Apple Releases Safari Technology Preview 203 With Bug Fixes and Performance Improvements

[MacRumors]

Apple today released a new update for Safari Technology Preview, the experimental browser that was first introduced in March 2016. Apple designed Safari Technology Preview to allow users to test features that are planned for future release versions of the Safari browser.

Safari Technology Preview 203 includes fixes and updates for Accessibility, Canvas, CSS, Editing, JavaScript, Media, Networking, Rendering, SVG, Web Apps, Web Assembly, Web Extensions, and Web Inspector.

The current Safari Technology Preview release is compatible with machines running macOS Sonoma and the macOS Sequoia beta. Set to launch this fall, macOS Sequoia is the newest version of macOS that Apple is working on.

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 from Apple's website. Complete 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 it is designed for developers, it does not require a developer account to download and use.

Article Link: Apple Releases Safari Technology Preview 203 With Bug Fixes and Performance Improvements

 

[MasterControlProgram]

Hopefully this will fix the random crashing when I use Command-W to close a tab, either that or it’s interpreting Command-W as the quit command as well. They’ve fixed this before but it has come back again.

 

[Adora]

What is this thing? It's almost always outdated or just has a little higher build number than standard Safari it beta releases of macOS and now in the final release too.
It's still Safari 18.0 since 11 days while Safari 18.1 has been released in the meantime at least for Sequoia, I think. Or is that still beta only content?

18.1 Beta for Sonoma and Ventura has been released 4 days ago.

Is there really any new Technology in it that that normal Safari with same or higher version number don't have or is it only practical for having a second instance of Safari? That only works correctly if the build isn't older than Safari's.

I want my "black Safari" back, Webkit Browser nightly builds. They are still there, but not as an App, just a bunch of files zipped together.

How do I use those? Do I have to compile it? Or overwrite the files from Safari anywhere in the App package or Library?
I remember when running this at the same time with Safari, it always updated Safari too somehow, but only while it was running. That was a little confusing and the password section never worked in the black browser.

I am using Firefox Nightly with daily updates as main browser without any problem and just would like to have this for Safari too.

WebKit Build Archives

SequoiaSonoma 293531@main April 10, 2025 at 11:12 AM PDT 293530@main April 10, 2025 at 11:08 AM PDT 293525@main April 10, 2025 at 09:56 AM PDT 293523@main April 10, 2025 at 10:24 AM PDT 293521@main April 10, 2025 at 09:51 AM PDT 293520@main April 10, 2025 at 09:18 AM PDT 293509@main April 9...

webkit.org

"
WebKit build archives are not code signed. Please open run-webkit-archive
using the context menu in Finder.

See https://support.apple.com/kb/PH25088 for more details."

Says this README file.

If I run the file it just opens the Terminal.

I also wonder why those two files don't have an extension and one looks like a folder.

 

[Adora]

Seems no-one is interested anymore, even Apple. Or was the TP always only a thing while the beta phase of a new major macOS release? I remember that differently.

It's still on 18.0 and 16 days old now and very buggy if the standard Safari is already on 18.1.

At least I found out how I get this formerly black Safari icon Webkit browser back, what has new builds every day.

Running just that file started it. I don't know why it didn't work before. I tried it several times over the years, also without changing the Terminal to bash instead of zsh, what I changed now again.

This is Safari in 15.1 Beta 5:


Technology Preview:


And now suddenly the formerly black Safari isn't black anymore and also not called Webkit it's just a Safari with an Alias Symbol in it's icon and number added to the build.


I only had to run this file. Teminal opened and with it a second completely "first launch" Safari. I deleted the standard booksmark in another build from yesterday an changed some settings. I deleted the old one and the changes are still there. It's just a fully functional Safari that can be run at the same time with the other one, with a tiny change in the code every few hours.






But you can't run this from the Dock when it's closed. It only works with that file above. It's really an Alias to normal Safari then and launches just that one.


So not what I hoped a really Nightly version what is already two versions ahead (maybe 18.3) what the Nightlys of Firefox are and the Canarys of Chrome and Edge I think are too, the difference is they always get a full new version number and are already in the 130s.