I can't stop using Safari on Mac!
If you’re watching on a Mac, you’re probably using Chrome or a Chromium-based browser. Those are good, and whether you want vertical tabs, AI-assisted browsing or better extensions, there’s a browser for you. But for me, Safari does everything I need. Here are six reasons I use it, and a few things that annoy me.
1. Hide My Email
An iCloud+ feature that keeps your real email address private. Buying from a company you’ll never use again, and don’t want spam or your address leaked in a breach? Click the email field and choose Hide My Email instead of your address. You get a random address that forwards to your real one, tied to that website.
To stop the emails, don’t hope “unsubscribe” works: go to your iCloud settings, find the website, and deactivate the address. You’ll never get another email through it. You can use it for logins to sites you don’t fully trust, too.
2. Apple Pay
Check out without typing your details again and again. Click Apple Pay, choose a card, contact info and shipping address, and confirm with Touch ID or Face ID. You can even edit contact information to use Hide My Email for that purchase. Apple Pay doesn’t send your real card number; it creates a one-time code for each transaction, so if the store or processor is hacked, they don’t get your card.
3. Tab groups
Save groups of tabs and sync them across devices. I have one for researching hotels for a future trip to Vietnam, comparing neighborhoods, budget and amenities, and another full of things for my office makeover. Changes sync to your iPhone, iPad and Mac, and you can share a group so someone else can add and remove tabs with you.
4. iCloud Passwords
Every browser saves passwords, and there’s 1Password or LastPass. But because Apple’s is built into the operating system, I feel Safari works better with it, with nothing extra to install. Touch ID fills in your login. It also has two-factor verification codes built in, so you don’t need Google Authenticator or Authy; click the code field and use your fingerprint. Simpler still are passkeys, the future of logging in: click “Sign in with passkey,” touch Touch ID, and you’re in.
5. Privacy
Apple says Safari is designed to prevent tracking as you move between sites. Safari → Privacy Report showed 181 trackers blocked from profiling me in 30 days. Honestly, I’m not that concerned; I’m logged into Google everywhere, so they’re following me somehow. I don’t use a VPN or ad blockers, because every time I do, something breaks. Whatever Safari does by default is what I use, and I appreciate it.
6. Web apps
New in macOS: save a website as an app. There’s no Mac app for Threads, so File → Add to Dock turns it into its own window with its own notifications, separate from Safari. (Find me there at @jerryschulzeonyt.) I did the same with The Verge. And yes, I know other browsers can do this.
CalDigit sponsored this video, with its SOHO dock.
What annoys me
- It’s a memory hog. Everyone says Safari uses fewer resources, but I never see it. With the same office-makeover tabs open in Safari and Brave (a Chromium browser), Safari used just under 6 GB versus about 4.3–4.4 GB.
- It often feels slow. Apple says it’s the fastest Mac browser, but in Speedometer 3.0 (made partly by Apple), Safari scored 28.5 and Brave 32.3. I feel the difference in daily use, too. Sometimes I have to quit and reopen Safari.
- Tabs break after a while. Leave a tab, like a Google Doc, for a while and come back, and the page doesn’t respond or the layout is messed up until I refresh. No data is lost, but it’s weird.
- Some sites in 2024 still only want Chromium, so I switch to Brave for them, then go back to Safari.
Verdict
None of that is enough to make me stop using Safari. I’ve tried Orion, Arc, Edge, vertical tabs and AI browsing, and none fit how I work. I don’t use extensions if I don’t have to, especially ad blockers that break more sites than they help. With my other Apple devices and all the syncing, Safari works best for me.
Links
- CalDigit’s docks and hubs (sponsored)
- CalDigit Element Hub
- M3 MacBook Air 15”
- M3 MacBook Air 15” 2 Weeks Later: Almost Pro
- CalDigit is my dock partner
- https://www.threads.net/@jerryschulzeonyt
- My iPhone Art
- Grovemade Desk Mat and Knife (save 10% JERRY10)
- UNLIMITED Cloud Backup for your Mac with Backblaze
In this video
Some links in this post are affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I may receive a small commission. See my ethics statement.
