Microsoft's new Edge browser is a great alternative to Chrome for those seldom occasions when Safari won't do

[brinary001]

Safari is my main browser across all my Apple devices. While it's a good browser, that isn't necessarily by choice, as Apple prevents their users from choosing a different default browser. However, in macOS you have a bit more freedom than Apple's other platforms, and while I still use Safari as my default browser, sometimes you'll have the occasional site that won't play nicely with it for whatever reason.

As a developer, Chrome has pretty much always been my go-to in this situation. But it's long been plagued with poor memory management, overreaching tracking of user data, etc. I decided to give Edge a try, and all I can say is "Wow!" It offers much of the same functionality of Chrome (it is Chromium-based after all) without the concerns I mentioned. I'm sure there's still some tracking that I can't do anything about, though.

Has anyone else tried the new Edge, specifically running on a Mac? What are your thoughts on it? Do you use Safari as your main browser or something else?

 

[Blue Hawk]

I really love Edge on my MacBook. I don’t like Chrome and Safari doesn’t work well, Firefox is good but Edge is much faster for me.

On iOS I’m still using Safari because you cannot set a default browser and its running with Apples WebKit.

 

[brinary001]

I really love Edge on my MacBook. I don’t like Chrome and Safari doesn’t work well, Firefox is good but Edge is much faster for me.

On iOS I’m still using Safari because you cannot set a default browser and its running with Apples WebKit.

Interesting, so do you have Edge as your default on Mac then?

 

[chscag]

I just installed edge on my iMac running Catalina. It's surprisingly fast and imported all my bookmarks from Chrome perfectly. So far so good.

 

[Blue Hawk]

Interesting, so do you have Edge as your default on Mac then?

Yes. And it was very easy to import all Safari bookmarks. For my passwords I’m using 1Password.

 

[brinary001]

imported all my bookmarks from Chrome perfectly

Yes. And it was very easy to import all Safari bookmarks. For my passwords I’m using 1Password.

Right?? I was very impressed with the import process. Like you could blink and you'd miss it haha

Did you guys see the story out today about Apple rumored to be considering letting users change their default apps on iPhone and iPad? I have a couple other browsers installed on those devices, but I rarely use them because they're essentially just different versions of Safari since they have to use the WebKit engine, so really it defeats the purpose of even using them. Unless maybe you're more in the Google or Microsoft ecosystem and you want things to stay synced across your devices like history, bookmarks, and so on.

Has anyone tried Edge on iPhone and/or iPad yet? If you're using it as your default browser on Mac, I would imagine you'd want to keep things in sync. So far I haven't seen anything like this in Edge, but perhaps my favorite thing about Safari is the ability to see all my open tabs and windows from other devices.

 

[Blue Hawk]

Right?? I was very impressed with the import process. Like you could blink and you'd miss it haha

Did you guys see the story out today about Apple rumored to be considering letting users change their default apps on iPhone and iPad? I have a couple other browsers installed on those devices, but I rarely use them because they're essentially just different versions of Safari since they have to use the WebKit engine, so really it defeats the purpose of even using them. Unless maybe you're more in the Google or Microsoft ecosystem and you want things to stay synced across your devices like history, bookmarks, and so on.

Has anyone tried Edge on iPhone and/or iPad yet? If you're using it as your default browser on Mac, I would imagine you'd want to keep things in sync. So far I haven't seen anything like this in Edge, but perhaps my favorite thing about Safari is the ability to see all my open tabs and windows from other devices.

I think i would try to switch from Safari to Edge.

 

[Fishrrman]

I use Edge for certain things that Safari won't do -- such as viewing 4k videos on YouTube.

But for now... Safari remains my "main browser".

 

[bogdanw]

To disable Telemetry

defaults write com.microsoft.edgemac 'SendAllTelemetryEnabled' -bool FALSE

 

[wellander1]

Does it look and run like Internet Explorer 5.17?

 

[chscag]

I haven't used IE in ages so I can't do a comparison. However, Edge is very Mac like in its appearance and is configurable. The MS store has a variety of extensions that can be added including ad blockers. Give Edge a try and then let us know how you like it.

 

[sgtaylor5]

I'm using Edge on all my Apple devices: MacBook Pro, iPhone 6s and iPad Air 1 and it runs fantastically well on all devices. Couldn't be happier.

 

[bogdanw]

"Brave deemed most private browser in terms of 'phoning home'
The new Microsoft Edge and the Yandex Browser deemed the most data greedy."
https://www.zdnet.com/article/brave-deemed-most-private-browser-in-terms-of-phoning-home/
For starting Edge inPrivate mode

do shell script "open -a /Applications/Microsoft\\ Edge.app --args --inprivate"