Easy as 1,2,3 – Apple releases Safari Technology Preview 123 for testing

Macos Big Sur Preview Safari Hero (Image credit: Rene Ritchie)

What you need to know

Apple has released Safari Technology Preview 123 for macOS.
The update includes bug fixes and performance improvements.

Apple has released a new Safari Technology Preview update, this time bringing the version number to a rather pleasing 123.

Safari Technology Preview is used by Apple as a form of beta testing, allowing it to roll updates out to Safari proper once they have been tested elsewhere. As MacRumors points out, Safari Technology Preview has been around since March 2016, making it now more than five years old.

Safari is the best way to see the sites on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Safari Technology Preview gives you an early look at upcoming web technologies in macOS and iOS. Get the latest layout technologies, visual effects, developer tools, and more, so you can provide input on how they are implemented and deliver a best-in-class user experience on all Apple devices.

This particular release includes the usual array of bug fixes and performance improvements specifically related to CSS, Web API, and Web Inspector. You can download it from Apple's website for free right now, so long as you're running macOS Catalina or macOS Big Sur.

With Apple now making some of the best MacBooks it's ever made and the software starting to catch up, things are definitely looking brighter than they once did. The continued testing of Safari and other software is just part of that and long may it continue!

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.