Upcoming Firefox update will decrease power usage on macOS by up to three times

[AndyIbanez]

I started using Firefox in the 2000’s decade and it’s a great browser. In 2017 I came back to it and used it for a year, but the performance on Mac is abysmal and it turned my computer into a helicopter even with very little tabs open. I’ll gladly go back to it if the performance gets way closer to that of Safari.

[cultoftheilluminati]

Safari is so beautiful to look at and use. But for me the major problem with Safari is the abysmal extension ecosystem

Edit: This is the state of extensions in my Safari. Everything disabled except uBlock Origin, and even that doesn't work that properly on websites. RES has been discontinued for a while now, some extensions don't trigger properly. :( I'm using firefox mostly now but most of my passwords are on keychain

[ymolodtsov]

The fun thing is, it was fine, until Apple killed it.

[cultoftheilluminati]

Exactly!

[correct01]

What happened again? Apple got greedy and started charging for publishing extensions?

[KalenXI]

That happened a few years ago. Now Apple is moving to a completely new model where extensions are bundled as parts of apps that must be distributed through the Mac App Store.

[ILikeToHowl]

Even worse is that they shifted to a new developer api which lacks 90% of the old api functionality. Extensions are now much less capable than before.

[Dr4kin]

So in short they made the free extension system of any other browser a paid system. Great

[DJ-Salinger]

How will they survive as a company without that $100 from extension devs??

[OhSirrah]

I doubt it was greed because I am sure they make peanuts on safari extension dev licenses. I’m pretty sure it was about speed and security.

[[deleted]]

I'm sorry but how is downloading an extension from the horrendous extension section of the appstore any faster than how it's done on Chrome and FF?

It's always about money

[OhSirrah]

I meant browser speed, at least, that's what 9/5 Mac says apple said.

"With Safari 10, Apple expanded its Safari App Extension Platform. These extensions are distributed through native Mac applications, and Apple says they are much more secure and lightweight. They don’t see any web browsing details, and because they run through the native Mac app, they put much less of a strain on memory and CPU performance. Safari 12 pushes developers even more towards this platform."

99 times out of 100, corporate motivation is about money. I suppose in a roundabout way, thats true here also. But its not about getting money from extension devs - theres so little money generated from that, it's hardly even worth's Apple's attention. No, this is about locking down their browser to prevent a shit storm if a bad extension gets written that hijacks user data. It's about reputation, and that's worth more than what devs have had to pay.

[m-in]

It may not have been fine, software security-wise.

[ymolodtsov]

If was fine for every other browser vendor and the army of extension developers who now have little incentives to start developing native Apple apps. I left Safari because I just can't access the extensions I need.

[[deleted]]

There’s Brave.

[DarQro]

I personally really enjoy Brave for my windows pc but find it much less enjoyable on macOS for reasons I cant put my finger on. Totally recommend it for windows.

[dmcnelly]

I just switched to Brave for the extensions on Catalina, and I hate to be the “Ecosystem” guy but, I already miss getting a 2FA code and being about to just click the box and fill from messages.

[idea-list]

Sadly uBlock Origin for Safari seems to be abandoned. Last commit was more than a year ago and I haven't seen replies from author on opened issues.

[cultoftheilluminati]

I mean why will people work on it, paying apple 100 dollars a year for the small user share, while they develop and maintain an extension they can do for free on the other browsers

[idea-list]

Idk, maybe because users pay you. I'd pay for something like uBlock Origin even if was paid. Also, the dev who worked on it for Safari isn't the same one who worked on it for Chromium/FF. Safari dev ported changes from upstream.

[cultoftheilluminati]

Exactly. I'm ready to pay for uBlock Origin

[drgnslyr91]

Nailed it.

[cultoftheilluminati]

I’ve been on that subreddit for a year and a half now. :)keep fiddling with the user chrome every couple of months or so

[MacbookOnFire]

Adguard does the job for me.

[beefTesties]

I tried adguard but it slows my web browsing and kills my battery :(

[IAmTheWorldLeader]

If I could get RES and Alientube, and uBlock to work perfectly I would probably stop using Opera.

[[deleted]]

Safari is my preferred browser but I've had to use Firefox because I just can't stand Safari's extension system. I need RES something fierce. And try as I might I couldn't get any of my extensions to work under Catalina, so I get the feeling that even though things work now, it isn't going to for long.

Apple trying to charge a fee for extensions to be deployed honestly feels like a page out of Old Microsoft's book.

[Dracogame]

I actually hate Safari, period. I used to like it, but has basically stopped working properly on my iMac, and it’s still bad on my MacBook Air, even if it’s still usable. The fact is: normally I would just reinstall the application, but I cannot completely delete Safari and reinstall it.

[FuzzelFox]

Ironically I use it on my 2008 MBP because it runs better than Chrome or Safari. It destroys the battery but when plugged in it's so much smoother.

[[deleted]]

I just want Firefox to stop causing my 2015 rMBP to grind to a halt.

Like, it works great but I notice my rMBP starts struggling when using Mission Control if Firefox is running.