Which iOS Safari "experimental features" to enable

TidBITS Talk
1

So after installing iOS 12 I realized there’s a setting to enable “Experimental Features” in Safari settings (under Advanced). This could absolutely have been there before iOS 12, but I certainly never noticed it. I was a bit surprised to find something like this outside of a dev or beta environment, but since it’s there… What features are recommended? Is there a good summary of what various features there do? I noticed that the default on my iPad mini 2 has many more selected than on my iPhone 6. Any good reasons for that?

3

I had a look at those features when you first brought it up and concluded that only a WebKit expert, fluent in such terminology was going to be able to give a response. I suspect they are only there for experts doing advanced web site development. Something along the lines of what Safari Technology Preview does for macOS website developers.

4

Interesting. I wonder why in that case this is included in the regular consumer version of iOS. It’s not a big deal, but it does feel kind of out of place in that context.

5

There may be some sort of developer version of iOS Safari that I’m unaware of, but this would seem to be a way to make new WebKit technology available without having to run a formal program for such.

As I mentioned, in macOS there is the Safari Technology Preview program which allows web site developers to get a leg up on what’s coming.

https://developer.apple.com/safari/technology-preview/

I believe that anybody aware of that program can avail themselves of it without being a paid Apple Developer and this would fit that pattern.

-Al-

6

I was curious about this recently as well and found this explanation for each of the features:

7

Thanks, that’s a very useful link.

8

I’m puzzled by this. I never went in there to change anything, yet one of them is switched on, ServiceWorkers. And of course that one isn’t listed in the summary @jtbayly linked to.

Is that one on by default? Do I really want it on? I’m definitely not a HTML/CSS developer.

9

ServiceWorkers is on for me as well. I’m not sure why it’s experimental, other browsers have supported it for longer. It’s an important feature for developing Progressive Web Apps (PWA). Part of what they can enable is sites that work offline.

10

I just reset my iPhone from scratch last week, and ServiceWorkers is the only setting on for me in Advanced. I’ve never turned any of them on or off, so I’d say that’s a default.

11

Thanks, guys. I guess that settles that.

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