Ericsson’s Bowser has been resurrected to make up for the lack of a WebRTC-compatible browser on iOS and is now available for download from Apple’s App Store.
The Swedish telecom vendor said it had resubmitted Bowser to Apple in the beginning of October to help boost the development of more websites and apps that embrace voice, video and messaging features.
WebRTC (Real-Time Communications) is a technology created to help developers add real-time communications features to Web browsers and apps via JavaScript APIs. The technology has so far struggled to find widespread success.
Bowser was first released in 2012 to help Ericsson and developers better understand WebRTC. At the time, it was the world’s first browser for mobile devices that was compatible with WebRTC. Ericsson retired it earlier this year, but had a change of heart and is once again making it available.
The lack of support from Apple and Microsoft has limited WebRTC’s potential—neither Internet Explorer or Safari work with the technology. While waiting for the Safari browser to support WebRTC, Ericsson wants people to start experimenting and familiarizing themselves with the technology on Apple’s mobile devices.
Some existing WebRTC apps will most likely need to be tweaked to work properly in Bowser, Ericsson warns. The company is hoping developers will not only tweak their apps but also help out with the development of Bowser to make it even better and has started a project on GitHub for people who want to get involved.
When Ericsson announced Bowser’s comeback, the vendor also made the browser’s cross-platform framework, OpenWebRTC, available to developers. Applications built on top of the framework will work with browsers such as Chrome and Firefox, which support WebRTC.