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Safari Changes on iOS 26 Go Beyond the Address Bar

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Apr 12, 2001
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One of the key changes to Safari on iOS 26 is a redesigned Liquid Glass address bar, with three layouts available to choose from. Beyond that, the upcoming software update includes a few smaller changes for the web browser.

safari-liquid-glass.jpg

Web Apps For All Websites

Starting with iOS 26, every website added to the Home Screen via Safari opens as a web app, even if it is not configured to be. On earlier iOS versions, websites that were not configured to open as a web app would open in Safari, meaning that the Home Screen app icons for those websites were effectively just bookmarks.

iOS-26-Safari-Web-Apps.jpg

Users can turn off "Open as Web App" while adding a website to the Home Screen if they prefer the app icons to still function as simple bookmarks.

This change also applies to iPadOS 26.

HDR Images

Safari now supports HDR images, five years after the browser gained support for HDR video.

HDR images have wider dynamic range and increased color gamut, making bright areas of the image appear brighter and dark areas appear darker.

This change applies across iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, and visionOS 26.

SVG Icons

Safari now supports the SVG file format for icons anywhere that they are shown in the browser, including in the bookmark bar and on the start page.

SVG icons have smaller file sizes than PNG icons, and they offer infinite vector scaling, meaning they can be resized without any loss in image quality.

More

Even more changes coming to Safari across iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, and visionOS 26 were outlined in a WebKit blog post last week.

iOS 26 and the other software updates are currently in beta.

Article Link: Safari Changes on iOS 26 Go Beyond the Address Bar
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/06/18/safari-changes-on-ios-26/
MacRumors said:
SVG Icons

Safari now supports the SVG file format for icons anywhere that they are shown in the browser, including in the bookmark bar and on the start page.

SVG icons have smaller file sizes than PNG icons, and they offer infinite vector scaling, meaning they can be resized without any loss in image quality.
Click to expand...

The mention of SVG immediately made me think of this frustrated Apple user from yesterday.
Not a lot of "customer SAT" going on here
🥴 😬

Screenshot 2025-06-18 at 08.37.57 Redacted.jpeg
 
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Xenden said:
Apple needs to change the new Gabe button to be on the bottom right when your in the all tab view. It is annoying having to reach to the upper left to open a new tab.
Click to expand...
I agree. I appreciate the other ways to open tabs but i'm so trained on how to use the button that it's my default and moving it to the top of the screen feels crazy and chaotic. I submitted the feedback as a suggestion.
 
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MacRumors said:

Safari now supports HDR images, five years after the browser gained support for HDR video.
Click to expand...
Now if only Disney+, MAX, etc. support HDR streaming on browsers. Edge tends to be easier to get it working, but some services just don't work with HDR.
 
Slix said:
The option for web apps for every website is a welcome one! This is especially good for web developers since you shouldn't need to do any extra work anymore to make this possible.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I’m quite excited about that as well. However, I wonder if websites that aren’t prepared to be a Progressive Web App (most of them) will behave like one. From what I understand, PWA get “installed” into the phone like an app, and I’m not sure if any work from the site developer is needed for this…
 
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Before anything else, I would appreciate a focus on the fundamentals. Many sites don't work properly using Safari, but work fine on Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. To me, that seems like a Safari problem. Also, it would be nice if there was a solution to the page-loading issues. Many sites that have inline adverts bounce all over the place. When you navigate to their site you get 95% of the content right away. Then all this other content starts loading (usually adverts) and content starts shifting around. Often I end up click on the wrong thing because of this shifting. I'm not claiming to have a solution, but it would be nice if this problem was solved.
 
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sniffies said:
Quick tip on how to open tab overview with a single gesture: swipe up on the address bar
Click to expand...
Oh so the new smallest address bar layout also supports the swipe up to view all tabs and swipe left and right to switch tabs like currently? thats not that bad then.

I just hate that Apple removed the compact tab bar in macOS Safari. I really hope they reconsider and bring it back in a future beta
 
turbineseaplane said:
The mention of SVG immediately made me think of this frustrated Apple user from yesterday.
Not a lot of "customer SAT" going on here
🥴 😬

View attachment 2521114
Click to expand...
SVGs are being used for phishing. They can contain javascript that is executed upon displaying the SVG, can submit data to an external host, or can contain malware payload as an embedded zip file or similar (https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1027/017/).

Here is a screenshot of an SVG that displays a fake Excel spreadsheet with a built-in login form that sends the data to attacker:

1750263238103.jpeg
 
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klasma said:
SVGs are being used for phishing. They can contain javascript that is executed upon displaying the SVG, can submit data to an external host, or can contain malware payload as an embedded zip file or similar (https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1027/017/).

Here is a screenshot of an SVG that displays a fake Excel spreadsheet with a built-in login form that sends the data to attacker:

View attachment 2521130
Click to expand...

No argument there .. but shouldn't a user be allowed to accept that risk and open the file?

That prompt gave no clear path to that outcome for the user.
 
Can't even watch TV on the Safari desktop. Probably a security issue, knowing Apple. While it works in every other browser available.
 
Slix said:
The option for web apps for every website is a welcome one! This is especially good for web developers since you shouldn't need to do any extra work anymore to make this possible.
Click to expand...
The extra work is a single meta tag. Not a big deal but I guess some web developers are forgetful (or don't test on iOS).

edit: Apparently iOS respects the one that Android uses now. It's just
HTML: 
<meta name="mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes">
for both. If you want icons to show up properly on the Home Screen / splash screen, that's still up the web app developer to configure.
 
Last edited:
Can someone expand and provide more detail re: this from the post:

"Starting with iOS 26, every website added to the Home Screen via Safari opens as a web app, even if it is not configured to be. On earlier iOS versions, websites that were not configured to open as a web app would open in Safari, meaning that the Home Screen app icons for those websites were effectively just bookmarks."

My testing on Safari's handling of Progressive Web Apps after Apple intro'ed it for MacOS was that iPhone and iPad were true to the "definition" of a web app. Those devices would download the manifest defined html/js/css components, and utilized permanent local storage for things like IndexedDB. So offline use was 100% available.

Last I tested Safari on MacOS, though, the "Web App" support was simply an optimized link to the web link, and did not support offline use (e.g. no DL of manifest components) -- hence were not actually Web Apps.

My fear reading the quote from the article is that Apple is now moving iPhone/Pad support to what they introduced with MacOS. This is not a PWA, just an optimized link to the web page.

Sadly right now I cannot test this.

TIA,
NSC
 
Last edited:
Good to know. HDR support is welcome. Web apps are useful and at the same time very happy to see that there is an option that use it as just a simple bookmark.
 
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crisss1205 said:
And to open a new tab you can hold down the “more” button and slide your finger to the new tab button.
Click to expand...
Tip of the day!

Ps. in 'Bottom' mode it is even better as it appears right under the finger when holding the tabs icon, slightly move the finger to open a new tab.
 
“Find on Page” being under a mile of buttons and expanding menus is hillarious…does nobody at Apple use mobile safari? It was bad before being in the share menu…but now it’s so far down it took me decompiling the entire OS to find it…
 
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sniffies said:
Quick tip on how to open tab overview with a single gesture: swipe up on the address bar
Click to expand...
Well that certainly helps, but I'm really uncertain about the Safari interface. I like the way it looks, but navigating it feels awkward.
 
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