Japan to Allow Non-WebKit Browsers on iPhone by Law
Japan's new law lets iPhone users choose non-WebKit browsers, ending Apple's strict browser engine rule.
Matilda
Japan to Allow Non-WebKit Browsers on iPhone by Law Japan's New Law Will Allow Non-WebKit Browsers on iPhone iPhone users in Japan are about to experience a major shift in mobile browsing. A new regulation, known as the Mobile Software Competition Act, mandates that Apple must support non-WebKit browsers on iPhone by the end of this year. Until now, Apple has only allowed browsers that rely on WebKit—the engine behind Safari. This limitation meant that popular alternatives like Chrome, Firefox, and Edge were merely different skins over Safari's engine on iOS. With Japan’s intervention, Apple will be legally required to support alternative engines like Chromium’s Blink and Firefox’s Gecko, giving users more freedom and developers more flexibility. Image : Google Why Non-WebKit Browsers on iPhone Matter The move to enable non-WebKit browsers on iPhone is more than a legal technicality—it’s a fundamental change to how iOS operates. Apple has long argued that restricting third-party browsers to WebKit helps maintain security, privacy, …
