Apple’s Safari browser has been around for a long time, and over the years it’s been improved to the point where it’s become a very solid choice for most users. As you’d expect, it has the standard features found on most modern browsers, including bookmarks, tabbed browsing, a password manager, private browsing options, a dark mode, a reading list that you can come back to later (and read offline), and a Shared with You section on the home page that lists links that have been sent to you in Messages.
Reader mode is one of Safari’s hidden gems, transforming any webpage into a clean, crisp article, free of ads and other distractions. Coming later in 2024, a refined Reader mode will include an AI-powered summary and table of contents, so you can quickly get to the information you need. A new Highlights feature will show the most relevant information on a webpage, while a Viewer will display videos on a site so you can control it in its own window.
If you want to use Safari for both work and personal activities, you can set up dedicated profiles for each, with separate bookmarks, extensions, and cookies.
The Quick Note feature, as the name suggests, lets you instantly grab text or images from a web page and have them appear (along with links) in the Notes app.
Tab Groups are a handy feature that lets you group particular tabs together by a category of your choosing, so you don’t have to search for them among your other open tabs. This is useful if you’re planning a vacation, an event, or researching something else. Best of all, group tabs sync with Safari on your iPhone, iPad, or other Macs. They’re also shareable, so you can send them to friends, coworkers, or family who can instantly see all the pages and links—perfect if you’re all collaborating on a project. You can also pin tabs to these groups and assign them custom start pages.
Privacy is a big part of Apple’s offering, with Intelligent Tracking Protection that stops advertisers from tracking your activities. It’s accompanied by anti-fingerprinting settings that prevent sites from looking at your hardware and software to figure out who you’re online, and security features that block sites that might contain malware.
Later in 2024, Apple will introduce a new password manager in macOS Sequoia, but Safari already supports PassKeys. These are encrypted logins that aim to do away with passwords altogether. You can check out more details in our guide to using PassKeys.
The app is also fully integrated with Apple Pay, making it easy to buy items online, either via the Touch ID sensor on compatible Macs (or the Mac keyboard with Touch ID) or via Face ID on your iPhone. See our How to use Apple Pay on a Mac article for more details.
In its current form, Safari is better than ever, and that’s not to mention the available extensions that can further enhance its capabilities. In fact, the best browser for your Mac is probably already installed.
