Apple has invested heavily in augmented and virtual reality since the introduction of its own ARKit API. However, when it comes to open standards on the web, Apple is still far behind its competitors. According to industry insiders, the company has been “holding off WebAR innovation” because Safari still doesn’t support the WebXR API.
According to Protocol, industry experts are complaining about how difficult it is to deliver AR and VR content to iPhone and iPad users over the Internet. For example, marketing agencies are investing in more immersive AR campaigns to allow consumers to interact with products in a real environment.
However, on iOS, this requires users to download the app, reducing the number of potential consumers. This is because Safari is not compliant with the WebXR standard, a generic API that provides support for augmented and virtual reality headsets on websites.
Although Google Chrome on Android started supporting WebXR in 2018, the feature has yet to be added to iOS. Because WebKit is the only web engine allowed on iOS, developers can’t even build a third-party WebXR-compatible web browser.
At least in the US, the campaign’s lack of targeting iPhone users means that most smartphone users are not being reached. There are several workarounds for connecting with iPhone users online, but they are more expensive and less efficient than Apple’s ARKit. As a result, there is no incentive for the industry to create AR content for the web.
Will iOS ever support WebXR?
The answer is yes, probably. But no one knows when that will happen.
WebKit head Maciej Stachowiak stated in 2020 that Apple is “enthusiastic about WebXR”. Nothing more has been said about the API since then, which has frustrated many developers. One developer even compared Safari to Internet Explorer because of how long Apple has been supporting new features in its browser.
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“Everyone and their moms are looking forward to this,” one developer wrote last year. “Very interested in resolving this issue as customers ‘can’t believe’ WebXR is not yet supported on iOS,” added another. “Please try to complete this…before 2050,” wrote one commenter, while another in another thread concluded, “Safari is the new Internet Explorer.”
Luckily for developers, iOS 15.4 and iOS 15.5 betas have experimental support for the WebXR API. However, as Protocol notes, Apple’s roadmap is still extremely “highly guarded.” As Apple works on its own mixed reality headset, the company may finally enable the API in its mobile operating system sometime this year.
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