Apple today released a new update for Safari Technology Preview, the experimental browser Apple first introduced in March 2016. Apple designed the Safari Technology Preview to test features that may be introduced into future release versions of Safari.
Safari Technology Preview 174 includes fixes and updates for CSS, CSS Container Queries, Layout, JavaScript, Media, Popover, Accessibility, SVG, and Web API.
The update now features content coming in Safari 17 alongside macOS Sonoma. On Sonoma, the browser offers Profiles for separating browsing data like History and Favorites, web apps, and improved private browsing mode. Features for all operating systems include Feature Flags (replacing Experimental Features), a redesigned Develop menu, Live Text support for vertical text recognition in images and videos, HEIC support, and JPEG XL, a new image format with an improved compression algorithm for better image quality at smaller file sizes than JPEG.
The current Safari Technology Preview release is compatible with machines running macOS Ventura and macOS Sonoma, the latest version of macOS that Apple is beta testing right now.
The Safari Technology Preview update is available through the Software Update mechanism in System Preferences or System Settings to anyone who has downloaded the browser. Full release notes for the update are available on the Safari Technology Preview website.
Apple's aim with Safari Technology Preview is to gather feedback from developers and users on its browser development process. Safari Technology Preview can run side-by-side with the existing Safari browser and while designed for developers, it does not require a developer account to download.
