3 ms·

How is safari focusing on performance and privacy? AFAIK its the worst performing browser and easiest one to fingerprint.

andai 6y ago
Tangential to performance, but last I used it (2018ish) Safari had by far the best power efficiency, which is important when running on battery power (iOS and MacBooks are Apple's most popular devices). It was like a 2-3X difference, doubling the battery life. I thought that was really interesting, how much they optimized for that, and how Chrome seemingly did not at all.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- dahfizz 6y ago
  That's pretty surprising, considering chrome on iOS is basically just a safari skin. Is there a more in depth look at this anywhere?
  - wtmt 6y ago
    I’m pretty sure the GP is referring to battery usage comparisons on Mac and not iOS. There may be battery use differences on iOS too (the UI, networking and other pieces are still Chrome’s), but not of the magnitude described here.
    - andai 6y ago
      Since Chrome on iOS is mostly safari (as far as the heavy lifting goes), I expect Chrome on iOS is easier on battery than it is on Android. My meaning was that Safari is heavily optimized for power usage because most people using it are on mobile devices, and the difference is dramatic, at least on macOS where you can compare it. I wonder how Chrome's traffic compares across mobile, laptop and desktop (I don't think laptops can be detected in browser stats). They certainly seem to focus on maximum performance above all else.
- Smerity 6y ago
  From what I understand (speaking casually to someone on the Google Chrome team) Safari is able to integrate into operating system level APIs that are not available for other applications, impacting especially power efficiency.
millstone 6y ago
Safari is very fast, not sure where you got the idea that it's slow? Safari's tracking protection works very well; we know because Safari ad prices have dropped significantly: https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/12/09/apples-safari-ad-tracking-prevention-tech-stunningly-effective-says-industry-executives https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/12/09/apples-safari-ad-...
- refresher 6y ago
  Safari page loading is fast but from my experience the actual app is slow (on the newest MBP no less). It's the only browser where I can type something into the URL bar and press enter quickly, expecting it will take me to the top history result (e.g. type 'tw' and press enter to go to twitter.com) but actually beat out the loading of the history / bookmarks results and have Safari simply google the string 'tw' instead. This happens all the time for me in Safari and never happened once in Chrome.
- darthrupert 6y ago
  If only Safari had something comparable to uMatrix, uBlock and youtube enchancer suite. But apparently the APIs that would’ve been useful for the first two are a bit crippled in the latest Safari. Hopefully this can be fixed some day. I’d gladly switch from Firefox.

andai 6y ago

Tangential to performance, but last I used it (2018ish) Safari had by far the best power efficiency, which is important when running on battery power (iOS and MacBooks are Apple's most popular devices). It was like a 2-3X difference, doubling the battery life. I thought that was really interesting, how much they optimized for that, and how Chrome seemingly did not at all.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
dahfizz 6y ago
That's pretty surprising, considering chrome on iOS is basically just a safari skin. Is there a more in depth look at this anywhere?
- wtmt 6y ago
  I’m pretty sure the GP is referring to battery usage comparisons on Mac and not iOS. There may be battery use differences on iOS too (the UI, networking and other pieces are still Chrome’s), but not of the magnitude described here.
  - andai 6y ago
    Since Chrome on iOS is mostly safari (as far as the heavy lifting goes), I expect Chrome on iOS is easier on battery than it is on Android. My meaning was that Safari is heavily optimized for power usage because most people using it are on mobile devices, and the difference is dramatic, at least on macOS where you can compare it. I wonder how Chrome's traffic compares across mobile, laptop and desktop (I don't think laptops can be detected in browser stats). They certainly seem to focus on maximum performance above all else.
Smerity 6y ago
From what I understand (speaking casually to someone on the Google Chrome team) Safari is able to integrate into operating system level APIs that are not available for other applications, impacting especially power efficiency.

millstone 6y ago

Safari is very fast, not sure where you got the idea that it's slow? Safari's tracking protection works very well; we know because Safari ad prices have dropped significantly: https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/12/09/apples-safari-ad-tracking-prevention-tech-stunningly-effective-says-industry-executives https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/12/09/apples-safari-ad-...

refresher 6y ago
Safari page loading is fast but from my experience the actual app is slow (on the newest MBP no less). It's the only browser where I can type something into the URL bar and press enter quickly, expecting it will take me to the top history result (e.g. type 'tw' and press enter to go to twitter.com) but actually beat out the loading of the history / bookmarks results and have Safari simply google the string 'tw' instead. This happens all the time for me in Safari and never happened once in Chrome.
darthrupert 6y ago
If only Safari had something comparable to uMatrix, uBlock and youtube enchancer suite. But apparently the APIs that would’ve been useful for the first two are a bit crippled in the latest Safari. Hopefully this can be fixed some day. I’d gladly switch from Firefox.