Apple's default browser, Safari, has turned 20 years old, so here is a look back at some of its standout improvements and features over the years.
Safari is a graphical web browser developed by Apple and launched in 2003, and created as the native web browser for all Apple devices. Cloudwards reports that the browser's performance is reportedly superb on both Mac and iOS, as it offers high speed and robust privacy. In addition to being among the quickest, it also offers trustworthy privacy protection.
With already 20 years since Apple first launched it, the browser has already lived through several updates and fixes, making it one of the most popular browsers today, and here's why.
Safari's on Apple Devices Over the Years
When compared to Microsoft's Internet Explorer on the Mac, Apple claimed that the original version of Safari loaded sites more than three times as quickly, according to Mac Rumors.
Prior to Safari's creation, as part of a five-year deal between Apple and Microsoft, Internet Explorer served as Mac's default browser from 1998 until the October 2003 introduction of OS X Panther with Safari.
"Safari is the fastest browser on the Mac, and we predict that many will feel it is the best browser ever created," said former Apple CEO Steve Jobs in a past interview. "We are bringing innovation back into this category with the first all-new browser created in many years."
In January 2003, a public beta of Safari for OS X Jaguar became available. This version of the browser had significant upgrades to bookmark management, the WebKit rendering engine for quicker browsing speeds, Google search capabilities built right into the toolbar, and more.
For the iPhone and iPad, mobile versions of Safari were made available in 2007 and 2010, respectively. All of Apple's platforms continue to use WebKit in the browser.
Although Google's Chrome has since become the most widely used web browser for both PCs and Macs since its debut in 2008, Apple claims that Safari is still the fastest desktop browser available and that it loads commonly visited websites on Mac 50% faster on average than Chrome, according to Apple's official product site.
Safari's Best Features
The default browser for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac is Safari. While it received criticism for being fairly slow and unresponsive to web technology at first, Apple has just made groundbreaking modifications to the Safari browser, thus making it the best browser for all Mac users today.
Many other browsers, including Mozilla Firefox and Opera, are frequently compared to Safari, yet Safari outperforms its competitors. Thanks to its improved functionality.
According to Spiceworks review of the browser, here are some of its standout features:
- Usability: Safari has an attractive and minimalist user interface design.
- Security: Safari uses Google's Safe Browsing database to prevent phishing and malware. It allows fingerprinting prevention. Passwords are stored in the iCloud Keychain. Its pop-up ad blocker occasionally falls short.
- Speed: Apple claims that, on average, commonly visited websites load 50% faster on Macbooks using Safari than Google Chrome.
- Extensions: Safari has a relatively limited extension library.
- Support and updates: Apple provides Safari with regular updates to fix bugs. Safari's update cycle is four to six weeks.
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