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pfooti · 2016-06-14 02:08:43

That covers everybody on an iDevice - the only browser on iOS is Mobile Safari. Chrome, Firefox, Opera are all skins on top of the Safari Webkit renderer.

Interestingly / Ironically / Whateverally, it doesn't cover a ton of other, non-iOS users. This may be a push to Desktop Safari usage, but I am really uninterested in supporting proprietary browser tech, especially when there are competing open standards, doubly-especially when (as the OP mentioned) Safari in particular doesn't seem interested in supporting other open, interesting APIs.

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fragile_frogs | karma 136 | avg karma 1.64 · | 2021-03-20 02:31:43

iOS only allows webkit based browsers, thus every browser on iOS pretty much just a skinned Safari

ulfw | karma 4213 | avg karma 2.08 · | 2018-12-04 08:47:23

Exactly. Everyone on iOS uses Safari (either direct or as underpinnings for "Chrome", "Firefox" etc browser interface someone might want to put on top of it)

pndy | karma 1915 | avg karma 2.33 · | 2022-06-24 08:27:11

You are of course aware that all these iOS browsers run on WebKit from Apple? Linked post is about that.

true_religion | karma 6837 | avg karma 1.74 · | 2021-12-08 19:48:14

All browsers on iOS are based on WebKit. It’s an Apple requirement.

judge2020 | karma 18790 | avg karma 2.87 · | 2022-01-18 13:42:38

IMO it seems like "all browsers on iOS are Safari" isn't that big of a deal because 'browsers' on iOS still get to throw all their own features and sync services into their browser app. It'd be like saying you wish you didn't have to use Windows' window APIs to create windows or wished you could avoid UIKit to do anything on iOS.

brazzledazzle | karma 3522 | avg karma 2.01 · | 2015-07-30 20:47:39

Every browser on iOS uses Webkit.

josephd79 | karma 243 | avg karma 0.93 · | 2024-07-02 11:45:49

I thought the other browsers on IOS were just skins of webkit / safari ?

packetslave | karma 4258 | avg karma 4.47 · | 2017-03-22 22:12:19+00:00

ALL web browsers on (non-jailbreak) IOS are a wrapper around Webkit. Apple won't allow anything else.

mysterydip | karma 6948 | avg karma 3.42 · | 2022-02-28 20:00:34

my understanding is all other browsers on ios are just safari rendering wrappers with various skins, menu bars, and addons

hoten | karma 1723 | avg karma 2.92 · | 2020-03-26 03:10:28+00:00

All browsers on iOS are webkit (read: safari) under the hood. Firefox and Chrome are just skins.

Angostura | karma 15948 | avg karma 3.2 · | 2021-12-02 10:29:34

> iOS Safari's level as the only browser people should use.

FWIW, iOS doesn't chide you when you download Chrome or Firefox. Of course Apple requires them to use the iOS rendering engine - but that's perhaps a slightly different point.

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JamesSwift | karma 1901 | avg karma 1.92 · | 2022-06-27 11:23:50

Every iOS browser today runs on Apple Webkit. No exceptions. Thats an apple rule.

znpy | karma 10741 | avg karma 2.31 · | 2021-08-26 07:36:03

Every iPhone user is a safari user AFAIK.

AFAIK on iOS you cannot distribute an alternative browser (as in UI, network engine and rendering engine) --- you can only distribute what is essentially a skin over the default browser, Safari.

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hulahoof | karma 548 | avg karma 1.92 · | 2021-09-03 20:17:20

I believe that's because all browsers on iOS are essentially safari wrappers

atty | karma 2001 | avg karma 6.83 · | 2022-10-20 19:34:57

Every browser on iOS is essentially safari but reskinned. Apple forces browser apps to be WebKit based. That means supporting other codecs, and different types of web technologies, etc, only happens on iOS when WebKit supports it, because all browsers have to use the WebKit that’s provided by apple.

izacus | karma 26220 | avg karma 4.38 · | 2023-01-24 05:01:44

There are no other browsers on iOS. They're all Safari wearing a different surface mask.

And even those exist only on sufferance of Apples reviewers.

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Humphrey | karma 470 | avg karma 2.63 · | 2022-03-15 00:39:34

Unfortunately, Apple have a policy that the inbuilt webkit is the only browser engine that is allowed to be used on an iOS device. The iOS Chrome, Firefox, & Edge apps are just thin wrappers around the same Safari engine included in iOS.

fragile_frogs | karma 136 | avg karma 1.64 · | 2021-03-20 10:58:00+00:00

I wouldn't care about what Safari is doing if iOS would allow you to install browsers that are not based on webkit. The fact that Apple only allows webkit browser makes it so much worse and means that no one can compete on iOS against Apple

fanatic2pope | karma 422 | avg karma 2.76 · | 2021-09-07 09:01:49

Non-Apple web browsers on iOS are all webkit wrappers that cannot do their own rendering or content filtering.