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There are no browsers on the app store though... Apple doesn't allow it already. Eg: Firefox on iOS is actually just a skin on top of safari. Agree that in gene

There are no browsers on the app store though... Apple doesn't allow it already. Eg: Firefox on iOS is actually just a skin on top of safari. Agree that in general the stance is ridiculous though.

the_gipsy 5y ago
That's for reasons of disallowing VMs or any kind of program interpreter, officially. In reality it suppresses web apps from gaining capabilities of native apps, like notifications.
- scarface74 5y ago
  There in fact is at least one VM in the App Store. https://ish.app/ https://ish.app/ It emulates x86. The only thing I have tried with it is downloading the x86 version of the aws cli.
  - saagarjha 5y ago
    iSH is more an emulator than an actual VM.
    - scarface74 5y ago
      What’s the difference between an emulator and a VM? You run applications for other platforms on both. You can actually run GUI apps on it.
      - saagarjha 5y ago
        VMs generally use hardware virtualization features; iSH is just an interpreter.
        scarface74 5y ago
        There is no requirement for a VM to use hardware virtualization features. It’s more efficient. But not a requirement.
        saagarjha 5y ago
        Usually VMs for real hardware (as opposed to VMs for runtimes, such as “Java VM” or “JavaScript VM”) are defined by the Popek and Goldberg virtualization requirements, which require efficient hardware virtualization.
jjcon 5y ago
That really isn't true unless you greatly shrink the definition of browser. For 99.99% of people the browser is not the renderer, it is the skin and all that comes with it (synced history, bookmarks, adblocking etc etc).
- chrismeller 5y ago
  Chrome and Safari; Chrome and Edge all use or used the same rendering engine (on one platform or another) for years, but you would never say you’re using one or the other when you don’t. Similarly if my Chevy has the exact same engine as a model of Dodge I would never say I’m driving a Dodge.
  - Volundr 5y ago
    But would you still call it a car? I don't see how this means that Firefox without Gecko isn't a browser. I can see how you might take issue with calling it Firefox, but it's clearly a browser that's in the app store.
    - johnnyanmac 5y ago
      Thesus's ship has left the building. I could see both sides, but ultimately I use Firefox as an attempt to try and keep chromium's monopoly as a web renderer at bay, even if for seconds longer. Firefox on IOS being forced to basically be built on top of a chromium engine defeats that purpose. It's for similar reasons that I don't recognize "Visual Studio for Mac" as VS, but a rebranded Xamarin. It lacks several core features of VS that devs hearing the name would expect (let alone hundreds of more specialized features).
- dave5104 5y ago
  Yea, that'd also be like saying Edge and Brave aren't browsers either. They're just skins on top of Chrome. The browser is way more than its rendering engine.
  - jefftk 5y ago
cblconfederate 5y ago
Are you saying that Apple preloads their phones with (gasp) porn?
- KMnO4 5y ago
  Heh. Time for a fun anecdote. I once bought a Motorola phone (new, but from eBay) that came loaded with whatever bloatware the carrier loaded on. One of those was a shortcut to “offers”, which I assume would be advertisements for new phones or services or whatever. I say “assume”, because apparently its domain had expired, and upon opening it loaded a webview with explicit porn (the spammy “real singles” kind). In that case, the phone did in fact come preloaded with porn.

There are no browsers on the app store though... Apple doesn't allow it already. Eg: Firefox on iOS is actually just a skin on top of safari. Agree that in general the stance is ridiculous though.

the_gipsy 5y ago

That's for reasons of disallowing VMs or any kind of program interpreter, officially. In reality it suppresses web apps from gaining capabilities of native apps, like notifications.

scarface74 5y ago
There in fact is at least one VM in the App Store. https://ish.app/ https://ish.app/ It emulates x86. The only thing I have tried with it is downloading the x86 version of the aws cli.
- saagarjha 5y ago
  iSH is more an emulator than an actual VM.
  - scarface74 5y ago
    What’s the difference between an emulator and a VM? You run applications for other platforms on both. You can actually run GUI apps on it.
    - saagarjha 5y ago
      VMs generally use hardware virtualization features; iSH is just an interpreter.
      - scarface74 5y ago
        There is no requirement for a VM to use hardware virtualization features. It’s more efficient. But not a requirement.
        saagarjha 5y ago
        Usually VMs for real hardware (as opposed to VMs for runtimes, such as “Java VM” or “JavaScript VM”) are defined by the Popek and Goldberg virtualization requirements, which require efficient hardware virtualization.

jjcon 5y ago

That really isn't true unless you greatly shrink the definition of browser. For 99.99% of people the browser is not the renderer, it is the skin and all that comes with it (synced history, bookmarks, adblocking etc etc).

chrismeller 5y ago
Chrome and Safari; Chrome and Edge all use or used the same rendering engine (on one platform or another) for years, but you would never say you’re using one or the other when you don’t. Similarly if my Chevy has the exact same engine as a model of Dodge I would never say I’m driving a Dodge.
- Volundr 5y ago
  But would you still call it a car? I don't see how this means that Firefox without Gecko isn't a browser. I can see how you might take issue with calling it Firefox, but it's clearly a browser that's in the app store.
  - johnnyanmac 5y ago
    Thesus's ship has left the building. I could see both sides, but ultimately I use Firefox as an attempt to try and keep chromium's monopoly as a web renderer at bay, even if for seconds longer. Firefox on IOS being forced to basically be built on top of a chromium engine defeats that purpose. It's for similar reasons that I don't recognize "Visual Studio for Mac" as VS, but a rebranded Xamarin. It lacks several core features of VS that devs hearing the name would expect (let alone hundreds of more specialized features).
dave5104 5y ago
Yea, that'd also be like saying Edge and Brave aren't browsers either. They're just skins on top of Chrome. The browser is way more than its rendering engine.
- jefftk 5y ago

cblconfederate 5y ago

Are you saying that Apple preloads their phones with (gasp) porn?

KMnO4 5y ago
Heh. Time for a fun anecdote. I once bought a Motorola phone (new, but from eBay) that came loaded with whatever bloatware the carrier loaded on. One of those was a shortcut to “offers”, which I assume would be advertisements for new phones or services or whatever. I say “assume”, because apparently its domain had expired, and upon opening it loaded a webview with explicit porn (the spammy “real singles” kind). In that case, the phone did in fact come preloaded with porn.