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> (Apple mandates that all alternative browsers use the system-bundled WebKit for user experience reasons) So far, this is the only thing that really drives me
by techsupporter 9y ago
> (Apple mandates that all alternative browsers use the system-bundled WebKit for user experience reasons)
So far, this is the only thing that really drives me bonkers about iOS and has for a long time. I'd love to be able to use an actual third-party browser with a third-party rendering engine, even if it meant having to install a particular signing certificate or some such. Doubly so for using browser-specific extensions. Who knows, maybe iOS 15?
(While I'm wishing for ponies, the ability to change OS-level default applications would be nice.)
- saagarjha 9y agoBesides the obvious benefits to Apple, I believe the reason behind this is because allowing JIT execution would open up a security risk.
- rahkiin 9y agoYes, because they would need to allow write-executable memory pages. Disallowing those closes the risk of executing non-verified code.
- captainmuon 9y agoI wish someone would just port Firefox mobile to iOS. You don't have to put it on the app store (which is impossible). Just zip up the xcode project, let me swap in my developer key, and run it on my phone. The protections against JIT and so on are enforced by policy, not by technology. I understand it would be a lot of effort for little gain. But if more developers would offer their stuff as self-signable "xcode projects" (maybe even just a .dylib and some wrapper source), it would be really cool.
- moz23 9y agoGecko already runs on iOS, I just don't know what the exact build process is. The trouble is, a browser is much more than an engine, and why would people sink effort into an unreleasable product.