Mac users even said it was far better than Safari and Firefox. Chrome was known in its early days for being energy-efficient, storage-friendly, and fast. 5.For a browser that’s not pre-installed on macOS, Google Chrome is pretty popular among Mac users, but it makes sense. This allows the browser to offer a smoother scrolling experience and snappier interaction feedback while using less system resources that Chrome.
While page loading time isn’t vastly different between the two browsers, and Chrome beats Safari in most rendering benchmarks, Safari boasts better integration with Apple’s graphics rendering pipeline. But regardless of load times, users tend to report that Safari is more responsive to user input than Chrome. Smooth OperationĪs a rule, Chrome is just about the fastest browser out there. Handoff works more smoothly with Safari, and push notifications let websites send you updates to your desktop, with no extensions required. On laptops it’s even better: Safari integrates with the Touch Bar and Track Pad Multitouch fluidly and elegantly. This Keychain information syncs to all Apple devices over iCloud (alongside your bookmarks, open tabs and browser history), so it’s up to date on your Mac, iPhone and iPad. Safari also integrates with macOS’ built-in Keychain functionality for autofilling names, addresses, usernames and passwords. One example is Picture-in-Picture, which lets you pin any HTML5 video to an always-on-top floating window in the corner of your screen. This makes it easy to watch video content while you work on something else. Safari offers an improved user experience over Chrome for macOS users thanks to a greater degree of system integration.
It also integrates more completely with the macOS aesthetic, with correctly-styled notifications and Apple-themed aesthetics. This does sacrifice some of the flexibility of Chrome, and it hides some URL information to make everything fit, but for casual web browsing, it’s ideal. The primary toolbar of the window is just one line, with all the primary functions immediately available. But if you like a minimal user interface that shrinks into the background when not in use, then you’ll love Safari’s design. It’s true that aesthetics are a matter of personal preference. Google built their business on that they don’t need your help collecting their data. What they do with that data is the big differentiating factor: Apple’s business is not founded upon the idea of tracking and analyzing user data. Of course, it’s not exactly anonymous: Apple does collect information about Safari’s usage, though it’s mostly about how well websites run, and it’s obscured via differential privacy. Safari offers a fast, modern browsing experience without the looming specter of potential privacy invasions.
If you sync your browser history with Google, it will automatically be added to “Web & App Activity”, which Google uses “to provide personalized Google products and services to you.” Google also uses aggregated, anonymized browsing data to “improve other Google products and services.” While this is far from specific, neither that language nor Chrome’s terms of use preclude selling ads based on browsing and search history, a core part of Google’s business.įor privacy-conscious users, this can be a little unpleasant.