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Comment by meindnoch | Hacker News Reader

>so one thing developers would notice right away is abysmal JavaScript performance

That's actually a good thing! If a substantial chunk of iOS users would use third-party browsers without JS JIT, then webdevs would be forced to better optimize their sites, because the perf ceiling would be lower on these browsers. This then would lead to stellar performance for those who stick with Safari which does have JIT! Kind of how using an M1 is so good today, because there's still a large number of Intel machines out there, so devs can't yet afford releasing software that's only usable on M1 from a cpu/energy point of view.

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>performance

In 2021, Microsoft added the "no JIT" option to Edge for additional security [0], and here's the quote in their blog post:

>We see that most tests see no changes with JIT disabled. There are a few improvements and regressions, but most tests remain unchanged. Anecdotally, we find that users with JIT disabled rarely notice a difference in their daily browsing

[0] https://microsoftedge.github.io/edgevr/posts/Super-Duper-Sec...

Ah, good point – Apple has this too, on iOS [1]!

[1] https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2022/07/apple-expands-commitm...

Not sure if you’re kidding, but if not – why would users switch in the first place, if that means abysmal performance?

Because Google would be pushing it hard? E.g. when you click a link in the YouTube app, it doesn't open it in Safari, rather it shows you a "helpful" dark-pattern prompt about opening it with:

- Chrome (mind you, I don't have it installed, so this would send me to the AppStore)

- the "Google" app (again, not installed)

- Safari (which does not open Safari, rather an in-app WKWebView, so that Sundar can still milk your precious eyeballs)

- and finally at the bottom the "Default browser app" (this is what you want)

Of course, there's no setting to save this choice once and for all, so this is done each and every time you try opening a link in the YouTube app. Wait, actually, I'm 99% sure it would suddenly remember your choice if you had installed one of their browsers. From that moment they would duly open all links in Chrome/Google, without this annoying prompt.

I bet every Google app does this on iOS to get you install their crap. Disgusting practice.

“Safari” has always opened in Safari for me.

They're AB testing. Safari used to open Safari for me, but with a new phone now I too get the menu as described above.

Google is incredibly aggressive in promoting Chrome yes, but every time I've seen "Safari" as an option in a Google app it isn't WKWebView, but SFSafariViewController which is for all intents and purposes real Safari — it's essentially an out-of-process Safari tab with its own separate cookies, storage, etc. Apps using it can't snoop on your browsing session and they can't dig around in your cookies, etc from standalone Safari.

It’d be useful to see the difference clearly as a user. Personally I try really hard not to use any in-app browser because I have no clue how trustworthy the developer is (except for Facebook and Google, for which the answer is “absolutely not”).

SFSafariViewController is very distinct. Apps can't really change its UI at all.

> Of course, there's no setting to save this choice once and for all, so this is done each and every time you try opening a link in the YouTube app.

To be clear, the one in GMail does have a "remember this" setting, and it doesn't work.

This and the ads is why I use YouTube in Safari now.

It's annoying, as websites always have worse UX than native apps.

> Because Google would be pushing it hard? E.g. when you click a link in the YouTube app, it doesn't open it in Safari, rather it shows you a "helpful" dark-pattern prompt about opening it with: Chrome

Ironically the reason this dark pattern exists is because Apple refused to implement support for user-controlled URI handlers in the first place.

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