Deeply implanted in the various Apple OSes, Safari may not be used at all… but we rarely think of parting with it. Here’s how to turn the page in Safari on macOS, and why it might even be a good thing for some users.
If the idea has ever crossed your mind, you surely know that leaving Safari on macOS is not easy. Virtually impossible right now, removing the default browser from your Mac is like separating it from a central tool. Parting with it (to some degree) may be a good idea for the most privacy-conscious users, however.
Why forget Safari?
Removing Safari from macOS is, frankly, not recommended at all. Many system features take advantage of Apple’s favorite browser. However, the latter collects a large amount of information and data about you, similar to what Google does with its Chrome browser. Apple and Google are also partners: Google indeed pays billions of dollars each year to Apple so that its search engine is the one used by default on Safari.
Another reason to do without Safari: its closed nature. Apple software requires, Safari is far from approaching an open-source model. If this closed approach also has its virtues, it prevents the general public and security researchers from rummaging easily (and freely) in the Safari code to find possible unsuspected flaws. Apple relies on its engineers to make Safari as secure as possible, but there are more reliable browsers…including in terms of privacy. We think in particular of Brave (based on Chromium, like Edge and Chrome), Tor Browser or even Firefox, which for its part has the merit of being open-source.
Remove Safari from macOS? A perilous idea…
While it is possible to disable Safari on iOS (by digging into the settings), uninstalling the browser from macOS is a risky operation that we cannot really recommend. On the Mac, Safari is indeed protected by SIP (System Integrity Protection) that prevents the code of macOS and its main applications from being manipulated without authorization. Unless you are an expert user, who knows the innards of the system like the back of your hand, deleting Safari on macOS (using the Console tool or a third-party utility) can lead to corrupted portions of code to the point of rendering the OS unusable.
To stop using Safari and ensure that it no longer collects information about you, a less risky (but more rudimentary) solution exists. All you have to do is remove its icon from the macOS Dock by dragging and dropping it. Opportunities to use Safari will then be much less frequent. Properly deleting your browsing history before switching to another browser is finally recommended.
On macOS, this is done in three steps:
- Open Safari one last time to go to the “History” menu in the menu bar.
- Go to the very bottom of the accordion menu to find the “Clear History…” tab.
- Select “Clear: all history” then click on “Clear history” at the bottom of the window.
Source : CyberGhostVPN
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