safari config file

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Simple Steps to Change Your General Preferences on Safari

Last Updated: June 13, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Darlene Antonelli, MA . Darlene Antonelli is a Technology Writer and Editor for wikiHow. Darlene has experience teaching college courses, writing technology-related articles, and working hands-on in the technology field. She earned an MA in Writing from Rowan University in 2012 and wrote her thesis on online communities and the personalities curated in such communities. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 223,683 times. Learn more...

Do you want to increase your privacy on Safari or maybe make it more useful for you? To change your Safari preferences on an iOS device, you'll need to use your device's Settings app instead of the Safari app. On macOS computers, you can change the settings from Safari's Preferences menu. Both the mobile and the desktop share some similar settings, but the desktop version has many more options available.

Things You Should Know

• On an iPhone or iPad, go to your device's Settings app to change the general preferences of Safari.
• On Mac, change your general preferences in "Safari > Settings > General."
• Changing things like your search engine and preventing trackers will provide you with more privacy and increase your security.

• This method works for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch.
• Forgot your iPhone's password? You can reset it in 2 ways !

• The "Search Engine Suggestions" toggle will provide search suggestions from your default search engine as you type.
• The "Safari Suggestions" toggle provides search suggestions curated by Apple.

• Use the Safari app instead of Settings to change how your Home page behaves .

• You can enable or disable various search preferences underneath this menu, including using Safari Suggestions.

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You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201265
• ↑ https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/customize-your-safari-settings-iphb3100d149/ios
• ↑ http://www.macworld.com/article/2042451/exploring-safaris-preferences.html

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How to configure Safari in iOS - A user-friendly and privacy focused guide

Most iPhone and iPad users don't often pay attention to how their default browser works, unless they run into an issue. We have written a user-friendly and privacy focused guide, to teach you how to configure Safari in iOS.

This is more like a cheat sheet, we didn't want to bore you with technical jargon. So, we kept it pretty simple and straightforward.

How to configure Safari in iOS

You can't manage Safari's settings from, well, Safari. iOS is a little bit weird when it comes to that; instead, you need to go to the Settings app to configure the browser. You can find Safari on the side-bar to your left.

There are a slew of options that you can modify here. We will mention the most important ones which you may want to tweak.

Siri and Search - Do you use Siri? If your answer is no, disable everything under this option.  This is a personal choice. If you use Siri, you can choose whether it should display suggestions, learn from how you use Safari, and whether it should display information/suggestions in search results.

Default search engine - No prizes for guessing what's default here, Google of course. You do however have 3 other options to choose from Yahoo, Bing and the privacy-centric DuckDuckGo.

Search suggestions -  You may know this as auto-complete from desktop browsers. It can help you save a few seconds, which would have otherwise been wasted typing the rest of the search phrase. This can get finicky though, as you may get suggestions which may not be entirely relevant to what you are looking for.

Safari suggestions - This option is kind of similar to search suggestions, and pulls up information from sources like Wikipedia. The information is displayed inside the address bar, and maybe useful at times. It is powered by Siri, in case you were wondering.

Quick Website Search - Want to see a Wikipedia page of a particular topic, but too lazy to type it? Try typing something like "Wiki iOS", and it should load the relevant page.

Pre-load Top Hit - This is like a lottery, and depends on what you're searching for. It loads the most popular result for the term you searched for. I recommend disabling it, simply because it can be inaccurate and because it needs to connect to the site in question.

AutoFill - You can use Safari to automatically fill in your name, credit card info, to quickly checkout on websites.

Frequently visited sites - As the name so obviously suggests, this feature lists your most often accessed websites. It can be useful, if you like to visit the same sites everyday. For e.g. news, weather, sports, etc.

You can manage your favorites (bookmarked websites) separately, and also the behaviour of tabs. These are pretty basic options that are self-explanatory.

Important Safari Settings in iOS that we recommend, and why

Apple Safari is quite good in iOS and has some very useful options to keep you safe on the internet.

Block Pop-ups - Despite the fact that iOS is generally considered safe(er) from malware, you don't want websites popping-up windows to annoy you, or distract you. Leave this option on, and you won't notice a single pop-up, it's pretty good.

Fraudulent Website Warning - This is a crucial feature and is one of the many pre-enabled options in Safari. It helps in preventing known scam/fraud sites from loading in the browser, and thus stops phishing attacks dead in their tracks.

Prevent Cross-Site Tracking - This option will prevent websites, you know the pesky ones, from tracking your browsing history on other websites. This is perhaps the most important of all the features.

Downloads - If you have a ton of space in your iCloud account, you can let your downloads be saved in the cloud drive, else you may want to save them locally on your iPhone or iPad's storage.

Content Blockers - These are your ad blockers, and yes iOS does have a few. I personally use AdGuard, because I use YouTube, Reddit, Facebook, etc from the browser directly instead of their respective apps, and don't need to see or hear the ads/video ads.

Camera, Microphone, Location - These are personal choices, and can be set to Deny or Allow for all websites, or set to ask you every time. Ask yourself, do I really want the website to use my camera, hear what I'm saying or know where I'm? If you want to be in control, select Ask Every time.

Request Desktop Website (enable for iPads) - This isn't security related, but to enhance your user experience. On iOS 1,3 err, I mean iPadOS, this option is enabled for iPads, because the screen is large and scales down the desktop theme of almost every website to fit the display perfectly. On iPhones, it isn't recommended to enable the option, because the display isn't big enough.

Finally, there is the Advanced section, where there are a few options, which we think may be of use to developers, especially the Experimental ones. The rest of the options here, aren't really meant to be fiddled with by normal users.

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Thank you kindly for this very useful and informative article kind sir. But if I may, might I ask upon which iOS version these options for Safari are based? I myself currently own an iPhone SE which is operating on iOS 12.4.1 and can not find some of your mentioned options.

Umbra has not been updated in 3 years. Go with the paid version of 1blockerX. Turn on all nine lists.

From experience: neither 1Blocker nor “Purify” update in real time without interaction. As part of my morning routine, I open up each blocking app daily on my ipad, which does force a list update. Only takes about 15 seconds total.

Umbra is a pretty good content blocker on iPad also. Didn’t know ad guard was included, will have to check that out. Hopefully uBlock origin gets included in the App Store eventually.

Nice article.

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Make Safari Your Most Favorite Browser Yet

Safari is one of the best default Mac apps you don't need to replace . We consider it the optimal browser for Mac (and iOS) users . And we guarantee that with changes like the ones we discussed above, Safari will be a delight to use every day.

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How to Control iPhone Safari Settings and Security

Control your settings and security in the iPhone browser

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How to Change the Default iPhone Browser Search Engine

How to use safari autofill to fill out forms faster, how to view saved passwords in safari, control how links open in iphone safari, how to cover your online tracks using private browsing, how to clear your iphone browser history and cookies, prevent advertisers from tracking you on your iphone, how to get warnings about potentially malicious websites, how to block websites, ads, cookies, and pop-ups using safari, how to use apple pay for online purchases.

• Take Control of Your iPhone Security and Privacy Settings

What to Know

• To change search engine, go to Settings > Safari > Search Engine . To control links, go to Safari > Open Links .
• To use AutoFill, go to Settings > Safari > AutoFill > turn on Use Contact Info .
• To view saved passwords, go to Settings > Passwords & Accounts > Website & App Passwords .

This article explains how to adjust Safari settings and security on your iPhone or iPad.

Searching for content in Safari is simple; tap the menu bar at the top of the browser and enter your search terms. By default, all iOS devices use Google for web searches, but you can select a different search engine by following these steps:

Open the Settings app.

Select Safari > Search Engine .

Select the search engine you would like to use as the default. Options include  Google , Yahoo , Bing , and DuckDuckGo . The setting is automatically saved, so you can search using the new default search engine right away.

Similar to a desktop browser , Safari automatically fills in forms by grabbing information from your address book. This saves time because you don't need to fill out the same forms over and over again. To use this feature, follow these steps:

Select Safari > AutoFill .

Toggle the Use Contact Info switch to on/green.

Your information appears in the My Info field. If it does not, select the field and browse your address book to find your contact information.

Older versions of iOS allowed you to change your username and password info here. If you want to save, edit, or delete usernames and passwords in iOS 13 or later, go to the Passwords & Accounts settings page (select Settings > Passwords & Accounts ).

To save frequently used credit cards to make online purchases quicker, move the Credit Cards switch to on/green. If you don't have a credit card saved on your iPhone, select Saved Credit Cards , and add a card.

Saving usernames and passwords in Safari means you're not forced to memorize login credentials to access a website. As this data is sensitive, iOS takes measures to protect it. If you need to look up a username or password, you can do so by following these steps:

Select Passwords & Accounts > Website & App Passwords .

You are asked to authorize access to this information using Touch ID , Face ID , or your passcode.

A list details all the websites for which iOS has saved login data. Select a site to view the corresponding username and password.

You can choose where new links open by default—in a new window that appears either in front of or behind the page you are currently viewing. Follow these steps to adjust this setting:

Select Safari > Open Links .

Select In New Tab to open links in a new window in Safari and to have that window appear in front of the current tab. Select In Background to open links in a new window that appears behind the page you are currently viewing.

Browsing the web leaves digital footprints. Between browsing history, cookies, and other usage data, you may prefer to cover some of those tracks. The Safari Private Browsing feature prevents Safari from saving information about your behavior—including browsing history, cookies, and other files—while it is turned on.

When you want to delete your browsing history or cookies manually, follow these steps:

Select Safari > Clear History and Website Data .

A menu appears asking if you would like to clear the browsing data. Select Clear History and Data .

Cookies allow advertisers to track you across the web. This lets them build a profile of your behavior and interests to target you with ads better. Here's how to opt-out of some of that tracking data:

Select Safari .

Move the Prevent Cross-Site Tracking switch to on/green.

Older versions of iOS included a Do Not Track feature that asked websites not to track your browsing data. Apple removed this feature, as the request was never mandatory and did not do much to limit the tracking of user data.

Setting up fake websites that look like ones you normally use is a common method of stealing data from users. Safari has a feature to help avoid these sites. Here's how to enable it:

Move the Fraudulent Website Warning switch to on/green.

You can speed up your browsing, maintain privacy, and avoid certain ads and websites by blocking cookies. Here's how:

Move the Block All Cookies switch to on/green, then select Block All to confirm the action.

If you set up Apple Pay , you can use it at any participating retailer to complete purchases. To make sure you can use it at those stores, enable Apple Pay for the web. Here's how:

Move the Check for Apple Pay switch to on/green.

Take Control of Your iPhone Security and Privacy Settings

While this article focuses on privacy and security settings for the Safari web browser, the iPhone has other security and privacy settings. These settings can be used with other apps and features to protect private info stored on your iPhone .

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• How to Change the Default Search Engine in Safari for iOS
• How to Enable or Change AutoFill Information on an iPhone
• How to Clear Cookies on iPad
• How to Solve Safari Crashes on the iPhone
• How to Disable JavaScript in Safari for iPhone
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• How to Manage Your Browsing History in Safari
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• Managing History and Other Private Data in Safari for macOS

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Managing Safari with Configuration Profile?

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Find Configuration Files.

After a recent Big Sur update, I have finished up with a blue folder on my desktop named as Relocated Items. Clicking on the folder shows the following message;

"During the last macOS upgrade or file migration, some of your files couldn’t be moved to their new locations. This folder contains these files. 

Configuration files 

These configuration files were modified or customised by you, by another user or by an app. The modifications may be incompatible with the recent macOS upgrade. The modified files are in the Configuration folder, organised in subfolders named after their original locations. 

To restore any of the custom configurations, compare your modifications with the configuration changes made during the macOS upgrade and combine them when possible. 

Configuration files with the suffix "system_default" were edited or customised but the changes were allowed to remain installed. The system_default version of the file is provided to demonstrate what the Apple-supplied version of this file would look like. It is recommended you compare the two and evaluate whether you wish to integrate any changes Apple may have made to the default version. "

Can anyone please tell me how and where I can find the Configuration files? I am puzzled because I am not aware of any changes I have made.

iMac 21.5″, macOS 11.3

Posted on May 4, 2021 3:39 AM

Posted on May 4, 2021 3:53 AM

The folder on the desktop is an alias (shortcut) to the files at “/Users/Shared/Relocated Items”. The files are created during an update process when (more than likely) an item of software is not compatible with the new OS. It's worth checking the contents, but generally if the file gives an indication of the software application(s) involved you may need to check the vendor to see if an update is available or on the app store.

Similar questions

• Relocated Items folder containing Configuration files has appeared on my Desktop. A Relocated Items folder containing Configuration files has appeared on my Desktop. An accompanying pdf says: 'These configuration files were modified or customised by you, by another user or by an app. The modifications may be incompatible with the recent macOS upgrade. The modified files are in the Configuration folder, organised in subfolders named after their original locations. To restore any of the custom configurations, compare your modifications with the configuration changes made during the macOS upgrade and combine them when possible. Configuration files with the suffix "system_default" were edited or customised but the changes were allowed to remain installed. The system_default version of the file is provided to demonstrate what the Apple-supplied version of this file would look like. It is recommended you compare the two and evaluate whether you wish to integrate any changes Apple may have made to the default version.' How do I do that? Do I need to? Can I just bin the complete Recovered Items folder? 648 3
• Relocated Items Folder After 11.6.1 Update Today The Apple Support pages give this explanation: If you see a Relocated Items folder on your Mac after upgrading macOS When you upgrade your Mac to macOS 10.15 or later, all your files and data are carefully reviewed to ensure they’re valid and authorized, undamaged, and in the correct locations. Some of your files couldn’t be moved to their new locations and were placed in a Relocated Items folder. You can find the Relocated Items folder in the Shared folder within the Users folder. The PDF document in the Relocated Items folder explains what to do with files placed in this folder. During the last macOS upgrade or file migration, some of your files couldn’t be moved to their new locations. This folder contains these files. The PDF in the Relocated Items Folder states this: Configuration files These configuration files were modified or customized by you, by another user, or by an app. The modifications may be incompatible with the recent macOS upgrade. The modified files are in the Configuration folder, organized in subfolders named for their original locations. To restore any of the custom configurations, compare your modifications with the configuration changes made during the macOS upgrade and combine them when possible. Configuration files with the suffix "system_default" were edited or customized, but the changes were allowed to remain installed. The system_default version of the file is provided to demonstrate what the Apple supplied version of this file would look like. It is recommended that you compare the two and evaluate whether you wish to integrate any changes Apple may have made to the default version. Is there any way possibly for Apple to be more vague about this folder or what we really (if anything) should do with the contents. 313 4
• Relocated Items Configuration files These configuration files were modified or customized by you, by another user, or by an app. The modifications are incompatible with the recent macOS upgrade. The modified files are in the Configuration folder, organized in subfolders named for their original locations. To restore any of the custom configurations, compare your modifications with the configuration changes made during the macOS upgrade and combine them when possible. My question is how to restore because not aware of the configuration changes happened during OS upgrade. Can't open all migrated files after upgrade. 549 2

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May 4, 2021 3:53 AM in response to brbrown

May 4, 2021 4:19 AM in response to brbrown

Hi, I would suggest that you open the configuration file(s) in textedit - there will generally be an indication of application involved - if it is an OS system file I would be tempted to leave as is unless you are experiencing an issue. Or if you put up a screen shot of the list of files maybe I may be able to point you in the right direction.

May 4, 2021 4:30 AM in response to ASH_IT

ASH I am afraid I am struggling with this. When I open Textedit, I just get the Finder list and whatever I click, I can find no reference to configuration files. Nor can I find them using the search facility.

May 4, 2021 4:58 AM in response to brbrown

May 4, 2021 7:50 AM in response to ASH_IT

Well I can't delete it so I guess I will have to leave it there. What I will try is to delete it and leave it in the Bin and use the computer for a few days and see if something will not work and go from there. Thanks for your help anyway.

May 4, 2021 4:12 AM in response to ASH_IT

Hello ASH. Thanks for the reply and the explanation. My problem is where to find the offending software items to be able to check them. Brian

May 4, 2021 6:18 AM in response to brbrown

No you should be able to delete the alias (shortcut) on the desktop, that should leave the files in the Library.

Safari User Guide

• Change your homepage
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• Make Safari your default web browser
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• Mute audio in tabs
• Pay with Apple Pay
• Autofill credit card info
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• Keep a Reading List
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• Translate a webpage
• Download items from the web
• Share or post webpages
• Add passes to Wallet
• Save part or all of a webpage
• Print or create a PDF of a webpage
• Customize a start page
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• Customize settings per website
• Zoom in on webpages
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Folders and files, repository files navigation, browserslist.

The config to share target browsers and Node.js versions between different front-end tools. It is used in:

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All tools will find target browsers automatically, when you add the following to package.json :

Or in .browserslistrc config:

Developers set their version lists using queries like last 2 versions to be free from updating versions manually. Browserslist will use caniuse-lite with  Can I Use data for this queries.

You can check how config works at our playground: browsersl.ist

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Browserslist needs your support. We are accepting donations at Open Collective .

Analyze your Browserslist Config

• Run npx browserslist in your project directory to see project’s target browsers. This CLI tool is built-in and available in any project with Autoprefixer.
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Update caniuse-lite

• update-browserslist-db is a CLI tool to update browsers DB for queries like last 2 version or >1% .
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• browserslist-useragent-regexp compiles Browserslist query to a RegExp to test browser useragent.
• browserslist-useragent-ruby is a Ruby library to check browser by user agent string to match Browserslist.

Get Statistics for >5% in my stats :

• browserslist-ga and browserslist-ga-export download your website browsers statistics to use it in > 0.5% in my stats query.
• browserslist-new-relic generates a custom usage data file for Browserslist
• browserslist-adobe-analytics uses Adobe Analytics data to target browsers from your New Relic Browser data.
• browserslist-rs is a Browserslist port to Rust.
• browserslist-browserstack runs BrowserStack tests for all browsers in Browserslist config.

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These extensions will add syntax highlighting for .browserslistrc files.

There is a defaults query, which gives a reasonable configuration for most users:

If you want to change the default set of browsers, we recommend including last 2 versions, not dead, > 0.2% . This is because last n versions on its own does not add popular old versions, while only using a percentage of usage numbers above 0.2% will in the long run make popular browsers even more popular. We might run into a monopoly and stagnation situation, as we had with Internet Explorer 6. Please use this setting with caution.

Select browsers directly ( last 2 Chrome versions ) only if you are making a web app for a kiosk with one browser. There are a lot of browsers on the market. If you are making general web app you should respect browsers diversity.

Don’t remove browsers just because you don’t know them. Opera Mini has 100 million users in Africa and it is more popular in the global market than Microsoft Edge. Chinese QQ Browsers has more market share than Firefox and desktop Safari combined.

Browserslist will use browsers and Node.js versions query from one of these sources:

• .browserslistrc config file in current or parent directories.
• browserslist key in package.json file in current or parent directories.
• browserslist config file in current or parent directories.
• BROWSERSLIST environment variable.
• If the above methods did not produce a valid result Browserslist will use defaults: > 0.5%, last 2 versions, Firefox ESR, not dead .

Query Composition

An or combiner can use the keyword or as well as , . last 1 version or > 1% is equal to last 1 version, > 1% .

and query combinations are also supported to perform an intersection of all the previous queries: last 1 version or chrome > 75 and > 1% will select ( browser last version or Chrome since 76 ) and more than 1% marketshare .

There are 3 different ways to combine queries as depicted below. First you start with a single query and then we combine the queries to get our final list.

Obviously you can not start with a not combiner, since there is no left-hand side query to combine it with. The left-hand is always resolved as and combiner even if or is used (this is an API implementation specificity).

A quick way to test your query is to do npx browserslist '> 0.3%, not dead' in your terminal.

You can specify the browser and Node.js versions by queries (case insensitive):

• defaults : Browserslist’s default browsers ( > 0.5%, last 2 versions, Firefox ESR, not dead ).
• > 5% : browsers versions selected by global usage statistics. >= , < and <= work too.
• > 5% in US : uses USA usage statistics. It accepts two-letter country code .
• > 5% in alt-AS : uses Asia region usage statistics. List of all region codes can be found at caniuse-lite/data/regions .
• > 5% in my stats : uses custom usage data .
• > 5% in browserslist-config-mycompany stats : uses custom usage data from browserslist-config-mycompany/browserslist-stats.json .
• cover 99.5% : most popular browsers that provide coverage.
• cover 99.5% in US : same as above, with two-letter country code .
• cover 99.5% in my stats : uses custom usage data .
• last 2 versions : the last 2 versions for each browser.
• last 2 Chrome versions : the last 2 versions of Chrome browser.
• last 2 major versions or last 2 iOS major versions : all minor/patch releases of last 2 major versions.
• dead : browsers without official support or updates for 24 months. Right now it is IE 11 , IE_Mob 11 , BlackBerry 10 , BlackBerry 7 , Samsung 4 , OperaMobile 12.1 and all versions of Baidu .
• node 10 and node 10.4 : selects latest Node.js 10.x.x or 10.4.x release.
• last 2 node versions : select 2 latest Node.js releases.
• last 2 node major versions : select 2 latest major-version Node.js releases.
• current node : Node.js version used by Browserslist right now.
• maintained node versions : all Node.js versions, which are still maintained by Node.js Foundation.
• iOS 7 : the iOS browser version 7 directly. Note, that op_mini has special version all .
• Firefox > 20 : versions of Firefox newer than 20. >= , < and <= work too. It also works with Node.js.
• ie 6-8 : selects an inclusive range of versions.
• Firefox ESR : the latest Firefox Extended Support Release .
• PhantomJS 2.1 and PhantomJS 1.9 : selects Safari versions similar to PhantomJS runtime.
• extends browserslist-config-mycompany : take queries from browserslist-config-mycompany npm package.
• fully supports es6 : browsers with full support for specific features. For example, fully supports css-grid will omit Edge 12-15, as those browser versions are marked as having partial support .
• partially supports es6-module or supports es6-module : browsers with full or partial support for specific features. For example, partially supports css-grid will include Edge 12-15 support, as those browser versions are marked as having partial support .
• browserslist config : the browsers defined in Browserslist config. Useful in Differential Serving to modify user’s config like browserslist config and fully supports es6-module .
• since 2015 or last 2 years : all versions released since year 2015 (also since 2015-03 and since 2015-03-10 ).
• unreleased versions or unreleased Chrome versions : alpha and beta versions.
• not ie <= 8 : exclude IE 8 and lower from previous queries.

You can add not to any query.

Grammar Definition

There is a grammar specification about the query syntax, which may be helpful if you're implementing a parser or something else.

Run npx browserslist in a project directory to see which browsers were selected by your queries.

The following table maps browser names & their target devices into identifiers used by browserslist.

• ↪︎ name implies that the browser uses the same engine captured by name
• 1 Opera Mobile ≈ Chrome Android
• 2 All iOS browsers use WebKit
• 3 Opera Mini has 2 modes “Extreme” and “High” for data saving. op_mini targets at the “Extreme” one. “High” is compatible with the normal Opera Mobile.

package.json

If you want to reduce config files in project root, you can specify browsers in package.json with browserslist key:

.browserslistrc

Separated Browserslist config should be named .browserslistrc and have browsers queries split by a new line. Each line is combined with the or combiner. Comments starts with  #  symbol:

Browserslist will check config in every directory in path . So, if tool process app/styles/main.css , you can put config to root, app/ or app/styles .

You can specify direct path in BROWSERSLIST_CONFIG environment variables.

You can use the following query to reference an exported Browserslist config from another package:

For security reasons, external configuration only supports packages that have the browserslist-config- prefix. npm scoped packages are also supported, by naming or prefixing the module with @scope/browserslist-config , such as @scope/browserslist-config or @scope/browserslist-config-mycompany .

If you don’t accept Browserslist queries from users, you can disable the validation by using the or BROWSERSLIST_DANGEROUS_EXTEND environment variable.

Because this uses npm 's resolution, you can also reference specific files in a package:

When writing a shared Browserslist package, just export an array. browserslist-config-mycompany/index.js :

You can also include a browserslist-stats.json file as part of your shareable config at the root and query it using > 5% in browserslist-config-mycompany stats . It uses the same format as extends and the dangerousExtend property as above.

You can export configs for different environments and select environment by BROWSERSLIST_ENV or env option in your tool:

You can also specify different browser queries for various environments. Browserslist will choose query according to  BROWSERSLIST_ENV or NODE_ENV variables. If none of them is declared, Browserslist will firstly look for production queries and then use defaults.

In package.json :

In .browserslistrc config:

If you have a website, you can query against the usage statistics of your site. browserslist-ga will ask access to Google Analytics and then generate browserslist-stats.json :

Or you can use browserslist-ga-export to convert Google Analytics data without giving a password for Google account.

You can generate usage statistics file by any other method. File format should be like:

Note that you can query against your custom usage data while also querying against global or regional data. For example, the query > 1% in my stats, > 5% in US, 10% is permitted.

Queries can be a string "> 1%, not dead" or an array ['> 1%', 'not dead'] .

If a query is missing, Browserslist will look for a config file. You can provide a path option (that can be a file) to find the config file relatively to it.

• path : file or a directory path to look for config file. Default is . .
• env : what environment section use from config. Default is production .
• stats : custom usage statistics data.
• config : path to config if you want to set it manually.
• ignoreUnknownVersions : do not throw on direct query (like ie 12 ). Default is false .
• dangerousExtend : Disable security checks for extend query. Default is false .
• throwOnMissing : throw an error if env is not found. Default is false .
• mobileToDesktop : Use desktop browsers if Can I Use doesn’t have data about this mobile version. Can I Use has only data about latest versions of mobile browsers. By default, last 2 and_ff versions returns and_ff 90 and with this option it returns and_ff 91, and_ff 90 . This option may lead to unknown browser version error (in example Can I Use doesn’t have data for and_ff 91 yet). Default is false .

For non-JS environment and debug purpose you can use CLI tool:

You can get total users coverage for selected browsers by JS API:

If a tool uses Browserslist inside, you can change the Browserslist settings with environment variables :

BROWSERSLIST with browsers queries.

BROWSERSLIST_CONFIG with path to config file.

BROWSERSLIST_ENV with environments string.

BROWSERSLIST_STATS with path to the custom usage data for > 1% in my stats query.

BROWSERSLIST_DISABLE_CACHE if you want to disable config reading cache.

BROWSERSLIST_DANGEROUS_EXTEND to disable security shareable config name check.

BROWSERSLIST_ROOT_PATH to prevent reading files above this path.

Browserslist caches the configuration it reads from package.json and browserslist files, as well as knowledge about the existence of files, for the duration of the hosting process.

To clear these caches, use:

To disable the caching altogether, set the BROWSERSLIST_DISABLE_CACHE environment variable.

To report a security vulnerability, please use the Tidelift security contact . Tidelift will coordinate the fix and disclosure.

Available as part of the Tidelift Subscription.

The maintainers of browserslist and thousands of other packages are working with Tidelift to deliver commercial support and maintenance for the open source dependencies you use to build your applications. Save time, reduce risk, and improve code health, while paying the maintainers of the exact dependencies you use. Learn more.

Browsers Data Updating

See update-browserslist-db docs

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That scary Safari malware that infected your Mac? There might be a very simple fix

I was recently visiting my parents when I got the dreaded question: I think my Mac has a virus but I thought Macs didn’t get viruses? They were obviously a little concerned and somewhat embarrassed that they could have allowed something to happen to their Mac.

First off: yes, your Mac can get a virus , though it is still somewhat rare. After all, there are far fewer viruses in the wild to attack macOS than Windows, and way more PCs than Macs in the world. But there are Mac attacks in the wild and many of them originate within a web browser.

There are plenty of ways to scan your Mac for viruses and protect it from incoming attacks. Apple even has its own built-in antivirus tech called XProtect that constantly scans for known malware. But even with all that protection, things can get through.

Still, if you’re getting messages popping up on your Mac warning you about a critical virus with scary emoji, it’s probably not a virus. There’s a good chance it’s just an application notification masquerading as a critical system alert.

In the Safari settings, you can turn individual website notifications on and off.

Here’s what happened. While browsing with Safari, my parents either clicked on an ad or were served a pop-up that brought them to the updates-mac.com site. When they got there, another box asked them if they wanted to receive notifications from the site. In a fit of clicking to get away, they somehow clicked “Allow” when asked whether they wanted to receive notifications. That told Safari that it was OK to spam them with scary-looking alerts.

Thankfully there’s an easy fix—head over to the Websites tab in the Safari Settings in the menu bar and deny permission for the site to send alerts under the Notifications tab—but had they clicked the alert, there might not have been. The truth is, these alerts aren’t just designed to annoy, they’re hoping to fool you into clicking the wrong thing or signing into the wrong box and giving access to your accounts or computer.

Apple also has a malware tracker built into macOS called XProtect and is constantly updating the OS to patch any known vulnerabilities. To limit any further damage, you can download an antivirus app , which will protect you from inadvertently installing something malicious and help you get rid of it if something gets through. But for everything else, just check your Safari notifications first.

Author: Michael Simon , Executive Editor

Michael Simon has been covering Apple since the iPod was the iWalk. His obsession with technology goes back to his first PC—the IBM Thinkpad with the lift-up keyboard for swapping out the drive. He's still waiting for that to come back in style tbh.

Recent stories by Michael Simon:

• Apple silicon was supposed to save the Mac desktop. Instead, it’s killing it
• How to type the Pi (π) symbol on a Mac or iPhone
• It’s not too late to exchange the new Mac you just got for something better

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Given the choice —

Report: people are bailing on safari after dma makes changing defaults easier, indie browsers report significant spikes in users in the past month..

Ashley Belanger - Apr 10, 2024 5:15 pm UTC

Smaller web browsers are gaining traction in the European Union after the Digital Markets Act (DMA) started requiring designated gatekeepers like Google and Apple to make it easier to switch default web browsers on devices.

Previously, tech giants were able to lock users into setting their own browsers as defaults—or at least make it complicated to update the defaults—offering the majority of users their own browsing services for free while collecting data used for ad-targeting. This, the EU feared, kept users from switching to defaults that offered superior or more private web browsing experiences.

Reuters collected data from six companies, confirming that, when presented with a choice screen, many EU users will swap out default browsers like Chrome or Safari for more privacy-focused options. And because iPhones have a larger market share than Google-branded phones in the EU, Apple is emerging as the biggest loser, Reuters reported, noting that under the DMA, "the growth for smaller browsers is currently coming at the cost of Safari."

Some indie browsers are benefiting more than others from users shifting away from Safari. In the month since the DMA took effect on March 7 , the Cyprus-based Aloha Browser told Reuters that its total users in the EU spiked by 250 percent in March. In Belgium, Aloha users increased threefold, Aloha said in a press release .

Aloha attracts about 10 million monthly average users globally by promising "total privacy." The company profits from paid subscriptions to premium features like "advanced VPN and privacy-oriented AI," instead of from tracking users for invasive ad-targeting, the press release said.

Aloha does not and has "never collected, stored or monetized any user data of any kind, making Aloha the only major browser that does not receive any money for user data," Aloha CEO Andrew Frost Moroz said in the press release, adding that "we were not surprised to see this increase."

"By enacting these regulations, the EU has done two things: They've cut down on some of big tech's monopolistic practices, and they've made consumers more aware of their choices in the tools they can use online," Frost Moroz said. "And many of those consumers are clearly saying they want to take back control of their digital privacy and personal data."

At least five other browsers have also benefited, Reuters reported, confirming that Norway's Vivaldi and Opera, Germany's Ecosia, and US-based Brave and DuckDuckGo all reported increased users after the DMA took effect. Jan Standal, Opera's vice president, did not share specific numbers but said that Opera is experiencing "record user numbers in the EU right now."

While these numbers are encouraging for smaller browsers hoping to gain a larger market share in the EU, some browser companies have criticized Apple and Google for "slowing the migration of mobile users to new browser choices" by rolling out "slow and clunky" updates, Reuters reported.

Vivaldi CEO Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner directly criticized Apple's process for swapping default browsers as "just so convoluted that it's easiest for (users) to select Safari or potentially some other known name." The CEO told Reuters that Apple only displayed the required choice screen—currently "curated for each of the 27 countries in the EU" and "showing up to 11 browsers in addition to Safari"—when users clicked on Safari and said Apple failed to provide useful information about alternative choices.

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