iOS 17.4 is about to become one of the biggest point updates in the history of the iPhone. A big reason for that is a lot of firsts. With this update, Apple is allowing sideloading, it is also opening up the browser, so Chrome and Firefox can run full versions instead of using WebKit. These are some pretty big changes, unfortunately, only those in Europe get to experience it.
As we just reported, iOS 17.4 will allow for sideloading in the EU. This means that you can download apps from other app stores onto your iPhone. It also allows game streaming apps to be downloaded from the App Store. This is a feature that Android has had since the beginning, and now the iPhone is getting. The only downside here is that it is going to be limited to the European Union – that means the Brits don’t even get this feature due to Brexit.
iOS 17.4 is also adding the ability to use full web browsers as your default web browser. Currently, all browsers available on iOS are actually based on WebKit. So they are essentially the same as Safari. However, with iOS 17.4, and thanks to the Digital Markets Act, users will get the ability to run the full version of Chrome and/or Firefox on their iPhones. That’s going to help web browsers on iPhones get better and faster.
New Emojis coming to iOS 17.4 too
Now, a feature that everyone will get to use worldwide is new emojis. There are six new emojis coming to iOS 17.4, which include Shaking Heads, Lime, Phoenix, Brown Mushroom, and A Broken Chain. This is part of Unicode 15.1, which was approved back in September.
The beta update is rolling out today, and it seems to weigh in at a little over six gigabytes in size. Apple is expecting the update to roll out in March. This is when all of these changes need to be in place to adhere to the Digital Markets Act in the European Union.
2024-01-26 15:08:26