If you’ve just bought a Macbook or an iPhone, or maybe you’re thinking about switching over to Apple, then things are definitely different over the other side of the tech world. For many people, Windows has been the way forward for a long time.
If you do decide to move to Apple, then one of the first things that you’ll likely come across is Safari. The name gives us a bit of a clue, but it’s not a full explanation to what Safari is, and how you can use it.
And though it’s not drastically different other options, Apple’s Safari browser does have some unique features that you can utilize. So, let’s look at Safari a bit more and see what it’s all about.
What is Safari?
Safari is simply the web browser that comes pre-installed on Apple devices, like the iPhone, iPad and their Macbooks too. It’s essentially designed to be fairly simple, with an emphasis on speed and responsiveness more than anything else.
As it comes installed on Apple devices, the likelihood is that at some point, you’re going to come across Safari as a browser. It’s typically much more popular on mobile than it is on desktop. As the default web browser, it is important that every version of Safari is reliable.
And if we look at Safari usage on desktop, then it’s around 10% in terms of the amount of people using it. It pales in comparison to the much more popular Google Chrome, and it’s on par with another good browser, Mozilla Firefox.
But if we look at solely mobile web browser usage, then its numbers are nearer to 30% of the market. It’s not quite on par with Chrome still, but due to the vast amount of people using iPhones, it’s definitely more popular on mobile.
What’s good about Safari?
What’s bad about Safari?
There are some critics of Safari, and those that would like to remove it as the default browser on their Macbook. Here’s a few of the most common areas where people have issues with it.
What are some good alternatives to Safari?
For many Mac users, you may want to stick with Safari. It’s pretty comfortable to use, and there’s nothing really wrong with it. However, it’s not the only web browser out there.
In fact, there are a ton of different options out there you can choose from, and they’ve all got different reasons why you might want to use them. Let’s check out some of the alternatives to Safari web browser.
Google Chrome
The most well known and the most popular web browser by quite a far distance is Google Chrome. Whilst it’s only been around for little more than a decade, it’s been part of Google’s rise to the top of the pile in terms of its search engine, but also the vast amount of other areas where Google has expanded into as well.
And as the most popular search engine, it only makes sense that they expanded to create the most popular browser as well. The main benefit of using Chrome, apart from its pretty decent speed, is that it’s very easy to use it with your email account (Gmail) and your YouTube account too (Google also own YouTube).
The only thing to mention is that some people don’t like this part about Chrome. They think that it might give Google too much of your personal information. Across the different platforms, there’s certainly a lot of different info that they can retain about yourself. So, I’ll let you make your own call on that one.
Great for: integration with Google, tons of extensions to choose from
Mozilla Firefox
If you’re looking for a not-for-profit alternative to the big boys, then another one of the major players when it comes to web browsers is Mozilla. It is often referred to as just Firefox too, and when it comes to private browsing, it’s one of the better options.
Having been around for almost 20 years, it’s not surprise that most people already know what Firefox is. It’s well known for being better than Chrome in terms of mobile speed, though that may change with all the mobile changes that Google are making recently.
It’s been an up and down ride for Firefox in terms of popularity, but it’s still undoubtedly one of the major browsers out there. Firefox is typically low on ads, which is useful when you’re searching for web pages.
Great for: Mobile speed, better for more tabs
Opera Browser
So, after Chrome, Firefox and Safari, what is the next most popular and well known web browser? Well, many people would say that up there somewhere you’re bound to find Opera.
Well known for being one of the faster browsers that the web has to offer, it even has a specific turbo mode that can be used to minimize any distractions and get things done at a quick pace.
Although it’s become known amongst many of us more recently, it was actually launched all the way back in 1995, making it one of the oldest browsers around.
Opera can be a great browser to switch to if you’re finding that Safari and Google Chrome end up using a lot of your computer or laptop’s CPU. If you’re finding your laptop is close to overheating a lot, then it might pay to get the latest Opera browser instead.
Great for: VPN integration
Microsoft Edge
Whilst Google still dominates the market with its web browser, its old rival Microsoft is always going to be there as a competitor. And there’s no difference with browsers either, as Edge is a fairly popular alternative to Google and Safari.
The good thing about Google dominating the market here is that it forces all of the other competitors to try and come up with unique solutions that might make you pick their browser instead. This is definitely the case for Microsoft Edge, which is always trying to introduce something new.
One of the reasons that you might want to switch to Edge is their smart copy function. This easily allows you to copy things like tables to your clipboard, ready to be pasted elsewhere.
Great for: Vertical tabs
Conclusion
All in all, it’s clear that Safari will probably always maintain a good level of use whilst Apple are near the top of the pile when it comes to their products.
As it comes pre-installed on many of their devices including iPhone and iPad, many people are drawn into using it almost as second nature. And why wouldn’t you? It’s still one of the better browsers out there nowadays.
