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Apple Releases Safari Technology Preview 84 With New Favorites Design, Weak Password Warnings and More

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Apple today released a new update for Safari Technology Preview, the experimental browser Apple first introduced three years ago 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 84 includes new Safari 13 features that will be available in macOS Catalina. These features include a new Favorites page and prompts to change a password when a weak password is detected.
Refreshed Favorites Design. The Favorites page has been visually refreshed, and now includes Show More and Show Less actions.

Switch to Tab from Smart Search Field. The Smart Search Field now offers switching to an already-open tab when a search query matches the title or URL of an open tab.

Warnings for Weak Passwords. When signing into a website with a weak password, Safari will prompt you to visit the website in a new tab to upgrade the password to an Automatic Strong Password. Safari uses the well-known URL for changing passwords (/.well-known/change-password), allowing websites to take users directly to their change password pages. The password list in Safari Preferences has also been updated to flag weak passwords.
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The new Safari Technology Preview update is available for both macOS High Sierra and macOS Mojave, the newest publicly available version of the Mac operating system that was in September 2018.

The Safari Technology Preview update is available through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store 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 84 With New Favorites Design, Weak Password Warnings and More
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2019/06/05/apple-releases-safari-technology-preview-84/
McStang said:
Version 83 was the last for High Sierra, there will be no new versions for High Sierra.
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From the article:

>> The new Safari Technology Preview update is available for both macOS High Sierra and macOS Mojave, the newest publicly available version of the Mac operating system that was in September 2018. <<

Hmmmnn...
 
Well that's not correct.
Also everytime you startup the High Sierra version 83, you get prompted that it is the last version for High Sierra.
 
Idgit said:
Without extensions, especially uBlock Origin, I can't use Safari much anymore. Safari has been my main browser since it was first released, but now I've switched to Firefox. RIP Safari.
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Is Firefox still a battery killer? I tried it when Mojave first came out due to Safari extension depreciation and it would drain my Macbook's battery in less than 3 hours and caused the fan to constantly run at 100%.
eatrains said:
There are tons of non-legacy extensions, including ad blockers. I use AdGuard.
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AdGuard is too limited. I currently use Wipr which uses multiple extensions to get around Apple's rule limit, but there is no extension that offers the control over webpages that uBlock Origin did. Safari needs something that can selectively block scripts which new extensions seem to be unable to do.
 
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testerston said:
Is Firefox still a battery killer? I tried it when Mojave first came out due to Safari extension depreciation and it would drain my Macbook's battery in less than 3 hours and caused the fan to constantly run at 100%.

AdGuard is too limited. I currently use Wipr which uses multiple extensions to get around Apple's rule limit, but there is no extension that offers the control over webpages that uBlock Origin did. Safari needs something that can selectively block scripts which new extensions seem to be unable to do.
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Yeah, for battery life I think Safari is still your best bet but I might try out Brave on my laptop. And yes, a script blocker is desperately needed on Safari. Apple bangs on and on about privacy but they don't allow for any of the privacy-oriented extensions like DecentralEyes, CookieAutoDelete, uBlock Origin, Privacy Possum, and others.
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eatrains said:
There are tons of non-legacy extensions, including ad blockers. I use AdGuard.
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Legacy extensions are dead in Catalina and a lot of them, including uBlock Origin, don't work right any more in Safari. AdGuard is a fine ad-blocker but it can't do half of what uBlock Origin can do.
 
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Idgit said:
Without extensions, especially uBlock Origin, I can't use Safari much anymore. Safari has been my main browser since it was first released, but now I've switched to Firefox. RIP Safari.
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its probably because ublock hasn't been supported for awhile, last update for Safari was over a year ago
 
No uBlock Origin, no Bitwarden, no SIMBL to hack cookie management (ok, simbl hasn't worked for ages). I moved to Firefox Nightly and it doesn't seem to be a battery hog. I read that it used to be but that they've spent some effort in sorting out Firefox's performance on MacOS.

It's working well for me here in Catalina too.

MauiPa said:
its probably because ublock hasn't been supported for awhile, last update for Safari was over a year ago
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It's confusing, but uBlock and uBlock Origin aren't the same thing.
 
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The Adguard app, though it is a paid app ($49 for lifetime subscription), has worked very well for me. Since it is an app it is not limited by Safari's rules for extensions. Its filters are very robust and even evades those websites that give those annoying popups that say you can't use the website with your adblocker enabled.
 
You might want to give Vivaldi a spin. Slightly smaller footprint than Chrome, it's an amazing browser. I have hoped against hope that Safari would become a world-class browser with a smaller footprint but it truly has become the most useless browser in the world instead. I hate saying that but it's true. I can't imagine what Apple is thinking other than locking down users to a hackneyed set of features only available through Safari's tie to MacOS. So much for Apple's "freedom" mantra. Vivaldi has a compatible dark mode and the Dark Reader Chrome extension is truly amazing.
 
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Looking very much forward to the weak passwords warning feature. (Won't benefit me much because I did the exercise several years ago of going to each site I visit, changing p/w's, and letting iCloud keychain suggest new strong passwords. - In the meantime, it seems the default passwords have gone from 15 to 20 characters in length.)

I think this will spur average folks to revisit their lousy passwords and up their game to strong site-unique p/w's!!
 
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