My only complaint about Safari is I wish Apple would fully adopt PWA standards on iOS. I believe they don’t want to because it would make the App Store less necessary.
Chrome is also not the only chromium browser. There's also Vivaldi, brave etc, which make up for some of the ad-related shortcomings of Chrome. I happily use Vivaldi.
Partly, sure. Don’t think that’s the whole story. I don’t work at Apple or anything so I don’t know what actually goes on in board meetings but I think any tech person would see there are pros and cons to web apps versus native apps.
There’s a funny history where the original iPhone apps could only be web apps as there was no SDK! See history section at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS_SDK
Apple has systematically ensured PWAs are second-class apps on iOS. They've done just about everything they can to hobble them, including restrictions on memory, storage, notifications, background updates, and which browser can use them (only Safari). It's clear to everyone that this is done to prevent app developers from distributing their software outside the App Store. That's their largest profit centre. Of course they're protecting it.
The irony is that when the iphone was introduced, there was no way to write apps for it and jobs said the way to use third party code was to use a web app and add the link to the home screen (which you can still do, though I doubt many people even know that)
I would love to use Firefox exclusively on my Mac, but I also like a long lasting battery. Because of https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1941693 Firefox currently uses twice as much CPU during YouTube video playback than even Chrome when you have ProMotion (120 Hz) enabled, significantly reducing battery lifetime. Switching to a different browser every time I want to play a longer YouTube video also isn't the best user experience.
I abandoned chrome for ff a few yrs ago when the privacy issues became impossible to ignore. I abandoned ff for safari about a year ago when performance problems became unbearable. My biggest annoyance was the lack of devtools until a single web search revealed that safari does in fact have a full featured set of devtools, you just need to turn them on. No complaints.
Reader mode and hide distracting items are phenomenal, use them both daily.
Proud Firefox user. Will suffer with it until my grave. This little fox has been giving me the beach ball on Mac ever since last year MacOS update, but I just Ctrl+Alt+Del and start it again....
The headline is so funny. "please please please please, I beg you stay on safari, I swear we better than chrome please please please we really want your data"
I can't count on two hands the amount of times I 'solved' technical issues for friends and family by having them do a certain process (like a booking) on chrome instead of safari.
The one thing that keeps me from using Safari is web apps can't update their tab's favicon. That means if you load a site that uses the favicon for notifications you either (a) login when you have a notification and it will now forever seem like you have a notification or (b) login when you don't have a notification and it will forever seem like you don't have any notifications.
Yes, you can clear a cache for a one time update, but that is hardly helpful.
This seems like a misuse of favicons. Is there spec for changing the icon that way? Are the icons you expect to change being served with headers that allow caching? Are there more appropriate APIs that could be used like notification API?
I’ve tried switching to Safari a few times, but I keep struggling with finding an ad-blocking extension that Just Works. Aside from that, I like it, but just a couple minutes on the ad-covered Web makes me need to go crawling back to Chrome. I set up uBlock Origin Lite years ago in Chrome and it’s functionally fully set-it-and-forget-it.
“Just use pi-hole” well sometimes I leave my house so that is an insufficient option.
I find this statement ironic while talking about the browser that spearheaded manifest v2 deprecation for "safety". Just use Firefox people, ublock origin still works there.
I've used Safari since I switched to Mac in 2009. It's always been fast and smooth, and the integration - like password sync and SMS 2FA keys - works great.
Everyone should avoid Google Chrome, and as such this campaign is welcome. But my major gripe with Safari is:
1. It is not multi-platform. A browser that isn't available for Windows, Linux, xBSD is not a browser I would use or recommend to others.
2. I don't want "Intelligent Tracking Prevention" or some limited Apple curated lists of content blockers - uBlock Origin should be fully functional in it.
3. No requirement of an "App Store" to install browser extensions.
4. No built-in AI bullshit. Rather make certain browser APIs open so that any other AI tools can use and manipulate it as the user wants.
5. Fully open source (in Safari, only Webkit is open source).
Funny story, but someone I know claims responsibility for killing Safari on Windows.
If you remember, those were the days when Windows software were kind of "bland" looking and Apple OS and software was "Shiny" with their brushed aluminium looks and glassy UI widgets (see screenshot here - https://jimmyg.org/blog/2007/safari-3-beta-for-windows.html ). So when Apple released Safari on Windows, it was more or less a clone of their Mac version with the "Aqua" skin. It really stood out in the Windows world and thus did become popular, briefly, in the Windows world due to this. Unfortunately because it was clone of the Mac version, it also retained the same UI quirks particular to Mac software like not having proper right-clicks (where Windows users expected) and some other UI interactions aspects that were different to Windows. Now, my friend who was using Safari because he loved the Mac-look of Safari, felt frustrated that it didn't conform to the expected Windows UI interactions norms. So he wrote a strongly worded email to Apple Support where in he told them that as a Windows user he was frustrated in using the Safari browser and he expected Apple to build software that complied with Windows usability norms. (What he wanted was a Safari with the UI skin of the Mac Safari version, but with UI interactions that conformed to Windows norms). [My friend claims] Steve Jobs' Apple being what they were then, took his complaints seriously and completely re-designed Apple Safari for Windows with native windows UI (Apple Safari 4 and later). But Apple Safari, as a Windows software, without the Mac skin, looked just as bland as any other browser (and it didn't really have any other great features to distinguish it from the other browsers of that time). They thus lost their USP which had attracted their initial userbase, and as it kept shrinking Apple abandoned it. My friend still regrets the tone of the email and not communicating properly about what frustrated him about Safari on Windows ...
I switched from Firefox on macos and ios about a year ago when things started to get a bit weird with Mozilla. Safari is a highly capable browser, light weight, great performance on both iphone and mac, and is just a really nice experience overall. If I could use it on linux and windows as well, I would.
For those needing uBlock Origin please give wBlock a try. It's also open source but uses native Safari content blocking APIs. It's faster and works and syncs with iPhones through iCloud.
I find this page super interesting because it's what you'd expect from a B2B SaaS vendor, not from Apple. You'd never see them build an "iPhone vs Samsung" page, for instance.
I will switch to Safari immediately once they expand the number of languages supported by auto-translate. The current selection is very limited, and almost clownish for 2026.
I made the switch on mobile a while back and adjusted quickly. I really don’t miss chrome there. I did try to switch from Arc to Safari on my laptop and my experience was much less pleasant. There’s just a ton of clunky ux on safari. I’ll give it a try again but once I made the mistake of dismissing the permissions popup that appears for every video call and it just never came back (subsequent meetings). I’m sure it’s in my settings somewhere but this felt crazy. I’m required to click approve to use my camera on every video call but if I hit ‘esc’ once then I’ll never be reprompted? That makes no sense.
AFAIK on iOS all browsers are safari anyway. Apple doesn’t allow you to use anything but safari’s engine (WebKit) for browsers so chrome, Firefox, etc all run WebKit on that platform. Might as well use safari as it’s better integrated. And it supports uBlock origin (lite). With that and NextDNS, I have no ads anywhere. For the YouTube app, I use proton’s Albania vpn and no ads there either.
It works quite well on iOS, I am satisfied.
- ublock lite blocks most of the ads, the rest get filtered through an Adguard Profile(no app install needed).
- Not sure if possible with other browsers but you can install userscript extensions too.
- I have a shortcut that extracts the text of any tab(you can run a simple javascript, document.body.innerText to get) to send to my local llm, this javascript execution is limited to just safari.
On a mac though, I only use it to stream 4k,HDR on Netflix.
cebert | 12 hours ago
nchmy | 11 hours ago
https://infrequently.org/series/browser-choice-must-matter/
ndr42 | 11 hours ago
nchmy | 8 hours ago
But if you're not inclined to educated yourself via the tremendous resource I shared, I suppose you could look at
https://wpt.fyi to see how far behind safari lags in supporting features.
There's also the fact that a proof of concept port of Microsoft edge to IOS significantly outperformed safari.
https://www.theregister.com/software/2026/06/17/apples-webki...
Chrome is also not the only chromium browser. There's also Vivaldi, brave etc, which make up for some of the ad-related shortcomings of Chrome. I happily use Vivaldi.
olowe | 11 hours ago
There’s a funny history where the original iPhone apps could only be web apps as there was no SDK! See history section at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS_SDK
nchmy | 8 hours ago
Gareth321 | 11 hours ago
gumby | 10 hours ago
PalmPilotProMax | 11 hours ago
Thanks, but I've already upgraded to Firefox.
skrause | 11 hours ago
jambalaya8 | 2 hours ago
7e | 7 hours ago
andsoitis | 11 hours ago
phrotoma | 11 hours ago
Reader mode and hide distracting items are phenomenal, use them both daily.
ivanjermakov | 11 hours ago
ndr42 | 11 hours ago
ivanjermakov | 7 hours ago
iamshs | 11 hours ago
hollow-moe | 11 hours ago
podgorniy | 11 hours ago
> we really want your data
this is a projection
hollow-moe | 11 hours ago
joshuaS98 | 11 hours ago
ndr42 | 11 hours ago
joshuaS98 | 11 hours ago
I can't count on two hands the amount of times I 'solved' technical issues for friends and family by having them do a certain process (like a booking) on chrome instead of safari.
FlyingAvatar | 11 hours ago
Yes, you can clear a cache for a one time update, but that is hardly helpful.
floydnoel | 11 hours ago
also annoying when working locally as the favicon persists amongst different projects using the same port on localhost.
cosmotic | 4 hours ago
layer8 | 11 hours ago
andsoitis | 11 hours ago
And to iPhone: https://www.apple.com/iphone/switch/
jwr | 11 hours ago
aurmc | 11 hours ago
“Just use pi-hole” well sometimes I leave my house so that is an insufficient option.
Zanfa | 11 hours ago
gumby | 10 hours ago
B4uler5 | 11 hours ago
Lalabadie | 11 hours ago
drcongo | 11 hours ago
mzajc | 10 hours ago
QuiEgo | 3 hours ago
- Safari sips battery on macOS
No hate for Firefox, and glad it’s an option for people, but Wipr was worth the small $ to me personally. YMMV.
Crestwave | 11 hours ago
thisislife2 | 10 hours ago
Paria_Stark | 11 hours ago
bjord | 11 hours ago
SamuelAdams | 11 hours ago
It’s stupid, I know. But sometimes people like cars with a different colour of paint. Chrome has had this since maybe 2009?
brycewray | 11 hours ago
https://github.com/0xCUB3/wBlock
https://skula.me/project/wblock/
rad-b | 7 hours ago
fredsted | 11 hours ago
edam | 11 hours ago
thisislife2 | 11 hours ago
1. It is not multi-platform. A browser that isn't available for Windows, Linux, xBSD is not a browser I would use or recommend to others.
2. I don't want "Intelligent Tracking Prevention" or some limited Apple curated lists of content blockers - uBlock Origin should be fully functional in it.
3. No requirement of an "App Store" to install browser extensions.
4. No built-in AI bullshit. Rather make certain browser APIs open so that any other AI tools can use and manipulate it as the user wants.
5. Fully open source (in Safari, only Webkit is open source).
jammmety | 11 hours ago
gtufano | 11 hours ago
thisislife2 | 10 hours ago
If you remember, those were the days when Windows software were kind of "bland" looking and Apple OS and software was "Shiny" with their brushed aluminium looks and glassy UI widgets (see screenshot here - https://jimmyg.org/blog/2007/safari-3-beta-for-windows.html ). So when Apple released Safari on Windows, it was more or less a clone of their Mac version with the "Aqua" skin. It really stood out in the Windows world and thus did become popular, briefly, in the Windows world due to this. Unfortunately because it was clone of the Mac version, it also retained the same UI quirks particular to Mac software like not having proper right-clicks (where Windows users expected) and some other UI interactions aspects that were different to Windows. Now, my friend who was using Safari because he loved the Mac-look of Safari, felt frustrated that it didn't conform to the expected Windows UI interactions norms. So he wrote a strongly worded email to Apple Support where in he told them that as a Windows user he was frustrated in using the Safari browser and he expected Apple to build software that complied with Windows usability norms. (What he wanted was a Safari with the UI skin of the Mac Safari version, but with UI interactions that conformed to Windows norms). [My friend claims] Steve Jobs' Apple being what they were then, took his complaints seriously and completely re-designed Apple Safari for Windows with native windows UI (Apple Safari 4 and later). But Apple Safari, as a Windows software, without the Mac skin, looked just as bland as any other browser (and it didn't really have any other great features to distinguish it from the other browsers of that time). They thus lost their USP which had attracted their initial userbase, and as it kept shrinking Apple abandoned it. My friend still regrets the tone of the email and not communicating properly about what frustrated him about Safari on Windows ...
Almondsetat | 11 hours ago
asimovDev | 11 hours ago
it's the same as their switch from Windows to Mac advertisement from the early 2000s
Although I do not know if they have done anything like this since that until today
andsoitis | 11 hours ago
Almondsetat | 11 hours ago
adjective
ˈstrānj
stranger; strangest
a : different from what is usual, ordinary, or expected : odd
andsoitis | 11 hours ago
And many years ago they had a huge Mac vs Windows campaign! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Get_a_Mac
Almondsetat | 11 hours ago
CTRL+F on the page shows that "Android" is only written once (!) and there is no logo or anything. It's as generic and indirect as it can be.
>And many years ago they had a huge Mac vs Windows campaign!
Exactly, many years ago, and then they stopped, which makes this unusual by definition
andsoitis | 10 hours ago
B4uler5 | 11 hours ago
rwaksmunski | 11 hours ago
FinnLobsien | 11 hours ago
andsoitis | 11 hours ago
You’d be surprised! https://www.apple.com/iphone/switch/
FinnLobsien | 11 hours ago
andsoitis | 11 hours ago
Jskewel | 11 hours ago
themightyquinn | 11 hours ago
ornornor | 11 hours ago
Now on desktop, use Firefox and uBlock origin.
abhikul0 | 7 hours ago
- Not sure if possible with other browsers but you can install userscript extensions too.
- I have a shortcut that extracts the text of any tab(you can run a simple javascript, document.body.innerText to get) to send to my local llm, this javascript execution is limited to just safari.
On a mac though, I only use it to stream 4k,HDR on Netflix.
ChrisArchitect | 8 hours ago
7e | 7 hours ago
ghusto | 7 hours ago
I've tried Safari every time someone raves about it, and every time I've felt vindicated.
Switched to Brave a while ago and everything works as it should (i.e. I don't think about my web browser).