Posted by Joe Rossignol
Upon updating to iOS 17.4, which is currently in beta, iPhone users in the EU will be prompted to choose a default web browser the first time they open Safari. In an email today, Apple shared more information about how this process will work.
Apple said that iPhone users in the EU will be presented with a list of the 12 most popular web browsers from their country's local App Store at that time, and noted that the options will be shown in a random order for each user.
Apple shared an alphabetical list of browsers that will currently be displayed in each EU country. This is a very long list, so we decided to highlight as examples the browsers that will be shown in France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
- France: Aloha, Brave, Chrome , DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, Edge, Firefox, Onion Browser, Opera, Private Browser Deluxe, Qwant and Safari.
- Germany: Aloha, Brave, Chrome, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, Edge, Firefox, Ivanti Web@Work, Onion Browser, Opera, Safari and AI Search Assistant on You.com
- Italy: Aloha, Brave, Chrome, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia , Edge, Firefox , Ivanti Web@Work, Onion Browser, Opera, Safari and AI Search Assistant on You.com.
- Spain: Aloha, Brave, Chrome, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, Edge, Firefox , Onion Browser, Opera, Safari, Vivaldi and AI Search Assistant on You.com
This change applies to 23 more EU countries. Notably, this no longer includes the UK, which left the EU in 2020.
It was possible to change the iPhone's default web browser through the Settings app starting with iOS 14. Apple went a step further. Additionally, a default browser prompt has been added to Safari to comply with new EU Digital Markets Act rules.
In the EU, iOS 17.4 also allows web browsers to use web engines other than Apple's WebKit.
Apple has announced that iOS 17.4 will be released to the general public in March.
Related reviews: iOS 17, iPadOS 17Related forums: iOS 17, iPadOS 17[ 163 comments ]
