According to The Register, Google’s Chromium developers are developing an experimental iOS web browser to circumvent Apple’s browser engine restrictions.
Google’s Blink engine powers the experimental browser, which developers eagerly pursue. But if Google tried to publish it on the App Store, Apple’s App Review process would reject it.
According to Apple’s App Store guidelines, browser applications for iOS and iPadOS must use the WebKit browser engine. Browsers like Chrome and Microsoft Edge are created using the Chromium framework on macOS and Windows. However, their iOS counterparts are compelled to use Apple’s WebKit, which causes them to act like Safari.
According to the public code commits, the app is the beginning of a different browser build and lacks a few important functionalities. The application, according to Google, is merely “an experimental prototype […] to understand some elements of performance on iOS” and “it will not be available to users, and we’ll continue to abide by Apple’s standards.”
Despite this, Google’s trial iOS browser project might indicate that the corporation is waiting for adjustments to Apple’s platform policies that would allow it to launch a completely native browser. The Biden administration has recently suggested introducing new legislation to forbid “gatekeeper” corporations like Apple from forbidding alternative browser engines on its platform, adding to the rising antitrust scrutiny of Apple’s browser engine restriction.
Antitrust regulators have made similar proposals in the UK, Australia, and Japan. The Digital Markets Act of the European Union is anticipated to oblige Apple to permit third-party app stores and remove its limits on browser engines as early as next year. Suppose a Blink-based iOS browser is ever released. In that case, Google will, at the very least, have a significant head start thanks to the ongoing project.
