Two weeks after WWDC 2022, Apple has now updated the Safari Technology Preview with a sneak peek of new features coming with macOS Ventura – which will also be available to macOS Monterey users later this year.
For those unfamiliar, Safari Technology Preview is an alternative version of Apple’s web browser that has experimental features. This way, developers can prepare their websites and web apps for the new technologies before they become available to the public. With Release 147, Apple is bringing some of the Safari 16 features to macOS Monterey.
Safari 16, which is part of macOS Ventura and iOS 16, comes with several new features and enhancements. For instance, the new version addresses one of the main complaints web developers have about Safari, which is the lack of web push notifications. This means that websites and web apps can now send notifications to users even when Safari is closed.
With macOS Ventura and iOS 16, Apple has expanded the capabilities of the Live Text feature so that it works with videos. Users can even translate images with Live Text. These features are now available in the latest release of Safari Technology Preview – although they require an Apple Silicon Mac.
Passkeys, which also comes with Safari 16, has been added to the Safari Technology Preview. With Passkeys, users can authenticate to websites and apps without even having to create a traditional password. Instead, Passkeys uses Face ID or Touch ID authentication and synchronizes tokens via iCloud.
Safari 16 also supports Shared Tab Groups and synchronized website settings. However, these features are not yet available in Release 147.
How to install Safari Technology Preview
Apple’s experimental web browser can be downloaded from the Apple Developer website. Then, all you have to do is follow the instructions to install the app on your Mac. It’s worth noting that this version doesn’t replace the main Safari app.
The new Safari Technology Preview 147 can be installed on both macOS Ventura beta and also macOS Monterey. This means that users running the latest macOS official release can experience the latest Safari changes without having to install beta versions of the operating system.
Unfortunately, Apple has confirmed that it will no longer provide Safari Technology Preview updates for macOS Big Sur users. Safari 16 will be available later this year for macOS Monterey users as a free update.
More details about what’s new in Safari 16 and Safari Technology Preview 147 can be found here.
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