5 ms·

How come? You can have Firefox and Chrome installed on iPad just as on iPhone?

inapis 7y ago
Firefox and chrome are just skins on top of safari.
Abishek_Muthian 7y ago
They all still run webkit and are vulnerable to the exploits which Safari in iOS is vulnerable. If I can oversimplify, 3rd party browsers on iOS are just like a theme for Safari.
Spivak 7y ago
Sorta, the actual browser chrome is provided by the 3rd party but the underlying rendering and JS engine are required to be the OS provided facilities (i.e. Safari) Apple’s security model is that Apple has to be able to inspect and review all the code you’re app is going to run. There is a special exception for JS provided that you run it though Apple’s interpreter. Browsers are caught in the crossfire of a much broader rule that applications can not run code that Apple can’t see. They don’t sign anything that allows for arbitrary or semi-arbitrary code to be downloaded externally and run in principle. Apps get around this by using JS but you aren’t, as a rule, supposed to expose native API’s to your JS code.
- Abishek_Muthian 7y ago
  I agree, but apple has made an exception for coding apps to run arbitrary code for some years now. So, it doesn't make any sense for Apple to not allow 3rd party browsers apart from its intention for a walled garden even if it means compromising security for its users.
  - Someone 7y ago
    Are there non-Apple apps that compile and _run_, rather than _interpret_ code users can enter? Python, for example, typically gets compiled to bytecode, but the bytecode is interpreted.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
  - DerekL 7y ago
    This was loosened in June 2017. Now apps can can download and run any interpreted code, using any interpreter. It’s not restricted to coding apps or user-written code. In the developer agreement, the second paragraph of section 3.3.2 gives special permission to programming environments, but that’s for executable code, which won’t work on iOS anyway.

Firefox and chrome are just skins on top of safari.

They all still run webkit and are vulnerable to the exploits which Safari in iOS is vulnerable. If I can oversimplify, 3rd party browsers on iOS are just like a theme for Safari.

Spivak 7y ago

Sorta, the actual browser chrome is provided by the 3rd party but the underlying rendering and JS engine are required to be the OS provided facilities (i.e. Safari) Apple’s security model is that Apple has to be able to inspect and review all the code you’re app is going to run. There is a special exception for JS provided that you run it though Apple’s interpreter. Browsers are caught in the crossfire of a much broader rule that applications can not run code that Apple can’t see. They don’t sign anything that allows for arbitrary or semi-arbitrary code to be downloaded externally and run in principle. Apps get around this by using JS but you aren’t, as a rule, supposed to expose native API’s to your JS code.

Abishek_Muthian 7y ago
I agree, but apple has made an exception for coding apps to run arbitrary code for some years now. So, it doesn't make any sense for Apple to not allow 3rd party browsers apart from its intention for a walled garden even if it means compromising security for its users.
- Someone 7y ago
  Are there non-Apple apps that compile and _run_, rather than _interpret_ code users can enter? Python, for example, typically gets compiled to bytecode, but the bytecode is interpreted.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- DerekL 7y ago
  This was loosened in June 2017. Now apps can can download and run any interpreted code, using any interpreter. It’s not restricted to coding apps or user-written code. In the developer agreement, the second paragraph of section 3.3.2 gives special permission to programming environments, but that’s for executable code, which won’t work on iOS anyway.