apple safari new features

Rumor: iOS 18 to add new ‘Web Eraser’ and page summarization features to Safari

Apple is reportedly planning big updates to Safari as part of iOS 18 and macOS 15 later this year. According to a report on Tuesday, the changes will include a new AI-powered tool called “Intelligent Search” with page summarization, a “Web Eraser” feature, and more.

iOS 18: New Safari features

The report, which comes from Marko Zivkovic at Apple Insider , cautions that “exact implementation” of these features “remains fuzzy.” We’d treat these claims with skepticism for the time being.

According to Zivkovic, Apple is planning a redesigned controls menu for Safari’s address bar that “consolidates old and new page control tools” in a central location. One of the new tools is reportedly something called “Intelligent Search.”

This feature, which is not enabled by default in test builds of Safari 18, can be activated from the new menu in the address bar. From there, the tool will “identify topics and key phrases within a webpage” and generate a summary of the page. The report speculates that Apple is “striving to deliver text summarization alongside Safari 18 later this year,” but again, the specific details are “fuzzy.”

Arc from The Browser Company  also combines a variety of AI features with web browsing, including page summarization options.

Safari 18 in iOS 18 and macOS 15 will also reportedly include something called “Web Eraser.” This feature is “designed to allow users to remove, or erase, specific portions of web pages,” according to Zivkovic.

Using the Web Eraser feature, users could choose to remove certain elements from a webpage like ads, images, and more. It’s a functionality already offered by certain third-party ad blockers, but Apple is apparently working on its own first-party implementation for iOS 18 and macOS 15.

Notably, any changes you make to a webpage would apply each time you visited that page. “This means that Safari will remember the changes even after the original tab or window has been closed,” Zivkovic says.

When visiting a web page with previously erased content, Safari will inform the user that the page has been modified to reflect their desired changes. The browser will also give the user the option to revert changes and restore the webpage to its initial, unaltered state.

9to5Mac’s Take

Apple implementing what is essentially a built-in ad blocker to Safari could be disastrous for ad-supported online publications like the one you’re reading right now.

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Manage push notifications

Apple updates macOS Safari with a new look, but you can turn off the big changes

A trip to preferences will tone down the design changes.

By Mitchell Clark

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Apple has released a redesigned version of Safari for macOS Big Sur and Catalina. The update, announced as part of the upcoming macOS Monterey , was released the same day as iOS and iPadOS 15, bringing the web browser’s new look and features across Apple’s platforms.

To update to the new Safari 15, you can go to System Preferences > Software Update, where it should automatically refresh and show up. Unlike updates to macOS, you shouldn’t have to reboot your computer after updating Safari.

The development behind this version of Safari has been interesting. The full OS update that it was originally a part of, which also brings features like Universal Control and Quick Notes, isn’t here yet, but Apple decided to ship the new Safari anyway. For those who have upgraded to iOS 15 , that’s a good thing — it means that you can immediately use tab groups across all your devices. The update also includes features like better tracking protection and automatic switching to HTTPS for sites that support it.

While the Safari update brings new features, it also brings a new design. Apple’s made several changes to it since it was announced (though not as many as it’s made to Safari for iPhone ), tweaking it to be less starkly minimal. Looks-wise, it’s still a major change from Safari 14, but there are preferences that you can tweak to walk back some of the more distracting changes. If you don’t want websites to be able to change the color of your tab bar, you can go to Safari’s preferences > Tabs, and uncheck “Show color in tab bar.” If you want your tabs to be on their own row, you can switch from Compact mode to Separate.

Unchecking “Automatically collapse tab titles into icons” turns the tab bar into a sort of carousel when you have too many of them. I certainly don’t prefer it, but it’s an option if that’s your sort of thing.

While Safari 15 takes a bit to get used to (I'm still getting over the learning curve myself), Tab Groups is a great feature to share between my iPhone and computer. Safari 15 also comes with the usual host of security updates , though none seem too severe. After you update, be sure to let us know what you think of the new design — is it a breath of fresh air or just another refresh that you’ll grudgingly get used to?

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iOS 17 Safari — all the new stuff coming to Apple's mobile browser

How Apple's browser is changing in the next iOS update

iOS 17 is bringing several upgrades to Safari, the iPhone's default browser, that combined may be enough to tempt you away from a third-party browser like Chrome or Firefox.

You'll have to wait until the fall to try these for yourself (unless you want to try out the iOS 17 developer beta ), but thanks to Apple's in-depth WWDC 2023 presentation, we already know a good number of features that are incoming to Safari. The updates should have the cumulative effect of making browsing simpler, more productive and more secure, so we can't wait to try them for ourselves.

You can read our summary of the top seven new iOS 17 Safari features below. If you're curious about other incoming updates for your iPhone, then have a look at our guides to FaceTime , AirDrop and the new Journal app in iOS 17 too.

iOS 17 Safari: Profiles

Apple's biggest announcement for Safari this year is the new Profiles system. Similar to Focus modes in iOS as a whole, setting up a Profile gives you an individual set of open tabs and tab groups, history, and favorites. You can swap between your work and personal profiles, or perhaps profiles for different projects you're working on, so you can focus more easily on the task at hand.

iOS 17 Safari: Private Browsing lock with Touch ID/Face ID

Whatever you're using Private Browsing mode for, chances are you don't want someone to accidentally see what's in your tabs when they happen to glance at your iPhone. Fortunately for you, iOS 17 will make lock these tabs up when you're not actively using them, requiring a Face ID or Touch ID check (depending on your iPhone) to open them back up.

iOS 17 Safari: Search improvements

If you're using Safari, there's a fair chance you're searching for something. And usefully, iOS 17 is bringing some improvements to this. Apple promises search results in Safari will be more relevant, as well as easier to read. The demo showed several regular search results below a widget showing the current scores for the MLS game the user is looking for.

iOS 17 Safari: Private Browsing tracker removal

There's arguably not much use opening a private tab if other websites can still monitor what you're doing. In a further tightening of Safari security, Private Browsing windows in iOS 17 now block tracking cookies and delete the URL tracking tags that some websites add to the end of links that would otherwise keep tabs on your adventures across the web.

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iOS 17 Safari: Autofill verification codes from Mail app

Your iPhone is already smart enough to detect when a verification code for a website comes into your Messages app, popping the code up at the top of your keyboard for easy input. That system's growing in iOS 17 to include the Mail app too, hopefully streamlining even more of your log-ins.

iOS 17 Safari: Password sharing

Users of iCloud's Keychain feature will be able to share usernames and passwords with select groups in iOS 17, with credentials automatically updating if you change something. This feature works across iOS apps, but Safari is likely to be the one that gets the most use out of this collaborative feature.

iOS 17 Safari: Auto-pause for GIFs

A nice quality-of-life ability in iOS 17 is the ability to pause all GIFs that show up on your iPhone by default, including in Safari. By using the Animated Images toggle in the Accessibility settings, the only GIFs that will play when browsing the web are the ones that you set to play yourself.

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Richard is based in London, covering news, reviews and how-tos for phones, tablets, gaming, and whatever else people need advice on. Following on from his MA in Magazine Journalism at the University of Sheffield, he's also written for WIRED U.K., The Register and Creative Bloq. When not at work, he's likely thinking about how to brew the perfect cup of specialty coffee.

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Apple releases Safari 16 with new features for Tab Groups and passwords

Safari 16 follows iOS 16 into the wild.

Apple has officially released Safari 16 to Mac users running macOS Ventura and macOS Monterey .

The latest update, which brings some usual bug fixes and performance improvements to the browser, also adds some new features to Tab Groups and passwords.

Tab Groups get a number of updates in Safari 16, including the ability to customize your background image and favorites for each Tab Group's start page. You'll also be able to pin frequently visited sites within Tab Groups.

Outside of Tab Groups, the new features are pretty varied. Settings for websites now follow you across your devices. You can also now edit strong passwords that Safari has suggested in order for it to work with the password requirements of a specific website.

The full details of Safari 16 are in the release notes and below:

Safari 16 introduces new features, even faster performance, and improved security, such as:

• Tab Group start pages let you add different background images and favorites for each Tab Group
• Pinned tabs in Tab Groups enable you to pin frequently visited websites for each Tab Group
• Tabs in the sidebar let you see a list view of your open tabs
• Settings you've set for specific websites now sync across devices
• Strong password editing lets you adjust strong passwords to meet website-specific requirements
• Some features may not be available for all regions, or on all Apple devices.

Apple released a lot more than Safari 16 today

In addition to releasing Safari 16, Apple also rolled out the public versions of iOS 16 , watchOS 9 , and tvOS 16 today. Those releases add a lot more features to the iPhone, Apple Watch, and Apple TV.

Master your iPhone in minutes

iMore offers spot-on advice and guidance from our team of experts, with decades of Apple device experience to lean on. Learn more with iMore!

We're also now days away from the new iPhone. The iPhone 14 , iPhone 14 Pro , and iPhone 14 Pro Max will release to the world on Friday, September 16. The iPhone 14 Plus, the new big regular iPhone model, will not release until October.

Joe Wituschek is a Contributor at iMore. With over ten years in the technology industry, one of them being at Apple, Joe now covers the company for the website. In addition to covering breaking news, Joe also writes editorials and reviews for a range of products. He fell in love with Apple products when he got an iPod nano for Christmas almost twenty years ago. Despite being considered a "heavy" user, he has always preferred the consumer-focused products like the MacBook Air, iPad mini, and iPhone 13 mini. He will fight to the death to keep a mini iPhone in the lineup. In his free time, Joe enjoys video games, movies, photography, running, and basically everything outdoors.

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How To : Safari's Massive Upgrade Comes with Over 18 New Features for iPhone, iPad, and Mac

Safari's massive upgrade in Apple's latest iPhone software update includes new features you won't find in any other web browsers on iOS, from better ways to stay organized to enhanced security and further privacy protections.

Apple's latest Safari improvements make web browsing more efficient, secure, and private, and those really are the three key elements of this year's big update. All of the features listed below apply to Safari 17 on iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 , and most also work similarly on macOS 14 Sonoma 's updated Safari experience.

• Don't Miss: There Are 18 New Features Hiding in Your iPhone's Camera App on iOS 17

1. Use Safari Profiles for Isolated Browsing Activity

If you've ever found yourself switching between work-related sites and personal interests, Safari Profiles is the game changer you've been waiting for. It's a tailor-made browsing experience that brings organization to the next level.

At its core, each profile acts as a unique browsing environment. This means you can have a work profile with only work-related cookies, history, and website data, and your personal profile's cookies, history, and website data would be separate. Extensions can be turned on or off per profile, as well as Web Push notifications for websites, and each profile can have its own favorites folder for bookmarks on its own start page for new tabs.

You can have as many profiles as you need (hobbies, games, school, etc.), profiles sync to other devices using the same Apple ID, and they work across iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and macOS Sonoma. You can even have different profiles for family members or friends using the same device to isolate everyone's browsing activity. It's not 100% private since there are no locks for profiles, but it can at least keep things separate.

See our guide on using Safari Profiles to learn more, including how to set them up, manage them, delete them, and more.

• Find Out More: Create Safari Profiles to Separate Browsing Activity for Personal, Work, and Other Topics on Your iPhone or iPad

2. Open Different Links in Different Safari Profiles

When viewing a webpage in Safari on iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, you can tap the page settings button ("AA"), followed by "Website Settings," to see a new option to open links from the specific website you're on in a particular profile. Tap "Open Links in Profile," then choose the profile; the default is "Most Recent Profile."

You will also see a new "Profiles" option in Settings –> Safari under the "Settings for Websites" section. Tap that, and you'll see all the websites you set links to open in specific profiles. Tap a domain name, and you can change the profile links open in. You can also tap "Edit" at the top to bulk delete link-opening preferences or "Clear All Settings."

3. Lock Private Browsing Mode Behind Biometrics

All your secret, tucked-away Safari tabs in Private Browsing mode are more protected in Apple's latest software update. From now on, you must unlock your private tabs in Safari using Face ID or Touch ID authentication on iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and macOS Sonoma. This change makes Private Browsing mode even more private.

If you've ever been concerned about handing over your unlocked iPhone, iPad, or Mac to someone else, this update — along with last year's biometric authentication for Hidden Albums in Photos — may offer you some peace of mind. Face ID or Touch ID will deny anyone attempting to open your Private Browsing tabs access unless they happen to know your device's passcode or password.

• More Info: Safari's Private Browsing Mode Just Made Your Private Tabs Way More Private on iOS 17

If you ever wish to disable this additional security feature on iPhone or iPad, go to Settings –> Safari –> Privacy & Security and toggle off "Require Face ID [or Touch ID] to Unlock Private Browsing." You must confirm the action with Face ID or Touch ID or your passcode to successfully turn it off.

On macOS Sonoma, disabling the feature works a bit differently. In Safari, open "Settings" in the menu bar, go to the "Privacy" tab, and uncheck the "Require Touch ID to view locked tabs" or "Require password to view locked tabs."

4. Switch Between Tab Groups Faster

On iOS 16 and iPadOS 16, you could quickly access Private Browsing and Tab Groups in Safari by long-pressing the tabs icon in the toolbar and selecting "New Private Tab" or the appropriate Tab Group name. However, many users would just tap the tabs icon, so they'd have to tap the current Tab Group at the bottom to open the menu to switch between your personal, private, and grouped tabs.

Apple addresses this with iOS 17 and iPadOS 17. When you tap the tabs icon now, you'll see a bar with Private Browsing and your current profile's Tab Groups. Simply swipe left or right on the bar until you land on your desired spot. If the tab is in another profile, tap the profile icon and switch to that profile first.

5. Change Private Browsing's Search Engine

We've been able to switch Safari's default search engine for a while now, but iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and macOS Sonoma also allow you to customize your search engine preference for Private Browsing .

This is useful if you want to up the privacy level even more in Private Browsing by selecting one dedicated to user privacy, such as DuckDuckGo, which does not build user profiles and aims to prevent online tracking.

To change your search engine for private tabs, go to Settings –> Safari –> Private Search Engine, then choose the one you want. On macOS Sonoma, open "Settings" in Safari's menu bar, go to the "Search" tab, and click the browser next to "Private Browsing search engine."

• Full Guide: Safari's Private Browsing Mode Gives You Search Engine Choices

You'll see the same choices for Private Browsing as for regular browsing, and there's another option for "Use Default Search Engine." As you can see below, I have Google, Yahoo, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Ecosia, as well as non-English choices of Baidu, Sogou, Yandex, and 360 Search. You may see fewer or more options here based on the different preferred languages you have installed for your device.

6. Browse Without Being Watched

Another new privacy-related upgrade in Safari 17 is more advanced tracking and fingerprinting protection in Private Browsing mode. Now, Safari can block known trackers and tracking parameters from URLs that websites often append to links to monitor your movements across the web and build profiles on you. According to Apple's list of new WebKit technologies in Safari 17, the privacy upgrade includes:

• Blocking for known trackers and fingerprinting.
• Blocking for known tracking query parameters in links.
• Noise to fingerprintable web APIs.
• Console log messages when blocking requests to known trackers.
• Support for mitigating trackers that map subdomains to third-party IP addresses.
• Support for blocking trackers that use third-party CNAME cloaking.
• Support for Private Click Measurement for direct response advertising, similar to how it works for in-app direct response advertising .

So Safari can block more known tracking resources than before in Private Browsing, and its Link Tracking Protection can remove user-identifiable URL tracking parameters in certain links. For example, the following link shows the click ID:

But Safari would strip the click ID when browsing to the webpage or when copying the link, as seen below.

It's an improvement in privacy, but it's not going to stop all marketing companies as there are ways to bypass parameter removals . And it's only enabled for Privacy Browsing mode by default. However, you can make it apply across all of Safari by going to Settings –> Safari –> Advanced –> Advanced Tracking and Fingerprint Protection, then choosing "All Browsing."

On macOS Sonoma, open "Settings" in Safari's menu bar, go to the "Advanced" tab, click "in Private Browsing" next to "Use advanced tracking and fingerprinting protection," and change it to "in all browsing."

7. Search Faster

Search is faster and more responsive in Safari 17. While Safari wasn't exactly slow with suggestions before, you'll definitely notice the speed increase when performing searches in the browser.

8. Get More Relevant Suggestions in Search

When you perform a search in Safari 17, you'll also notice that the results are easier to read and offer more relevant search suggestions. There are some noticeable visual changes and layout shifting as well, giving you a more functional, efficient presentation.

9. Use or Disable Extensions in Private Browsing Mode

In a move that underscores Apple's relentless commitment to privacy, Safari 17 takes an extra precaution in Safari's Private Browsing mode by automatically disabling extensions . Depending on your expectations of Private Browsing mode, this new feature may seem slightly inconvenient or feel like something Safari should have implemented from the beginning.

Turning off extensions in Private Browsing may seem like a small change. Still, it adds an additional layer of assurance that your online activities remain your own, unhindered by potential vulnerabilities that might be introduced through third-party extensions.

If you really need specific extensions to work in Private Browsing, visit Settings –> Safari –> Extensions on iOS 17 or iPadOS 17, then tap the extension you want to enable. If the extension is completely disabled, you won't be able to activate it for Private Browsing. When the extension is enabled for your "Personal" profile , you'll see a "Private Browsing" switch. Turn it on, and that extension will be available when browsing incognito.

• More Info: Safari's Private Browsing Mode Lets You Customize Extensions

You'll also find this option on macOS. Open "Settings" in Safari's menu bar, go to the "Extensions" tab, select the extension you want, and enable it for Private Browsing.

10. Make Safari Read Articles to You Out Loud

When you have tired eyes but a mind hungry for content, use Safari 17's new page-reading tool. Whenever you stumble across an intriguing article but can't read it at the moment or aren't in the mood to read it at all, your device can read it out loud for you — and it's much easier to use and more accurate than the Speak Screen accessibility tool you'd have to rely on before.

To use it on an iPhone or iPad, tap the page settings icon ("AA") in the address bar for any webpage that supports Reader View , then select the new "Listen to Page" option. Your device will start reading, intelligently speaking only the text in the article and not any unnecessary content in buttons, ads, dates, etc. You may need to raise the volume if you don't hear it right away.

Tap the page settings button again, which will show a speaker icon instead of "AA" while actively listening to a page, and you'll see an option for "Listening Controls." Select that to get playback controls like pause, skip forward, and skip backward, as well as a "Speaking rate" option to change the spoken speed.

Whether you're on the go or settling down for the night, this feature turns your browser into a new-age reading assistant, allowing you to have content read to you when the webpage is rich with text.

11. View Your Reading List from the Home Screen

Safari gets its first widget with iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and macOS 14 Sonoma. When adding widgets to your Home Screen, Today View, or Notification Center, scroll to and select "Safari," then choose between the small, medium, or large "Reading List" widget. With it, you can easily access the most recent webpages added to your Reading List without opening Safari first.

12. Stop Animated GIFs from Auto-Playing

GIFs can be a fun way to express emotions or share a laugh, but larger GIF files can slow a webpage down considerably. They can also be bothersome for users with cognitive disabilities and a distraction when trying to concentrate on something serious. Those are just a few reasons why iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and macOS Sonoma let you turn auto-playing GIFs off without having to rely on Low Power Mode .

This hidden gem does more than eliminate disturbances; it helps speed up your browsing experience, conserve battery, and save data. To try it on iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, navigate to Settings –> Accessibility –> Motion, and turn off the toggle next to "Auto-Play Animated Images." Then, to play paused GIFs in Safari and in many other apps, tap the play button on them.

On macOS Sonoma, you can pause auto-playing GIFs per website in Safari via Settings –> Settings for [website].

13. Autofill Emailed 2FA Verification Codes

When trying to log in to a website in Safari, the website may send you a two-factor authentication code that you'll have to enter to confirm it's you signing in. Before, Safari would detect and let you autofill SMS codes received in Messages without closing Safari. That way, you wouldn't have to open Messages, copy the code, open Safari again, and paste it in.

Now, Safari 17 will do the same thing with email verification codes from the Mail app. So there's no more leaving Safari to open Mail and hunt for the email.

14. Share Password Groups with Trusted Contacts

While iCloud Keychain is more of an iCloud feature, giving you quick access to passwords across the entire iOS and iPadOS system — including in Safari — it's more closely tied to Safari itself in macOS. So, a new iCloud Keychain feature is very applicable to Safari, and the newest one lets you share passwords and passkeys with trusted contacts in your address book.

On macOS Sonoma, you can start sharing passwords and passkeys with family, coworkers, and others directly in Safari via Safari –> Settings –> Passwords. You can also do it from System Settings –> Passwords. On iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, navigate to Settings –> Passwords.

Tap "Get Started" in the box for "Share Passwords with Family," read the quick information about it, and hit "Continue."

If you're already a part of an iCloud family, you may see some of those people already included, but you can remove them if that's not who you want in the group. Tap "Add People" to do just that, rename the group name if necessary, and tap "Create" to save it.

You may see a notice that some of your devices are not updated to the latest software and therefore cannot see the Shared Password Groups. You'll need to update those devices to see password groups on them, but they won't prevent you from seeing password groups on already updated devices.

Next, select all the account credentials you want to move to the Shared Password Group and hit "Move."

After that, you'll be asked to notify invited members, but it's not necessary for them to accept access. You can then access the Shared Password Group on the main Passwords view. You'll also see other Shared Password Groups if other people invited you to theirs.

Each person you share with can access, add to, and change the passwords, simplifying the process of logging into shared sites. Everything stays updated for everyone. This feature goes beyond Safari, making the entire password-sharing process seamless and secure without any compromise on the safety of your information.

15. Find Things More Quickly in Your Browsing History

Navigating through your browsing history just got visually richer on iPhone and iPad. Safari now displays website favicons in the history section for each of your profiles. Next to each result in the history, these tiny icons show off the logo, symbol, or other image the website uses to represent itself visually.

Aside from that, you can now expand and minimize dates and morning, afternoon, and evening segments of the most recent days to find what you're looking for more quickly. Previously, you would have to scroll down one long list, but now you just need to look for the correct time and reveal what's behind it.

16. Feature Flags Instead of Experimental Features

In a minor change to Safari's "Advanced" settings, the "Experimental Features" submenu is now called "Feature Flags." While typically used by developers and WebKit engineers, these options "give you access to new browser initiatives, upcoming web tools, element changes, behavior adjustments, and other preliminary feature tests in development by Apple."

17. New, Removed, and Renamed Feature Flags

If you're a developer or just somebody who wants to improve web browsing in Safari, you can test many of these feature flags on iOS 17 and iPadOS 17. The ones disabled by default are still being tested internally by Apple and may not work correctly or at all for developers and regular users. The ones enabled by default should work for anyone. The settings below indicate where the flag is or was on or off by default.

Completely New:

• AbortSignal.any() API [off]
• CSS @font-face size-adjust [on]
• CSS Rhythmic Sizing [off]
• CSS align-tracks & justify-tracks properties for masonry layout [off]
• CSS scrollbar-color property [off]
• CSS scrollbar-gutter property [off]
• CSS scrollbar-width property [off]
• CSS text-box-trim property [off]
• CSS text-spacing property [off]
• CSS text-wrap & white-space-collapse properties [off]
• CSS text-wrap: balance stable pretty [off]
• CSSOM View Scrolling API [on]
• Cookie Store API [off]
• Enable background-fetch API [off]
• Fetch Priority [off]
• HTML popover attribute [on]
• Image Animation Control [on]
• Link rel=modulepreload [on]
• Link rel=preconnect via HTTP early hints [on]
• Live Ranges in Selection [on]
• Managed Media Source API [off]
• Managed Media Source Requires AirPlay source [on]
• Selection API for shadow DOM [on]
• Send mouse events to disabled form controls [off]
• Shape Detection API [off]
• Verify window.open user gesture [off]
• WebGL Timer Queries [off]
• word-break: auto enabled [off]

Newly Toggled On:

• Allow WebGL in Web Workers
• CSS Contain Intrinsic Size
• Clear-Site-Data HTTP Header
• Deprecate RSAES-PKCS1-v1_5 Web Crypto
• Storage API Estimate
• Web Crypto Safe Curves

No Longer Present:

• Aspect ratio of <img> from width and height [on]
• Async clipboard API [on]
• Block top-level redirects by third-party iframes [on]
• CSS Aspect Ratio [on]
• CSS Color 4 Color Types [on]
• CSS Individual Transform Properties [on]
• CSS leading-trim property [off]
• Fetch API Request KeepAlive [on]
• Generic Text Track Cue API [on]
• Intersection Observer [on]
• Load site icons ignoring image loading preference [off]
• Local File Content Sniffing [off]
• Media Session API [on]
• Media Source API [off]
• NSURLSession WebSocket [on]
• Opus audio decoder [on]
• Paint Timing [on]
• PerformanceNavigationTiming [on]
• Push API [off]
• Quirk to prevent delayed initial painting on sites using Google's Anti-Flicker optimization [on]
• Referrer Policy attribute [on]
• Remote Playback API [on]
• Resize Observer [on]
• Resolution media feature [on]
• Speech Recognition API [on]
• Storage Access API [on]
• Synthetic Editing Commands [on]
• TransformStream API [on]
• Visual Viewport API [on]
• Vorbis audio decoder [on]
• WebGL 2.0 [on]
• WebGL via Metal [on]
• WebXR Augmented Reality Module [off]
• WebXR Device API [off]
• WebXR Gamepads Module [off]
• WebXR Hand Input Module [off]
• CSS text-wrap & white-space-collapse properties [off] – previously: CSS text-wrap property [off]
• HTML <dialog> element [on] – previously: Dialog Element [on]
• HTML inert attribute [on] – previously: inert attribute [on]
• Next-generation inline layout (IFS) [on] – previously: Next-generation inline layout integration (IFS) [on]
• WebCodecs API [on] – previously: Web Codecs [on]

Flags on macOS:

The Feature Flags experience on macOS is even more improved with a new flags panel organized by topic (Animation, CSS, HTML, JavaScript, Media, etc.) and categorized as Stable, Testable, Preview, or Developer features.

18. Other Safari Changes

• There's a new description on iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 for the "Search" section in Settings –> Safari that says, "Private Browsing uses on-device information to provide search suggestions. No data is shared with the service provider."
• As you could probably already tell from above, some of the privacy- and security-related settings moved from Settings –> Safari to Settings –> Safari –> Advanced on iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, including "Block All Cookies," "Privacy Preserving Ad Measurement," and "Check for Apple Pay."
• On iOS 17, the option in the page settings button ("AA") for moving the address bar to the top or bottom is missing. Now it's only changed via Settings –> Safari –> Tabs.
• Live Text now supports vertical text recognition in images and videos, though, it's still a bit rough.
• Lockdown Mode in Safari now disables IndexedDB, the File API and FileReader API, support for the <embed> element, the Web Speech (Speech Synthesis) API, the WebLocks API, and support for experimental APIs, while also adding support for select web fonts.
• Safari now supports JPEG XL, a new image format that provides a modern option for "finding the right balance between visual quality and file size," according to Apple.
• Safari also now supports HEIC images, which can take up half the space of an equivalent JPEG file.
• And it also now supports "AV1 video on devices with hardware decoding support, like iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max."

Just updated your iPhone? You'll find new emoji, enhanced security, podcast transcripts, Apple Cash virtual numbers, and other useful features. There are even new additions hidden within Safari. Find out what's new and changed on your iPhone with the iOS 17.4 update.

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Apple to unveil AI-enabled Safari browser alongside new operating systems

Safari getting new AI tools in iOS 18

The software — expected to debut as Safari 18 later in 2024 — is currently undergoing evaluation alongside internal builds of Apple's next-generation operating system updates, namely iOS 18 and macOS 15, according to people familiar with the matter. Should all of the new features make it to the release candidate stage, users will be treated to a new user interface (UI) for customizing popular page controls, a "Web eraser" feature, and AI-driven content summarization tools.

Intelligent Search - AI-enhanced browsing and text summarization

Engineers evaluating the latest builds of Safari 18 can find a toggle for the new page controls menu within the browser's address bar. The menu consolidates — and provides quick access to — old and new page control tools, among them being the browsers new "Intelligent Search" feature.

This feature is not automatically enabled in test builds of Safari 18 and instead requires manual activation from the page controls menu. Once enabled, it's believed the tool leverages Apple's on-device AI technology — specifically the Ajax language-learning model — to identify topics and key phrases within a webpage for which to base the summarization.

In selecting key phrases, the Apple's LLM software identifies sentences that provide explanations or describe the structure of objects, depending on the text in question. Words repeated within a text and key sentences are recognized as text topics.

These early indications suggest Apple is striving to deliver text summarization alongside Safari 18 later this year, though the exact implementation of this feature remains fuzzy.

Apple's text summarization features could be a response to rival generative AI tools, such as OpenAI's ChatGPT. But Apple's on-device models and technologies like Private Relay could make the experience much more secure for users. Intelligent Search is also likely to be the same AI browser assistant that one X user hinted at a couple of weeks back.

Web Eraser for better content-blocking

Also accessible from the new page controls menu is a feature Apple is testing called "Web Eraser." As its name would imply, it's designed to allow users to remove, or erase, specific portions of web pages, according to people familiar with the feature.

The feature is expected to build upon existing privacy features within Safari and will allow users to erase unwanted content from any webpage of their choosing. Users will have the option to erase banner ads, images, text or even entire page sections, all with relative ease.

The erasure is said to be persistent, rather than limited to a browsing session. This means that Safari will remember the changes even after the original tab or window has been closed.

When visiting a web page with previously erased content, Safari will inform the user that the page has been modified to reflect their desired changes. The browser will also give the user the option to revert changes and restore the webpage to its initial, unaltered state.

As for where Apple got the inspiration for Web Eraser, the company could have Sherlocked the feature from the third-party app 1Blocker. The application features a similar way of erasing ads, where users would tap ads to make them disappear.

Updated UI will move key tools into one easy location

The new page controls menu referenced throughout this article will attempt to offer Safari 18 users quick and easy access to several options previously located across different menus and the Share Sheet. Running on pre-release versions of macOS 15, for instance, the menu also "pulls in the Aa" menu common on existing iPadOS versions of the browser. These include zoom options, webpage settings for privacy controls, content blocking options, extension shortcuts, and access to the new AI and erasure tools.

These various options existed previously on macOS, but were found by navigating through the Safari settings menu. Having all of these controls in one central location in the Address Bar will make these options more discoverable for end users. Other options like on-page text search and reader mode are also in this menu.

This all suggests Apple intends to unite the iPadOS and macOS Safari UI paradigms when it unveils its new OS releases during its Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

AI-enhanced Visual Lookup feature could be available in 2025

Simultaneously, Apple is also working on a much more powerful visual search feature scheduled for integration sometime in 2025 that will allow users obtain information on consumer products when browsing through images. People familiar with the tool say it's similar to the Visual Lookup feature, through which Siri can identify plants, pets and landmarks from photos.

Visual Search could be implemented as a system-wide feature. So, instead of surfacing search results in the Photos app, the user may be able to use Visual Search directly in Safari by selecting an image.

Given development of this tool is in the earlier stages, it remains unclear how Apple will ultimately go about implementing it. It also remains to be seen whether or not the feature will make it through internal testing.

The iPhone maker has expressed significant interest in artificial intelligence and more recently published research related to on-device language learning models. This goes hand in hand with widespread rumors about several other AI-powered software features, many of which are expected to make their debut later this year with iOS 18.

Another big year for Safari

From its inception, Safari was always meant to rival existing web browsers.

Safari was originally added to macOS as a means of replacing Microsoft's Internet Explorer for Mac, which was the default browser. Over the years, the app made its way to the iPhone , and has since received various upgrades over the years.

More recent versions of Safari provide users with personalized web suggestions, and allow for greater privacy protection with features such as iCloud Private Relay.

This latest set of enhancements only serves to better position Safari against the competition, in an ever-increasing landscape of generative AI tools and third-party ad-blockers.

While Apple tests many such features during different development stages, it is important to remember that not all of them make it to release. Apple has been known to delay features or cancel them entirely, so there's always a chance we may not see these new Safari features after all.

Along with Safari 18 and its associated improvements, we should also see a revamped Calculator with Math Notes make its way to iPadOS 18. Freeform Scenes and Adaptive Voice Shortcuts are new OS features, which are also expected to debut later this year.

Apple is expected to introduce various AI-related enhancements as part of iOS 18 and macOS 15, both of which should be announced at the company's annual WWDC on June 10.

"As for where Apple got the inspiration for Web Eraser, the company could have Sherlocked the feature from the third-party app 1Blocker. The application features a similar way of erasing ads, where users would tap ads to make them disappear." They may also have been inspired by Simplified Page....

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iOS 15 brings new ways to stay connected and powerful features that help users focus, explore, and do more with on-device intelligence

More Natural FaceTime Calls and Shared Experiences with SharePlay

Tools to Find Focus

New Notifications Experience

On-Device Intelligence Powers Live Text, Advanced Spotlight Search, and More

A Redesigned Browsing Experience with Safari

Explore the world with apple maps.

New Keys and State IDs Come to Apple Wallet

New Privacy Features

Redesigned Weather and Notes Apps

Additional Features

• Siri adds Announce Notifications on AirPods, the ability for users to share what’s on their screen just by asking, and more.
• Shared with You works across the system to find the articles, music, TV shows, photos, and more that are shared in Messages conversations, and conveniently surfaces them in apps like Photos, Safari, Apple News, Music, Podcasts, and the Apple TV app, making it easy to quickly access the information in context.
• iCloud+ combines everything users love about iCloud with new premium features, including Hide My Email, expanded HomeKit Secure Video support, and an innovative new internet privacy service, iCloud Private Relay, at no additional cost. 9 Current iCloud subscribers will be upgraded to iCloud+ automatically this fall. All iCloud+ plans can be shared with people in the same Family Sharing group, so everyone can enjoy the new features, storage, and elevated experience that comes with the service. 
• The Health app gets a new sharing tab that lets users share their health data with family, caregivers, or a care team, Trends gives users a way to focus attention on meaningful changes in personal health metrics, and Walking Steadiness is a new metric that empowers people to proactively manage their fall risk.
• HomeKit accessory makers can now enable “Hey Siri” in their products, allowing customers to talk to and get responses from Siri on third-party devices. “Hey Siri”-enabled accessories will relay requests through HomePod or HomePod mini and will support features such as Personal Requests, Intercom, timers, and alarms. Starting today, smart home device manufacturers can begin working with Apple to integrate Siri into their accessories.
• Find My introduces new capabilities to help locate a device that has been turned off or erased, as well as live-streaming locations for family and friends who choose to share their location. Separation Alerts notify a user if they leave an AirTag, Apple device, or Find My network accessory behind in an unfamiliar location, and the Find My network now supports AirPods Pro and AirPods Max. A new Find My widget offers an at-a-glance view directly from the Home Screen. 
• Translate adds a new Live Translate feature that makes conversation flow naturally across languages. Systemwide translation allows users to translate text anywhere on iPhone.
• New iPhone setup makes it more seamless than ever to get started with iPhone. Existing iPhone users can temporarily back up data to iCloud — even without a subscription — to easily transfer their data to a new iPhone. For those moving to iPhone for the first time, an improved “Move to iOS” experience easily transfers photo albums, files, folders, and Accessibility settings, so iPhone feels personal right from the start. 
• Accessibility across iPhone expands with new features for VoiceOver that enable users to explore even more details about the people, text, table data, and other objects within images. In support of neurodiversity, new background sounds help minimize distractions, and for those who are deaf or hard of hearing, Made for iPhone supports new bidirectional hearing aids. Sound Actions customizes Switch Control to work with mouth sounds, and users can now customize display and text size on an app-by-app basis. Apple is also bringing support for recognizing imported audiograms — charts that show the results of a hearing test — to Headphone Accommodations.

Availability

Images of iOS 15

• Available on iPhone and iPad with A12 Bionic and later and Mac models (2018 or later).
• Available on iPhone and iPad with A12 Bionic and later and Mac computers with the M1 chip.
• Users with non-Apple devices can join using the latest version of Chrome or Edge. Sending video requires H.264 video encoding support.
• Support for CarPlay will be available later this year.
• Digital car keys require a participating car manufacturer and will be coming later this year.
• Support for new keys requires an iPhone running iOS 15 and a compatible door lock for apartments, offices, and hotels that will be available through third parties.
• Available on iPhone and iPad with A12 Bionic and later. Requires download of speech models.
• App Privacy Report will arrive as part of a software update to iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and watchOS 8.
• iCloud+ plans: 50GB with one HomeKit Secure Video camera ($0.99 per month), 200GB with up to five HomeKit Secure Video cameras ($2.99 per month), and 2TB with an unlimited number of HomeKit Secure Video cameras ($9.99 per month).

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Safari profiles

Create separate profiles for things like home and work, so you can keep your browsing activities organized.

• Watch the video about profiles

Use passkeys

Passkeys replace passwords for an easier and more secure way to sign in to your accounts. And you can find them right on your device.

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Add your favorite websites to the Dock for an app-like experience.

• Learn how to use web apps

Customize your start page

Choose a background image and other options such as Favorites, Siri Suggestions, iCloud Tabs, and Reading List.

• Personalize your start page

Add extensions

Safari extensions add functionality and are a great way to personalize and enhance your browsing experience.

• Learn how to install extensions

Privacy Report

See a list of known trackers who’ve been blocked from tracking you across all the websites you’ve visited.

• View your Privacy Report
• Manage your privacy

Autofill passwords

Use the AutoFill feature to easily fill in saved user names and passwords, and suggest strong passwords when you sign up for websites.

• Learn about Autofill

Import bookmarks

You can import your bookmarks, history, and saved passwords from Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, and pick up right where you left off.

• Import from other browsers

Increase your online security

Learn how to identify and avoid  phishing and other scams , and how to get a warning if the site you’re visiting is a suspected phishing website. 

• Update Safari Security preferences for Mac

Learn about features and discover all that Safari can do.

• Browse the guide

Set up iCloud

Select and set up the iCloud features you want to use like Photos, Contacts, Calendars, and more.

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What’s new for Apple developers

Learn about the key technologies and exciting capabilities available in the latest SDKs for Apple platforms.

Code and design your apps faster with enhanced code completion, interactive previews, and live animations. Use Git staging to craft your next commit without leaving your code. Explore and diagnose your test results with redesigned test reports with video recording. And start deploying seamlessly to TestFlight and the App Store from Xcode Cloud.

Watch the latest videos

Swift unlocks new kinds of expressive and intuitive APIs by introducing macros. Swift and C++ code can now interoperate directly, making it easy to use Swift in your C++ projects. The latest release includes many other enhancements, such as improved result builder compiler performance, faster JSON encoding and decoding, and expanded support for generics.

SwiftUI is the best way to build modern user interfaces that work across all Apple platforms. This year, SwiftUI gains support for creating more sophisticated animations with phases and keyframes. Data flow between views is simpler and more performant using the new Observable annotation. Widgets are now interactive and run in new places like StandBy, the Lock Screen on iPad, and on desktop on Mac.

SwiftData is an all-new framework for managing data within your apps. Models are described using regular Swift code, without the need for custom editors. SwiftData automatically provides relationship management, undo/redo support, iCloud synchronization, and more. And SwiftData integrates with SwiftUI, so your data is readily available and your views are always up to date.

Widgets and Live Activities

Widgets are becoming even more powerful in even more places. Now you can use WidgetKit to build support for interactivity and animated transitions, so people can take action right in your widget. Once you rebuild for iOS 17, with just a few simple changes your existing widgets will look great in StandBy on iPhone, on the Lock Screen on iPad, and on the desktop on Mac. With SwiftUI, the system adapts your widget’s color and spacing based on context, extending its usefulness across platforms.

Live Activities built with WidgetKit and ActivityKit are now available on iPad to help people stay on top of what’s happening in your app in real time, right from the Lock Screen.

App Shortcuts

When you adopt App Shortcuts, your app’s key features are automatically surfaced in Spotlight when people search for your app. A new design makes running your app’s shortcuts easier than ever and new natural language capabilities let people execute your shortcuts with their voice with even more flexibility. A redesigned Shortcuts app allows for your key features to be discovered and run in one convenient place.

Watch the latest video

Metal powers hardware-accelerated graphics on Apple platforms by providing a low-overhead API, rich shading language, tight integration between graphics and compute, and an unparalleled suite of GPU profiling and debugging tools. With the new game porting toolkit and Metal shader converter, now it’s even easier to bring your games to Mac.

Machine learning

Updates to the Core ML framework bring even faster model loading and inference. The new Async Prediction API simplifies the creation of interactive ML-powered experiences and aids in maximizing hardware utilization. Use the new Core ML Tools optimization module to help compress and optimize your models for deployment on Apple hardware. Weight pruning, quantization, and palletization utilities can be applied during model conversion or while training your model in frameworks like PyTorch to preserve accuracy during compression.

Use the Create ML app or framework to build custom models on top of Apple’s latest visual feature extractors for images and multilingual transformer-based embeddings for text. Creating a model to understand the content of images has never been easier with the addition of multilabel classification, interactive model evaluation, and new APIs for custom training data augmentations.

Machine learning APIs

New APIs in the Vision framework provide advanced image segmentation, animal body pose detection, and 3D human body pose leveraging depth information. Use VisionKit to easily integrate Visual Lookup and subject-lifting experiences into your app. The Natural Language framework enhances understanding of multilingual text using new transformer-based embedding models. The Speech framework makes it easy to introduce custom vocabulary for speech recognition, so you can personalize your user experiences.

SharePlay lets people share rich, real-time experiences while connecting via FaceTime and Messages. With AirDrop in iOS 17, people can now bring their devices together to instantly kick off a shared activity with any app that supports SharePlay — with no additional adoption required. A new share menu in FaceTime and the SharePlay UI makes discovering SharePlay apps even easier in iOS and iPadOS. And apps that support SharePlay can now rapidly transfer large files to everyone in the session.

MapKit for SwiftUI makes it easier than ever for you to integrate Maps into your apps. You can also create Maps Snapshots with the Detailed City Experience, including optimized camera and pitch controls that offer stunning map views for your users.

In-app purchase

The new StoreKit Views make it easier than ever to create secure merchandising experiences for in-app purchases and subscriptions across Apple platforms. With as little as one line of code, the description, price, and duration for each level of service are clearly presented to the user. And you can take advantage of updates to the App Store Server API, as well as enhancements to StoreKit testing in Xcode, the Apple sandbox environment, and TestFlight.

App privacy details

An important part of submitting your app to the App Store is explaining how your app handles user data. Two new updates make it easier to accurately provide Privacy Nutrition Labels and improve the integrity of the software supply chain: signatures for third-party SDKs and privacy manifests. In addition, we’re adding more data type options to use in your Privacy Nutrition Label when describing what types of data your app collects.

Wallet and Apple Pay

Let customers easily and securely move funds from a stored balance in your financial app to an eligible card in Wallet with PKDisbursementRequest. And you can now use ID Verifier to enable businesses to use an iPhone to easily accept mobile IDs in person — without the need for external hardware.

Make the most of the beta testing process in TestFlight with updates to tester management capabilities that help you better understand your testers and get valuable new details.

• Filter and sort testers by their level of engagement, indicated by app sessions, app crashes, and volume of feedback.
• View the most recently installed device type and OS used by testers when testing your app.
• Perform key actions for multiple testers at once.

These features are also supported by the App Store Connect API.

Notifications

The new Push Notifications Console makes it easy to send test notifications to Apple devices through the Apple Push Notification service (APNs). You can access logs that provide insights into the delivery process and leverage tools to generate and validate tokens.

Game Center

Game Center is Apple’s social gaming network, designed to help players experience the joy of games with their friends.

Multiplayer improvements

Customize your matchmaking rules in multiplayer matches. For example, you can automatch players based on skill or region for a better multiplayer experience. Additional enhancements improve the speed and reliability of multiplayer matches.

Achievement rarity

Players can view the number of other players who’ve unlocked a particular achievement, so they’ll stay motivated and excited about what they’ve accomplished.

Configuration improvements

Set up and manage achievements and leaderboards more easily with enhanced Game Center tools and APIs.

• Archive achievements and leaderboards you no longer want to display.
• Configure and manage achievement and leaderboard metadata.
• Submit score and achievement data directly to Game Center.

SF Symbols is a library of iconography designed to integrate seamlessly with San Francisco, the system font for Apple platforms. SF Symbols 5 introduces a collection of expressive animations, over 700 new symbols, and enhanced tools for custom symbols.

Now people can share passwords and passkeys from iCloud Keychain with their trusted contacts. Password manager apps can save and offer passkeys on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. Enterprises can take advantage of passkeys thanks to Managed Apple ID support for iCloud Keychain. And administrators can manage which devices passkeys sync to using Access Management controls in Apple Business Manager and Apple School Manager.

Intelligently educate your users about the right features at the right time with TipKit. This new framework includes templates that match what people are accustomed to seeing in system apps, and are easily customizable to match the look and feel of your app. Add targeting to educate users on functionality related to their current context and manage the overall frequency to avoid showing the same tips again, even if the tips appeared on another device.

You can now create more engaging experiences using only a few lines of code. The latest updates to ShazamKit APIs make it easier than ever for your app to recognize audio, even through headphones. And the new ShazamKit Library API lets you surface your users’ music discoveries directly in your app.

Accessibility

Assistive Access, a game-changing new feature, makes technology — and your apps — more accessible to users with cognitive disabilities on iPhone and iPad. Cutting-edge advancements in speech synthesis let you create even more custom experiences. Enhancements to the accessibility APIs help you improve UI tests. And advances in UI frameworks make it easy to build rich, accessible experiences.

tvOS enhancements

Continuity camera.

Incorporate live camera and microphone feeds into your tvOS apps for the very first time. Create conferencing apps that bring friends and families together from the comfort of their couches. Heighten gameplay by adding live video and audio, and place users directly into the action. And unlock creative, social, and shared experiences that turn the living room into everyone’s stage.

Now you can build virtual private network apps on Apple TV, making it easier for people and organizations to access content on their own private networks.

SwiftUI and UIKit for tvOS

Further customize your app’s interface and provide even more functionality with SwiftUI. Create borderless buttons and effects that accent your design. And new menu support in UIKit delivers contextual options to keep users in the moment as they explore your app.

Now people can add your website to their Dock on Mac or to their Home Screen in iOS and iPadOS for easy access. On Mac, any website added to the Dock becomes a web app, with an app-like appearance and system integration similar to other apps. Create a web app manifest to communicate your website’s intended behavior for web app-related features in iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.

A smarter, safer way to use iPhone in the car, CarPlay lets people get directions, make calls, send and receive messages, and play music from their car’s built-in display, all while staying focused on the road. CarPlay appearance options provide improved integration in vehicle systems with high-resolution displays, regardless of configuration or size. And advances in wireless connectivity, audio, and video encoding help prepare your vehicle systems for the next generation of CarPlay.

Tools and documentation

Download the beta version of Xcode, which includes the latest SDKs for Apple platforms.

• Download Xcode

Updated documentation

View a linked list of new and updated documentation.

• What’s new in developer documentation

Release notes

View detailed information on API changes in the latest released versions, including each beta release.

• iOS & iPadOS release notes
• macOS release notes
• tvOS release notes
• watchOS release notes

Special Features

Vendor voice.

Apple's 'incredibly private' Safari is not so private in Europe

Infosec eggheads find igiant left eu ios 17 users open to being tracked around the web.

Apple's grudging accommodation of European antitrust rules by allowing third-party app stores on iPhones has left users of its Safari browser exposed to potential web activity tracking.

Developers Talal Haj Bakry and Tommy Mysk looked into the way Apple implemented the installation process for third-party software marketplaces on iOS with Safari, and concluded Cupertino's approach is particularly shoddy.

tl;dr: The way Apple has added support for third-party app stores lets any website, when visited by Safari on iOS at least, to ping a chosen approved software marketplace with a unique per-user identifier. That means as users move from website to website, or use a website, these sites can quietly disclose that activity to a non-Apple app store – revealing the sort of things individual netizens find interesting. That info can be used for targeted app promotions, ads, and so on. This appears to apply to iOS 17.4 users in the EU. Whether anyone will exploit this in the wild remains to be seen – but the potential is there.

"Our testing shows that Apple delivered this feature with catastrophic security and privacy flaws," wrote Bakry and Mysk in an advisory published over the weekend.

Apple – which advertises Safari as " incredibly private " – evidently has undermined privacy among European Union Safari users through a marketplace-kit: URI scheme that potentially allows approved third-party app stores to follow those users around the web.

A URI scheme is a way of determining how a particular network request gets handled. A website offering an alternative software marketplace can include a button that, when tapped in Safari, launches a marketplace-kit: request that is handled by a MarketplaceKit process on the EU user's iPhone. This process, built into iOS 17.4 by Apple, then reaches out to the back-end servers of the approved marketplace to complete the installation of that store's app on the phone.

The trouble is, any site can trigger a marketplace-kit: request. On EU iOS 17.4 devices, that will cause a unique per-user identifier to be fired off by Safari to an approved marketplace's servers, leaking the fact that the user was just visiting that site. This happens even if Safari is in private browsing mode. The marketplace's servers can reject the request, which can also include a custom payload, passing more info about the user to the alternative store. This is all illustrated in the video below.

Youtube Video

In addition to Apple's Safari, two other iOS browsers currently support third-party app stores in Europe: Brave and Ecosia.

Apple doesn't allow third-party app stores in most parts of the world, citing purported privacy and security concerns – and presumably interest in sustaining its ability to collect commissions for software sales.

But Apple has been designated as a "gatekeeper" under Europe's Digital Markets Act (DMA) for iOS, the App Store, Safari, and just recently iPadOS .

That designation means the iBiz has been ordered to open its gated community so that European customers can choose third-party app stores and web-based app distribution – also known as side-loading .

But wait, there's more

According to Bakry and Mysk, Apple's URI scheme has three significant failings. First, they say, it fails to check the origin of the website, meaning the aforementioned cross-site tracking is possible.

Second, Apple's MarketplaceKit – its API for third-party stores – doesn't validate the JSON Web Tokens (JWT) passed as input parameters via incoming requests. "Worse, it blindly relayed the invalid JWT token when calling the /oauth/token endpoint," observed Bakry and Mysk. "This opens the door to various injection attacks to target either the MarketplaceKit process or the marketplace back-end."

And third, Apple isn't using certificate pinning , which leaves the door open for meddling by an intermediary ( MITM ) during the MarketplaceKit communication exchange. Bakry and Mysk claim they were able to overwrite the servers involved in this process with their own endpoints.

The limiting factor of this attack is that a marketplace must first be approved by Apple before it can undertake this sort of tracking. At present, not many marketplaces have won approval. We're aware of the B2B Mobivention App marketplace , AltStore , and Setapp . Epic Games has also planned an iOS store . A few other marketplaces will work after an iThing jailbreak, but they’re unlikely to attract many consumers.

The two security researchers argue that scam apps regularly find their way through Apple's review process, meaning rogue app stores could be allowed through. And they claim the privacy problems arise from Apple wanting to track third-party store usage.

"The flaw of exposing users in the EU to tracking is the result of Apple insisting on inserting itself between marketplaces and their users," asserted Bakry and Mysk. "This is why Apple needs to pass an identifier to the marketplaces so they can identify installs and perhaps better calculate the due Core Technology Fee (CTF) ."

They urge iOS users in Europe to use Brave rather than Safari because Brave's implementation checks the origin of the website against the URL to prevent cross-site tracking.

Academics probe Apple's privacy settings and get lost and confused

• In quest to defeat Euro red-tape, Apple said it had three Safari browsers – not one
• Apple demands app makers explain use of sensitive APIs
• Apple Private Wi-Fi hasn't worked for the past three years

Back when Apple planned not to support Home Screen web apps in Europe – a gambit later abandoned after developer complaints and regulatory pressure – the iGiant justified its position by arguing the amount of work required "was not practical to undertake given the other demands of the DMA." By not making the extra effort to implement third-party app stores securely, Apple has arguably turned its security and privacy concerns into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In its remarks [PDF] on complying with the DMA, Apple declared, "In the EU, every user's security, privacy, and safety will depend in part on two questions. First, are alternative marketplaces and payment processors capable of protecting users? And, second, are they interested in doing so?"

There's also the question of whether Apple is capable of protecting users – and whether it's interested in doing so.

Apple did not respond to a request for comment. ®

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iOS 18 likely to give iPhone a complete makeover: On device AI features, smarter Siri and more to expect

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Apple Releases Safari 15 Update for macOS Big Sur and macOS Catalina With New Safari Design, Tab Groups, and More

Apple today released Safari 15 for macOS Big Sur and macOS Catalina devices, with Apple introducing support for features that are going to be coming in the macOS Monterey update set to be released later this year.

Safari 15 delivers faster performance, improved security, and the following new features: - Tab Groups help you save and organize your tabs and easily access them across devices - Redesigned tabs have a rounder and more defined appearance and take on the color of the webpage - Compact tab bar option shows more of your web page on screen - HTTPS upgrade automatically switches sites from HTTP to more secure HTTPS when available

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Top Rated Comments

My one complaint is...doesn't *dark gray* usually mean something like "inactive"? I'm having trouble figuring out which tab I'm in when I only have 2 or 3 open because I keep thinking the *lighter* colored tab is the active one, not the *darker* one.

Ok, just figured out why I'm so discombobulated.

Guys if you don't like Safari don't use it. Apple is too controlling. Things are beautiful on the other side, using FireFox ('http://www.firefox.com') and Brave ('http://www.brave.com') (Chrome without Google surveillance code) both of which are open source which is so much better for you on the privacy side and they let you do much more than Safari with extensions. Most problems I have with websites are Safari and its webkit engine anyway. If you are looking for webkit engine and something that gives the same cool and quite performance of Safari, there is a new browser in beta called Orion ('https://browser.kagi.com') , its webkit based, get updates for older MacOS versions unlike Safari, and allows use of Firefox and Chrome extensions! Signup and you will receive an invitation link in some days. Why what happened? FOSS FTW! I have been bitten before. There are options in the browsers under bookmarks where you can book mark ALL opened tabs in each Window. You can save a copy. There is also an export option under File to user with other browsers too.

Ugh, maybe I'll get used to it but right now I'm finding this "chameleon" toolbar very awful to look at -- it's different on every site I visit and calls so much attention to itself. If you switch tabs a lot, it's very distracting. Maybe someone will write a plugin that stabilizes its appearance. Not a fan!

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