News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA.

Re:Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA by pickledoyster on Monday July 14, 2025 @06:05AM (#44558245)
On top of that, iOS continues to push Safari on users by disregarding their default browser settings.

Steps to reproduce: 0. Select a different default browser, delete the Safari app (just for good measure, even though it's not really possible just like deleting IE in older Win versions) 1. Open the Books app 2. Select text 3. Select Search 4. Press Search the Web 5. Safari search results open as you stare in disbelief

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA by khalic on Monday July 14, 2025 @06:53AM (#44558581)
This is because the safari app is a wrapper for apple’s webview, which is the only way to display web content on iOS, that’s what the article is talking about
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA by pickledoyster on Monday July 14, 2025 @10:45AM (#44560885)
No. This is not webview, this is opening a full Safari browser instance and disregarding the user's default browser setting. It also used to be the case with doing a dictionary look up anywhere in iOS too, where the user selects a word, uses the popup menu to Loop Up, and then selects Search Web. This resulted in the absurd situation where you're using your default browser, looking up a word, selecting Search Web and then having Safari (again, not the default browser) open with a search query. Thankfully, at least that behavior has changed recently
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA by boroboro4 on Monday July 14, 2025 @06:06AM (#44558249)
They do similarly with dates and calendar app. Disgraceful.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA by FirmwareBurner on Monday July 14, 2025 @06:20AM (#44558327)
Apple knows that what they're doing is against the law, but every day, every month, every year they can get away with it, till the hammer of the law inevitably strikes, is more money in their pocket. So delaying it by every means necessary is what's in their best interest, it's what their lawyers are paid to do because each such decision of conforming to the law boils down to an accounting decision for them: "are the potential fines bigger than the profits".

You know a company has long lost the innovation race when the company is run by the lawyers and bean counters instead of the engineers, trying to milk their product lines form 10+ years ago. I wonder how long until they resort to becoming a patent troll ... oh wait. Their final form will be selling ads to their users.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA by ezst on Monday July 14, 2025 @06:26AM (#44558368)
Tech giants need to be dismantled.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA by jjani on Monday July 14, 2025 @07:42AM (#44558974)
Western governments just need to toughen up. If China tells Apple to stop doing something by next Monday, they'll have it changed by then.

"But due process!!". For individuals and SMEs, sure. For mega companies, absolutely not. Getting to rake in billions of profits should come with a loss of privileges, not with a gain. That needs to be the trade-off.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA by FirmwareBurner on Monday July 14, 2025 @08:11AM (#44559220)
>But due process!!".

Companies want and exploit all the perks of the liberal democratic western societies that helped them make what they are today and reciprocate with defying the laws, not paying taxes, while bowing down to foreign dictatorships no problem.

The only way you stop them abusing this is to put an executive to jail. Because that's why they instantly bow down to China. Braking the law in China is a legal problem with personal accountability, breaking the law in the west is just an accounting problem that you can easily pay your way out of.

The moment you put someone in jail, everyone stops breaking the law immediately, because nobody likes the idea of going to jail.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA by komali2 on Monday July 14, 2025 @08:51AM (#44559612)
It's not just that people go to jail in the PRC, after all it's not like Tim Cook or other western executives need fear extradition to the PRC or something, it's more like because for better or (mostly) worse the PRC is a single party government, if one aspect of that government says "do this, or we close this 1.3 billion person market to you," it's a threat with actual teeth.

In the USA any given administration can try something like that and one party or the other will work with whatever company is being sanctioned out of pure spite, or will know that divisions in the USA mean that all that a company needs to do is play just enough lip service to appear respectful to the current admin. Worse case scenario, they wait four years. See: nvidia flagrantly selling cards to the PRC through Singapore.

I disagree with the "dictatorship of the proletariat" ideology, but to be fair the remnants of it that survived Deng Xiaoping does seem to somewhat work in resisting the influence of foreign capitalists.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA by FirmwareBurner on Monday July 14, 2025 @09:05AM (#44559742)
>it's not like Tim Cook or other western executives need fear extradition to the PRC or something

Tim Cook isn't going to jail in China, Apple has local employees of their branch that can go to jail and pretty sure they don't want to so they aren't gonna defy their government.

>I disagree with the "dictatorship of the proletariat" ideology

Sure, but then the masses easily switch their opinions when they see the whole due process is only for the super rich, and when they break the law it's an open and shut case.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA by komali2 on Monday July 14, 2025 @09:34AM (#44560069)
> Sure, but then the masses easily switch their opinions when they see the whole due process is only for the super rich, and when they break the law it's an open and shut case.

I'm a bit confused by this, can you help me understand what you mean?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA by Coffeewine on Monday July 14, 2025 @09:04AM (#44559738)
If Careless People is to be believed, not even then. In that book Facebook was perfectly happy to have employees spend time in jail, as long as it wasn't Zuckerberg or Sandberg.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA by rayiner on Monday July 14, 2025 @09:02AM (#44559717)
I agree, we shouldn’t have due process for corporations.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA by WesolyKubeczek on Monday July 14, 2025 @06:33AM (#44558413)
They say that somewhere one Darl McBride makes a sad chuckle reading this.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA by msgodel on Monday July 14, 2025 @09:57AM (#44560333)
It's why I think they're such a great short.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA by IshKebab on Monday July 14, 2025 @06:44AM (#44558507)
Google does this too on Android in a few places. Stuff still opens in Chrome even if Firefox is the default.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA by sexy_seedbox on Monday July 14, 2025 @07:19AM (#44558794)
Install "Choose Browser": https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.ub0r.androi...

I have this installed and all links I can choose between Kiwi Browser or Firefox.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA by kyriakos on Monday July 14, 2025 @07:55AM (#44559069)
Isn't kiwi discontinued?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA by sexy_seedbox on Monday July 14, 2025 @08:12AM (#44559223)
Yes, last update was April 2025. Their developer recommends users to move to MS Edge, which I have not made the switch just yet.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA by kyriakos on Monday July 14, 2025 @08:25AM (#44559345)
Just checking if it got updated because I switched to vivaldi after lack of updates (don't feel comfortable with a browser that doesn't get security patches) but kiwi was good and I wished it development continued.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA by 0xTJ on Monday July 14, 2025 @06:53AM (#44558580)
I have Chrome disabled, and every link that I open comes up in the standalone non-full-browser version of Firefox. I don't know if it would behave differently is Chrome was available, but I don't give it the chance.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA by xnx on Monday July 14, 2025 @06:50AM (#44558552)
Do you know of an example? I use a non-Chrome browser on Android and can't remember encountering this.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA by seritools on Monday July 14, 2025 @06:55AM (#44558601)
it's the "thin" browsers that are half-embedded in other apps, such as Google News. In the menu you can see "Running in Chrome" and "Open in <yourdefaultbowser>"
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA by tricot on Monday July 14, 2025 @08:16AM (#44559268)
This feature is called Android Custom Tabs and it is supported by most browsers on Android afaik. I use Firefox for this purpose, but it is possible that certain Google apps always use Chrome for this, not entirely sure.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA by ffgbbvv66 on Monday July 14, 2025 @06:54AM (#44558587)
Some apps specifically open chrome, e.g. chatgpt was doing that for login. Dunno if still is.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA by the_third_wave on Monday July 14, 2025 @06:54AM (#44558585)
No Chrome, no problem. Just remove it or - better still - never install it. Use an AOSP-derived distribution like Lineage, use Cromite as system we view and all your browser engines are belong to you.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA by resource_waste on Monday July 14, 2025 @08:49AM (#44559589)
That literally sounds like Windows 11 with edge.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Apple's Browser Engine Ban Persists, Even Under the DMA by int_19h on Monday July 14, 2025 @02:09PM (#44563351)
Interestingly this is not the case on iOS. So much so that Apple Mail has an option in context menu for hyperlinks to open them in any of the installed browsers (while respecting your choice of the default).
[ Parent | on HN ]