In the latest macOS Monterey beta 10 and iPadOS 15.1 beta 4 releases, Apple has made another minor design tweak to Safari. The Favorites Bar, which was previously moved to appear below the tabs, has been moved back to its position above the tabs.
The change has been applied to both macOS Monterey beta 10, as well as iPadOS 15.1 beta 4 updates. This change only appears when tabs are configured to appear in the ‘Separate’ view, rather than the new and much-loathed ‘Compact’ tabs view.
Apple is not done with fixing Safari yet
Jason Snell was one of the first people to note this new change:
So some Safari on macOS Monterey news… they moved the Favorites Bar back up where it belongs. Apple really is still tweaking Mac Safari…https://t.co/QavSZnsQe5 pic.twitter.com/n3qpQuD2nD
— Jason Snell (@jsnell) October 13, 2021
While it is a welcome change that Apple is still fixing Safari, the new Safari changes have become a classic case study of ‘don’t fix it if it’s not broken’. You can see our previous coverage to get a reminder of what the new Safari design changes were.
Not all is bad with the new Safari update, which is already available publically for macOS Big Sur and macOS Catalina users. There are new privacy protection improvements, HTTPS upgrade, tab groups, web extensions support, WebM audio, and more. Apple had even enabled end-to-end encryption for iCloud Safari bookmarks but dropped it a few weeks later.
Despite the changes, the tabs are still not perfect in the new Safari update, even when you revert to the older ‘Separate’ view. They make it difficult to discern which is the active tab. The situation is so bad that a third-party developer actually made an extension called ActiveTab that lets users easily see which tab is active. The extension is available for $1.99 in the Mac App Store.
Ironically, the macOS Monterey webpage on Apple’s website still shows off the new tabs interface, which very few users like.
Read more:
- Here is how to easily add Safari extensions on iOS 15 and iPadOS 15
- Safari 15.1 beta rolls out for macOS Big Sur and macOS Catalina
- iOS 15 Safari: how to move address bar back to top
- Here are useful new Safari extensions for iOS 15 and iPadOS 15
- How to disable background color for Safari toolbar in macOS Monterey
