have been good enough today if we hadn’t introduced [updated features] already’, she explained, ‘anything new and especially expensive needs to be rigorously challenged before it’s allowed into the consumer phone.’
November 4, 2025 at 8:14 AM
open-web-advocacy.org
Multiple content providers had indicated that Apple's restrictions on iOS browsers also limited web apps viability on Android:
9/12
Several content providers further submitted that functionality issues with web apps are due to restrictions that Apple has imposed on web browsers within its Mobile Ecosystem, which carry over to Google’s Mobile Ecosystem due to the platform-agnostic nature of web apps (ie because web developers build their web apps using functionalities available across all major browsers).
November 4, 2025 at 8:14 AM
open-web-advocacy.org
The CMA found that web apps are NOT CURRENTLY a viable replacement for native apps on iOS, and that multiple content providers had indicated that Apple's restrictions on browsers were to blame:
8/12
The evidence indicates that for content providers, at present, web apps are not a viable substitute for native apps downloaded from the App Store. This is despite web apps in principle being an attractive option for content providers because they involve lower development and maintenance costs compared to native apps. Specifically, a range of content providers we gathered evidence from indicated that web apps are not viable substitutes to native apps, and a number of these content providers indicated that substitutability is particularly limited in terms of functionality and discoverability, which are important factors for app developers’ distribution choices. Several content providers further submitted that functionality issues with web apps are due to restrictions that Apple has imposed on web browsers within its Mobile Ecosystem.
November 4, 2025 at 8:14 AM
open-web-advocacy.org
The CMA found this increases costs for third-party browsers by forcing them to develop a WebKit based browser:
7/12
It increases their costs by requiring them to develop a WebKit-based version of their browser to enter as a mobile browser on Apple’s Mobile Ecosystem, as opposed to being able to use the same browser engine that they use on other platforms. This means they sometimes have to rebuild features in a different way for Apple’s Mobile Ecosystem, incurring additional costs. A few browser developers submitted that this delayed their entry on Apple’s Mobile Ecosystem.
November 4, 2025 at 8:14 AM
open-web-advocacy.org
The CMA found this inhibits web apps, which could be an alternative for native apps:
6/12
It restricts their ability to innovate and develop features for their mobile browsers on Apple’s Mobile Ecosystem. Several browser developers provided examples of features that they were unable to implement, or had more difficulty in implementing, on Apple’s Mobile Ecosystem, as a result of their inability to use an alternative browser engine or to modify WebKit. This includes features for web apps, which could provide an alternative to native apps for content providers.
November 4, 2025 at 8:14 AM
open-web-advocacy.org
The CMA found Apple's ban on browser engines restricts the ability of third-party browsers to innovate and develop features.
5/12
We find that the WebKit restriction restricts the ability of rival mobile browsers to innovate and develop features, and increases their costs. It therefore creates a barrier to entry and expansion for rival mobile browsers on Apple’s Mobile Ecosystem and limits the competitive constraint on Safari.
November 4, 2025 at 8:14 AM
open-web-advocacy.org
- Let third-party browsers install and manage web apps using their own engines.
- Remove barriers to web app adoption, such as implementing a web app equivalent to smart banners or install prompts in iOS Safari.
4/12
November 4, 2025 at 8:14 AM
open-web-advocacy.org
The most important outcomes being the CMA can compel Apple to:
- Allow third-party browsers on iOS to use their own engines.
- Provide equivalent access to functionality for browsers using their own browser engines.
3/12
November 4, 2025 at 8:14 AM
open-web-advocacy.org
Read our full analysis here:
open-web-advocacy.org/blog/what-ap...
2/12
What Apple’s UK Strategic Market Status Designation means for Browsers and Web Apps - Open Web Advocacy
open-web-advocacy.org
November 4, 2025 at 8:14 AM
open-web-advocacy.org
For the DMA to work, enforcement must be strong.
🧩 More budget
⚖️ More investigations
💶 Fines that matter
The open web and 🇪🇺Europe’s digital future depend on it.
open-web-advocacy.org/blog/owa-at-...
4/4
OWA at the EU Parliament DMA Working Group - Open Web Advocacy
open-web-advocacy.org
October 10, 2025 at 6:57 AM
open-web-advocacy.org
Apple has had 19 months to comply with the DMA yet third-party browser engines on iOS are still missing.

Read why:
open-web-advocacy.org/blog/apples-...
3/4
Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA - Open Web Advocacy
open-web-advocacy.org
October 10, 2025 at 6:57 AM
open-web-advocacy.org
The open web is essential to a free European society. Yet Apple continues to block the Web’s full potential on iOS.
2/4
October 10, 2025 at 6:57 AM