Apple will allow competing browsers have their own rendering engine in iOS 17.4. The novelty is part of the system changes necessary to comply with new European Union regulations.
iOS is open to competing browsers, but they all need to be built on Apple's WebKit rendering engine. It is a mainstay of Safari, just as Blink is for Chrome, Edge and Opera, all based on Chromium.
This rendering engine restriction, however, implies interoperability problems between programs. Extensions and add-ons built for Blink are not compatible with WebKit.
However, starting with iOS 17.4, developers will be able to use other engines to power browsers. To do this, you will need to meet some criteria and commit to some rules to obtain authorization from Apple.
What changes?
In practice, the change opens the door to significant improvements in the experience with alternative browsers to Safari — but this depends on the developers. If Google wants to invest in Chrome for iOS, for example, it could implement new features with deeper advantages.
As well as the sideloading on the App Store, the change in browser regulations will be implemented exclusively in Europe. The change is in compliance with the Digital Markets Law (DMA).
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