Safari Officially Ends PWA Support: A Simple Explanation for Everyone (2024 → 2026)

Last updated: 2026/02/11

Between 2024 and 2026, Apple gradually reduced Safari’s support for Progressive Web Apps (PWA), and by 2026 the feature was effectively discontinued.

However, news headlines and social media created confusion:

“Are PWAs completely gone?”
“Does Add to Home Screen stop working?”
“Will my website apps break?”

This article explains, in simple non-technical terms, what Apple actually ended, what still works, and how the iPhone’s “Add to Home Screen” behaves today.

First: What Was a PWA?

A PWA (Progressive Web App) was a system that let a website behave like a real app.

• You could place an icon on the home screen
• The browser UI disappeared (app-like fullscreen)
• Offline mode and caching were possible

It was a middle ground between “website” and “native app.”

2024: EU regulations trigger major Safari changes

In 2024, Apple adjusted Safari and WebKit to comply with European DMA regulations.
These changes unintentionally broke several key parts of the PWA system:

• Service Workers stopped functioning correctly
• Home-screen apps lost offline storage and notifications
• PWA behavior differed between EU and non-EU regions

This was the moment when “Is PWA dead?” conversations began.

2025: Safari’s PWA features become unstable

By 2025, internal changes made PWA behavior inconsistent or non-functional:

• Home-screen apps no longer entered standalone mode
• manifest.json icons were often ignored
• “Add to Home Screen” disappeared for certain websites

Apple never said “We are killing PWAs,”
but support was quietly fading away.

2026: PWA is effectively ended — replaced by the old WebClip system

In 2026, iOS treats all home-screen shortcuts as WebClips, not PWAs.

What is a WebClip?

It’s Apple’s original (pre-PWA) system for putting a simple bookmark on your home screen:

• Browser UI stays visible (no app-like fullscreen)
• No offline mode
• manifest.json settings are mostly ignored

In short, iPhone returned to the simpler, older version of “Add to Home Screen.”

Why did Apple end PWA support? Three main reasons

1. Security concerns

Service Workers can cache content aggressively and operate offline,
which is powerful but carries risk if misused.

2. Conflict with the App Store model

If PWAs became powerful enough, developers could ship apps without using the App Store.
This conflicts with Apple’s business model and ecosystem control.

3. High maintenance burden

Supporting “native-app-like features through the browser” created huge engineering and compatibility costs for Apple.

So… can we still “Add to Home Screen” on iPhone?

Yes, absolutely.
But it now uses WebClip behavior, not PWA.

• Home icons still work
• They still open Safari
• They no longer behave like standalone apps

The feature itself is alive — just simplified.

How does this affect OJapp?

OJapp never relied on PWA’s app-like functions.
Its purpose is to help users customize:

• Home-screen icon
• App name
• Destination URL

All of these continue to work exactly the same because WebClip still exists.

The end of PWA actually strengthens OJapp’s position:

• No competition from “app-like” websites
• Home-screen shortcuts are now fully standardized
• Customization tools become more relevant than ever

Summary: PWA is gone — but home-screen shortcuts live on

• PWA support is effectively discontinued
• Safari reverted to the simpler WebClip system
• “Add to Home Screen” is still fully available
• OJapp continues to work perfectly and gains relevance

The era of “websites pretending to be apps” is over.
We’re back to a world where the web is the web — fast, lightweight, and customizable.

And in that world, OJapp becomes even more valuable:
a tool that makes home-screen shortcuts truly yours.