If you own a Mac, take the Safari together – this is the standard of Apple. The company's browser is very fast, respects your privacy and works perfectly with Safari on your iPhone or iPad using iCloud's sync features. But it is not the only browser you should pay attention to.
Unlike iOS and iPadOS, Apple is quite lenient about downloading third-party browsers on macOS. Mac browsers can use their own technologies to render web pages and define themselves as the default option. On the iPhone or iPad, they can't do any of those things.
There is nothing wrong with joining Safari, but depending on your particular needs, it may not be the best browser. Some services, such as YouTube TV, do not run on Safari. And some features, like YouTube's support for 4K video, don't work with the browser. Therefore, the natural movement try to use other alternatives. Here are five browsers for Mac that are worth a try.
Google Chrome
By far the most popular browser in the world, Google Chrome is fast and offers a lot of flexibility through several powerful extensions. If there is a “standard” for web browsers, Chrome.
On the positive side, you get a powerful and flexible browser that, due to its popularity, is probably supported by any application or web service you want to use. If you use your Mac on non-Apple platforms, such as Android or Windows, you can sync bookmarks and history between them with your Google account.
Chrome is also available for iPhone and iPad, although, like all browsers on these platforms, it uses Apple's Webkit rendering engine. Still, you can use it to take advantage of synced bookmarks and tight integration with services like search or Google Translate.
If there is a downside, Chrome is not very focused on privacy. Google wants to collect your data and use it to create better services and personalize ads. If you want more privacy, you need to install extensions that block scripts and tracking on the web. Chrome is often ridiculed for being a little tricky in terms of features and also not as efficient in terms of battery in MacBooks.
Firefox
Firefox is one of the oldest browsers, and since its emergence it has been launching rapid updates with a renewed focus on improving speed and reliability. Recent updates have improved battery life on Mac laptops (usually a sore spot for browsers other than Safari). Firefox is also very concerned with privacy – it has a great internal crawler lock and password synchronization depends on locally encrypted files.
Firefox also has a large collection of extensions, albeit as many as Chrome. They have less to do with “making your browser your own operating system”, and more just how to personalize your web experience.
Firefox has an iOS version that works well if you want to sync saved bookmarks and login information. Obviously, it cannot use the Gecko rendering engine used by the desktop client (due to Apple rules), but it is a good mobile experience that supports Dark Mode and offers all the tracking and privacy prevention of the desktop version.
Opera
Another old browser that still receives regular updates, Opera has undergone many changes over the years. Although he ran his own rendering engine on the web (called Presto), he made the transition to the Chromium engine and never looked back.
Opera's biggest claim is its free integrated VPN, although not everyone may need it. There are no data limits, but performance can vary widely. So while it may reduce your vulnerability to eavesdroppers on public Wi-Fi networks, it is not necessarily a great tool for, for example, watching Netflix selections from other countries.
This is not the only trick up the sleeve of Opera. It can display videos from web pages, has a built-in ad blocker and there are integrated messaging clients that can connect to Facebook Messenger, VKontakte and WhatsApp. There is also a good battery saving feature that reduces tab activity in the background and pauses some plug-ins and animations.
Opera has a respectable list of extensions, but as its base on Chromium, many of Chrome's extensions also work very well. If you want to synchronize bookmarks and tabs with your iPhone or iPad, Opera Touch is the indication, because, like all iOS browsers, it uses Apple's own WebKit rendering engine. It has a built-in ad blocker, like the desktop version, but does not include free VPN.
Edge
After years of following its own path, Microsoft changed its Edge browser to the Chromium engine and joined the competition's open code. Along with the move, comes a Mac version.
Okay. There are not many unique features, but not everyone needs this. One of Edge's best features is tracking prevention, which has three configurations: Basic, Balanced and Strict. It is good to see an approach that is not just all or nothing. The "collections" feature of the web page is perhaps the most exclusive and facilitates the use of web content in Microsoft Office documents.
The new Edge works with most Chrome extensions – a big step from the insignificant selection of the old Edge browser. And there is an iOS version that can sync your bookmarks and saved passwords, but the browser history and open tabs still sync devices. This version of the browser is expected to be released in late 2020.
There is nothing wrong with Edge, but there is little reason to use it, unless you work regularly on a Windows PC and need to use specific tools. Something like Chrome or Firefox is probably a better choice for most users.
Brave
Brave an interesting experiment in browser technology. based on Chromium and actually looks more like Chrome than most browsers. If you are used to the Google browser, feel at home with Brave and can use almost any Chrome extension.
But Brave is especially focused on privacy and security. It has ample internal ad blocking and crawler blocking. This speeds up the page loading a lot, but it can sometimes break websites. It is easy to disable “shields” for a website, if necessary.
Brave can display the ads themselves as notification pop-ups, for which you earn a currency called BAT (Basic Attention Tokens, in free translation). You can also earn them at a lower rate just by browsing the web. These tokens are used to pay participating sites, but you as a user can redeem them as real money or give tips to sites or content creators.
It's a new idea, but a little boring to sign up for the entire Brave Rewards program, and it's even more annoying to link your account to a third-party Uphold service to really turn BAT into cash. It is useless for any website or creator that does not register in the same way to be part of the revolution.
Brave has an iOS app full of privacy features (HTTPS everywhere, script and tracker blocking, pop-up blocking, among others). And there is a bookmark sync function that doesn't even require you to make an account and login. Unfortunately, this option only supports bookmarks, and not open tabs, history, passwords, autocomplete or your BAT earnings.
Even if you don't care about BAT, you will see that Brave is a very fast browser that prioritizes privacy and security. It just needs a more robust synchronization system.
