• djvinniev77@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    81
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    17 hours ago

    Really hate how iOS has zero alternatives. Thanks apple for your stupid WebKit.

    • nil@piefed.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      edit-2
      12 hours ago

      I bought an old Pixel 7a with (new) case for less than $179 USD and put Graphene OS on it. Definitely cheaper than buying youself a new iPhone, and installation is easy af.

    • zr0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      25
      arrow-down
      10
      ·
      14 hours ago

      Could be worse, seriously. Safari is not a bad browser and WebKit is the only engine since years that can keep up with chromium. I get that it is annoying to have leas freedom on iOS, but I also appreciate the increased security[1] and quality of life that comes with it.

      [1] yes, I am aware that open source software tends to be more secure, as it can be reviewed by all. However, Android by default is way less secure than iOS, unless you use GraphiteOS or similar.

      • Ledivin@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        33
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        11 hours ago

        I also appreciate the increased security

        This hasn’t been true for a long, long time. Mac was only ever more secure than windows because not enough people used them to make them worthwhile attack vectors. Nowadays, iOS sees just as many vulnerabilities as every other popular OS.

          • Zak@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            2 hours ago

            Without taking a position on the claim itself, this is a bad citation. It makes a variety of claims that either don’t hold up to basic scrutiny, or aren’t evidence that iOS has a security advantage. Here are some examples:

            Open-source platform increases vulnerability surface area

            This is perhaps one of the most thoroughly debunked pieces of FUD in the entire tech industry.

            [Various claims about inconsistency between devices]

            These are mostly true but largely irrelevant. You’re not buying an aggregate of all Android devices that exist, but a specific device with specific traits. The Android phone you should actually buy will have a security chip and many years of updates just like an iPhone.

            The rigorous app review process and mandatory App Store distribution (except in EU) virtually eliminate malicious app threats for average users.

            This might be a benefit when the user has no clue how to use a computer, but I expect people posting in this community are past that stage. It’s a big disadvantage for those who want to use something like Firefox (real Firefox, not a skin on Safari) with potential security and privacy upsides.

            • SaraTonin@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              18 minutes ago

              Again, specific sources are more or less irrelevant, because all sources agree. Plus, the onus isn’t on me to provide a source which debunks the claim that Android and iOS are equal in terms of vulnerability, the onus is on OP to provide a source which supports their assertion.

          • ADTJ@feddit.uk
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            9
            ·
            5 hours ago

            I wouldn’t really call this a “report” when there aren’t any metrics in the reasoning other than price.

            Even in their own article, it mentions how support and updates vary by manufacturer so it’s kind of meaningless to compare iPhone to the whole Android ecosystem. You’d need to choose one or more manufacturer in order to make an apples to apples comparison.

            • SaraTonin@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              4
              arrow-down
              3
              ·
              2 hours ago

              It was just the first one that came to hand. LOL at this source for another example: https://deepstrike.io/blog/Malware-Attacks-and-Infections-2025

              That claims that Android devices are 50 times more likely to be compromised than iOS. Look at most reports from people like Kasperky & Malwarebytes and they don’t even bother to mention iOS in statistics and only occasionally mention the platform if there is a specific notable threat.

              It can be argued that iOS isn’t as secure as Apple would like you to think or as a lot of Apple users do think, but it really can’t be argued that it’s equally as vulnerable as Android

      • Kevlar21@piefed.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        11
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        10 hours ago

        Safari on iOS is especially tolerable since they allowed uBlock Origin Lite onto the App Store recently.

      • mmmac@lemmy.zip
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        8 hours ago

        To be honest I don’t use Firefox on android anyways because it’s noticeably slower than chromium. Since I’m on graphene is I just stick to vanadium + DNS level adblocking.

        • Zak@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          2 hours ago

          There is actually a current Chromium-based browser for Android with Manifest v2 extension support and uBlock Origin.

          spoiler

          It’s Microsoft Edge. No, I’m not advocating that you use it.

    • brucethemoose@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      13
      arrow-down
      6
      ·
      edit-2
      16 hours ago

      There are some good iOS browsers.

      At the moment, I use Orion (from Kagi) and Narrow32. Quiche Browser is good, DuckDuckGo is fine.

      Discoverability on iOS is awful though. The store is just packed with SEO spam and corporate slop on top of all the passion projects or “benevolent” ones.

      • 4am@lemmy.zip
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        29
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        15 hours ago

        At the moment, iOS doesn’t not allow any other browser engines. Every browser on iOS is just reskinned Safari.

        • brucethemoose@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          8
          arrow-down
          5
          ·
          edit-2
          15 hours ago

          That’s kind of a blessing in disguise; otherwise basically all web traffic would be Chrome.

          Apparenty this is softening some: https://www.techspot.com/news/108965-japan-gives-apple-december-deadline-drop-ios-browser.html

          And Safari is quite performant on iOS.

          Maybe I’m too cynical, but I wouldn’t mind if that continues, just so there’s some chunk of traffic that isn’t Chrome and that web development doesn’t turn into a complete monoculture. A smidge of Firefox and Safari alone isn’t enough for that.

          (EDIT: My assumption is that if Apple allows Chrome on iOS, you can bet they are going to funnel basically everyone into it).

          • pirateKaiser@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            6
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            14 hours ago

            That traffic only skews the graph like a false positive. While WebKit itself is oss, apple’s tendency to just separate itself from the rest of the world makes it largely irrelevant. There are very few alternative browsers based on webkit for other platforms and the expected benefit of developers having to cater to apple’s choices are thus negligible for the rest of us.

            • brucethemoose@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              6
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              edit-2
              14 hours ago

              Still. I don’t want to be on an internet where Chrome is basically the only develoment target, and for most sites to work properly you have to be on Google’s browser. Safari’s mere existance forces at least some generalization, but that disappears if Google pushes most of those users to Chrome anyway.

              That’s the internet where Google has even more total control.

              • pirateKaiser@sh.itjust.works
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                4
                ·
                14 hours ago

                I agree, my point is that safari’s dominance on iOS is not the light at the end of the tunnel, it does very little to offer alternatives to chromium.

      • Scrollone@feddit.it
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        7 hours ago

        Yeah but the problem with iOS is that all browsers must use the Safari rendering engine under the hood (except in the EU, but not many developers create a browser for just the EU)