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0 pointsleptons3d ago0 comments

Which browser engine are you getting on iOS when you install Firefox?

If you answered Firefox, you are WRONG.

You get Safari, because Apple forces all browsers on iOS to use their own crippled browser engine.

Apple also is part of the W3C board that gets to decide which APIs get to become standards, so they also influence what other browser makers do.

This would be a non-issue if Apple didn't force all browsers on iOS to use their Safari engine.

0 comments

JimDabell3d ago

No, you get Firefox.

There is much more to a web browser than just its rendering engine. When you install Firefox on iOS, you get Firefox. It uses the WebKit rendering engine, but it’s still the Firefox browser.

To be frank, it’s pretty insulting and dismissive to all the people putting huge amounts of work into building browsers only to for you go around telling people that all their work is really just a mirage.

eipi10_hn3d ago

You didn't answer his question at all.

> Which browser engine?

There's no Firefox engine, there's Gecko engine. That's the core of Firefox' extension APIs.

Now, tell me how do you implement `webRequest.filterResponseData()` API for content blocker extension with WebKit: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/Web...

leptonsOP3d ago

It absolutely is a mirage. It's like those Ferrari kit cars where you take a Ford or whatever car frame and remove the outer shell and put a Ferrari shell on top of it. It's not a Ferrari, it only looks like a Ferrari.

The browser engine is the majority part of the browser, everything else around it is window dressing. So when you install Firefox on iOS, you are getting Safari with a thin wrapper around it. You are not getting the Firefox rendering engine, which is the most important part of a web browser.

hasanhaja2d ago

The problem is that it has to use the WebKit rendering engine, and not that it happens to.

I think it's more insulting to browser vendors that they have to throw away their browser engines to appease the monopolistic tendencies of one company.

mort963d ago

You may wish to re-read the comment you respond to. To quote:

> Which browser engine are you getting on iOS when you install Firefox?

Emphasis mine.

Arainach3d ago

You are a responding to a comment asking what browser engine you get, and the answer is Safari/Webkit.

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