Apple today released Safari 12 for macOS Sierra and High Sierra, introducing the same Safari improvements that are coming to macOS Mojave in the Safari 12 software bundled with that update.
Safari 12 is recommended for all macOS High Sierra users and can be downloaded from the Software Update function in the Mac App Store.
Safari 12 brings support for creating and storing strong, unique passwords, flagging reused passwords in Safari Preferences, preventing social media buttons and embedded content from tracking you across websites, and suppressing ad retargeting by limiting the amount of information available about your Mac.
Apple's full release notes for the update are below:
The Safari 12 update is recommended for all macOS High Sierra users and contains improvements to privacy, compatibility, and security. This update:
- Adds the ability to view website icons in tabs
- Automatically suggests and fills a strong, unique password when creating an account or changing a password
- Flags reused passwords in Safari Preferences
- Adds support for allowing or blocking pop-ups on specific websites
- Prevents embedded content and social media buttons from tracking cross-site browsing without permission.
- Suppresses ad retargeting by reducing advertisers' ability to identify Mac devices uniquely
- Automatically turns off Safari extensions that negatively impact browsing performance
- Improves security by only supporting legacy Safari Extensions that have been reviewed by Apple
- Improves security by discontinuing support for most NPAPI plug-ins
The update also includes several fixes for security vulnerabilities, outlined in an Apple support document on the security content of Safari 12.
macOS Mojave with Safari 12 built in will be released to the public on Monday, September 24.
Top Rated Comments
uBlock Origin and Ghostery got disabled, and I got the dialogue window that they are now in the App Store, like all other extensions. However, this is not true. There is high chance you are not gonna find the extension you need on the App Store.
Going to Safari Extensions also takes you to the App Store, so you cannot enable your old extensions from there. To make your old extensions work, what you need to do is go to the Preferences --> Extensions, and enable your extensions from there.
I got the first taste of this in Safari Tech Preview, so I knew this was coming.
Download the extension, change the file extension from .safariextz to zip. Extract files.
Click "Show Extension Builder" in Develop menu. On the lower left corner there is a plus button. Click it. Then choose the "Add Extension".
When you get asked to, open the folder where the extracted files of your extension are. Then click "Run" in the upper right corner of Extension Builder.
Done. Now your extension shall be working like a charm.
I for one love that Apple does this. It shows they care about people using previous versions of MacOS rather than just saying UPGRADE ALL THE THINGS RIGHT AWAY!!!
“Safari” cannot be updated because its extensions are in use by “Spotlight”. Click OK and quit the application.
I did quit Safari but it seems to want more!
I wish someone would come along and completely change the WiFi standard, Bluetooth standard, and LTE protocols and just tell Apple to "deal with it".