Apple Releases Safari Technology Preview 168 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 168 includes bug fixes and performance improvements for Web Inspector, CSS, Rendering, Web Animations, JavaScript, Lockdown Mode, Media, Popover, Web API, and Accessibility.

The current Safari Technology Preview release is version 16.4 and is compatible with machines running macOS Ventura and macOS Monterey 12.3 or later.

The Safari Technology Preview update is available through the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences or System Settings 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 168 With Bug Fixes and Performance Improvements

 

[Octavius8]

How about STP for IOS Apple?. Instead of waiting 1 year for moderate changes?.

 

[AUGUSTU5]

These article titles for the safari versions are pure irony. „Performance improvements“… It‘s just a bad joke. -> Valid Alternative:

Apple Releases Safari Technology Preview 168 With New Ways To Torture The User And Fresh Bugs To Lighten Up The Developing Environment​

 

[nutmac]

The previous Safari Technology Preview was super buggy. This one is hopefully more stable. I like using two different versions of Safari to separate work vs. personal browsing.

 

[Digital Jive]

The previous Safari Technology Preview was super buggy. This one is hopefully more stable. I like using two different versions of Safari to separate work vs. personal browsing.

Agreed… I’ve always used the preview but the last version stalled constantly. I hope this one is better.

 

[PsykX]

How about STP for IOS Apple?. Instead of waiting 1 year for moderate changes?.

If you only knew. It does not evolve that much more in a major release.

WebKit has evolved a lot in iOS 16.1, 16.2, 16.3 and 16.4. They push the changes in the public version of Safari as soon as they can. Go read the WebKit blog - you'll be impressed.

 

[spillled typos]

The previous Safari Technology Preview was super buggy. This one is hopefully more stable. I like using two different versions of Safari to separate work vs. personal browsing.

I had to revert to version 166 because of this.

 

[TheMacDaddy1]

Is Safari EVER going to get profiles? Maybe some color....like you know themes?

 

[MrNomNoms]

If you only knew. It does not evolve that much more in a major release.

WebKit has evolved a lot in iOS 16.1, 16.2, 16.3 and 16.4. They push the changes in the public version of Safari as soon as they can. Go read the WebKit blog - you'll be impressed.

I get the impression that a lot of the big changes are being held back for Safari 17 particularly in the area of optimisation and implementing new features with most of the focus with recent releases about fixing bugs and improve interoperability with other browsers. For me I have found that Safari has made some big leaps with 16.4 a pretty big improvement over previous builds not to mention when compared to the competition.

 

[coffeemilktea]

You know, I always wondered if anyone really used Safari Technology Preview as their main browser. Like obviously it's for developers, and so there'd be people who use it for development and testing purposes, but how many people ever use it for more than that? 🤔

It seems like people who don't really care what browser they use would just default to regular Safari, while the more technically inclined would switch to Chrome or Firefox. Or if they really want to live on the edge, Brave or Vivaldi or Arc or... 🤓

 

[ErikGrim]

Fixes Reddit crashing. Last release was no good.

 

[d4cloo]

What prevents me from using Safari is:

• lack of user profiles. You can't switch between user profiles like on Chrome, essential when dealing with Google Suite or situations where you separate work from private or company1 from company2.
• still no WebGPU enabled. I know this is a niche, but I'm focus on WebGL and WebGPU. For some reason Chrome and some others have released a fist 'non beta' but Apple has removed WebGPU starting Tech Preview R100

 

[TheMacDaddy1]

What prevents me from using Safari is:

• lack of user profiles. You can't switch between user profiles like on Chrome, essential when dealing with Google Suite or situations where you separate work from private or company1 from company2.
• still no WebGPU enabled. I know this is a niche, but I'm focus on WebGL and WebGPU. For some reason Chrome and some others have released a fist 'non beta' but Apple has removed WebGPU starting Tech Preview R100

Profiles and the ability to theme/color each of them. I use 3 different accounts, two for work and a personal one. Each colored differently to easily identify. Chrome is what I use.

 

[maneta]

Agreed… I’ve always used the preview but the last version stalled constantly. I hope this one is better.

So, how is it ? Some users report that was unable to use it on reddit for example, also lots of crashes and bugs. I will give it a shot, as i use STP more than Safari, but last version was not quite ok.

 

[ErikGrim]

What prevents me from using Safari is:

• still no WebGPU enabled. I know this is a niche, but I'm focus on WebGL and WebGPU. For some reason Chrome and some others have released a fist 'non beta' but Apple has removed WebGPU starting Tech Preview R100

They had to scrap the previous implementation and are currently working on a new one