webRTC-enabled browser for iOS?

Question

Preface: there are questions (some good, some bad) already in existance on StackOverflow about webRTC support on various browsers and platforms, including iOS. However I couldn't find anything definitive that was more recent than ~2012, and this is a rapidly-changing field.

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I'm working on a browser-based webapp that uses webRTC for minimal-latency peer-to-peer data transfer (not for audio/video, unlike most applications it would seem - all I need is DataChannel).

I hit a snag when I started testing the data-transfer part of the project and discovered that iOS devices still don't natively support this in their built-in browsers (despite some recent rumors).

Bowser is a free open-source browser App for iOS that purports to support webRTC on iOS. The problem is that when I try to open the app, it simply crashes and closes. I've tested this on an iPhone 5 and 5s. Googling has failed to turn up alternatives - even Chrome for iOS doesn't currently support webRTC it seems.

My questions:
1) Are there alternative browsers (even iOS-version restricted) that are currently supporting webRTC, or is there anything promising coming down the pipeline?
2) Does Bowser actually work (webRTC) on iOS devices where it doesn't crash immediately upon launch?
3) What strategies have other people used to work around this limitation?

Solution 1

As of iOS 11, WebRTC is now supported in Safari: https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/releasenotes/General/WhatsNewInSafari/Articles/Safari_11_0.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40014305-CH13-SW1

Solution 2

Check out crosswalk project ( https://crosswalk-project.org ) This Provides runtime of Chromium engine for native support in older devices.

Solution 3

1) Are there alternative browsers (even iOS-version restricted) that are currently supporting webRTC, or is there anything promising coming down the pipeline?

Answer:

There is a Browser called Bowser that supports webRTC.

2) Does Bowser actually work (webRTC) on iOS devices where it doesn't crash immediately upon launch?

Answer:

It's not crashing as of now.But I couldn't successfully test with anything so far.I have raised an issue about it

3) What strategies have other people used to work around this limitation?

Answer:

Apple is yet to support WebRTC in Webkit so as of now the only way would be develop a native or Hybrid app that would support the unsupported WebRTC APIs.

You can develop a hybrid app powered by OpenWebRTC or cordova-plugin-iosrtc

Comments

[tmpearce]

From the link, it seems that this is targeted only at Android... the question is actually about iOS (Apple) devices.

[Admin]

Guys please troll on FreeNode IRC to all WebRTC room, because its WebRTC team who is not releasing the iOS webRTC with Google chrome.

[Admin]

Can we please not advertise OpenWebRTC? but more of native WebRTC that is Google oriented there are tons of answer confusing new comers. github.com/Anakros/WebRTC

[Mutawe]

The link is broken

[Mutawe]

The item you've requested is not currently available in the U.S. store.

[Mutawe]

The link is not related to iOS!

[Kyle Redfearn]

Yes it is. Safari 11 shipped in both iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra

[user2677034]

safari is broken...