Safari Technology Preview 129 for macOS Big Sur is now available for download

macOS Monterey preview (Image credit: Bryan M. Wolfe / iMore)

What you need to know

Apple has released Safari Technology Preview 129 for download.
The preview gives developers the chance to test the latest Safari without installing macOS Monterey.

Apple has released Safari Technology Preview 129 to developers, giving them the chance to test the latest build of its web browser out on macOS Big Sur. This means they don't have to install macOS Monterey's betas just to test their websites and extensions with the version of Safari that will ship on all new Macs later this year.

Available for download from the Apple developer website, this latest release brings with it changes to the web inspector, rendering, scrolling, and more. The full list of changes is available in the release notes and is worth a read if you're keen to make sure your website will behave as expected when macOS Monterey rolls around.

Apple also notes that some streaming services will require the GPU Process: Media option to be enabled in this build.

Note: On macOS Big Sur, this release requires enabling GPU Process: Media option from Experimental Features under the Develop menu to address issues with streaming services.

Even in its beta form, Safari is still arguably the best Mac web browser around. While options from the likes of Google and Microsoft are popular, Safari is often the quickest at doing what you need a web browser to do — load web pages.

Apple will make Safari 15 available to the world alongside macOS Monterey, a release that is expected to happen in or around September. Apple has a busy end of the year, with new iPhones, iPads, Macs, and more rumored to be launching before the year comes to a close.

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.