A new act in Japan will force Apple to open the iPhone’s App Store to non-WebKit browsers later this year. Apple currently only allows non-WebKit browsers in the EU App Store, all due to the Digital Markets Act.
Yet, all major iPhone browsers, including Chrome and Firefox, use the same WebKit engine as Safari on iOS. This is despite them using a different engine on desktop.
Japan might finally break Apple’s WebKit monopoly
Apple opened the App Store to non-WebKit browsers with iOS 17.4 and iPadOS 18 to comply with the Digital Markets Act. However, it imposed a long list of technical and policy requirements for apps to qualify for the entitlement, making it nearly impossible for most browsers to meet the criteria.
Japan’s Mobile Software Competition Act (MSCA) also requires mobile app stores to allow alternative browser engines. And unlike the EU’s DMA, it goes a step further and ensures that companies cannot impose impossible technical requirements.
The guidelines state, “The determination of whether a designated provider’s action constitutes ‘preventing’ the adoption of alternative browser engines does not require that it be completely impossible for individual app providers to adopt alternative browser engines. Instead, the determination is made based on the degree of likelihood that such a result will occur.”
Japan’s MSCA also requires companies to provide browsers with access to OS APIs. This should force Apple to open up many APIs it has exclusively limited to Safari and WebKit. Or it can provide browsers with alternative APIs, but they should provide the same functionality.
Law mandates a browser choice screen
In another major blow for Apple, the act will require companies to show a browser choice screen “promptly after the first activation” of the smartphone.
The Mobile Software Competition Act should come into force in Japan by December 2025. That gives Apple only a few months to comply with the guidelines.
Source: Open Web Advocacy
Rajesh has been closely following and writing about the latest happenings in the world of mobile for nearly a decade now. While he prefers Android, he does not deny the superiority of Apple’s products and ecosystem.
