At WWDC21 Apple announced several new features for the iPhone, iPad and mac web browser, Safari. One in particular seems to have been inspired by the competition
There's an air of change around Cupertino. Among the announcements made at WWDC21 - the novelties of iOS 15 and the unexpected opening of FaceTime to Windows and Android, to give two examples - Apple, also taking a cue from the best features of the competition, illustrated the news for the web browser preinstalled on all devices with the Apple, Safari.
So Apple has been inspired by one of the most popular features in Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge to improve Safari, but to allow a better organization to better manage the most intense workflows is also revised the user interface, which has remained virtually unchanged over the years in which, moreover, the cross-platform web browser from Apple has been subject to numerous improvements and optimizations. The Safari UI will be more compact, without altering the minimalism that has always distinguished the Apple browser, and will improve the management of open tabs with a new feature called Tab Groups.
New features for Safari from WWDC21
Safari's Tab Groups, which could debut with the other new features along with iOS 15 in the fall, aim to offer a novel way to easily save and manage related tabs, such as those you typically get when planning trips or when considering a smartphone or car purchase by taking into account various candidates.
Function already seen on competing browsers like Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge but will be reinterpreted by Apple on Safari. New design for macOS that places active tabs front and center while also allowing you to keep an eye on multiple pages as you scroll, while the new tab bar takes on the color of the web page and groups tabs, toolbar, and search field into a single new compact environment.
On iPadOS tabs and groups of tabs will work the same way as on macOS, also by virtue of instant synchronization between iPad and mac. On iOS the new tab bar will be shown at the bottom to be within thumb's reach, so you can scroll between them with a tap or expand them upwards using a new grid view.
Finally new extensions for iOS and iPadOS add to the native functionality of Apple's web browser, with the code being shared with existing web extensions for Safari to make it easier for those developers who want to create new ones.
When Safari's new features arrive
Apple hasn't announced when Safari's new features will arrive on iPhone, iPad and Mac, but the debut could coincide with the launch of iOS 15, which in turn as per tradition should be tied to the unveiling of the new iPhones, then in the fall.