iOS 16.4: Apple releases beta version of new iPhone software with dramatic change to how apps work
Apple has released a beta version of its new iPhone software, with a dramatic change to the way apps work.
The company will now allow web apps to send push notifications, that will appear on the phone’s Lock Screens as well as in other places such as the Apple Watch.
The new update also makes a range of other changes, including allowing alternative browsers to let users add web apps to the iPhone’s Home Screen, and a range of new emoji.
Since the very first iPhone, Apple has allowed users to add websites onto the iPhone’s Home Screen. There, they are represented just like normal iPhone apps, but work more like a shortcut to the website itself.
At the beginning, it represented a way for users to have something like the app experience without having to go through the App Store. Even now, such web apps are used to offer another way to get things onto the iPhone without having to go through that App Store process, which requires separate development, approval from Apple and a requirement that the company takes a cut of any payments made within those apps.
Such web apps have always been limited, however. They are not able to send notifications like normal apps, and other browsers such as Google Chrome cannot be used to make them.
Now both of those limitations have been lifted in the iOS 16.4 beta software that is now available for the iPhone and iPad. The full version of the update will likely roll out to users in the coming weeks.
Apps will now be able to send their own notifications and have them appear on the Lock Screen, as well as to show with badge counts just like normal apps. They will also support the recently added “Focus” feature on the iPhone, which lets users choose which notifications show at given times.
Apple has faced criticism in recent years over its App Store, which is the only way to get full applications onto the iPhone or iPad and is completely controlled by Apple. Some other companies and regulators have argued that control has been unfairly abused by Apple, which has in turn led to legal cases and regulatory investigations in a number of countries.
Apple did not give any indication that the updates to web apps had any relation to those ongoing inquiries. But it may be one way of addressing the longstanding criticism over the ways that apps are delivered onto the iPhone.
Apple has also added 21 new emoji with the update. They include a new shaking and shocked face, a high-five, and animals such as a moose and a goose.
