Safari

New tweak adds Safari View Controller support to Twitter, Gmail, WhatsApp and Alien Blue

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 19, 2018

Safari View Controller is a new feature in iOS 9 that lets developers enable an in-app browser based on Safari that taps into many of the features that make using standalone Safari so great. Some of the benefits are the ability to use current logins, access the keychain and use autofill.

Previously, developers had to come up with their own browsers for their apps, which meant that users couldn't tap into ongoing logins, the keychain, or use autofill when viewing the web through these browsers. That resulted in, as you can probably attest to, a less that ideal and disconnected user experience.

Apple has fixed this issue by allowing developers to use Safari View Controller in order to bridge the gap between the sites and data that they already use, and the apps that they love.

Unfortunately, not all apps yet support Safari View Controller. Some popular apps, like Gmail, Twitter, and WhatsApp, to name a few, still use their own built in browsers. SFSafariViewController all the things is a brand new tweak that aims to fix this issue.

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How to reopen windows and tabs from your last browsing session in Safari for Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 1, 2023

If you've ever accidentally closed a Safari window loaded with dozens of tabs, you know how daunting a task recreating them from your browsing history can be. Like many people, I used to be a huge fan of Google's Chrome before I eventually made a switch to Safari.

One of Chrome's simple yet tremendously useful features that I've always valued is a switch in settings telling the app to open with all the windows from your last browsing session.

Apple's desktop Safari, too, has had that feature for a while now but did you know of a hidden option for reopening all windows from the last session?

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Google launching deep integration between search and iOS 9 apps by month’s end

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 9, 2015

Google announced today that Apple fans who are running iOS 9 on their iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices will soon start seeing app content in their search results in the Safari browser.

The company's so-called App Indexing feature is now compatible with HTTP deep link standards for iOS 9. Owners of iOS 9 devices should expect app content to begin surfacing in search results by month's end.

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Apple brings some El Capitan features to Yosemite and Mavericks users with Safari 9.0 update

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 30, 2015

In addition to releasing the major OS X 10.11 El Capitan software update for the Mac, Apple has also posted a Safari update for Yosemite and Mavericks users. In addition to improving your privacy, compatibility and security, the Safari 9.0 update for Yosemite and Mavericks systems includes some controls found in the El Capitan edition of Apple's web browser.

These mainly include the ability to mute audio in tabs and additional viewing options in Safari Reader, but not the new Pinned Sites feature.

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New in iOS 9: Safari hides private tab information when the App Switcher is opened

Jeff Benjamin ∙ September 27, 2015

When you open the App Switcher in iOS 9, Safari will automatically blank out the preview page if you happen to leave off while browsing in Private mode. In iOS 8, Safari would show the preview card, regardless of whether or not a Private browsing session was last engaged.

There is already an API available for third-party developers to blur out App Switcher previews to protect sensitive data. Some banking apps and other apps with sensitive customer data do this already. But Apple's method for going about obscuring potentially sensitive web browsing sessions is a bit different. Instead of blurring out the page, Safari simply blanks out everything when the App Switcher is opened.

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New in iOS 9: ‘Paste and Go’ and ‘Paste and Search’ in Safari

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Here's a handy new under-the-radar feature in iOS 9's Safari browser: the ability to quickly paste an item from your pasteboard, and submit a search via Safari. iOS 9 also allows you to quickly paste a URL and submit the URL.

Both of these features require that a user have text copied to the pasteboard, whether that be a full URL, or general text for performing a search. Of course, this isn't a huge groundbreaking feature, but it can save you seconds, and over time, seconds add up.

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Using BetterTouchTool to cycle through Safari tabs

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

BetterTouchTool is a free Mac utility that allows you to supercharge your Mac's trackpad gestures. There are literally hundreds of uses for an app like this, but I'd like to share with you one particular use case scenario that I find extremely useful.

I've set up BetterTouchTool to allow my MacBook's trackpad to quickly cycle through all of my open tabs in Safari using a simple two-finger gesture. Have a look at our full demonstration video and tutorial for all of the details.

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QuickSwipe lets you swipe to dismiss videos in Safari

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

QuickSwipe is a new tweak that brings swipe to dismiss functionality to videos playing in mobile Safari. The tweak is extremely simple and focused, contains no preferences, and is good to go upon installation.

After respring, begin playing a video in Safari and perform a swipe down gesture to dismiss the video and go back to the browser. If you find it annoying to have to tap the "Done" button to close a full screen video, then QuickSwipe is a tweak that you may enjoy using.

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LinkCollector lets you delay opening links until later

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated June 22, 2018

LinkCollector is a brand new jailbreak tweak that allows you to collect multiple links, and open them at your leisure all at once. Instead of opening the links that you collect immediately, you can simply defer them.

When you attempt to open a Safari link from another app, you'll get a banner notification that informs you that a link has been collected. You can tap the banner to open the link immediately, or you can let the banner timeout, and open the link(s) when you visit Safari later.

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