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Comment by 1letterunixname | Hacker News Reader

I guess you either are unaware or have an outdated device. I have Brave set to the default browser on iPadOS and iOS.

There was/is previously a restriction on including dynamic content or non UIWebView/WKWebView rendering, but I'm unaware of current IAS-MAS policies.

You're also demanding the impossible/very difficult because mobile browsers don't support extensions. It's just not a thing.

Also, Firefox is already available for iOS. If it doesn't meet your requirements, then it's FOSS and you're welcome to contribute improvements that meet your requirements.

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Firefox on Android does support addons (in a limited way, though you can install any addon if you _really_ want to). I wish iOS users had access to diverse rendering engines and browser addons.

If running gecko instead of webkit is one of his requirements then, no, he’s not currently welcome to make that improvement.

Like the person said, the real thing. Brave and Firefox browsers you mention still use Safari engine underneath.

Safari on iOS does have support for extensions or am I missing something?

Extensions that are less powerful and must go through App Store review. Which is fine, if you want that keep using Safari! But I'd like to run actual Firefox.

Why not buy an Android device then?

Once you remove these things that you want to remove, you wind up losing the very things that attract you to iPhone in the first place!

I disagree. i just want to run firefox or chrome directly and completely without using apple's unnecessary & required piece of safari on ios. Let people run the whole web browsing app, if they want to. I'm skeptical of any significant security advantage to the limits on web browsers - after all apple gets hit by the zero days just like other cell phones.

You’re advocating for personal freedom for you and coercion for another. Just drop the coercion and use an Android.

Who would be coerced if I could run whatever software I wanted? Oh, the precious apple corporation? They are coerced all the time by legal restrictions. I'm just asking them to stop blocking it.

I'm hoping anti-trust law will come to bear on software from apple.

The men who work at Apple would be coerced. Of course we are all coerced by the law in matters of morality, I.e. the 10 commandments. But you’re wanting to put “my sideloading” at the level of theft or other such crimes. That’s unreasonable and entitled thinking.

Life is about compromises. Sometimes people value a specific set of hardware and software support that comes with Apple devices even if they have to make certain trade-offs versus the competition.

At least in my case, I wasn't attracted to the iPhone because of forced Webkit and the Lightning port.

> Sometimes people value a specific set of hardware and software support that comes with Apple devices even if

Yes, but that's the misunderstanding. You want those features without the trade-offs. Apple's hardware and software support come at the expense of "features" like "side loading". If you add in these featuers you want, you lose the hardware and software support you bought the iPhone for in the first place.

It's like the RCS nonsense that Google is pushing (hint, if you have to advertise a standard, it's not a good standard). The iPhone is its own thing. If you want these other features and "more freedom" then the iPhone isn't the device for you. I don't buy an Xbox expecting to play Zelda or with the expectations that it is highly portable. It's just a suite of product features and you have to choose what features you want.

Ppl are not buying iphone bc they think they can't install ff with gecko lol, they buy iphones bc these are good hardware and longterm support. Both of these will remain unchanged with ability to sideload apps

Incorrect. A select few greedy people are using force for stupid ends.

Besides immorally using force now the iPhone will be littered with alt stores where you can only get certain popular apps making the iPhone a nightmare.

Those who thought they were so clever in forcing change will be seen to be fools.

yeah, just like ppl that forced apple to switch to usb-c, so much fools

Are you implying iOS browsers, including Firefox, are not mere WebKit skins?

Also, mobile Firefox supports plenty of what I consider essentiall extensions. It's almost as if you got those things wrong on purpose

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