That The relationship between the European Union and Apple is not going through the best moment It’s something that is more than obvious at this point. On the one hand, we have the regulators of the Common European Area, who are showing themselves to be more involved than ever in the digital world, and although their speed has always tended to be rather slow, the truth is that for some time it has been seen as an effort on their part to be able to provide a more agile response to the challenges presented by a market as dynamic as the technological one.

On the other hand, we have a hugely successful technology company (although it has seen much worse times, especially between the late 1980s and the good but not 1990s) that claims to have taken restrictive measures to protect its userswith the many threats they face every day due to the simple fact that they have a device with which they manage a large part of their lives. I’m talking, of course, about the famous walled garden that Apple has built around the iPhone ecosystem.

As you already know, as a result of Apple being designated as one of the six gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act The company was forced to remove at least part of these fences, opens iOS’ doors to both digital app stores and third-party payment services, a change that will arrive within days or weeks with the release of iOS 17.4. An adaptation, however, which many consider insufficient and which Apple apparently also wanted to somehow take revenge by canceling support for progressive web applications in the European Union.

However, it seems that perhaps even this movement can have its own effects and also the days are numbered because, as we read in the Financial Times, The European Commission has already taken the first steps to investigate Apple for removing support for PWAs on iOS. At this point, regulators have sent questions to both Apple and developers who may potentially be affected by this new restriction to try to determine the impact this action may have on the people of Cupertino. If, based on the responses received, it is established that this is a serious problem, the Commission will proceed to open an in-depth formal investigation.

In response to questions from the Financial Times, the European Commission stated the following:

“In fact, we look at the compliance of all gatekeepers, including Apple.

In this context, we are particularly concerned with the issue of progressive web applications and can confirm sending information requests to Apple and application developers who may provide useful information for our evaluation.»

As I’ve already indicated, the response from much of the developer community to the measures Apple has imposed as part of its adaptation to DMA has not been particularly positive, so It seems quite likely that the answers received by the European Commission will lead to an investigation. Apple still has time to reverse this decision by bringing back support for PWAs in a future version of iOS, which I think would be the smartest move on their part.