Apple Releases Safari Technology Preview 121 With Bug Fixes and Performance Improvements

[MacRumors]

Apple today released a new update for Safari Technology Preview, the experimental browser Apple first introduced in March 2016. Apple designed the Safari Technology Preview to test features that may be introduced into future release versions of Safari.

Safari Technology Preview release 121 includes bug fixes and performance improvements for Web Inspector, CSS, GPU Process, Media, Web API, JavaScript, WebAssembly, Accessibility, and Speech Recognition.

The current Safari Technology Preview release is the built on the new Safari 14 update included in macOS Big Sur with support for Safari Web Extensions imported from other browsers, tab previews, password breach notifications, web authentication with Touch ID, and more.

The new Safari Technology Preview update is available for both macOS Catalina and macOS Big Sur, the newest version of the Mac operating system.

The Safari Technology Preview update is available through the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences to anyone who has downloaded the browser. Full release notes for the update are available on the Safari Technology Preview website.

Apple's aim with Safari Technology Preview is to gather feedback from developers and users on its browser development process. Safari Technology Preview can run side-by-side with the existing Safari browser and while designed for developers, it does not require a developer account to download.


Article Link: Apple Releases Safari Technology Preview 121 With Bug Fixes and Performance Improvements

 

[aesc80]

Posting in here so Safari Beta feels appreciated.

 

[martiniam]

The more performance the better! Especially on my dual core mac!

 

[Rob_2811]

A dreadful browser honestly.

 

[steve333]

Did they fix the spinning beach ball after clicking on the Bookmarks menu?

 

[Kobayagi]

I've been using Safari for more than 10 years, but the latest version is horrible honestly.
It has become very, very slow while I haven't changed anything about my setup or the way I use Safari. I also haven't added any new extensions. Same Mac, same everything. It also runs like crap even without any extensions, clear cookies, cache etc.

Web pages just keep freezing and make me wait for more than 10 sec for them to respond, double taps to zoom with the Magic Mouse make it freak out and lag so much. It makes my MacBook Pro freak out and the temps go high and so does the fanspeed...

I still use Safari because it's convenient with all the iCloud sharing between my iPhone and iPad. I hate to say it, but Chrome runs so, so much better, regardless what Apple's fancy speed bragging comparisons say. But I also don't wanna switch with everything to Google for obvious reasons.

 

[mi7chy]

You can wait for Safari fixes for basic things like watching Zoom replays or just use Chrome that works fine.

 

[MauiPa]

A dreadful browser honestly.

Lol, so funny. Not true, but funny

 

[MauiPa]

I've been using Safari for more than 10 years, but the latest version is horrible honestly.
It has become very, very slow while I haven't changed anything about my setup or the way I use Safari. I also haven't added any new extensions. Same Mac, same everything. It also runs like crap even without any extensions, clear cookies, cache etc.

Web pages just keep freezing and make me wait for more than 10 sec for them to respond, double taps to zoom with the Magic Mouse make it freak out and lag so much. It makes my MacBook Pro freak out and the temps go high and so does the fanspeed...

I still use Safari because it's convenient with all the iCloud sharing between my iPhone and iPad. I hate to say it, but Chrome runs so, so much better, regardless what Apple's fancy speed bragging comparisons say. But I also don't wanna switch with everything to Google for obvious reasons.

Interesting, you need to look elsewhere for what is going on, it’s not safari which works great

 

[steve333]

I've been using Safari for more than 10 years, but the latest version is horrible honestly.
It has become very, very slow while I haven't changed anything about my setup or the way I use Safari. I also haven't added any new extensions. Same Mac, same everything. It also runs like crap even without any extensions, clear cookies, cache etc.

Web pages just keep freezing and make me wait for more than 10 sec for them to respond, double taps to zoom with the Magic Mouse make it freak out and lag so much. It makes my MacBook Pro freak out and the temps go high and so does the fanspeed...

I still use Safari because it's convenient with all the iCloud sharing between my iPhone and iPad. I hate to say it, but Chrome runs so, so much better, regardless what Apple's fancy speed bragging comparisons say. But I also don't wanna switch with everything to Google for obvious reasons.

I have the same issues as do many others, I have read forums here and on reddit about the problem. Do you also get a spinning beach ball when clicking on the bookmarks menu?

Interesting, you need to look elsewhere for what is going on, it’s not safari which works great

Yeah, it is Safari. See above. Worked great before Big Sur, works like garbage afterwards.
Apple isn't even acknowledging the issue. I opened a thread on Apple's support forums and they give the usual do this do that that fixes nothing, then they just left

 

[MauiPa]

If it was safari, I would have the problem too. So no, you are wrong, it is not safari. On the other hand, after the big chrome security issue recently, my safari would not load without crashing. I did a clean install, deleted chrome altogether and I am running completely fine. So not safari, not necessarily chrome, but fixed

 

[steve333]

If it was safari, I would have the problem too. So no, you are wrong, it is not safari. On the other hand, after the big chrome security issue recently, my safari would not load without crashing. I did a clean install, deleted chrome altogether and I am running completely fine. So not safari, not necessarily chrome, but fixed

Why are you having so much trouble believe this when others are having the issue with Safari (and Safari only) after upgrading to Big Sur?
Obviously there is an issue, could be a compatibility issue with certain machines, maybe certain chips or graphics cards.

 

[MauiPa]

Why are you having so much trouble believe this when others are having the issue with Safari (and Safari only) after upgrading to Big Sur?
Obviously there is an issue, could be a compatibility issue with certain machines, maybe certain chips or graphics cards.

it is simple, if it was safari and safari alone, it would be a universal problem, but it is not. why are you having so much trouble understanding that, it is a simple concept. Now, there may be something going on with people, something specific to their machines certain extension, even malware, even old libraries impacting the performance, but they are not simply Safari. Do a clean install, clean up all the crap, and it will work fine, it did for me.

 

[macintoshmac]

A dreadful browser honestly.

Hello, Facebook!

Joke aside, what makes you say so? What kind of requirements do you have for Safari to have disappointed you? Genuinely curious.

 

[steve333]

it is simple, if it was safari and safari alone, it would be a universal problem, but it is not. why are you having so much trouble understanding that, it is a simple concept. Now, there may be something going on with people, something specific to their machines certain extension, even malware, even old libraries impacting the performance, but they are not simply Safari. Do a clean install, clean up all the crap, and it will work fine, it did for me.

If it happening only with safari, then it is a safari issue. Everything else, including firefox, works fine.

 

[JippaLippa]

I'm loving the simple and sleek user experience Safari offers, but I'm experiencing quite a few bugs.
Coming from years of Firefox, I'm starting to appreciate Safari...I just wish all the bugs were fixed.
For example I have a very annoying glitch with youtube; when I hit play on a video sometimes the viewer stays black and the video doesn't start, the only way being refreshing the page.
It's not a matter of speed, as I have a more than decent connection.

 

[maneta]

I'm loving the simple and sleek user experience Safari offers, but I'm experiencing quite a few bugs.
Coming from years of Firefox, I'm starting to appreciate Safari...I just wish all the bugs were fixed.
For example I have a very annoying glitch with youtube; when I hit play on a video sometimes the viewer stays black and the video doesn't start, the only way being refreshing the page.
It's not a matter of speed, as I have a more than decent connection.

Same issue here, regarding the black image on youtube. That's because of the adblocker you use. In my case 1blocker

 

[Rob_2811]

Hello, Facebook!

Joke aside, what makes you say so? What kind of requirements do you have for Safari to have disappointed you? Genuinely curious.

I just experience a lot of slow loading pages and hangs. Almost every time I can drop the URL in to Firefox and the page loads instantly.

I mostly used Firefox anyway for the superior dev tools but would occasionally use Safari when on the go for the better battery life, I gave up on Safari completely about six months ago.

 

[SmOgER]

Hello, Facebook!

Actually FB is very responsive with technology preview R120, unlike stable release.
It was also smooth with TP release dating back to 2020-11-19, but not the following one after that.

I'm yet to try R121.
Currently using R120 as my daily driver and I'm very happy with it.

 

[Kobayagi]

I have the same issues as do many others, I have read forums here and on reddit about the problem. Do you also get a spinning beach ball when clicking on the bookmarks menu?

Luckily I dont have that bug.
My biggest annoyance is: website that just freeze when loading, especially on sites like LinkedIn where it has to autoplay a video. Or when you're on Google and search for something, then press 'Images' to display those. Then it just freezes again.

I'm loving the simple and sleek user experience Safari offers, but I'm experiencing quite a few bugs.
Coming from years of Firefox, I'm starting to appreciate Safari...I just wish all the bugs were fixed.
For example I have a very annoying glitch with youtube; when I hit play on a video sometimes the viewer stays black and the video doesn't start, the only way being refreshing the page.
It's not a matter of speed, as I have a more than decent connection.

As maneta pointed out, that's because of your adblocker. Youtube wants to load the ad, but it's being blocked, but it also doesn't skip it to the video, so it stays on a black screen. I dunno which one you're using. But try the extension 'AdGuard for Safari'. So not the Mac app, which they also got, but it's paid since it blocks ads in different apps too, not just Safari.

I switched to AdGuard a couple days ago and it's perfect. Bascially no ads anywhere and youtube runs great. I had AdBlock Plus before this one and it would often display the black screen or it would block the ad from showing up, but I would still have to press ''Skip'' on the lower right of the video so that the actual video would start.

 

[SmOgER]

Personally I use AdBlock Pro (free ver).
In YT sometimes it displays white screen at the start but there's "skip ads" button so you click it and it plays just fine.

 

[opfor]

Scrolling still drops frames compared with 13.1 😕

 

[macintoshmac]

I just experience a lot of slow loading pages and hangs. Almost every time I can drop the URL in to Firefox and the page loads instantly.

I mostly used Firefox anyway for the superior dev tools but would occasionally use Safari when on the go for the better battery life, I gave up on Safari completely about six months ago.

I thought the experience was within the ballpark of being a placebo, but it is such a consistent “placebo” where I feel that too. Pages load just that smidge faster in Firefox for me too. Consistently.

 

[SmOgER]

Honestly, I don't get what you guys are complaining about.

I'm using 2013 machine for gosh's sake and everything runs smoothly. And it's not that I don't have anything to compare it to, I do have a gaming rig also. With my MBA I just have to be aware what tabs I leave open (unlike gaming rig which eats everything you throw at it).

Other than that, browsing is fast and smooth with this Safari ver (just upgraded to R121 and it's as fast as R120 TP).

PS. As a matter of fact I always choose my main browser carefully as I absolutely hate choppy scrolling. For windows I'm using Brave (chromium based).

 

[steve333]

Luckily I dont have that bug.
My biggest annoyance is: website that just freeze when loading, especially on sites like LinkedIn where it has to autoplay a video. Or when you're on Google and search for something, then press 'Images' to display those. Then it just freezes again.



As maneta pointed out, that's because of your adblocker. Youtube wants to load the ad, but it's being blocked, but it also doesn't skip it to the video, so it stays on a black screen. I dunno which one you're using. But try the extension 'AdGuard for Safari'. So not the Mac app, which they also got, but it's paid since it blocks ads in different apps too, not just Safari.

I switched to AdGuard a couple days ago and it's perfect. Bascially no ads anywhere and youtube runs great. I had AdBlock Plus before this one and it would often display the black screen or it would block the ad from showing up, but I would still have to press ''Skip'' on the lower right of the video so that the actual video would start.

I tried AdGuard but downloaded it from their website and not through the app store and it wasn't good at all so I trashed it and went to the app store and downloaded 1blocker. I have block ads, block trackers, custom rules and the 1blocker button activated and so far it's working very well.
It's just that darn spinning beach ball half the time I click on the bookmarks menu