Apple Launches 'Safari Technology Preview' Browser for Web Developers

Apple today launched Safari Technology Preview, a new version of its web browser aimed specifically at developers. Safari Technology Preview is aimed at giving developers a way to access new web technologies Apple is planning to implement in iOS and OS X, offering an early look at new developer tools, layout technologies, visual effects, and more.

According to TechCrunch, Apple's goal with Safari Technology Preview is to gather feedback from developers on its browser development ahead of launch through a method that's more easily accessible than WebKit.

safaritechnologypreview

Of course, Apple has for a long time offered Nightly builds of WebKit, the open source browser engine that today runs on hundreds of millions of devices and powers Apple's Safari. However, getting access to these builds takes a bit more effort than using the new Safari Technology Preview browser. Instead, with the new browser, its updates are distributed every two weeks by way of the Mac App Store's software update mechanism. That means it's less hassle to run a browser that features the latest advances in web technologies, including HTML, JavaScript, CSS and WebKit.

Safari Technology Preview can be run side-by-side with the existing Safari browser, and it's able to be set as the default browser on a machine. It includes local data stores for history, bookmarks, cookies, and cache, and it supports syncing of browsing history and bookmarks over iCloud. Visually, the Safari Technology Preview icon is designed to resemble the Safari icon, but it is purple in color instead of blue.

safaripreviewicon
The current build of Safari Technology Preview includes several JavaScript improvements, HTML enhancements, and Web Inspector changes:

JavaScript Improvements
- ECMAScript 6 support including lexical scoping, iterators, generators, arrow functions, default parameter values and many new built-in APIs
- Better standards compliant IndexedDB support with more stability
- Included the B3 JavaScript JIT compiler with low-latency, high-throughput that boosts performance
- Added the ability to use document.execCommand('copy') and document.execCommand('cut') in response to a user gesture to copy and cut text programmatically

HTML Enhancements
- The latest implementation of the Shadow DOM specification
- Added support for Content Security Policy Level 2

Web Inspector Changes
- Added memory summary and JavaScript allocations timelines
- Added a fast JavaScript sampling profiler
- Improved JavaScript profiling timeline view

Behavior Changes
- Included many web compatibility fixes and bug fixes

Safari Technology Preview can be downloaded immediately from Apple's Developer website and it will receive regular updates through the Mac App Store. While designed for developers, Safari Technology Preview does not require a developer account to download.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 13 New Features

Wednesday April 23, 2025 8:31 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
iphone 17 dummies sonny dickson

iPhone 17 Air Almost as Thin as Its Buttons, New Images Show

Thursday April 24, 2025 2:14 am PDT by
If you missed the video showing dummy models of Apple's all-new super thin iPhone 17 Air that's expected later this year, Sonny Dickson this morning shared some further images of the device in close alignment with the other dummy models in the iPhone 17 lineup, indicating just how thin it is likely to be in comparison. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be around 5.5mm thick – with a thicker ...
iPhone 17 Air Pastel Feature

iPhone 17 Air Launching Later This Year With These 16 New Features

Thursday April 24, 2025 8:24 am PDT by
While the so-called "iPhone 17 Air" is not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the ultra-thin device. Overall, the iPhone 17 Air sounds like a mixed bag. While the device is expected to have an impressively thin and light design, rumors indicate it will have some compromises compared to iPhone 17 Pro models, including only a single rear camera, a...
Global Close Your Rings Day Pin

Apple Stores Giving Away a Limited-Edition Pin For Free Today

Thursday April 24, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Starting today, April 24, Apple Stores around the world are giving away a special pin for free to customers who request one, while supplies last. Photo Credit: Filip Chudzinski The enamel pin's design is inspired by the Global Close Your Rings Day award in the Activity app, which Apple Watch users can receive by closing all three Activity rings today. The limited-edition pin is the physical...
Apple Logo Spotlight Blue

White House Hits Back at Apple's Massive EU Fine

Thursday April 24, 2025 5:57 am PDT by
Apple's $570 million fine from the EU has triggered a sharp rebuke from the White House, which called the fine a form of economic extortion, Reuters reports. The fine was announced on Wednesday by the European Commission, following a formal investigation into Apple's compliance with the bloc's Digital Markets Act (DMA), a landmark piece of legislation aimed at curbing the market dominance of ...
AirPods Pro 3 Mock Feature

AirPods Pro 3 Just Months Away – Here's What We Know

Friday April 18, 2025 5:16 am PDT by
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
apple watch ultra yellow

What's Next for the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Apple Watch SE 3

Friday April 25, 2025 2:44 pm PDT by
This week marks the 10th anniversary of the Apple Watch, which launched on April 24, 2015. Yesterday, we recapped features rumored for the Apple Watch Series 11, but since 2015, the Apple Watch has also branched out into the Apple Watch Ultra and the Apple Watch SE, so we thought we'd take a look at what's next for those product lines, too. 2025 Apple Watch Ultra 3 Apple didn't update the...
ipad air magic keyboard feature

iPadOS 19 Rumored to Show Mac-Like Menu Bar When Connected to Magic Keyboard

Thursday April 24, 2025 12:09 pm PDT by
When an iPad running iPadOS 19 is connected to a Magic Keyboard, a macOS-like menu bar will appear on the screen, according to the leaker Majin Bu. This change would further blur the lines between the iPad and the Mac. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman previously claimed that iPadOS 19 will be "more like macOS," with unspecified improvements to productivity, multitasking, and app window management,...

Top Rated Comments

Fuchal Avatar
119 months ago
The best part about this for me is that the icon is purple.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macduke Avatar
119 months ago
They should make this available for iOS. How are professionals using iPad Pro supposed to test their websites? If Apple doesn't take the iPad Pro seriously then professionals aren't going to use it.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
djang0 Avatar
119 months ago
They should make this available for iOS. How are professionals using iPad Pro supposed to test their websites? If Apple doesn't take the iPad Pro seriously then professionals aren't going to use it.
This just goes to show how iPad Pro is not really a laptop replacement after all (just one example out of many). It's a marketing gimmick.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
redheeler Avatar
119 months ago
Will this allow me to actually close YouTube tabs and windows without crashing the entire GUI ('https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7282867') and forcing me to restart, unlike Safari? How long do we have to go before Safari can work with YouTube on recent machines with El Capitan again?
I have not experienced this once and it is not at all normal. Do you have any third-party extensions or plugins that may be causing this?
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Westside guy Avatar
119 months ago
I strongly suspect any actual useful feedback coming from actual developers is going to be drowned out by the cacophony coming from the hipsters / fanboys / other people with too much free time on their hands.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Dilster3k Avatar
119 months ago
I'm very excited and I don't know why.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)