Apple Loses Safari Lead Designer to The Browser Company

[HouseLannister]

So the a guy who helped design and keep updated the world's worst browser leaves.

Oh, this sounds like a fun idea for a ranking. I would put Edge at the bottom for its constant shadiness trying to get me back on Bing and Copilot and stopping me from downloading Chrome, etc. Then it is a toss up between Lynx and Opera GX. Safari is probably 4th from the bottom. Of course, this is only counting updated browsers. Otherwise, Arachne, Mosaic, Flock, OmniWeb, 3DS, Wii, Netscape Communicator-era bloat, etc.

 

[963852741]

More FUD.

 

[Delivered]

Is this the guy that greenlit the new Safari designs? I can see what they were going for on iOS, but my god they fumbled their own design language on Mac.

We have these great, new, clear UI elements - let's put a mostly opaque bar under them!

View attachment 2594166

To be clear the entire new design was fumbled on Mac not sure with Safari. There’s a ton of inconsistency. They really could have done better.

 

[Delivered]

Apple Pay more to developers! Start getting more talent (not only from India lol).
Keep the money flowing to developers and take software seriously.

They don’t have that many from India. The main teams are in the U.S.A. The have some people for manufacturing in India and China but design is in California

 

[Mackan]

AI-driven browsers, chat with your tabs? Uhm, no.

 

[mxrider88]

Good. Safari on Tahoe is pure garbage. The tab bar is disproportionately big compared to the bookmarks and the absence of compact view is just stupid.

 

[jdawgnoonan]

Im not following all the hate. Safari is probably my favorite browser. I do get annoyed when it’s not compatible with a site but that’s not common. I also think more than just WebKit should be allowed in App Store. But Safari itself is phenomenal.

• Best reading mode in the industry
• not to mention the listen feature so you can just hear an Article (wish the UX for that was a tiny bit better).
• The feature to remove distracting items is fantastic.
• I like the different profiles.
• I like the shared/collaborative Tabs.
• The fact that built in player has PiP and speed modes.
• The ability to see trackers on a webpage
• We’ve even got extensions support

Also this person is leaving not fired. Maybe they proposed things to fix the aspects of Safari you don’t like and they were blocked. Maybe they’re leaving bc they need more time for family or want to live closer to something else. We can’t draw too many conclusions from this. I for one love Safari. One of the best iOS apps.

Not to mention the most useful out of the box start page of any browser.

 

[B-Mc-C]

Im not following all the hate. Safari is probably my favorite browser. I do get annoyed when it’s not compatible with a site but that’s not common. I also think more than just WebKit should be allowed in App Store. But Safari itself is phenomenal.

• Best reading mode in the industry
• not to mention the listen feature so you can just hear an Article (wish the UX for that was a tiny bit better).
• The feature to remove distracting items is fantastic.
• I like the different profiles.
• I like the shared/collaborative Tabs.
• The fact that built in player has PiP and speed modes.
• The ability to see trackers on a webpage
• We’ve even got extensions support

Also this person is leaving not fired. Maybe they proposed things to fix the aspects of Safari you don’t like and they were blocked. Maybe they’re leaving bc they need more time for family or want to live closer to something else. We can’t draw too many conclusions from this. I for one love Safari. One of the best iOS apps.

Agree. I am not understanding what is so great about other brothers that Safari doesn’t have. My dad uses Firefox / Chrome and they are constantly being infected with malware. Using Ad Block Pro and Noir on Safari and nearly every website looks amazing in ad-free dark mode.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Safari has been the most problematic app for me in Tahoe.
Also…

collaborative tools such as shared workspaces and a built-in whiteboard. In 2025, the company introduced Dia, a browser designed around AI-assisted workflows that integrate generative tools, collaborative features, and creative utilities directly into the browsing experience.

Granted I have never tried to use this web browser, and it might be amazing.
But from description, it sounds like an absolute mess.
So…there’s regular browsing… and AI browsing (just what we need uggh), and…uh… a collaborative whiteboard? Huh?
Again, maybe I’m wrong and it’s amazing, but to me this sounds like if Apple decided to give the Podcasts app the ability to create spreadsheets.

 

[thegerman]

So many high workers are leaving Apple. I think Apple is going down like Blackberry

 

[nt5672]

John Ternus is the only hope left for Apple to survive as a company at this point. Way too many mistakes the past 5 years at Apple.

Which is what happens when you have a CEO that is clueless about technology and just lets the minions run wild.

 

[Ethosik]

Safari needs vertical tabs. And no reason to not have tabs restored when launching again like other browsers.

 

[monkey6]

"My dad uses Firefox / Chrome and they are constantly being infected with malware"

I've been using Firefox as my main browser for decades and not once - let me repeat, not once - has it been infected by malware. Chrome, for sure that will happen. So you bad mouthing Firefox doesn't sit well with me.

If you care about your dads browsing, why didn't you put UblockOrigin and Privacy Badger on Firefox, and set it so it deletes cookies on closing (something Safari can't do) to help him, instead of doing nothing?

do that, and ask him to use only Firefox, and then see if things get better. I've done that with some of my elderly technologically ignorant friends and they seem to be OK now.

 

[Parowdy]

Good riddance?
Anyone remember when one of the lead devs of Safari posted on then Twitter for user feedback?
Literally not a single one of my (UI and usability) complaints was addressed and they remain to this day (on iOS at least).
Not only that, but now there are even more thanks to iOS 26.

Honestly, the browser company already has more talent than the Safari team did for years, they didn’t need to waste their money, but hopefully that brings some new blood and fresh ideas into the Safari team.

 

[Chopper9]

😳 um why. So they can hire you? Do you like Apple products ?

If you have to ask, then there's no point in explaining. Apple software is a joke anymore. Bunch of red-headed step child software solutions nobody uses except non-pros who don't know any better.

 

[Parowdy]

Safari needs vertical tabs. And no reason to not have tabs restored when launching again like other browsers.

Yeah I noticed that too. Usually tabs are supposed to reopen, and they do more often than not. But occasionally it just opens a blank window on Mac and I have to manually restore „closed“ tabs.
Ridiculous.

 

[Parowdy]

Good. Apple needs to lose all its software designers.

Please no.
Nobody will be able to figure out how to „fix“ liquid ass if not at least some of those that worked on it.

 

[CapitalIdea]

TIL Safari has a lead designer, and apparently has had one for a while.

 

[Kidseeghost]

…

 

[42545]

Hi broke the Safari. God damn him.

 

[Parowdy]

Does this mean Safari won't get any snappier?

It means it might finally be snappy again.

Honestly, I dreaded Safari on iPhone sooo much in the first 5 months of iOS 26 (beta phase including) because of the micro stutters. I literally hated it and didn’t care about any issue being fixed but that one.
Still it took them over 2 months of beta testing and and even more time during full releases to „fix“ an issue that never should have existed for longer than a few betas.
I say „fix“ because Safari continues to have like nano stutters, which in all fairness have been present for many years, but then again they have been present for many years, since like the iPhone 13 (Pro with ProMotion).
I think Safari needs new people much more than old ones.

 

[routine_analyst]

LOL.

An app. That opens a website. It has a back button, URL/Page title, and a tabbing system... and somehow Apple screwed it up in iOS 26.

Apple didn't lose anyone. It simply shed the dead scales off like a snake.

 

[I7guy]

Does this mean Safari won't get any snappier?

Safari is pretty snappy as of today. 26.2. It’s my personal favorite although I do use chrome and edge ..

 

[teh_hunterer]

Can't be a bad thing if this guy allowed Safari to be so unbelievably bugged for the last few years. Good riddance.

 

[BabyBoii]

it's all about atlas bro