Safari Technology Preview is an experimental browser that Apple releases to developers and users interested in testing upcoming features and improvements.
It serves as a sandbox environment for developers to test new web technologies and APIs before they are officially released. As Safari Technology Preview receives updates frequently, it allows QA testers testers to stay ahead of the curve and anticipate changes in web standards and make sure the websites they test keep working fine.
There's another Safari version as well called Safari Beta. This version refers to the pre-release version of Safari made available to users. It acts as a preview of the upcoming stable release.
This means you can test the Safari version that will be rolled out to the general public in a later stage.
By using Safari Beta, you can make sure you're testing on a version of Safari that will be released with a future macOS update.
Below is an overview of the benefits of testing on Safari Technology Preview and Safari Beta, with TestingBot:
- TestingBot keeps the Safari Beta and Safari Technology Preview versions up-to-date. As soon as a new version is released, you will be able to immediately test on these. Safari Technology preview updates happen every few weeks. These contain the latest WebKit updates.
- Early Access to New Features: by testing on Safari Technology Preview and Safari Beta, you can gain early exposure to the latest advancements in web technologies. Make sure your website (or mobile website) is ready to take advantage of new features and ensure compatibility with upcoming the Safari releases.
- Test on the latest macOS Monterey, macOS Ventura versions. TestingBot is preparing a beta preview of the upcoming macOS version macOS Sonoma, which will be available in Q3.
- Debug your website on Safari Tech Preview and Safari Beta with the built-in developer tools.
- Screenshots, video and logs are available for all Safari versions.
- Test Safari extensions on Safari Tech Preview and Safari Beta.
Manual Testing on Safari Technology Preview and Safari Beta
Simply log in to your TestingBot account, choose between either macOS Monterey or macOS Ventura and then click either the beta version or dev version.
You will be able to interact with a real, live browser, straight from your own browser.
Change the screen resolution and geo-ip location. Take high quality screenshots from real Safari browsers.
Automated Testing on Safari Technology Preview and Safari Beta
TestingBot provides a large Selenium grid with real browsers, including Safari, Safari Technology Preview and Safari beta.
To start running automated tests on Safari, you can edit your existing Selenium tests or create a new one.
Below is a simple example of how to run a Selenium test on TestingBot with NodeJS:
const webdriver = require('selenium-webdriver');
const capabilities = {
'platform' : 'MONTEREY',
'browserName' : 'safari',
'version' : 'dev',
'name': 'Safari Technology Preview'
}
async function runTest () {
let driver = new webdriver.Builder()
.usingServer(`https://${process.env.TB_KEY}:${process.env.TB_SECRET}@hub.testingbot.com/wd/hub`)
.withCapabilities(capabilities)
.build();
await driver.get("https://testingbot.com");
await driver.quit();
}
runTest();Safari Technology Preview vs Safari Beta
The differences between Safari Technology Preview and Safari Beta are:
- Safari Technology Preview installs as a separate application, with a different name. Safari beta overwrites the current Safari application. Because Safari Tech preview uses a different name, it's easy to open both the Tech Preview app and the 'normal' Safari app to detect any differences between the two for your product.
- Safari Technology Preview might be less stable, as it contains newer features that may not have been thoroughly tested.
