I said most web apps are used in web browsers. I said almost all web apps will continue to work. It looks like you mixed up the first claim with the second.
There are three types of web app to consider:
1. Web apps that aren’t PWAs, that are just used in the browser. These are the norm. These will continue to work unaffected because they were never installed to the home screen anyway. No change in behaviour at all.
2. PWAs that support being installed or being used in a web browser. Among PWAs, these are also the norm. You don’t know whether a new user has installed your app or not, and you want it to work regardless, so that’s how you code it. These will also continue to work, because they already work in Safari, so being opened in Safari isn’t going to break them. Some graceful degradation may occur, depending upon the web app in question. For instance, a web app might optionally support push notifications when installed, but still work without push notifications when used in a web browser.
3. PWAs that only work when they are installed but not when they are used in a web browser. These are a minority, even amongst PWAs. The change will break these.
When I say most web apps are used in web browsers, I am referring to 1. When I say almost all web apps will continue to work, I am referring to 1+2.
The article uses “all web apps” to refer to 3. This is the dishonesty. “Web apps” are 1 + 2 + 3, not the extreme minority of 3 alone. Apple aren’t “breaking all web apps”, Apple are specifically breaking what I describe in 3.
I’ve raised this with OWA before, and they said that their target audience are regulators who would get confused otherwise. I don’t think this is truthful. I think they are sacrificing honesty in order to be more inflammatory.