Third-Party Browsers Starting to Support Apple Pay in iOS 16 Betas

[MacRumors]

Apple has added Apple Pay support to third-party browsers in recent betas of iOS 16 and iPadOS 16.

The added support, spotted by MacRumors contributor Steve Moser, marks a change from iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 and earlier, where in-browser Apple Pay is exclusively available in Safari. Moser found that Apple Pay is available in Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome as of iOS 16 developer beta 4, and other users have noticed Apple Pay support in Mozilla Firefox.

Moser noted that Apple Pay support continues to be unavailable on the macOS versions of Edge and Chrome, presumably since they do not use WebKit, Apple's browser engine that is mandatory for third-party browsers on iOS and iPadOS. This suggests that Apple Pay support is dependent on WebKit and this is the location of any changes Apple has made to expand support for Apple Pay.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1553175163327348741

It is not clear when Apple made the change, as some users spotted Apple Pay support in third-party browsers as early as developer beta 2, while others only saw support added with developer beta 3.

While the change is a step forward for users of third-party browsers on iOS and iPadOS, it is difficult not to see the expanded support for Apple Pay in the context of Apple's growing antitrust issues, with Apple's browser engine ban and restrictions on third-party apps coming under increasing scrutiny around the world.

Article Link: Third-Party Browsers Starting to Support Apple Pay in iOS 16 Betas

 

[wabisabizo]

Its about damn time. Although I barely use 3rd party browsers on my iOS but what about on MacOS Ventura? Can we use Apple Pay on 3rd party browsers on MacOS Ventura?

 

[exoticSpice]

Its about damn time. Although I barely use 3rd party browsers on my iOS but what about on MacOS Ventura? Can we use Apple Pay on 3rd party browsers on MacOS Ventura?

Third party browsers need to updated independently to support Apple Pay APIs since they run on their own engine on macOS.

 

[wabisabizo]

Third party browsers need to updated independently to support Apple Pay APIs since they run on their own engine on macOS.

So that means its on Google, FireFox, Microsoft to implement it?

 

[Maximara]

So that means its on Google, FireFox, Microsoft to implement it?

Them or somebody who writes a valid extension (second option is a little iffy)

 

[Smoovejayy]

I hope it comes to Firefox. Firefox has made such great strides in the past couple years. I hate relying on Safari.

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

Great. Now bring it to the desktop browsers too.

 

[Havoc035]

So that means its on Google, FireFox, Microsoft to implement it?

But before that also for Apple to provide access. Which I have my doubts about on whether they would do so voluntarily.

 

[Maximara]

I hope it comes to Firefox. Firefox has made such great strides in the past couple years. I hate relying on Safari.

I went back to Firefox (made sure disk cache was turned off) as it uses less RAM and doesn't have problems with 'write to the Chrome browser sites' that Safari does.

 

[CarAnalogy]

I don't understand. There's no such thing as a third party browser on iOS. Yes, the other browser companies released apps that sync with their services, but unless I'm missing something last I checked they're basically just a skin for Safari. It even says so in the article. Why didn't this work originally?

 

[dwaite]

Basically, you need an entitlement for Apple Pay to work, and dropping a web view doesn't magically give such an entitlement. The web view uses the entitlements of the app it is embedded in, and by default such an app does _not_ have entitlements to initiate payments to any merchant it so desires.

Giving this to a web view would also be a bad idea - web views allow you to read and modify page content in multiple ways. It is very easy to phish or otherwise manipulate the user within a web view.

This is why web views cannot share cookies with the main Safari. It is also the reason several single sign-on providers like Google will ban you if you try to authenticate the user via a web view to their services. Instead, there are API to pop-over Safari to help with these sorts of payment and authentication cases.

Safari is a separate application, and has been given a higher-trust entitlement to use Apple Pay for any merchant/domain.

Partner third party browsers can ask Apple for an entitlement to operate as a browser, which among other things gives them the option to be selectable as a 'default' browser. This also now in the upcoming operating system acting as a stand-in for several other entitlements that were traditionally Safari-onlly, including the Apple-Pay-for-any-merchant-and-domain entitlement.

 

[svish]

Good. But want Apple Pay to expand to other countries too

 

[_Spinn_]

This is a great change!

 

[avatar77]

Cool.. Too bad the beta has broken third-party keyboards. I'd rather just use the default Apple keyboard, but it's junk next to Gboard.

 

[narbodon]

Whoa, this is actually amazing. I guess I missed this announcement in June.