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How Apple made Safari about 60% faster in the last 6 months

A month ago, we told you about the release of Speedometer 3.0 , a new web performance testing benchmark that aims to provide a more fair and representative measure of how a web browser performs at modern web tasks. Unlike earlier versions of Speedometer, which were made more or less by Apple’s WebKit team, version 3.0 is made in a collaboration between Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla with a new governance model to agree upon what tests are important representations of the modern web.

In other words, it’s probably the most “fair” and up-to-date measurement of web browser performance we have right now.

WebKit is the rendering engine used by Safari and provided to Apple developers who wish to use web rendering within their apps. It’s required to be used by every browser on iOS or iPadOS except for those inside the EU. Apple’s WebKit development team published a blog post detailing how they used Speedometer 3.0 as a guide to optimize performance from Safari 17 (released in September 2023) and Safari 17.4 (released in March 2024).

Over those six months, a lot of small incremental improvements made a big difference. As the blog post summarizes:

With all these optimizations and dozens more, we were able to improve the overall Speedometer 3.0 score by ~60% between Safari 17.0 and Safari 17.4. Even though individual progressions were often less than 1%, over time, they all stacked up together to make a big difference. Because some of these optimizations also benefited Speedometer 2.1, Safari 17.4 is also ~13% faster than Safari 17.0 on Speedometer 2.1.  WebKit blog post

Some of those improvements include things like batching compositing layer updates, increasing cache size on macOS, improving inline and SVG layout, and more. Many of these improvements are minor, resulting in just a few percentage points here or there, or targeting very specific parts of web performance. But multiple small improvements compounding over time made for a much faster browser.

This doesn’t mean Safari is much faster than other Mac browsers, though. When we tested Speedomenter 3.0 last month , we were running Safari 17.4 and found it to be the fastest browser but only by a very small margin. Edge still had some catching up to do, but Chrome and Firefox are both just behind Safari’s Speedometer score.

Author: Jason Cross , Senior Editor

I have written about technology for my entire professional life - over 25 years. I enjoy learning about how complicated technology works and explaining it in a way anyone can understand.

Recent stories by Jason Cross:

• iOS 18: Everything you need to know about the next iPhone update
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Apple Releases Safari Technology Preview 192 With Bug Fixes and Performance Improvements

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.

The current ‌Safari Technology Preview‌ release is compatible with machines running macOS Ventura and macOS Sonoma , the latest version of macOS that Apple released in September 2023.

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.

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Top Rated Comments

Safari 17.5 with MacOS 14.5 scored a 14.2, Safari Tech Preview 192 was 13.3, and the latest Google Chrome was 26.8. Uggg....

"and Performance Improvements" Sooooo...at long last, it's the most snappiest Safari we've ever created. You're going to love it

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9to5Mac Daily: April 10, 2024 – Apple’s AI plans in iOS 18 and beyond

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iPadOS 16 is available today

New Ways to Share and Connect in Messages

Mail Introduces New Smart Tools

Relive Memories with the New iCloud Shared Photo Library

New Security and Collaboration Features Come to Safari

A Real-Time Collaboration Space Using Freeform

The Weather App Comes to iPad

Visual Look Up and Live Text Get Powerful Updates

Pro Features Take Demanding Workflows Even Further

Powerful Multitasking with Stage Manager and Full External Display Support

Additional iPadOS 16 Features

• Dictation offers a new on-device experience that allows users to easily move between voice, touch, and Scribble with Apple Pencil. Users can type with the keyboard or write with Scribble, tap in the text field, move the cursor, and insert QuickType suggestions, all without needing to stop Dictation. Dictation also features automatic punctuation and emoji dictation. 5
• Siri adds the ability to run shortcuts as soon as an app is downloaded without requiring upfront setup. Users can add emoji when sending a message, choose to send messages automatically — skipping the confirmation step — and hang up phone and FaceTime calls completely hands-free by simply saying “Hey Siri, hang up.” 6
• The Home app gets an all-new design that makes it easier to navigate, organize, view, and control smart home accessories at a glance, as well as Matter support — a new smart home connectivity standard that allows compatible accessories to work together seamlessly across different ecosystems, and provides more choice and interoperability — all while maintaining the highest level of security. 7
• Desktop-class apps  enable new capabilities optimized for the iPad display, so apps are more capable with new elements and interactions, including a consistent undo and redo, a redesigned inline find-and-replace experience, a new document menu, customizable toolbars, and the ability to change file extensions, view folder size in Files, and more.
• Apple News introduces a new My Sports section, where users can easily follow favorite teams and leagues; receive stories from hundreds of top publishers; access scores, schedules, and standings for the top professional and college leagues; and watch highlights right in the News app. Favorites will sync with the Apple TV app to offer a seamless sports experience. 8
• Notes allows users to create neater handwritten notes with the ability to automatically straighten the handwriting, use their iCloud password to lock personal notes, add screenshots in Quick Note, and take organization even further with powerful Smart Folders and filtering capabilities.
• Game Center makes it easy for users to play with or compete against their friends through the redesigned dashboard that shows friends’ games activity and accomplishments all in one place.
• Handoff in FaceTime allows users to start a FaceTime call on one of their Apple devices and seamlessly hand it off to another Apple device nearby. When switching to a different device, the connected Bluetooth headset transitions simultaneously so users don’t miss any of the conversation.
• New accessibility tools include Live Captions in FaceTime; 9 a new Magnifier mode that delivers richer descriptions of the surroundings; 10 Hover Text, which helps users to easily read input fields, menu items, button labels, and other text on iPad; support for over 20 additional languages in VoiceOver and Spoken Content; and more.

Text of this article

24 October 2022

iPadOS 16 takes the versatility of iPad even further, introducing new ways to collaborate via Messages, big updates to Mail, iCloud Shared Photo Library, passkeys and new collaboration features in Safari, the Weather app, pro features including Reference Mode and Display Zoom, and an entirely new multitasking experience with Stage Manager. iPadOS 16 is available today as a free software update. 

New features in Messages make it possible to edit, undo send, and mark conversations as unread, making everyday messaging even better. 1 With iPadOS 16, users can invite friends and family to SharePlay via Messages, and enjoy a shared activity — like a movie, TV show, workout, or game — in sync while they chat in a Messages thread.

In addition, new collaboration features make working with others quick and seamless. When users send an invitation to collaborate via Messages, everyone on the thread is automatically added to the document, spreadsheet, or project, and when someone makes an edit to the shared document, activity updates appear at the top of the thread.

Being more productive is easier than ever with new tools introduced in Mail. Users can set reminders to come back to a message at a later date with Remind me, receive automatic suggestions to follow up on an email if they haven’t received a response, and get automatic alerts when they’ve forgotten to include a recipient or attachment in an email. Users can also cancel delivery of a message before it reaches a recipient’s inbox and schedule emails to be sent at the perfect moment. 2 With the biggest update to search in years, Mail uses state-of-the-art techniques to deliver more relevant, accurate, and complete search results.

iCloud Shared Photo Library gives families a new way to share photos seamlessly with a separate iCloud Photos library that up to six people can collaborate on, contribute to, and enjoy. It’s easy for users to either share all of their existing photos from their personal libraries, share based on a start date, or from the people in their photos. Users will receive intelligent suggestions to share photo moments that include participants in the library and any other people they choose. Every user can add, delete, edit, or favorite the shared photos and videos, which will appear in each user’s Memories and Featured Photos so that everyone can relive more complete family moments.

Browsing in Safari is even more secure with passkeys, a next-generation credential that can’t be phished or leaked, making it safer and easy to use. Designed to replace passwords, passkeys use Touch ID or Face ID for biometric verification, and are securely synced with end-to-end encryption using iCloud Keychain so they are available across Apple devices including iPad, iPhone, and Mac. Created as a joint effort in collaboration with the FIDO Alliance, Google, and Microsoft, passkeys will work across apps and the web, and users can sign in to websites or an app on non-Apple devices using just their iPad.

Safari also adds shared Tab Groups to share a collection of websites with friends and family, making it seamless to add tabs and see what others are viewing.

Coming to iPadOS 16 in an update later this year, Freeform — a powerful productivity app with a flexible canvas — will give users the ability to see, share, and collaborate all in one place without worrying about layouts and page sizes, and with full support for Apple Pencil. Users will be able to view others’ contributions as they add content or make edits, all while enjoying a real-time collaboration space. Freeform will allow collaborators to add virtually any kind of file — images, video, audio, PDFs, documents, and web links — to the canvas and preview it inline, without leaving the board.

Designed to take full advantage of the stunning display, Weather comes to iPad with immersive animations, detailed maps, and tappable forecast modules. So with just a tap, users can see the most important weather information, or explore maps to check precipitation, air quality, and temperature. Users can also be notified when a severe weather alert is issued in their area, or check the air quality using a color-coded scale.

Users can tap and hold on the subject of an image to lift it from the background and place it in apps like Messages. Visual Look Up also expands to recognize birds, insects, and statues, helping users quickly get information about objects and scenes in photos.

Using on-device intelligence, Live Text can now recognize text in videos across the system, making text completely interactive in paused video frames. With a single tap on a video, users can quickly copy and paste, translate, convert currency, and more.

iPadOS 16 brings new powerful features that make iPad Pro an indispensable tool for creative professionals. Reference Mode enables the 12.9-inch iPad Pro with Liquid Retina XDR display to match the color requirements in workflows like review and approve, color grading, and compositing, where accurate colors and consistent image quality are critical.

Powered by the performance of the Apple-designed M1 and M2 chips, Display Zoom allows users to increase the pixel density so they can view more in their apps, which is especially useful when multitasking with Stage Manager and Split View. With Virtual Memory Swap, iPad storage can be used to expand the available memory for all apps, and delivers up to 16 gigabytes of memory for the most demanding apps, helping to make multitasking absolutely seamless.

Stage Manager is an entirely new multitasking experience that automatically organizes apps and windows, making it quick and easy to switch between tasks. 3 For the first time on iPad, users can create overlapping windows of different sizes in a single view, drag and drop windows from the side, or open apps from the Dock to create groups of apps for faster, more flexible multitasking. The window of the app users are working on is displayed prominently in the center, and other open apps and windows are arranged on the left-hand side in order of recency.

In an update for M1 and M2 iPad models later this year, Stage Manager will unlock full external display support with resolutions of up to 6K, so users will be able arrange the ideal workspace, and work with up to four apps on iPad and four apps on the external display simultaneously. 4

Availability

iPadOS 16 is a free software update that is available starting today for iPad (5th generation and later), iPad mini (5th generation and later), iPad Air (3rd generation and later), and all iPad Pro models. For more information, visit apple.com/ipados/ipados-16 . Features are subject to change. Some features may not be available in all regions or all languages.

• Users can edit a message for up to 15 minutes after sending it and can unsend a message for up to 2 minutes after sending it. Users can make up to five edits to a given message, and recipients will be able to see a record of edits made to the message.
• Users can cancel delivery of a message within 30 seconds of hitting send, or they have the option to change the duration that the message is in the outbox. In addition, Undo Send can be turned off.
• Available on 12.9-inch iPad Pro (3rd generation and later), 11-inch iPad Pro (1st generation and later), and iPad Air (5th generation).
• Available on 12.9-inch iPad Pro (5th generation and later), 11-inch iPad Pro (3rd generation and later), and iPad Air (5th generation) in a software update later this year.
• Available on iPad models with A12 Bionic and later. Requires download of speech models. Available in Arabic (Saudi Arabia), Cantonese (China mainland, Hong Kong), English (Australia, Canada, India, Singapore, UK, US), French (France), German (Germany), Italian (Italy), Japanese (Japan), Korean (South Korea), Mandarin Chinese (China mainland, Taiwan), Russian (Russia), Spanish (Mexico, Spain, US), and Turkish (Türkiye).
• This feature is available on iPad models with A12 Bionic and later.
• Matter accessories require an Apple TV or HomePod device as a home hub.
• Apple News is available in the US, the UK, Canada, and Australia.
• Live Captions will be available in beta in English (US, Canada) with iPadOS 16 on iPad models with A12 Bionic and later. Accuracy of Live Captions may vary and should not be relied upon in high-risk situations.
• Door Detection and People Detection features in Magnifier require the LiDAR Scanner on 12.9-inch iPad Pro (4th generation and later) and 11-inch iPad Pro (2nd generation and later). Door Detection should not be relied upon in circumstances where a user may be harmed or injured, in high-risk or emergency situations, or for navigation.

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Update your iPhone or iPad

Find out how to update your iPhone or iPad to the latest version of iOS or iPadOS.

You can update your iPhone or iPad to the latest version of iOS or iPadOS wirelessly.

If the update doesn’t appear on your device, use your computer to update your device manually. Find out how to update your device manually if you’re using a Mac with macOS Catalina or later , or if you’re using a Mac with macOS Mojave or earlier or a Windows PC .

Update your iPhone or iPad wirelessly

Back up your device using iCloud or your computer.

Plug your device into a power source and connect to the internet with Wi-Fi .

Go to Settings > General, then tap Software Update.

If you see more than one software update option available, choose the one you want to install.

Tap Install Now. If you see Download and Install instead, tap it to download the update, enter your passcode, then tap Install Now. If you don’t know your passcode, find out what to do .

If you receive an alert when updating wirelessly

Find out what to do if you see an alert message while trying to update your device wirelessly .

Some software updates aren't available wirelessly. VPN or proxy connections may prevent your device from contacting the update servers.

If you need more space when updating wirelessly

If a message asks to remove apps temporarily because the software needs more space for the update, tap Continue to allow apps to be removed. After the installation process has finished, those apps will be reinstalled automatically. If you tap Cancel instead, you can delete content manually from your device to add more space.

Customise automatic updates

Your device can update automatically overnight while it's charging.

Turn on automatic updates

Go to Settings > General > Software Update.

Tap Automatic Updates, then turn on Download iOS Updates.

Turn on Install iOS Updates. Your device will be updated automatically to the latest version of iOS or iPadOS. Some updates may need to be installed manually.

Install Rapid Security Responses

Rapid Security Responses deliver important security improvements quicker, before they are included in future software updates.

To get Rapid Security Responses automatically:

Tap Automatic Updates.

Make sure Security Responses & System Files is turned on.

If you don't want Rapid Security Responses to be installed automatically, you can install Rapid Security Responses like software updates .

If you need to remove a Rapid Security Response:

Go to Settings > General > About.

Tap iOS Version.

Tap Remove Security Response.

You can reinstall the Rapid Security Response later, or wait for it to be installed permanently as part of a standard software update.

Upgrading to the latest version of iOS or iPadOS software provides the latest features, security updates and bug fixes. Not all features are available on all devices or in all countries and regions. Battery and system performance may be influenced by many factors, including network conditions and individual use; actual results may vary.

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