I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. If the web was invented today browsers would never be allowed on the App Store. Not even a dumbed down version without advanced scripting capabilities.
The fact that they have a browser and allow “3p browsers” is only because the web was already established and customers wouldn’t have bought in without it.
iPhones and iPads are not general purpose computing devices. Not by tech, but by policy.
Any single application on iOS(/iPadOS) that allows you to browse the Internet is in some way based on Safari. The in-app browsers are just using one of the webview UI elements based on Safari/WebKit instead of opening up Safari.
I used CompuServe in the 90s (user ID 76760,1543 here; why do I remember useless things like that...), and it was fantastic to be able to ditch it for a generic, competitive, local ISP, where I could get on the internet using open, standardized protocols.
Making things proprietary when they should be commodities is a step backward, and we should fight that, tooth and nail.
OP's point is that it's not, which is why Apple is begrudgingly allowing it. But if they could make you use apps for everything instead of a browser, they would. And they'd use all the same arguments they do today wrt not allowing sideloading etc to justify it.
Keeping in mind what a browser could have been in 2024 if Apple hadn't disallowed/slowed innovation, it's fair to say browsers aren't allowed on the App Store.
The fact that they have a browser and allow “3p browsers” is only because the web was already established and customers wouldn’t have bought in without it.
iPhones and iPads are not general purpose computing devices. Not by tech, but by policy.