Safari 15 is now available. I have read positive and negative comments and would like some feedback from this forum before upgrading. Any reactions?

A quick search turned up several complaints about tabs taking on the color of their underlying page, but no definitive answer about turning the "feature" off.

It just this second came up in (my) Software Update.

Safari > Preferences > Tabs > Show color in Tab bar

Does the toolbar look the same as in Safari 14? I can learn to deal with most changes but my better half freaks out if she has to learn new ways of dealing with them.

Now that you know you can turn the color and the compressed tab layout off, I encourage you to live with both for a few days before turning them off. None of us like change, particularly in an old tried and true friend like Safari, but after I lived with these changes for a few days I have found I really like both new options. Together they allow more room for content and the colored tab bar creates the impression of a more spacious window. The compressed layout turns each tab into an individual search bar and I find I often have multiple tabs and bounce from tab to tab as a regular part of my work flow. That took more getting used to than anything else new in Safari.

I didn't mention the changes to my wife and she adapted to the changes more rapidly than I did.

Let me be more specific. Currently, my Safari 14 toolbar has the following buttons: three colored (close window, etc.), sidebar, previous/next, home, zoom out/in, + several others (including the address bar, new tab and share). Can I have those in Safari 15? Does the bookmark bar look the same?

The toolbar and its options are unchanged and just as in all previous versions of Safari what appears on it and where can be changed by selecting View > Customize toolbar on the Safari menu.

What other differences have you noticed?

I have occasionally run into long pages that load the top of the page normally, but then I get a pinwheel while the rest of the page loads. This however has been alleviated in Safari Technology Preview Release 132 (Safari 15.4, WebKit 17613.1.1.5). I don't know how that corresponds to the Safari 15 that was released for Big Sur as I am running Monterey.

Other than that it is FAST but it may appear that nothing is happening when it is rendering a complex web page then suddenly it appears.

Many of the behaviors discussed here may only be available if running Big Sur OS 11.x or higher. I am running Catalina 10.15.7 and Safari 15.0 I don't have tab color options, etc.

There are many comments in this TidBITS-TALK page. One comment was ... absolutely hate having the Favorites Bookmarks under the tabs. Is there any way to revert to the old arrangement? BTW Ira, it appears that the tab color options preference is intact in Big Sur, judging by the comments and screenshot.

By now I don't remember what the old way was but ⇧⌘B toggles the favorites bar on or off. I always leave it off, but the Favorites appear on the Start page and I have all new tabs open to the start page and have the Start Page in the tool bar. So instead of using the Favorites bar I simply click the start page and work from there. The result is a graphic rather than textual based interface which I find more Apple like and preferable.

I don't have that option under Tabs Preference. Updated to Safari yesterday.

Initially after I updated Safari, I could not access any of my bank or email webpages. Kept getting an error message that something was wrong and page could not be loaded. Tried a few things to get it back to normal and fianlly called Apple Support. He said originally Safari15 was not going to be available to Catalina, which I am using. He provided a link to some sort of patch which I installed and everything returned to normal. No more error messages on my bank or email pages.

That's encouraging, but I think that I will wait until Safari 15 is updated before installing it. Safari 14 works fine for now.

What else have you noticed about Safari 15 in the way that it differs from 14?

I've found that "Safari opens with: All windows from last session" now works even when I clear its history when I quit it. That overcomes a most annoying side effect of running Cookie.

I've also found that Safari > Preference pane tabs close with one click as has always been the case, except for the "General," tab, which now requires two clicks.

Do you have any problems with banking sites, as Douglas did?

All my financial sites are working as expected.

I have had zero problems with Safari 15 or Safari Technology Preview (Safari 15.4) and any of my financial sites in spite of a recent spate of site hardening by multiple institutions.

AN ASIDE: My bank, which has depositors all over the world and only one brick & mortar site, no longer accepts on-line deposits via any browser on any platform, but they continue to accept deposits via their iOS app. I would love tor know the rationale behind that policy change.

I am most concerned about Safari 15 in Big Sur. Are you using it in Big Sur or in Monterey?

It is the same code whether used in Monterey or Big Sur (Safari 15 uses webkit 17612.2.4.1.2 while Safari Technology Preview uses webkit 17613.1.1.5). Although I mostly use Monterey, we also have two macs running Big Sur and the experience is identical on both OS versions.

Post the link?

I am running Catalina with Safari 15 and have not experienced any problems accessing bank web sites.

Scroll down to the bottom of this Apple Discussions page for the link

I updated both my clones as backups and installed Safari 15. Everything seems fine; no problems with financial sites.

I do have one minor annoyance with Safari 15. When loading a site with both Show color in tab bar and compact tab layout on sites with a dark background the progress bar can be almost invisible making it difficult to determine if the page is loading or not. I could fix that either by turning off Show color in tab bar or switch to separate tab layout, but I want to have my cake and eat it too. 🙄

Personally, I disabled both of those options (they are not to my taste).

…and that highlights a great feature of Safari, we can each tailor it to our individual taste.

So the bottom line is if you are having a problem reinstall Safari 15.0 (it is not a patch) and restart. All the posts at the link mentioned above (which provides a link to download Safari 15.0) say this fixed the problem.

Hello Douglas. your original issue is very similar to what I'm experiencing after a recent Sufari 15 "update". Any chance you could share the link to the "patch", Safari 15 (15612.1.29.41.4, 15612). Thanks

Apologies for the delay, I had to search my Trash. I assumed Apple was going to post the fix. Anyway, here is the link they sent me. http://swcdn.apple.com/content/down...o2g03y80pefij/Safari15.0CatalinaAuto.pkg

I noticed the following changes in Safari 15, compared to 14:

1. In Safari > Preferences > Passwords, the interface is different. If you want to view a password, you don't click the dots but simply hover the mouse over them. The password shows, but the background is dark, making it difficult to read (perhaps a security feature to make it harder for people looking over your shoulder?). Also, the Passwords preference window does not time out as it did in 14.

2. I have (actually, my wife) many pinned tabs. Opening several new, unpinned, tabs moves them aside so it is easier to see the tabs that are open. This solves an issue that I always had in 14. Of course, getting my wife to unpin tabs is slightly easier than achieving peace in the Middle East. The colors of the pinned tabs are brighter, making it easier to see them.

3. The open tab is now darkened, making it easier to determine which one is open.

You realize you can create tab groups so you and your wife can each have your own unique tab group that opens with a single click?

Yes, I realize that but haven't experimented with it yet.

I've still got to click on the dots. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Specifically what is your version of Safari and the WebKit build number?

False alarm, sorry. Now it's Version 15.0 (16612.1.29.41.4, 16612).

I upgraded to Safari 15 when I first upgraded to Big Sur, and it didn't occur to me that reinstalling BS would take it back to 14.

Passwords works as Jon has described. I hate it!

It may be more convoluted to use Keychain Access to view passwords, but that works as before. Passwords are much easier to read than in Safari Preferences.

I just spotted this: Apple delivers Safari 15.1 beta for macOS Big Sur and Catalina I have no other information about any changes to Safari.

Using Keychain Access is more convoluted than using Safari, but I could barely make out the passwords in Safari.

Maybe the upcoming update will fix this.

In my opinion, it certainly needs fixing, but I"m back in Catalina, so I don't have to worry about it until I dip my toe into Monterey.

If Safari in Monterey beta 8 and Safari Technology Preview 15.4 are any indication, the dark background passwords aren't going away any time soon.

The problem with readability of passwords can be alleviated by going to System Preferences > Accessibility > Display and unchecking Increase contrast As it turns out, I prefer to increase contrast so, unless this becomes critical, I'll keep it that way.

Good catch, Jon!

Another victim of the law of unintended consequences 🤦🏻

For traditionalists: New Safari 15.1 beta for macOS Big Sur and Catalina reverts to standard tab design

I hope the traditional and compact designs will remain options as I found really like the compact tab layout.

I would guess that the compact tab layout will still be an option, judging by this quote from the article:

Catalina 10.15.7/Safari version 15.0 (15612.1.29.41.4, 15612)... Captcha panes have stopped loading again.

Two suggestions:

1. Turn off Content Blocking for the problem website.
2. Disable extensions via the Develop menu when you go to that website.

Thanks, Jon.

I usually think of content blockers on my own...don't know why this time was different.

I can't test, though, because I logged in from Firefox, so it'll have to wait until it comes up again.

In the meantime, can you post a link so that I can try it?

You do not need Safari's Develop menu to disable content blocks, disable/enable popups, permit access to the camera or microphone for any web site. Simply click on the Website Preferences icon on the Safari Menu bar.

True, but there may be Safari extensions that are not covered by the Website Preferences icon.

There are three ways to control Safari's Website Preferences…

1. The Develop Menu
2. Website Preferences icon
3. Safari Preferences > Website

They are all control the same Safari API and have the same scope of effect. If you change one that change will appear in both of the others. The advantage of using the website preferences icon is it automatically forces the page to reload.

The problem originally reared its ugly head on an eBay page which only erratically asks me to complete a Captcha. I've got no idea what its URL is.

I just ran into the problem again here. Curiously, though I hit "Submit" while the spinning thingy was still spinning and my message was apparently sent.

The icon drop-down specifically refers to content blockers, which suggests that other types of extensions are excluded from its functionality.

You are right — I was too focused on Content Blockers, but it is the content blockers that are most often the culprit or at least that has always worked for me.

The develop Menu is an all-or-nothing extension on-off for all sites while Safari > Preferences offers more nuanced control. Without the aid of the Develop Menu, Safari > Preferences > Extensions permits tuning off individual extensions including content blockers for all web sites and Safari > Preferences > Web sites permits site-by-site control of a wide variety of functions including permitting content blockers and other extensions.

I prefer a flyswatter to a howitzer for swatting annoyances. 😀

Agreed...agreed..agreed.

Back to square one, it turns out that PayPal is the site with which I've got the problem.

In Safari, I see this, but I never get past the blue spinning thingy. In Firefox, I get right in without ever seeing a Captcha request.

I accessed that URL and sent a test message with no difficulty.

I had a problem with PayPal at Eddie Bauer (one time only). I paid via credit card instead. Subsequent orders from EB used PayPal with no issue. Go figure...

Phooey! Lost a post for the first time in ages.

I figured out what my Captcha problem is/was...

The only extensions I run are Wipr and Roadblock, both of which are content blockers, so I was turning them off from my menu bar.

But I remembered that Wipr just added a new component, Wipr Extra, which, as it has turned out, doesn't get turned off with the content blockers.

Disabling it, either with command-E or by unchecking it in my pref pane, enables me to log in to PayPal as usual. (I haven't needed it since I installed it, so I'll leave it unchecked and hold it in reserve against possible future need.)

(The problem I ran into at Small Dog appears to be unrelated.)