So as it turns out, if you give people a choice. Some of them will pick something else.
this post was submitted on 13 Mar 2024
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But... But... But... We are Apple and we know best. Our users don't want choices!
- Safari is the bestestest of all browsers!
I can't live without Firefox on my android phone
Unfortunately, I had to decide for Opera instead. It's much better for larger screens: It properly scales desktop websites and has desktop-style tab switcher.
Analytics nit:
30% of increase in daily installs ≠ 30% increase in users. It might lead to that, but only they maintain the increased install rates and maintain active users.
If I my sandwich shop sells 30% more sandwiches one day, that doesn’t mean I’m certain to make 30% more money at the end of the year. I might make more, I might make less.
Edit: also, this OS update has just rolled out. So this peak might last for a few days, then change once people are no longer getting the initial set up screen.
30% of increase in daily installs ≠ 30% increase in users.
Yeah the lemmy headline is poorly written (the source article is pretty clear).
Still 30% is a substantial jump and will eventually turn into a bunch more money for FireFox - a good thing if you ask me.
If I my sandwich shop sells 30% more sandwiches one day, that doesn’t mean I’m certain to make 30% more money at the end of the year. I might make more, I might make less.
It costs money to make sandwiches. Mozilla doesn't even pay for bandwidth (Apple has that covered) - so the FireFox iOS app essentially only has overheads. Which means more users will be pure profit.
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Apples users could not pick a default browser? Wtf?
I learned the other day that macOS cannot turn mouse acceleration off without going into the terminal, but apparently macOS is user friendly and desktop linux is "only for developers".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCdcuJZux_g
And this is only the usability of a mac. On iPhone the usability is worse. One example, the quick action and notification shade are shown when you pull down from different side of the notch. My wife have used her iPhone 11 for many years, but still cannot remember which side is which.
My friend just has a virtual home button floating at all times, because this is easier than remembering which side gives you quick actions... LOL.
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Am more surprised you expected this to be a thing. When it comes to Apple users choice is always what Apple chooses. Otherwise they might hurt themselves.
Everything I've ever used gave me a choice, so I just assumed it was universal. Now I know.
Haven't used an apple device personally. I remember struggling when I was trying to copy a file from a friends iphone. Everything was so different.
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I have iOS 15.4 and I have a default browser that isn't Safari. This is more in reference to a new popup on first time bootup that asks you to pick a browser. You could pick a default one before this, you just had to go download it first like on a computer.
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Aren’t they all still WebKit under the hood though? Until they allow other web engines this is still just the illusion of choice.
I believe part of the DMA means that they're allowed to use their own engines. Whether they have that ready right now I'm not sure, but I'm sure it's in the works.
I thought Firefox said that they were going to have to write two different browsers so they weren't going to.
They are still exploring options. They’ve told the press that all the iOS gecko work is still being researched.
https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/07/mozilla_google_apple_webkit/
Why would they? They already have a Mac build, I can't imagine it'd be that huge of a difference, but maybe iOS is a lot more different than I realize.
The new browser option iOS exposed is a very strict and limiting custom API to make a browser engine. It’s purposefully obtuse to be terrible but compliant.
They should be fined for this too. Deliberately obfuscating the solution isn't compliance.
Despite Apple's lies, iOS and macOS are still pretty different beasts with their own quirks. And iOS is way more tightly locked down and under Apple's thumb than macs.
I suppose I'm not surprised. Typical Apple shenanigans.
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The APIs are similar but the hardware requires a different appraoch.
For example touch screen input is very different to mouse input - you need to decifer imprecise user input... and then provide precise input to webpages that are designed assuming the user has a mouse. There are touch APIs on the web, but developers tend not to use those APIs because dealing with imprecise input sucks. For example press a link with your thumb, it will highlight. Lift your thumb, it will go to the link. But if you press, then move your thumb, then release... instead of clicking the link it scrolls the page. Unless you move only a little bit - then it does click...
And the only way to get "all day" battery life out of a 10Wh battery is by keeping the CPU powered off most of the day. Figuring out how to maintain the current state of the webpage, so it can be restored if the CPU is powered off and back on again, without breaking things like JavaScript timers/etc.
FireFox has solved those issues (and others) on Android. But while Android has similar hardware, that operating system is nothing like iOS.
All the work to get Gecko working on Android made sense back int he day, when Android didn't have a good rendering engine. It would have also made sense back in the early days of the iPhone when WebKit was nowhere near as good as it is now. But today, when someone else has already figured out solutions to every problem? Is it worth reinventing all those wheels?
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Browsers can now run their own rendering engines, which are sandboxed at the app level.
System-level HTML, like web apps on the home screen, are still using WebKit.
Which is how it should have been from the start.
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Apple does allow other engines in Europe. Wether or not FireFox chooses to create one remains to be seen.
There's nothing wrong with WebKit, so not much incentive for FireFox to do all that work.
There's nothing wrong with WebKit
Weeeeeeelllll... actually yes, because Chrome is based on an ancient WebKit version, and Firefox is the only independent remaining browser.
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It looks people just needed to know what choices they had. I love Firefox.
Yeah, I switch browsers like I change my clothes, and Firefox has been awesome compared to Brave, Edge, and other chromium browsers.
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Could someone add an image of this setup screen?
I dont get why Apple would actively advertise other browsers.
Android is completely open and people still use Chrome, as its the default and nothing advertizes Firefox (Mull) or others like Cromite, Brave, Vivaldi etc.
From the Brave PR account:
Also I believe it was legally required by the EU. List is randomized.
Fucking onion browser??? Damn
Chrome isn't necessarily the default. Samsung Browser is a thing
Samsung browser is just chrome in a jacket.
The biggest threat to an free and open internet is chrome. Chromium the base of chrome is open source and used by many other browsers as the engine (and most of the features). Everything else is clothing. Chrome, edge, brave, Vivaldi etc are all chrome in a mask.
Since chromium is developed and controlled by Google they have defacto control over how these browsers work, operate and display web content. This gives Google massive leverage in control how the web and it's standards develop.
There is only two other web browser. Firefox and safari. These are the only other operations cable of building and maintaing a modern web browser currently. Chrome took apples safari open source core WebKit to build chrome. They then forked it. Because Google chrome is so powerful, apple will need to follow to keep inline with Google. Google also pays them billions every year. Likewise Firefox is funded by Google through default search.
Google is trying to control the web. Use Firefox.
Lol right, people use whatever they get fed. I cant believe how people use phones as products, what came with it MUST be perfect
At least for Android, you can pick your default browser from a selection in the installation when you first setup your phone. So no, Chrome is not necessarily the default on Android.
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I can’t add it as I already used it. There was a list of browsers and Safari was the last one.
Crazy, this is crazy. And extremely good!
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