extension safari youtube

This Safari extension replaces YouTube’s video player with one that supports PiP and more [U]

It’s no secret that using YouTube in the browser on your iPhone or iPad is a rather unpleasant experience. And in many ways, YouTube’s “native” app isn’t much better. This is where a new Safari extension called “Vinegar” comes in to save the day.

Update December 4, 2021 : Vinegar has received a nice update today with a host of new features:

• On videos (and devices) that support 4K, you should see 4K video options in the quality switcher toolbar.
• For people with expensive data plans, you can also switch to 144p and 240p.
• You can toggle Theater mode with the keyboard shortcut “T” or click the “Theater” text below the video.
• Supports keyboard shortcuts like “J” to rewind, “K” to pause, and “L” to forward.
• Videos should be playable if you’re signed in with YouTube Premium.
• Videos should be added to your watching history if you’re signed in.
• Fixed a bunch of 3rd-party website embeds.
• Sound no longer plays when you go back to the homepage.
• It should preserve timestamp when you switch video quality.
• Timestamped URLs (i.e. URLs with &t=123) should now work.
• Clicking the chapter links in the description should bring you to the correct time.
• You can now select quality for live videos as well.
• Privacy-wise, it’s “safer” because now it only has access to web content on youtube.com.

“Vinegar” is a Safari extension for iPhone, iPad, and Mac that was released earlier this month with the goal of replacing the YouTube player with a minimal HTML player (via Daring Fireball ). This is similar to the days of YouTube5, which was a similar Safari extension back in the days when the YouTube player was written in Adobe Flash.

Developed by Zhenyi Tan, Vinegar replaces the YouTube player in Safari with a native HTML video tag, bringing a host of associated improvements:

• The removal of in-video ads.
• Prevent YouTube from tracking your play/pause/seek activities.
• Restore picture-in-picture functionality.
• The videos don’t stop playing if you switch to another browser tab.
• You can choose the audio-only stream to keep the music playing when Safari is in the background.

The app works just as you would expect it to, and it makes the experience of using YouTube in your browser significantly more enjoyable. It works both directly on YouTube’s website and on videos embedded on third-party websites.

You can download Vinegar from the App Store for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. It’s a one-time universal purchase of $1.99.

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How to Block Youtube Ads on Safari

Key points:.

• YouTube ads can be annoying and intrusive, and some users may want to block them on Safari.
• There are different methods to block YouTube ads on Safari, such as subscribing to YouTube Premium, ad blocker extensions, and browsers with ad block.
• Ghostery is a YouTube ad blocker extension for Safari that’s free and powerful, and lets you block ads and trackers on YouTube and other websites.

Block Youtube Ads on Safari

YouTube is one of the most popular video-sharing platforms in the world.

By June 2022, more than 500 hours of video were uploaded to YouTube every minute, which is about 30,000 hours of uploaded content per hour .

However, videos are interrupted often by ads, and they’re often irrelevant to your interests.

And while Safari comes with some built-in tracking protection , it does not block ads without using a browser extension.

We’ll explain different ways to block YouTube ads, including subscribing to YouTube Premium, using an ad blocker, or downloading a browser with ad blocking built-in.

Why Block YouTube Ads

YouTube ads are a way for the platform to generate revenue and support its creators, but some ads are more intrusive than others.

The main form of YouTube ads are:

• Pre-roll ads: Play before the video starts. They can be skippable or non-skippable, and they can last from 5 seconds to 20 seconds or more.
• Mid-roll ads: Play during the video, usually at a predetermined time. They can also be skippable or non-skippable, and they can interrupt the flow of the video.
• Post-roll ads: Play after the video ends. They are usually skippable, but they can still be annoying if you want to watch another video right away.

These types of ads can negatively affect your YouTube experience in several ways.

For example, YouTube ads:

• Waste your time and bandwidth by forcing you to watch something you are not interested in.
• Interrupt your concentration and enjoyment by breaking the continuity of the video.
• Expose you to unwanted or inappropriate content that may not match your preferences or values.
• Track your online activity and collect your personal data for advertising purposes.

So you may wonder, “Can you block ads on YouTube?”

Here’s how to automatically skip ads on YouTube.

Methods to block YouTube ads on Safari

There are different ways to block YouTube ads for Safari.

YouTube Premium

YouTube Premium is a subscription service that offers several benefits for YouTube users. You can:

• Videos without ads: Watch any video on YouTube ad free.
• Offline videos: Download videos to watch them later without an internet connection.
• Background play: Play videos in the background while using other apps or when your screen is off.
• YouTube Music: Access a music streaming service with millions of songs and playlists.
• YouTube Originals: Watch exclusive shows produced by YouTube.

YouTube Premium includes a one-month free trial for new users.

Ad blocker Extensions for Safari

Another way to block YouTube ads on Safari is to use an ad blocker extension for Mac , iPhone , and iPad . An ad blocker extension is a software that blocks or filters out unwanted ads from websites.

There are many ad blocker extensions available for Safari, and one of the best ones is Ghostery Ad Blocker . Ghostery’s Safari YouTube ad blocker is a powerful tool that blocks ads on YouTube and other websites.

With Ghostery’s ad blocker extension, you can:

• Block ads on YouTube, including pre-roll, mid-roll, post-roll ads.
• Stop trackers that may slow down your browser or compromise your privacy.
• Whitelist specific websites that you want to support or see ads from.

Ghostery’s ad blocker extension is free and easy to install.

How to Install Ghostery's Ad Blocker Extension on Safari

To install Ghostery’s Safari ad block extension:

• Go to our website and click on Get Ghostery .
• Follow the on-screen instructions to add the extension to your browser.
• Enjoy an ad-free browsing experience with Ghostery!

Never installed a browser extension on Safari? Check out our instructions on how to get started or watch our YouTube video guide .

Once you’re finished, you can block YouTube ads on Safari on almost any website you visit.

Browsers with Ad Block

If you do not want to add an extension to Safari, then another option to block YouTube ads is to use a browser with ad block. An ad-blocking browser is a web browser that has a built-in ad blocker that automatically blocks ads from websites.

One of the best ad-blocking browsers is the Ghostery Private Browser .

Ghostery Private Browser is a fast, private browser that offers a smooth and ad-free browsing experience. With it, you can:

• Block ads on YouTube and other websites without installing any extensions or making further configurations.
• Protect your privacy and security with features such as private browsing windows and anti-phishing protection .
• Browse faster and save data by reducing page loading time and bandwidth consumption.

Ghostery’s Private Browser is free and easy to use. You can download it here .

TIP: Click here for ways to protect your privacy on Safari.

Final Thoughts

YouTube ads can be a nuisance for many users who want to enjoy their favorite videos without interruptions or distractions. Fortunately, you can block ads on YouTube using Safari by:

• Signing up for YouTube Premium and getting ad-free videos and other benefits.
• Installing Ghostery’s ad blocker extension to stop ads and trackers on YouTube and other websites.
• Downloading Ghostery Private Browser with a built-in ad blocker feature.

Whichever way you choose, you can start blocking ads on most websites.

Get in touch if you have any questions. We’re always happy to help.

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Use Safari extensions on your Mac

Safari extensions enhance and customize the browsing experience on your Mac. Here's how to install them, uninstall them, or share them across devices.

Safari extensions add functionality to Safari, so you can explore the web the way you want. Extensions can show helpful information about a webpage, display news headlines, help you use your favorite services, change the appearance of webpages, and much more. Extensions are a great way to personalize your browsing experience.

Install extensions

Turn on extensions, turn off extensions, uninstall extensions, share extensions across devices.

Use the App Store to conveniently download and install Safari extensions. All extensions in the App Store are reviewed, signed, and hosted by Apple for your security, and they're automatically kept up to date.

Start by installing the latest macOS updates to make sure that Safari is up to date. You need Safari 12 or later to get Safari extensions from the App Store.

Open Safari and choose Safari > Safari Extensions from the menu bar.

The App Store opens to the Safari Extensions page. To download and install an extension, click Get or click the price. You might be asked to sign in with your Apple ID.

Click Install.

After the extension is installed, click Open and follow the onscreen instructions provided by the extension.

After installing an extension, follow these steps to turn it on.

Choose Safari > Settings (or Preferences).

Click Extensions.

Select the checkbox next to the extension's name. Learn what to do if you can't turn on extensions .

If you're browsing privately, or using a profile or web app

When browsing in a private window in macOS Sonoma or later, all extensions that require website access are turned off by default. To use an extension when browsing privately:

Choose Safari > Settings.

Select the extension in the sidebar, then select “Allow in Private Browsing” on the right.

Whether or not you're browsing privately, you can also restrict the extension's access to certain websites. Click the Edit Websites button to view the extension in Websites settings. From there you can allow access, deny access, or require that websites ask you for access.

When using Safari profiles , extensions for the default profile are managed in the main Extensions tab of Safari settings. Extensions for other profiles are managed in the Profiles tab, which has its own Extensions tab for each profile. By default, extensions are turned off for each new profile.

Choose Safari > Settings (or Preferences), then click Extensions.

To turn off an extension, deselect its checkbox.

If you can't determine what an extension does, or you don't expect to use it again, you should uninstall it.

To uninstall an extension, select the extension and click the Uninstall button.

Starting with macOS Ventura, iOS 16, and iPadOS 16, you can share extensions across your Mac, iPhone, and iPad:

On your Mac, open Safari and choose Safari > Settings, then click Extensions. Select “Share across devices” at the bottom of the window.

On your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > Safari > Extensions, then turn on Share Across Devices.

To uninstall an extension from all devices, you must uninstall it on each device.

Safari no longer supports most web plug-ins. To load webpages more quickly, save energy, and strengthen security, Safari is optimized for content that uses the HTML5 web standard, which doesn't require a plug-in. To enhance and customize your browsing experience, use Safari extensions instead of web plug-ins.

Information about products not manufactured by Apple, or independent websites not controlled or tested by Apple, is provided without recommendation or endorsement. Apple assumes no responsibility with regard to the selection, performance, or use of third-party websites or products. Apple makes no representations regarding third-party website accuracy or reliability. Contact the vendor for additional information.

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• How to enable picture-in-picture for YouTube on your Mac

Using Safari, it’s easy to watch a video while doing other things

By Barbara Krasnoff , a reviews editor who manages how-tos. She’s worked as an editor and writer for almost 40 years. Previously, she was a senior reviews editor for Computerworld.

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If you like to work with a music video playing in the background or watch your favorite sports team while perusing social media or maybe if you simply like doing two things at once, picture-in-picture (PiP) can be really useful. It lets you pin a small window showing a video within a larger window on your computer or TV screen.

If you’re using a Mac, you can easily set up PiP for a YouTube video using either Apple’s Safari or Google’s Chrome browsers as well.

This first time, on how to have PiP on Safari, is courtesy of a great tweet by Ricky Mondello .

PiP using Safari

• Right click twice on the YouTube Video. The first click will get you a menu that lets you copy the URL of the video, embed the code, or do other YouTube-related tasks. The second click will get you a more traditional menu. 

• Click on “Enter Picture in Picture.” Your video will shrink down to a much smaller size.
• Open a new tab on your browser (or several, if you want) and go to another site — or you can leave the browser entirely. The video will keep playing. 

• To control the video, hover your cursor over the video. You can pause and restart it, take it out of PiP mode, or close the window entirely.
• To move the small video window around, you can press down with one finger on your touchpad and use the other finger to move the window around your screen. If you’re using a mouse, then use the Command key.

There are a couple of other ways you can start PiP. 

• While your video is playing, right click on the volume icon in the tab; the menu will include the “Enter Picture in Picture” command. (Note: You won’t see the volume icon if you pause the video.)
• If you have a Touch Bar, use the PiP icon (it looks like a small filled-in rectangle over a larger clear rectangle).

PiP using Chrome

After this article was published, a reader wrote me and asked why I hadn’t also included the way to do PiP using Google’s Chrome browser on a Mac. So I did a bit of research and found that you can have PiP on your Mac using Chrome — and it works almost exactly the same way that Safari does, except you can either use the built-in method ( courtesy How-To Geek ) or a Google PiP extension.

Use the built-in feature:

• Right click on the YouTube video you want to make into a PiP
• As with Safari, the first menu you’ll get will be YouTube’s right-click menu. So right click again (outside of the menu). You’ll get a Chrome menu with a “Picture in Picture” selection; click on that.

Again, as with Safari, the PiP functionality is pretty basic; you can move the video anywhere around the screen, pause it, and return it to its YouTube window. However, don’t expect to get any captions with it; the captions will continue to run on the original YouTube page.

Use Google’s PiP extension:

There is no perceivable advantage to using the extension over the built-in right-click feature; both give you the same simple (but effective) PiP feature.

• In the Chrome Web Store, find the Picture-in-Picture extension . Click on the “Add to Chrome” button.
• You will be asked for permission to “Read and change all your data on the websites you visit”
• Once the extension is installed, you can access it either by clicking on the new PiP icon to the right of your address field or hitting the option+P keys.

That’s it! Enjoy your video.

Update June 23rd, 2020, 10:08AM ET: This article was originally published on December 27th, 2019, and it has been updated to include instructions on PIP in Chrome.

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Browser extension and an API that shows you dislikes on Youtube

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Focus for YouTube™ - Never enter the rabbit hole again

Safari extension / filter list to remove distractions on youtube.

### We now have a filter list that can be integrated into Safari with AdGuard → Filters → Custom → Add Custom Filter https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hadig/Focus-for-Youtube/master/focus4yt.txt

Also works on other browsers e.g. Firefox with uBlock origin ###

Ad Blocking for Safari users:

Add the filter rules below in AdGuard → Filters → User Rules

Source: https://github.com/easylist/easylist/wiki/Youtube-Issues#youtube-ads-showing-pre-roll-and-mid-roll

iOS / iPadOS Usage:

Directly in adguard (recommended):.

• as custom Rules in User Rules (Free)

Download Userscripts by @quoid : https://github.com/quoid/userscripts

Add this script by @Syndamia : https://github.com/Syndamia/min-youtube-element-blocker

Or use the standalone Safari Extension to consume YouTube™ responsibly. It will hide all suggested videos on the page.

Designed to run without any permissions.

Download under the release section: https://github.com/hadig/Focus-for-Youtube/releases/tag/v1.1

Installation:

Move the .app into your applications folder.

Drag&Drop&Done :) Don’t forget activating it in your Safari settings!

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How to download YouTube videos on a Mac

If the idea of a long car journey or bedtime without a connection to the internet leaves you trembling with fear, there’s a solution. You can download those YouTube videos your kids (or you) love to watch to play back offline. Making a copy of YouTube videos on an iPad or iPhone is really easy, but the same can’t be said if you want to save YouTube videos on your Mac.

The most curious thing about this particular issue is that YouTube allows YouTube videos to be downloaded to an iPad or iPhone (if you subscribe to YouTube Premium , $11.99/£11.99 a month, one-month free trial). The same is true of Disney, Netflix and Prime , who also allow downloads to mobile devices, but not the Mac. For some reason these services do not seem to want people to download anything to a Mac, perhaps this is because they offer apps for mobile devices and therefore have control over how those recordings are stored and how long they are available for (YouTube Premium only lets subscribers download video and music on to mobile devices, and it will only be available to watch offline for 30 days, for example).

Since there are no apps for YouTube or the other streaming services on the Mac, the content owners won’t have control over how the recordings are used. Obviously the solution would be for Mac versions of the apps to be offered, but as yet this hasn’t happened.

Download YouTube Videos for Free – EaseUS Video Downloader

EaseUS Video Downloader is a free 4K video downloader software on Mac, Windows, and Android. Simply copy and paste the video URL, and download YouTube videos, playlists, YouTube Live Video, and channels in any format like mp4, mp3, and WMV at Ultra HD definition resolution. Also, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram videos and livestreams are supported for download.

Now 25% OFF Exclusive Code: MACWORLD25

However, just because YouTube doesn’t make it easy to download YouTube videos on a Mac doesn’t mean you can’t. Apple makes it possible to screen capture what is playing on your Mac, so ripping a YouTube video with the audio on to your Mac is not too much of a challenge. We’ll run though this process below.

There are also free and paid for apps that will also do this for you with a little more finesse, and we will include some of these options below too. In our experience the free apps are usually more trouble than they are worth and potentially dangerous. (If you see a warning that you need to install Flash, for example, it really could be a scam, or at worse malware!)

Before we start, we have to point out that you should be aware of copyright issues. Firstly, you shouldn’t download someone else’s video and then, for example, upload it to your own YouTube channel or use it to promote your business. You should also note that downloading YouTube videos goes against YouTube’s terms of service. The company specifies that “You shall not download any Content unless you see a ‘download’ or similar link displayed by YouTube.”

How to download YouTube videos on a Mac for free

It is really easy to download YouTube video for free with software that comes with your Mac. You don’t need to download an app at all. Since Mojave, macOS has had an in-built screen recording feature. You can capture what is playing on your screen and the audio. Just note that Mac mini doesn’t have an inbuilt microphone so you would need a microphone to capture audio if you are using a Mac mini.

Option 1: Screen capture with audio on a Mac

• Press Command + Shift + 5.
• Click on Record selected portion.

• Click Options and make sure your microphone is selected.
• Click Record.
• Now start playing the video.
• Wait for it to finish and then stop the video. To stop the screen recording (you’ll find a stop button in the menu at the top of the screen or in the box as seen in the image below.)

This is without a doubt the best way to record from YouTube on a Mac. However, a short video can take up a lot of space on your Mac, and obviously it is necessary to wait while the whole video plays through.

Option 2: Record the screen using QuickTime

Before Apple merged the tools for screen recording with the screen grab tools in macOS Mojave, Mac users could use QuickTime to record the screen on their Mac. Since Monterey, if you try to screen capture using QuickTime it just defaults to the same tools as are offered by Command + Shift + 5, however, if you have an older version of macOS this is how it works:

• Open QuickTime Player (press Command + Space and start typing QuickTime).
• Go to the menu at the top of the screen and choose File > New Screen Recording.

• Click on the red button.

• Now click on Record.
• Start the YouTube video playing (make sure the sound is on).
• Once the YouTube video has played you can click on the stop button in the menu at the top of the screen.
• The video will open so you can check it before saving it.

Best apps to download YouTube video

There are also some solutions on offer that will download the YouTube video for you, rather than you have to record the screen of your Mac while playing the video. This might be a preferred option if you don’t have the time to sit and wait for an hour of Peppa Pig to play. It should also result in much smaller file sizes.

$20, 14-day trial Download Downie

Downie from developer Charlie Monroe costs $20 and can be used to download and save video from thousands of websites.

When you start up the app you can make various tweaks, to, for example, always download best quality, force MP4 format, and perform post-processing. Downie is available as a browser extension for Firefox, Safari and Chrome, but you can just drag and drop a link from a browser onto Downie in the Dock or it’s download window, and download the video. You can even choose the relevant subtitles.

The download of a 30 minute view took seconds and the resulting video looked excellent quality and only took 77MB space on our Mac.

It includes a free 14-day trial.

EaseUS Video Downloader

• $19.99 a month (currently $12.99), free trial
• Download EaseUS

EaseUS’s video downloaded is simple to use. Once the app is installed you can view content on a number of popular video hosting sites, including YouTube, and we were able to download videos (although we did find a few we couldn’t download).

There were four download options that indicated what the file size would be. It is also possible to just download audio as an MP3.

The software indicated how long the download would take and counted down the seconds remaining. We could hear the video playing in the background, but couldn’t see it. Once downloaded the video was saved to our Documents folder where we could play it.

The free trial lets you download two items.

Parallels ToolBox

• $19.99/£15.99 a year, 7-day trial
• Download Parallels Toolbox

On the basis that going with a well-known company means you are more likely not to end up with at best bad software, at worse malware on your Mac, we’ll look at Parallels ToolBox.

Parallels (the people behind the software that makes it easy to run Windows on your Mac ) have come up with a number of tools that can be used to simplify a number of tasks on your Mac. ToolBox is the result of their experience manning a help desk for their customers running Parallels on a Mac. So many customers phoned up asking how to do various things that Parallels thought some easy to use tools might be a good solution. And so Parallels Toolbox was born.

• Once you have download and installed Parallels Toolbox you’ll see a toolbox icon in the menu at the top of your screen. Click on that.
• You’ll see a number of tools including Airplane Mode, Free Memory, Do Not Disturb, Make Gif, and Download Video. Click on Download Video.
• Toolbox will instruct you that you need to enable a Safari extension in order to download video. Click Enable.

• Once the download has finished you will find the video file in your Downloads folder (which might not be immediately obvious).

The file will be saved as an MPEG-4 movie. It will open and play in QuickTime on your Mac.

If you are looking for an easy way to get the video onto an iPad or iPhone one solution would be to copy the video onto iCloud so you can access it from the Files app. You can then download it from there and play it whenever you want. We have more details about saving a YouTube video to an iPhone or iPad .

iTubeDownloader

• $8.99 (about £7)
• Download iTubeDownloader

iTubeDownloader charges a fee – it’s $8.99 for the activation code, and students can get 35% off – but there’s a free trial that may be sufficient for your needs.

It looks like a browser, but it automatically directs you to YouTube’s home page. You then browse the site as normal, except that there’s now a big Download button next to the URL bar. Tap this at any point to grab the video you’re currently viewing (or the video whose URL you’ve pasted into the address bar).

We found it easy to use iTubeDownloader when we first tried it our in 2019, and the resultant download was of a good quality. Unfortunately when we tried it out again in 2022 we were unable to download anything. A list of reasons were given.

When it does work, you get a choice of download quality settings. The only downside, really, is that it isn’t free beyond the terms of the trial.

Author: Karen Haslam , Managing Editor

Karen has worked on both sides of the Apple divide, clocking up a number of years at Apple's PR agency prior to joining Macworld more than two decades ago. Karen's career highlights include interviewing Apple's Steve Wozniak and discussing Steve Jobs’ legacy on the BBC. Having edited the U.K. print and online editions of Macworld for many years, more recently her focus has been on SEO and evergreen content as well product recommendations and buying advice on Macworld.com.

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This Safari Extension on a Mac finally blocks YouTube's worst feature

Getting rid of my greatest bugbear of YouTube.

If you dislike YouTube Shorts as much as I have since they debuted back in September 2020, there's a new Safari Extension that can erase them when you're in Apple's web browser on a Mac .

I've never seen the point of YouTube Shorts. I go onto YouTube on my best Mac to watch certain channels in the early morning, or during my lunch break to catch up on Shark Tank and Dragons' Den videos - if I wanted to look at ten-second videos, I'd go on TikTok or look at Stories on Instagram for something similar.

Thankfully, Eat the Shorts is here. Created by Aaron Pearce, it's a Safari extension that will erase any mention of Shorts. You can grab it for a one-time purchase of $1.99 / £1.79 on the Mac App Store . Looks like I'm not alone in my distaste for YouTube Shorts.

Eat all of our shorts

Eat the Shorts is now available on the macOS App Store. Block YouTube Shorts in Safari with a simple install for just $1.99. https://t.co/zyyJRtKRYA #youtubeshorts #YouTube pic.twitter.com/KDiHmmDT8d January 30, 2023

Eat the Shorts is Mac only and solves a big issue for me. I'd love to see a way that Eat the Shorts can arrive on iOS and iPadOS when I'm in YouTube's app as well. At the moment, you can hide them for thirty days by pressing on the three dots above the section, but I'd like things to go even further.

Unfortunately, the Apple App store guidelines dictate how apps interact, and it means that extensions like this can be a lot more locked down on mobile platforms. That makes things like Eat the Shorts harder to get working on Safari on iOS and iPadOS. It's not impossible, but for a one-person team you can see why it might be out of reach for now.

Regardless, Eat the Shorts is already solving YouTube's biggest problem for me as I browse the site to look for background music as I work today, and for that one-time price, it's all I need.

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Daryl is iMore's Features Editor, overseeing long-form and in-depth articles and op-eds. Daryl loves using his experience as both a journalist and Apple fan to tell stories about Apple's products and its community, from the apps we use everyday to the products that have been long forgotten in the Cupertino archives.

Previously Software & Downloads Writer at TechRadar, and Deputy Editor at StealthOptional, he's also written a book, ' The Making of Tomb Raider ', which tells the story of the beginnings of Lara Croft and the series' early development. He's also written for many other publications including WIRED, MacFormat, Bloody Disgusting, VGC, GamesRadar, Nintendo Life, VRV Blog, The Loop Magazine, SUPER JUMP, Gizmodo, Film Stories, TopTenReviews, Miketendo64 and Daily Star.

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Apple to unveil AI-enabled Safari browser alongside new operating systems

Safari getting new AI tools in iOS 18

The software — expected to debut as Safari 18 later in 2024 — is currently undergoing evaluation alongside internal builds of Apple's next-generation operating system updates, namely iOS 18 and macOS 15, according to people familiar with the matter. Should all of the new features make it to the release candidate stage, users will be treated to a new user interface (UI) for customizing popular page controls, a "Web eraser" feature, and AI-driven content summarization tools.

Intelligent Search - AI-enhanced browsing and text summarization

Engineers evaluating the latest builds of Safari 18 can find a toggle for the new page controls menu within the browser's address bar. The menu consolidates — and provides quick access to — old and new page control tools, among them being the browser's new "Intelligent Search" feature.

This feature is not automatically enabled in test builds of Safari 18 and instead requires manual activation from the page controls menu. Once enabled, it's believed the tool leverages Apple's on-device AI technology — specifically the Ajax language-learning model — to identify topics and key phrases within a webpage for which to base the summarization.

In selecting key phrases, Apple's LLM software identifies sentences that provide explanations or describe the structure of objects, depending on the text in question. Words repeated within a text and key sentences are recognized as text topics.

These early indications suggest Apple is striving to deliver text summarization alongside Safari 18 later this year, though the exact implementation of this feature remains fuzzy.

Apple's text summarization features could be a response to rival generative AI tools, such as OpenAI's ChatGPT. But Apple's on-device models and technologies like Private Relay could make the experience much more secure for users. Intelligent Search is also likely to be the same AI browser assistant that one X user hinted at a couple of weeks back.

Web Eraser for better content-blocking

Also accessible from the new page controls menu is a feature Apple is testing called "Web Eraser." As its name would imply, it's designed to allow users to remove, or erase, specific portions of web pages, according to people familiar with the feature.

The feature is expected to build upon existing privacy features within Safari and will allow users to erase unwanted content from any webpage of their choosing. Users will have the option to erase banner ads, images, text or even entire page sections, all with relative ease.

The erasure is said to be persistent, rather than limited to a browsing session. This means that Safari will remember the changes even after the original tab or window has been closed.

When visiting a web page with previously erased content, Safari will inform the user that the page has been modified to reflect their desired changes. The browser will also give the user the option to revert changes and restore the webpage to its initial, unaltered state.

As for where Apple got the inspiration for Web Eraser, the company could have Sherlocked the feature from the third-party app 1Blocker. The application features a similar way of erasing ads, where users would tap ads to make them disappear.

Updated UI will move key tools into one easy location

The new page controls menu referenced throughout this article will attempt to offer Safari 18 users quick and easy access to several options previously located across different menus and the Share Sheet. Running on pre-release versions of macOS 15, for instance, the menu also pulls in the "Aa" menu common on existing iPadOS versions of the browser. These include zoom options, webpage settings for privacy controls, content blocking options, extension shortcuts, and access to the new AI and erasure tools.

These various options existed previously on macOS, but were found by navigating through the Safari settings menu. Having all of these controls in one central location in the Address Bar will make these options more discoverable for end users. Other options like on-page text search and reader mode are also in this menu.

This all suggests Apple intends to unite the iPadOS and macOS Safari UI paradigms when it unveils its new OS releases during its Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

AI-enhanced Visual Lookup feature could be available in 2025

Simultaneously, Apple is also working on a much more powerful visual search feature scheduled for integration sometime in 2025 that will allow users to obtain information on consumer products when browsing through images. People familiar with the tool say it's similar to the Visual Lookup feature, through which Siri can identify plants, pets and landmarks from photos.

Visual Search could be implemented as a system-wide feature. So, instead of surfacing search results in the Photos app, the user may be able to use Visual Search directly in Safari by selecting an image.

Given development of this tool is in the earlier stages, it remains unclear how Apple will ultimately go about implementing it. It also remains to be seen whether or not the feature will make it through internal testing.

The iPhone maker has expressed significant interest in artificial intelligence and more recently published research related to on-device language learning models. This goes hand in hand with widespread rumors about several other AI-powered software features, many of which are expected to make their debut later this year with iOS 18.

Another big year for Safari

From its inception, Safari was always meant to rival existing web browsers.

Safari was originally added to macOS as a means of replacing Microsoft's Internet Explorer for Mac, which was the default browser. Over the years, the app made its way to the iPhone , and has since received various upgrades over the years.

More recent versions of Safari provide users with personalized web suggestions, and allow for greater privacy protection with features such as iCloud Private Relay.

This latest set of enhancements only serves to better position Safari against the competition, in an ever-increasing landscape of generative AI tools and third-party ad-blockers.

While Apple tests many such features during different development stages, it is important to remember that not all of them make it to release. Apple has been known to delay features or cancel them entirely, so there's always a chance we may not see these new Safari features after all.

Along with Safari 18 and its associated improvements, we should also see a revamped Calculator with Math Notes make its way to iPadOS 18. Freeform Scenes and Adaptive Voice Shortcuts are new OS features, which are also expected to debut later this year.

Apple is expected to introduce various AI-related enhancements as part of iOS 18 and macOS 15, both of which should be announced at the company's annual WWDC on June 10.

36 Comments

"As for where Apple got the inspiration for Web Eraser, the company could have Sherlocked the feature from the third-party app 1Blocker. The application features a similar way of erasing ads, where users would tap ads to make them disappear." They may also have been inspired by Simplified Page....

As long as I can turn it off/hide it they can knock themselves out. 

Will the web eraser feature remove pop up videos, such as the ones that appear on this site?

I use the 'Reader' function in Safari quite a bit, but sometimes it doesn't work very well. Seems like something that AI could help make better. 

Web ads suck but how else do you think your favorite websites will stay in business? Are you prepared to pay a subscription to every site? I doubt it…

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