iOS 18.2 adds support for web apps with custom browser engine

Apple last year introduced the ability for third-party web browsers to add web apps to the iOS Home Screen, a feature that was previously exclusive to Safari. However, these web apps still depend on Apple’s WebKit. But Apple is changing that with iOS 18.2 – at least for a specific group of users.

Updates for third-party browsers and web apps on iOS

With the release of the first beta of iOS 18.2 to developers on Wednesday, Apple has published documentation for a new API that will let third-party browsers add web apps to the iPhone Home Screen using their own custom engine. This means that the entire web app experience will run using the same engine as the browser through which it was added.

Of course, there’s a catch. Currently, only web browsers distributed in the EU can have a custom engine. In the rest of the world, Apple still requires web browsers for iPhone and iPad to use Safari’s WebKit. Unsurprisingly, the new API for web apps is also only available in the EU.

Interestingly, Apple even considered removing support for web apps on the Home Screen of iOS devices in the EU. However, the EU commission said it would investigate such a decision, which led Apple to backtrack and keep web apps in the EU.

On a related note, iOS 18.2 also adds a new API that lets developers integrate Apple Intelligence Writing Tools into apps with custom text engines. Currently, Writing Tools are only available in apps that use the system’s default text engine.

More about iOS 18.2

iOS 18.2 brings additional Apple Intelligence features. This includes Image Playground, Genmoji, ChatGPT integration, and Visual Search for iPhone 16 models.

For now, iOS 18.2 beta is only available for devices compatible with Apple Intelligence. That means iPhone 15 Pro or later and M1 iPads or later. Of course, the update will eventually be available for other devices too. Apple previously suggested that iOS 18.2 will be released to the public in December.