Years ago during the browser wars I used lots of different browsers, but I’ve never had any issues with Safari and it’s gotten better and better and I see no reason to use any other.
I’ve briefly tested Chrome and Firefox and they look ugly and feel weird. Of course, I have no google account, which Chrome wants for full functionality, so that could impact my experience.
Safari is my default browser with Firefox set aside with preloads to a Tumblr and Twitter account for blogging and posting. At work I use Arc as I like its ability to keep passwords. I have Chrome installed, but rarely use it. Only have a few plug ins.
If Safari does not work on a site , I will use Firefox
In descending order of use:
macOS: Safari, Firefox, Chrome, Opera
Windows: Firefox (mostly for Internet), Chrome (mostly for Intranet)
iOS: Safari
The decision of which browser to use depends on extensions, compatibility, and features. For example, I only use Chrome on macOS when I need certain features it has but Safari & Firefox don’t, or because I’m hitting sites that don’t work in Safari or Firefox.
Safari is far weakest in available extensions. Firefox used to be the best but then there was the add-on apocalypse, which killed off many of the best extensions.
Opera has the built-in VPN so I use it for that purpose.
What’s bugging me about Safari these days is that you can’t set it to allow cross-site tracking on specific sites. There are certain sites that don’t work with tracking blocked, so I have to turn on the tracking and then turn it back to blocking when I’m done.
And that Safari still doesn’t work with Greasemonkey extensions. So for that, I use Firefox.
(I think an interesting survey would be which browser extensions do you use?)
I use Firefox almost exclusively. I use the sync feature to sync across computers. I use the master password feature also.
I don’t like Safari at all. I like having my bookmarks in a sidebar. It took Safari forever to implement that, and I didn’t like the way they did it, nor do I like the weird way it handles tabs. I also don’t like how tied it is to the OS version. Very 90s Microsofty.
Firefox almost universally – primarily due to security and privacy, both baked-in and add ons. Also, I trust the Mozilla Foundation to maintain these standards. I’ve been using Firefox for over a decade, and I’m quite used to it.
Brave, but only when I encounter the rare web page that isn’t working properly on Firefox. 99% of the time this is because the website still requires Flash for some reason; or because the various security/privacy add-ons I use on Firefox (e.g., uBlock, cookie management) are somehow interfering in the web site’s operation. Either of these conditions generally does not speak well for the quality of the web site.
I used to use Chrome for this instead of Brave; but after recent changes that hardwire ad tracking into Chrome, it’s dead to me.
Primarily Safari.
Firefox if Safari doesn’t like a page (rare). Firefox feels clunky (and ugly) to me.
I’m not a fan of Google so won’t consider Chrome.
Safari because it syncs easily across all my devices. I very infrequently use Edge when Safari won’t work on a particular website.
I use Arc almost exclusively - such a refreshingly different and very smooth browsing experience
Firefox is the one for me! I did use Safari until extensions went away, and the add-on apps just don’t work that well. Firefox syncs across devices, including my Linux machines. The extensions I can’t live without are 1PW, uBlock Origin (so customisable - eg never see that big banner that takes up a lot of a 13" screen!), Bypass Paywalls Clean, Enhancer for YouTube and Web Archives.
Occasionally I use Vivaldi as a Google-free Chromium browser. All the same extensions are available, and it it much more customisable than other Chromium browsers - just look at all the preferences that are easily accessed without going to about:config!
Safari I don’t even open any more.
Primarily Vivaldi, because it’s so customizable. Safari as a backup for websites that don’t play nicely with others, although that’s rare. Firefox rarely, mainly because my family primarily uses Firefox and I’m their IT guy, so I need to stay familiar with it.
I use Firefox with some add-ons for CNN.com and some other sites that have a lot of ads. Also LinkedIn. Before, when I had a Facebook account, that would run in Firefox. For the rest of the web, I use Safari.
But occasionally on my older Mac that still runs a 32 bit OS and older version of Safari, I’m forced to use Firefox because sites (like this one!) no longer work properly in older Safari. Sometimes (like this one) they tell me that’s the problem. In other cases (Yelp as an example), they just stop working correctly.
Safari.
It’s the fastest and most efficient browser on the Mac IME. I love the integration with all my other Macs and my iPhone (bookmarks, history, passwords), the iCloud Keychain, and it’s simple and clean GUI. In combination with DDG set to default search I feel pretty good about its privacy.
I’ve always preferred to use as few browser plugins as possible. With Safari I only have to use two extensions: Ka-Block! for ad malarkey and Vinegar to fix YouTube.
When I need an alternate browser for testing, I resort to Firefox. Cal is in principle a Google shop so we’re heavily encouraged to use Chrome, but like @shamino I don’t trust Google, especially on my personal hardware. I’m ok with Firefox, I just find Safari cleaner, simpler, and more efficient.
I’m a Safari kind of gal.
Safari, efficient, simple, syncs everywhere.
Firefox on occasion, always enjoy it when I do.
Arc has features I wish all browsers had but I swung back to Safari after a few months.
Safari for work, Vivaldi for reading news items, etc. Firefox or Edge when I need to test certain things. I have deleted Chrome everywhere, because I do not trust Google.
I use Safari exclusively because it works on my old iMac (2010), my old MacBook Pro (2011 (High Sierra), iPad Air 2, iPad Air 5th gen and my iPhone 12 Mini.
Is Dick Duck Go better than Google?
What is the name of the character after CMD here and where is it found on the keyboard, please?
It’s a tilde - on my MBP it’s to the left of the number 1 key.
DuckDuckGo doesn’t harvest your data as Google does. It also delivers a less curated set of results. Both pros and cons to both. Google gives good results and DuckDuckGo is essentially Bing/wikipedia/yandex results but it is private.
Preferred Mac Browser is Safari - 90%+ percent usage. I like the tight MacOS integration (bookmarks, keychain, keyboard shortcuts, etc.), how fast it is, feeling that Apple is respecting my privacy and it just looks and feels right to me.
My backup browser is Firefox. Primarily used for YouTube (I like to be signed in with a different google ID than my main account that I am using in Safari). I also use Firefox to sign into various sites with my non-primary accounts.
Lastly, I use Edge a bit to access sites with my non-primary or non-secondary accounts.
iPhone is 100% Safari