Since the spring of last year, a large number of different applications have disappeared from the App Store . This mainly affected those programs whose owners fell under sanctions. In most cases, this applies to banking clients and, in particular, the most popular of them – Sberbank Online. Because of this, it is not possible to update programs already installed on smartphones of users. Some started releasing versions of their apps under different names, but even those were removed from the App Store after a while. But Apple has made it so that no more apps need to be added to the App Store.
Along with the announcement of iOS 16, Apple showed push notifications for Safari . This feature allows you to receive full-fledged alerts when using web applications and use, in fact, the mobile version of the site as a regular program. In this article, we understand why push notifications in Safari are a great tool for bypassing sanctions.
Web Apps on iPhone
For those who already have applications removed from the App Store, there seems to be no difference. They do work. But it can’t last forever. Firstly, new features are not added, and secondly, old applications stop sending notifications over time. Which in some cases can result in certain problems. But how to use the usual services without applications? The only option left is to use PWA or, more simply, web applications.
We even compiled a separate catalog of such web applications, which is now becoming more and more relevant. Their essence lies in the fact that if the mobile version of the site is adapted specifically for PWA, then when you add it to the desktop and follow the link, a separate Safari window will not open, but immediately in full screen you will see the mobile version of the site without browser controls. That is, everything will be as if you launched an application downloaded from the App Store. In particular, the VKontakte interface is almost identical.
A great way out if there is no way to put the application in the App Store? Undoubtedly. But for full-fledged work, they lack notifications. And this gap in iOS 16.4 Apple eliminated and gave developers the opportunity to bypass sanctions with their own hands. Why now be placed in the App Store, if you can make a full-fledged analogue based on PWA. See:
- Login using biometrics, no password required.
- Push notifications.
- The interface is similar to that in the application.
You just need to finalize the site and add all these features. For example, the mobile version of Sberbank Online is one of the most advanced. Therefore, I would venture to suggest that soon PWA Sberbank Online will allow you to completely abandon a separate application. You just need to wait until it is optimized.
Notifications in Safari on iPhone
But we no longer believe Apple’s word and decided to test the operation of notifications in Safari ourselves . I had to install iOS 16.4 beta. We do not advise you to do this, because the firmware may be unstable and compatibility problems with individual applications cannot be ruled out. Unfortunately, not all PWAs support notifications yet, but we were able to find one social network that works with them. And here’s what happened:
- Click the Share button at the bottom of the screen and select Add to Home Screen. On iOS 16.4, this inscription is not translated. One of the examples of flaws in the beta version.
- Exit Safari and click on the added icon.
- Log in to your account if necessary.
- Go to notifications and click on the gear in the top right corner.
- Select “Settings” and open “Push Notifications”.
- Activate the switch and customize whatever interests you. After that, minimize the app and go to settings.
- Select the “Notifications” section and find the added web application. Outwardly, it will not differ in any way from ordinary programs.
- Here you can also configure where notifications from PWA will be displayed.
Since PWAs are subject to the usual notification settings, they are also subject to focus. Therefore, users can now flexibly configure the acceptance of alerts from PWA. Push notifications from web applications look completely different from ordinary ones. Accordingly, there are no problems with their use. Everything is familiar and understandable.
Personally, I think that this is the coolest and most useful feature of iOS 16 , which has a huge potential. Now it’s up to the developers. It remains only to add support for notifications to the most popular resources, and you can remove bulky applications from your iPhone. This will be most relevant for smartphones with a small amount of memory. The main thing is that already now we see that notifications in Safari really work. I suppose that by the release of iOS 16.4 for everyone, developers will slowly start to catch up, and then the inability to download the application from the App Store will not matter at all.
