Big things could be coming to Apple’s Safari web browser, as a new report claims it's in line for a serious overhaul that could transform it into the best web browser around.
It’s just the latest in a long list of other Apple apps expected to see new artificial intelligence (AI) features in iOS 18 and macOS 15, both of which are expected to debut this summer at WWDC 2024.
According to AppleInsider, Safari is going to be revamped in several key ways. That includes changes to the user interface, “advanced content blocking features,” plus a new tool called Intelligent Search that uses AI to level up your browsing experience.
The latter feature looks to be a headline grabber. It appears to use Apple’s in-house on-device AI – dubbed Ajax – to find key topics on a web page and condense them down into a handy readable summary. That could be a nifty tool for quickly getting the gist of a page when you’re in a hurry.
Elsewhere, there’s apparently a new feature called Web Eraser that lets you select specific parts of a web page and easily remove them. For instance, you might want to erase a banner ad or an image without breaking the rest of the page. Safari will remember your changes and keep them in place when you next visit the page, although there could be an option to revert them if you want.
A total AI overhaul
There’s one more piece to the puzzle: AppleInsider believes that Apple will consolidate a bunch of settings from different Safari menus and group them together behind a single button in the app’s address bar. This could include the new AI and Web Eraser tools, as well as options for controlling zoom levels, privacy settings, extension shortcuts and more.
These changes are all expected to debut in Safari 18, which will come to iOS 18 and macOS 15 and should make an appearance later in the year. They could be one of many AI-inspired alterations coming to Apple’s apps this June, with WWDC set to be packed full of AI announcements and new software features.
Beyond this summer, AppleInsider says that Apple is working on another AI-enhanced feature called Visual Search that would let you look up consumer products in images. Like the existing Visual Lookup feature, it might be implemented system-wide, which could see it loaded into Safari, the Photos app, and more. However, it’s not expected to launch until 2025.
This year, though, could be a massive one for Apple’s apps and software. On the iPhone, iOS 18 is expected to be one of the largest overhauls in the operating system’s history, and macOS 15 might not be far behind. We’ve rounded up everything you need to know about what’s coming to WWDC 2024, and with the show just a few weeks away, there’s a lot to look forward to.
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