Safari 26.5

Article Comments
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Originally published at: Safari 26.5 - TidBITS

Apple has released Safari 26.5 for macOS 15 Sequoia and macOS 14 Sonoma with 11 fixes for security vulnerabilities that the company previously addressed in other recent updates (see “OS 26.5 Adds Encrypted RCS Messaging, Fixes Bugs,” 11 May 2026). These vulnerabilities aren’t currently being exploited in the wild, so update Safari via Software Update when you have some free time. (Free, release notes, macOS 14+)

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This MacInTouch article says that Safari 26.5, with important security fixes, is being rolled out to macOS 15.7 gradually. On my Apple Silicon Mac, it was installed yesterday along with 15.7.7. However, on my spouse’s Intel Mac, it wasn’t, and it has Safari 26.3.

Is anyone else seeing this split between Intel and Apple Silicon?

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Safari 26.5 installed this morning on an Intel laptop and an M1 laptop.

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3 hours later, Safari 26.5 was available on my spouse’s Intel Mac.

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The update wasn’t showing up here in the UK when I checked yesterday evening, but is here now and installed. :+1:

I’m annoyed, though, that iOS 18.7.9 apparently sees Apple reverting to its previous position of only being available for devices that can’t run iOS 26. :face_with_steam_from_nose:

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I have an iPad Air 5 running 18.7.8. There isn’t enough space on iPad to update to IOS26. I don’t see the new update to 18.7.9 on my iPad. So how do I get it?

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Offloading large apps is your friend. Settings > General > iPad storage. Apps are usually sorted by size

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My iPad has 64 gigabytes. 26.xxi installation is telling me I have to delete 21 GIGABYTES to download!!! I don’t have enough apps, files, etc.. that I don’t want to make up that 21 gigs.

A new iPad with more gigs is in my future, but not now. I am happy having iPAD 18.x.x.

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Several possibilities:

  • Can you offload enough apps to free up space? When you offload an app, its icon and data remains. After the upgrade, it will be re-installed from the App Store (using the saved data) the next time you launch it.

  • Can you back-up and remove some content? And then maybe put it back after the upgrade? For instance, you can import all your pictures into Photos and then delete them from the iPad. Then do the upgrade. Then (if you want), sync your Photos library back to the iPad. Similar procedures can be done for other media content.

  • Can you perform the upgrade via USB? It’s been a long time since I tried this, but this will backup everything to your Mac, wipe the iPad, perform the upgrade, and then restore everything.

    The only big risk here is if you have apps that have been deleted from the App Store, or where you are deliberately holding on to an old version. Since a restore re-downloads all apps from the App Store, they will all be replaced with the latest version, and no-longer-available apps won’t come back at all.

  • iMazing’s backup/restore capabilities will backup/restore the apps that are currently installed, not the App Store’s version. So you can use it to make a backup, then erase the device, upgrade it, and restore from your backup.

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Just want to add connecting an iPad or iPhone to a Mac makes two options available in a Finder window:

  1. Update. This will download an Update file to the Mac, backup the iDevice to the Mac’s SSD/HD or to iCloud, and update the iDevice’s OS. Installed apps are not affected. This can be a workaround if an over-the-air update is not possible because the multi-gigabyte Update file is stored on the Mac.
  2. Restore. This option erases the connected iDevice so apps have to re-downloaded and reinstalled. This can take a long time if the device has a lot of apps on it.

(I rarely do over-the-air updates so I use Apple’’s update process on both macOS and Windows for myself and for family members who need help)

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That’s correct, but just to amplify on that, iMazing will do the backup/OS upgrade/restore all in one go.

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I agree. However, it is only 3 months until I downgrade to iOS 26 so I can wait.