Apple allows users to use Touch ID and Face ID instead of passwords to access sensitive applications (such as those used for banking or password management). In the future, Face ID and Touch ID can also be used for website authentication purposes when users log in to Safari.
Apple outlined this feature at the WWDC20, called “Meet Face ID and Touch ID for the web”, which introduced how web developers can use Face ID and Touch ID on their websites through the Web Authentication API. Read More
Apple has declared war against annoying auto-playing videos and creepy ad tracking across the websites users visit. In High Sierra, the company has ramped up Safari’s capabilities to shield users against both. And these auto-playing defenses are incredibly effective so far.
You can set preferences for individual websites or a blanket rule that bans all autoplay, only stops content with sound, or lets everything play:
I haven’t found any site that can successfully break through Safari’s new safeguards against unexpected media playback. Loading animations made clear that sites were trying to auto-play something, but they still failed. Apple insists that it’s way faster than Chrome.
With the new update, though, Safari lets you make it the default way to view web pages, where possible. You can also choose to have the Reader mode activated just for specific websites.
Some Safari users have found that since December last year, they can’t watch 4K videos on YouTube, and the reason could possibly be Google VP9 codec, which YouTube’s UHD streaming technology is now based on. Users also discovered that they can watch embedded videos of 4K resolution on web pages.
On Reddit some Safari users pointed that since December 6th last year, they haven’t been able to watch 4K videos on YouTube. And since 2014 Google has started using the VP9 codec, which is the replacement for H.265 video codec developed by Google, and the H.265 codec is all the time the core technology that supports so many 4K videos. But they never said they will stop providing 4K videos of other formats (such as H.264).
Safari users can still watch the 4K version of the videos uploaded to YouTube before December 6th last year, and everything is normal for Chrome users. Among all those browsers Safari is the only one which doesn’t support the VP9 codec.
What’s confusing is that although users can only select 1440p for 4K videos on YouTube, when embedding to other web pages they can watch the 4K resolution.
Currently all users of all Safari versions are having the said problem. Apple responded, “We don’t support VP9 on Safari, apparently Google has made their mind not to provide H.264 4K videos on YouTube for Apple, though they are fully capable of doing that.”
And Google hasn’t responded yet.
A few days ago, Apple pushed an update for Safari’s technology preview, and the browser itself was released in March this year. The features used on the technology preview may be actually added to the feature Safari.
This has been the 19th version, which include the update and bug fixing for HTML format validation, pointer lock API, item import, URL analysis program, web page checker, Shadow DOM, render, etc. Addionally, Webkit and TouchBar have been available now.
The purpose that Apple released the technology preview is to collect feedback from developers and users. Safari Technology Preview and the current Safari are compossible. Because it supports iCloud, all your latest favorites, bookmarks and reading lists on the current Safari will be synced to the Technology Preview. Common users are allowed to download it without developer accounts.
If the extensions on Safari cause system crash or other problems on your Mac, or you just don’t want to use them anymore, you can follow these guides to delete them.
For some Mac users, the extensions on Safari can be quite useful, in Apple’s words – Explore the Internet in your own way. But how to delete them?
1. Open your Safari, click the Safari icon in the upper-left and select Preferences.
2. Click Extensions, then on the left you can see all the Extensions you installed on Safari. Select those you want to delete, click Uninstall and Uninstall again in the pop-up window, or click Cancel to keep it.
