The iOS 18 includes updates to many of Apple’s built-in apps, and Safari is no exception.
Apple’s browser has some useful new features for faster access to the information you want most from websites.
All the news in Safari.
Better Highlights
Highlights finds relevant information on a web page you’re visiting and displays it for you, so you can find relevant details without having to scan a page.
When a markup is available on a web page, you’ll see a small purple glow above the tool icon in the browser bar, along with a quick flash of the Markup data available. If you tap on the glow icon, Safari will show you basic website information such as location, hours and directions.
The information displayed in Highlights will depend on the website you are visiting. For shops, hotels and other places you might want to go, Safari will provide directions. For other sites, you may see links to learn more about people, music, movies, and TV shows.
Highlights is currently available in US English, and since iOS 18 is in beta, this feature is not available on all sites. Bookmarks can be turned off by opening the Safari section of the Settings app and turning it off.
Read mode
Safari has updated its reading mode to provide a table of contents for long articles and also a quick summary of what’s on the page.
The new Reader Mode features give users a way to get to a specific part of an article as well as an overview of what’s in an article in order to decide if it’s worth continuing to read.
New Reader Mode options are available in English (Australia), English (Canada), English (Ireland), English (New Zealand), English (South Africa), English (UK) and English (US)
Design changes
Apple has updated the design of the Safari tools that you can access through the URL bar. The tool icon is now a box with two lines, and tapping it takes you to a full overlay window located at the bottom of the screen.
No longer do all the tools appear at once, with Apple prioritizing those people who might want more like translation, reading mode, privacy protections, and font size. Tapping the ellipsis at the bottom of the interface brings up the rest of Safari’s settings, such as Show IP Address, Request Desktop Site, and Hide Toolbar.
Apple has also changed the design of the tab management page, with a unified toolbar for individual sections and groups of tabs.
New quick access options
Some of the features that were stored in the Share Sheet are now more easily available through the Safari toolbar.
New options include the following:
Print
add to Favorites
Add bookmark
Add to Quick Note
Add to reading list
Move to tab group
Tab pinning
Camera access
Microphone access
Location access
Open the links in the profile
The page menu can be edited so you can customize which tools are included in your favorites list for faster access.
All of these options are still available through the Share Sheet as well.
passwords
With a new dedicated password app, Safari logins, passwords, and access keys are automatically filled in if you have your information saved in the app.
The Passwords app has the same functionality as the Passwords section in the Settings app, just split into a standalone app for easier access. Safari can automatically save login and password information in the Passwords app, and everything is synced across devices. Passwords are accessible even on Windows computers.
Locked apps
Apps like Safari can be locked and hidden, requiring Face ID or Touch ID authentication to access them. Locking an app goes one step further than the protected private browsing feature that Apple introduced in an earlier version of iOS, as the entire Safari browser can be locked.
To open a locked app, you need to authenticate, so someone with your unlocked phone still can’t see your browser if you lock Safari. Hiding an app locks it and removes it from the Home screen, placing it in a secret “Hidden apps” folder in the App Library.
Source: techblog.gr
