Telegram Founder Claims Apple Is 'Intentionally Crippling' Web Apps on iOS
Pavel Durov, founder of instant messaging service Telegram, has accused Apple of "intentionally crippling" web apps on iOS.
As 9To5Mac reports(Opens in a new window), the accusation was made by Durov in a public channel message(Opens in a new window) on Telegram. He believes Apple is doing this on purpose so as to, "force its users to download more native apps where Apple is able to charge its 30% commission."
Telegram is offered as an app in the App Store(Opens in a new window), but having public channels with no content restrictions imposed doesn't go down well with Apple's app review team. It should therefore come as no surprise that a web app version of Telegram exists so as to avoid such scrutiny, but it's hobbled due to the limitations Apple has imposed or simply not taken the time to fix.
Back in April, a 10-point list of problems(Opens in a new window) with the iOS Safari browser was posted by the Telegram Web developer. They include problems with text fields, context menus, random reloading, smooth scrolling, blur effects, visual artifacts, no shared workers, essential methods being missing, and no push notifications. Apple also insists that all browsers on iOS use Apple's WebKit browser engine, so all iOS browsers suffer from the same limitations/problems.
Durov's complaint will probably fall on deaf ears at Apple, but he may not need the company to listen. In the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) regulator concluded on Friday that Apple and Google "hold all the cards"(Opens in a new window) when it comes to mobile browsers. The CMA reports states that, "We all rely on browsers to use the internet on our phones ... Right now, choice in this space is severely limited and that has real impacts –
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