Apple’s restrictions and limitations for app developers on iOS and its other operating systems have again been criticized by Telegram CEO, Pavel Durov. The messaging platform recently launched its premium service that provides a few additional features, unlike the freemium version. However, the founder is not happy with the way Apple is forcing developers to use WebKit for developing web apps but restricts some features on purpose. This move is impacting Telegram’s web version of the app for iPhone and MacBook users.
The CEO went on to point out that Telegram does provide a fully functioning version of the app through the browser. You get many of the same features that you see on the mobile version. However, due to Apple’s restrictions, Safari hampers the experience by limiting some of the functionalities. Pavel went on to allege that Apple was purposely limiting developers to provide a full experience through browsers. By providing a limited functionality through any browser, Apple wants users to download the app from the App Store. This would lead to Apple getting commission from the developers.
According to a report by 9to5Mac, Apple is already facing a lot of backlash from Telegrams Web app developers. They pointed out that Safari is hampering everyone from experiencing even basic features like video stickers by not supporting VP8 and VP9 codecs. They have also pointed out several shortcomings of the mobile version of Safari as well relating to the absence of web push notifications and random reloading of pages.
Drastic contrast in experience
If you’ve used Telegram on iOS and Android, the difference in the experience is different from each other. Because Telegram public channels are the core of the app, iOS users are missing out on a lot. While Apple does add a few functionalities like push notifications from browsers in iOS 16, it’s still not enough.
Apple has been holding on to its opinion that many of the restrictions are in place to safeguard users’ privacy. However, it is weird that the company has put in ways to allow users to control what an app can access. At the same time, it’s limiting the complete experience that users can get on its own platform.
