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Statcounter: Edge falls below 10%, Safari continues climbing
TarasBuria posted a topic in Front Page News
Statcounter: Edge falls below 10%, Safari continues climbing by Taras Buria The first day of a new month means it is time for Statcounter's latest findings. The May 2023 report is now available with details about the most popular browsers and their market share changes. Click here to learn how Statcounter gathers its data. To no one's surprise, Google Chrome is still the number one go-to browser on most platforms. Its desktop variant holds a 66.02% share with minor fluctuations from month to month. In May 2023, Chrome lost 0.2 points. Apple's Safari, the only non-cross-platform desktop browser, is cementing its new place after taking over Microsoft Edge in April 2023. Safari's customer base increased from 11.89% to 12.79%, further gapping Microsoft Edge. The latter once again dipped below the 10% mark and reached a 9.91% share (-0.98 points). According to Statcounter, Edge is not the only browser having problems with increasing its market share. Firefox continues bleeding customers, and in May 2023, its share decreased from 5.59% to 5.28%. For reference, in July 2022, its market share was at 8%. Opera is the fifth most popular desktop browser, with a market share of 4.02% (+0.9 points). Finally, the honorable mention goes to Internet Explorer and its 0.45% share. Google Chrome - 66.02% (-0.2 points) Apple Safari - 12.79% (+0.9 points) Microsoft Edge - 9.91% (-0.98 points) Mozilla Firefox - 5.59% (-0.31 points) Opera - 4.02% (+0.9 points) And here is the mobile side of the market, where Google, Apple, and Samsung hold over 93% of users. Interestingly, Google Chrome lost a notable chunk of customers during the last three months. Safari, on the other hand, is experiencing a continuous spike. Google Chrome - 61.09% (-0.67 points) Apple Safari - 27.81% (+0.81 points) Samsung Internet - 4.97% (+0.14 points) Opera - 1.8% (-0.09 points) UC Browser - 1.54% (-0.17 points) You can find more information on the official Statcounter website. -
Statcounter: Microsoft Edge is no longer world's second desktop browser
TarasBuria posted a topic in Front Page News
Statcounter: Microsoft Edge is no longer world's second desktop browser by Taras Buria According to Statcounter's April 2023 report, Microsoft Edge is no longer world's second most popular desktop browser. Apple Safari, the only non-cross-platform browser, has taken over Microsoft's Chromium-powered Edge. Disclaimer: Reports from Statcounter and other companies are never 100% accurate, and the idea is to provide average values and pinpoint general trends. You can learn how Statcounter gathers its data in the official FAQ. Statcounter says Safari is now in second place with a market share of 11.87%, a 0.95 points uplift compared with the previous month. Edge is now third, struggling to surpass an 11% mark for almost a year. In April 2023, Microsoft Edge lost 0.15 points. As for Chrome, it holds 66.13%, with a 0.36 points month-over-month increase. Here are the most popular desktop browsers per Statcounter's latest findings: Google Chrome - 66.13% (+0.36 points) Apple Safari - 11.87% (+0.95 points) Microsoft Edge - 11% (-0.15 points) Firefox - 5.65% (-0.82 points) Opera - 3.09% (-0.08 points) Most things have stayed the same on the mobile side of the market. Chrome and Safari continue holding almost 90% of all users, leaving a little less than 5% to Samsung, 2% to Opera, and the rest to less-known browsers. Google Chrome - 61.96% (-2.66 points) Apple Safari - (+1.73 points) Samsung Internet - 4.8% (+0.31 points) Opera - 1.88% (+0.08 points) UC Browser - 1.71% (+0.18 points) You can learn more about the April 2023 browser report from Statcounter on the official website. -
Statcounter: Safari is about to overtake Edge and become second-most popular desktop browser
TarasBuria posted a topic in Front Page News
Statcounter: Safari is about to overtake Edge and become second-most popular desktop browser by Taras Buria The February 2023 report from Statcounter is now available with the latest details about the browser market. The most interesting change in the findings is Microsoft Edge risking losing its "second-most popular desktop browser" title to Apple's Safari. According to Statcounter, in February 2023, Google Chrome reached a 66.12% market share. Its overwhelmingly crushing numbers dropped just 0.29 points compared with January 2023. Microsoft Edge is second with 10.84% (-0.24), and Apple Safari is third at 10.14% (+0.83). Microsoft Edge used to keep a safe distance from its macOS rival, but now Safari is catching up. Firefox is not overtaking any browser soon as it has a more distant 6.84% share (-0.03). Finally, Opera closes the top 5 desktop browsers list with 3.21% (-0.2). Google Chrome - 66.12% (-0.29) Microsoft Edge - 10.84% (-0.24) Apple Safari - 10.14% (+0.83) Mozilla Firefox - 6.84% (-0.03) Opera - 3.21% (-0.2) There are no significant changes on the mobile side of the desktop market. Google Chrome and Apple Safari share almost 90% of the market, leaving the rest for Samsung Internet, Opera, UC Browser, and other less popular options. Microsoft Edge, unfortunately, remains too small to register on Statcounter's gauges, and integrating AI-powered Bing in Edge on Android and iOS is unlikely to help change the situation. Google Chrome - 66.08% (-0.7) Apple Safari - 23.97% (-0.45) Samsung Internet - 4.37% (-0.09) Opera - 1.71% (-0.06) UC Browser - 1.46% (-0.01) Finally, here is how the market looks like with desktop and mobile browsers combined: Google Chrome - 65.74% (+0.31) Apple Safari - 18.86% (+0.17) Microsoft Edge - 4.27% (-0.19) Mozilla Firefox - 2.92% (-0.09) Samsung Internet - 2.6% (-0.01) You can learn more about the Statcounter February 2023 browser report on the official website. Also, check out Statcounter's latest operating system report, where you will find interesting changes in Windows 10 and 11's shares. Note: Third-party reports are never 100% accurate. Learn how Statcounter gathers its data in the official FAQ. -
Microsoft highlights key areas to work on in 2023 to improve browser interoperability
TarasBuria posted a topic in Front Page News
Microsoft highlights key areas to work on in 2023 to improve browser interoperability by Taras Buria Microsoft, Apple, Google, Mozilla, and several other companies announced a joint initiative to improve cross-browser interoperability. Dubbed "Interop 2022," the program prioritized specific browser areas that matter the most to web developers, resulting in a better web for everyone regardless of the selected browser. Fast forward to 2023, and now Microsoft and other companies are announcing the Interop 2023 project. Developers of the most popular desktop and mobile browsers understand that cross-browser development is one of the biggest pain points for web devs, so Interop 2023 will attempt to improve the situation by focusing on the following areas: Container queries CSS :has() pseudo-class WebComponents improvements like constructable stylesheets and form-associated custom elements Offscreen Canvas More Besides new areas, Interop 2023 will continue improving last-year focus points, such as the CSS subgrid. Mozilla says Interop 2022 has been a significant success, leading every participant to score more than 90 in each area. All the signs are that Interop 2022 was helpful in aligning implementations of the web and ensuring that users are able to retain a free choice of browser without running into compatibility problems. We plan to build on that success with the forthcoming launch of Interop 2023, which we hope will further push the state of the art for web developers and help web browser developers focus on the most important issues to ensure the future of a healthy open web. Customers and developers can track the progress and see how each browser scores in a specific area on the official Interop 2023 dashboard. Stable Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari versions currently have scores below 80, so customers can expect improvements in the outlined areas to come in this year's browser updates. -
Statcounter: Microsoft Edge has slightly increased its market share in January 2023
TarasBuria posted a topic in Front Page News
Statcounter: Microsoft Edge has slightly increased its market share in January 2023 by Taras Buria The January 2023 report from Statcounter is here with details about the mainstream browsers and their market shares. As usual, the market is slow, and there are no groundbreaking changes. Note: No report is 100% accurate, and you should take the stats with a grain of salt. Statcounter gathers its data from 1.5 million websites, so there is a margin of error. You can learn how Statcounter prepares its report in the official FAQ. Google Chrome was the most popular desktop browser in January 2023. It reached a 66.39% market share, gaining 0.25 points. Microsoft Edge also increased its customer base and climbed back past 11%—11.09% (+0.11 points). Meanwhile, Apple's Safari keeps its distance with a 9.33% market share (+0.32 points), and Mozilla Firefox is fourth with 6.87%. The latter is the only mainstream browser that demonstrated a notable dip—it lost 0.34 points compared with the previous month. Finally, Opera closes the top 5 desktop browsers lists with a 3.42% share and a +0.12 point increase in January 2023. Google Chrome - 66.39% (+0.25) Microsoft Edge - 11.09% (+0.11) Apple Safari - 9.33% (+0.32) Mozilla Firefox - 6.87% (-0.34) Opera - 3.42% (+0.12) On the mobile desktop browsers market, things are slightly more dynamic. Also, it misses Microsoft Edge as the company cannot figure out how to make users use its browser on Android and iOS. Edge's mobile market share is too small to appear in the report. Google Chrome - 65.35% (+1.04) Apple Safari - 24.45% (+0.9) Samsung Internet - 4.46% (-0.6) Opera - 1.78% (+0.14) UC Browser - 1.47% (-1.34) You can find more information about Statcounter's browser stats in the report available on the official website. The December 2022 report is available here. -
Microsoft Edge gained less than 2% market share in 2022
TarasBuria posted a topic in Front Page News
Microsoft Edge gained less than 2% market share in 2022 by Taras Buria Statcounter has published its latest report, revealing information about different browsers on different platforms and operating systems. The overall picture has not changed—Google Chrome remains number one with out-of-reach share, while Edge, Safari, and Firefox continue fighting for the second place. Note: Statcounter's findings are not 100% accurate, so take reports like this with a reasonably-sized grain of salt. You can learn how Statcounter gathers its data in the official fact sheet. According to Statcounter, Chrome currently holds a 66.16% market share. In December 2022, Google's browser lost only 0.02 points (down from 66.18% in November 2022), which might be just a margin of error. Microsoft Edge is unsurprisingly the second most popular desktop browser with a much more modest 10.99% (-0.18 points). Safari is the only non-cross-platform browser in the report, and its macOS exclusivity makes it harder for Apple to push past its current market share. Statcounter claims Apple Safari currently holds 8.98% (-0.61 points). Firefox is fourth with 7.22% (+0.12 points), and Opera is fifth with 3.29% (-0.3 points). As we enter the unknowns of 2023, let's see browsers' shares compared to the previous years to spot year-over-year growths or declines. The overall picture did not change much for well-established players. Google Chrome has been stable in its 65-70% spot with periodical rises and dips, and the same applies to Apple Safari with its 9% market share. Firefox did experience a notable decrease in users from about 10% in early 2020 to the current 7.22%. Microsoft Edge shows that disrupting the desktop browser market is a tremendously difficult task even for Microsoft, with its 1+ billion active Windows devices capable of running Chromium-based Edge. Although Microsoft Edge keeps climbing, its year-over-year growth is less than 2%. Getting users to jump-ship from Chrome to Edge is hard, which explains why Microsoft sometimes resorts to not-so-user-friendly practices of imposing Edge using all sorts of annoying methods. You can find more details about the latest Statcounter monthly report on the official website. -
Statcounter: Microsoft Edge crosses 11% market share by Taras Buria Here is the latest data from Statcounter, showing details about the desktop browser market and how the leading players are doing compared to one another. The desktop browser market is a slowly moving ship, and monthly changes are often within a margin of error. The November 2022 report is no exception—it shows only tiny fluctuations in each player's market share. Still, comparing several months and years lets you notice a general trend. For Microsoft Edge, that trend continues to be mostly positive. Slow but steady is how you can describe Edge's growth in the desktop browser market. According to Statcounter, after struggling for a while, Microsoft Edge has crossed the 11% mark for the first time since its introduction (including the OG "Spartan" Microsoft Edge from 2015). Modern Chromium-based Edge gained 0.31 points, reaching an 11.17% market share. For reference, one year ago, Microsoft Edge was at approximately 9.52% (+1.65 year-over-year increase). Google Chrome is at the top, sitting firmly in first place with an unreachable 66.13% share (-0.36), making it impossible for any competition to come close. Despite being available only on Macs, Apple's desktop browser Safari is the third most popular choice, with a 9.62% market share (+0.26). Firefox is fourth (7.1%, +0.05), and Opera is fifth with 3.3% (-0.29). As for Internet Explorer, the former king of the desktop browser market, about 0.77% of all users continue using this browser. Some people do not want or cannot let Internet Explorer go, despite Microsoft's continuous efforts to substitute it with a much better Edge and its built-in Internet Explorer mode. You can spot a similar picture in the world of Windows, where some customers keep sticking to Windows XP, which died in 2014 (not an "eight-year-old OS," as some readers rightly noted). Expect the same to happen to Windows 7. You can find more details about the latest report from Statcounter on the official website. As usual, remember that the data is approximate and not 100% accurate.
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Statcounter: Edge can't cross 11% mark despite being second most popular desktop browser
TarasBuria posted a topic in Front Page News
Statcounter: Edge can't cross 11% mark despite being second most popular desktop browser by Taras Buria In addition to releasing the latest data about Windows and other desktop operating systems, Statcounter has published its findings about browsers. The October 2022 report reveals no drastic changes compared to the previous months, showing that Microsoft has a hard time getting Edge past a 10% market share. According to Statcounter, Google Chrome unsurprisingly remains king of the browser hill with its 66.46% market share despite losing 1.12 points in October 2022. Microsoft Edge is the second most popular desktop browser with a less impressive 10.85% share (+0.05 points) that has been relatively unchanged for five months. Apple's Safari closes the top three desktop browsers list with a 9.38% share (+0.45 points). Firefox is fourth with 7.05% (-0.22 points), and Opera is fifth with 3.61% (+0.67 points). Like Windows XP, which refuses to go away more than eight years after its end of support, Internet Explorer is not giving up, holding about 0.8% of the global desktop browser market share. Microsoft plans to disable the latter on specific Windows 10 versions on February 14, 2023. Google Chrome: 66.46% (-1.12) Microsoft Edge: 10.85% (+0.05) Apple Safari: 9.38% (+0.45) Mozilla Firefox: 7.05% (-0.22) Opera: 3.61% (+0.67) Things are slightly different on the mobile side of the browser market. Most users are split between Google Chrome and Safari, while Microsoft sits deep in the "Other" section with a market share too small to appear on the charts. Google Chrome: 65% (-0.23) Apple Safari: 25.11% (+0.49) Samsung Internet: 4.63% (-0.06) Opera: 1.81% (-0.05) UC Browser: 1.06% (-0.11) Which browser do you use on your computer and mobile devices? Let us know in the comments. -
Apple, Google, and Microsoft limit browser choice, alleges Mozilla
Alap Naik Desai posted a topic in Front Page News
Apple, Google, and Microsoft limit browser choice, alleges Mozilla by Alap Naik Desai Mozilla, the non-profit organization behind Firefox, has implied that tech giants such as Microsoft, Apple, and Google, steer users to their own browsers. The company claims companies that control the popular operating systems and web services use their position to basically deprive consumers of choice. Mozilla released a report titled "Five Walled Gardens: Why Browsers are Essential to the Internet and How Operating Systems Are Holding Them Back". The report focuses on how people use web browsers. Needless to mention, the most popular web browsers today are Chrome, Safari, and Edge. Firefox isn’t far behind, but Mozilla claims the three most popular browsers enjoy a bigger user base because of their parent companies. The report argues tech giants employ a variety of methods to make it difficult or impossible to switch web browsers. This not only lowers the quality and experience, but may also increase risk. Mozilla has outlined five examples of "consumer harm from operating system self-preferencing." Limited or frustrating choice: An operating system provider making it difficult or impossible for a consumer to switch browsers ultimately removes their ability to choose for themselves. It also hampers existing competitors and deters new products from entering the market and providing an increased choice. Lower quality: Where the monetary price for consumers is zero (as is the case for browsers), providers might be expected to compete on quality. But without effective competition from independent browsers, consumers may receive products that are of lower quality. Lower innovation: Linked to quality is innovation. Consumers miss out on developments (for example, improved features and functionality). A reduced likelihood of disruptive innovation might be accompanied by reduced choice for consumers. Poor privacy: Consumers can be left with a product that subjects them to compulsory data sharing, misuse of data, or other privacy harms. These outcomes can be an indication of low quality caused by ineffective competition. Unfair contracts: Without proper choice, consumers may be forced to enter into contracts that might be exploitative or unfair. Needless to mention, such claims aren’t new, and more importantly, aren’t entirely unsubstantiated. Microsoft with its Windows, Apple with its iOS and macOS, and Google with its Android, have been previously accused of steering users and indirectly limiting their choice of web browsers. These companies have also faced lawsuits for what is considered to be arm-twisting consumers or cleverly restricting and influencing their choice. -
Safari in iOS 16 finally supports AVIF images, coming to macOS and iPadOS soon
Usama Jawad96 posted a topic in Front Page News
Safari in iOS 16 finally supports AVIF images, coming to macOS and iPadOS soon by Usama Jawad Apple started rolling out iOS 16 to consumers a few hours ago and while the headlining features include stuff like redesigned lock screens, improved notifications, and passkeys, there is another relatively minor capability that might be appreciated by more tech-savvy audiences. Basically, Safari 16.0 released with iOS 16 finally supports images in AVIF format. For those unaware, AVIF is an image format like JPEG, PNG, GIF, and WebP. It's developed by the Alliance for Open Media, whose members include Amazon, Apple, ARM, Cisco, Facebook, Google, Huawei, Intel, Microsoft, Mozilla, Netflix, Nvidia, Samsung, and Tencent. AVIF offers a bunch of features such as lossy and lossless compression and multiple color spaces. The key benefit for end users is that it offers significant savings in bandwidth utilization, which should result in better performance while browsing web pages too. Although Microsoft Edge does not support AVIF images at all, Chrome has supported it since version 85 on desktop and version 97 on Android. Similarly, Firefox support has also been active in this area since version 93 released last year. Now, Safari 16.0 on iOS 16 handles AVIF images too, with macOS Ventura and iPadOS support coming next month. Hopefully, this latest addition will also push Microsoft to put some more effort into this area. If you're interested in all the other changes present in the latest version of Safari too, you can read the detailed changelog here. -
Edge gains modest ground on desktop browser market by Taras Buria Statcounter has published the August 2022 report, revealing the latest stats about browsers and operating systems. According to the findings, not much has changed in the browser market since July 2022. Some browsers lost a fraction of their share, while others increased their user bases. Google Chrome remains the most popular choice, with a 67.33% share. In August 2022, the browser gained 1.19 points, leaving competitors in the dust. Microsoft Edge holds second place with 10.91%. Like in previous months, Edge experienced a modest market share increase, gaining just 0.05 points. Apple's Safari closes the top 3 desktop browsers with 8.83% and -0.14 points in August 2022. Finally, Firefox is fourth, holding 7.4% (-0.67 points). Google Chrome - 67.33% (+1.19) Microsoft Edge - 10.91% (+0.05) Apple Safari - 8.83% (-0.14) Mozilla Firefox - 7.4% (-0.67) Opera - 2.86% (-0.21) On the mobile market, things are similar, minus Microsoft Edge, which lies somewhere in the "Other" section. Google Chrome is first (65.04%, -0.12 points), Apple Safari is second (24.59%, +0.36 points), and Samsung Internet is third (4.81%, -0.05 points). Opera, UC Browser, Android, and all the other mobile browsers split the remaining 5.56% of the market. Source: Statcounter
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Chrome 104 is coming today with a controversial Web Bluetooth API hated by Apple and Mozilla
Usama Jawad96 posted a topic in Front Page News
Chrome 104 is coming today with a controversial Web Bluetooth API hated by Apple and Mozilla by Usama Jawad Google Chrome 103 landed way back on June 21 with faster page loads and local font access. This means that it has been almost six weeks since the release of a Chrome major version, which is a bit unusual since Chrome releases typically arrive after every four weeks. Regardless, Chrome 104 is arriving today, and it has a lengthy changelog that includes support for region capture and an original trial for credit card information storage opt-out, among many other things. The headlining feature this time around is an updated region capture API which not only allows applications to video-capture your tab but also crop it. Developers have been strongly in support of this API, according to Google. Another feature that has caused some stir in the browser community is an enhanced Web Bluetooth API in Chrome 104. This API now integrates with the Permissions Policy empowers websites to communicate with other devices over Bluetooth, but not cross-origin iframes. Google believes that this opens multiple productivity and communication avenues without compromising on security. However, it has faced stiff resistance from Mozilla and Apple, both of whom have “negative” feedback about the API. Apple believes that the API lowers security and enables fingerprinting behaviors. The company says that it “do[es] not yet see a path to resolving those concerns”. Mozilla has voiced similar concerns by calling the API “harmful” and noting that: This API provides access to the Generic Attribute Profile (GATT) of Bluetooth, which is not the lowest level of access that the specifications allow, but its generic nature makes it impossible to clearly evaluate. Like WebUSB there is significant uncertainty regarding how well prepared devices are to receive requests from arbitrary sites. The generic nature of the API means that this risk is difficult to manage. The Web Bluetooth CG has opted to only rely on user consent, which we believe is not sufficient protection. This proposal also uses a blocklist, which will require constant and active maintenance so that vulnerable devices aren't exploited. This model is unsustainable and presents a significant risk to users and their devices. In terms of other changes in Chrome 104, four legacy client hints, namely “dpr”, “width”, “viewport-width”, and “device-memory”, are being removed because they go against the standards set by the Client Hint Infrastructure. Similarly, the U2F security key API and component extension Cryptotoken are being placed in maintenance mode too, because they have already been incorporated in more modern implementations like WebAuthn. As such, site owners have been encouraged to migrate to modern standards too. The Multi-Screen Window Placement API is being enhanced to allow sites to open a full-screen window and a smaller pop-up companion window on multi-display configurations. Prior to this, users were required to take extra steps to accomplish the same. Another improvement in the same space is that permissions to request full-screen content can now be transferred across multiple trusted windows. Other smaller changes present in Chrome 104 are as follows: Block iframe contexts navigating to filesystem: URLs Cookie Expires/Max-Age attribute upper limit are now capped at 400 days, there was no cap on expiry previously CSS object-view-box Subresource loading with Web Bundles Support visual-box on overflow-clip-margin Web Custom formats for Async Clipboard API WebGL canvas color management That's still not all, though, as we have to unpack capabilities in developer and origin trials. Starting off with the former, there are better and more accurate screen labels for user interactions on the Multi-Screen Window Placement API. There is also a configuration which websites can use to allow customers to opt out of credit card information storage on developer servers, this UX implementation is legally required in some regions. The timer on the throttling of loaded background pages can be reduced with a flag too, this should allow better battery and CPU utilization, without reducing performance. In terms of origin trials, we have the focusgroup CSS property that enables you to utilize keyboard arrows keys to shift focus across certain UI elements. Other capabilities in origin trials include shared element transitions for improved transition animations for single-page applications (SPAs) as well as increased max nesting level for the setTimeout(0) method. As can be seen, Chrome 104 is a significant update. It will start rolling out in the later hours of today. If Chrome does not automatically update to version 104 for you throughout the course of the day, head over to Help > About Google Chrome to trigger the update once it becomes available. Next up is Chrome 105 which will hit the Beta channel on August 5, and will land on Stable on August 30. -
Edge is getting closer to 11% market share on desktop market
TarasBuria posted a topic in Front Page News
Edge is getting closer to 11% market share on desktop market by Taras Buria Statcounter has published its latest data about the most popular browsers on different platforms. According to the July 2022 report, Edge continues its steady climb on the desktop market in an attempt to disrupt Google Chrome's reign. Last month, Microsoft's browser reached 10.84%, which is 0.2 points up compared to June 2022. Google Chrome retains its dominant position with a massive 66.19% market share that went down 0.74 points in July 2022. Safari is the third most popular desktop browser with an unchanged 8.94% share, and Firefox is keeping up with 8.08% (+0.28 points). Although Microsoft recently killed Internet Explorer 11, some users cannot move away from the former king of the desktop browser market. Statcounter reports that about 0.75% still use the good-old Internet Explorer. Google Chrome - 66.19% (-0.74) Microsoft Edge - 10.84% (+0.2) Apple Safari - 8.94% (+0.01) Mozilla Firefox - 8.08% (+0.28) Opera - 3.06% (+0.08) On the mobile side of the market, Google Chrome has 65.16%, 0.72 points down compared to June 2022. Safari is second with 24.22% (+0.13), and Samsung Internet is third with 4.86% (+0.05 points). Microsoft Edge for Android and iOS remains nowhere to be seen, with its market share being too small to register in the latest report from Statcounter. Google Chrome - 65.16% (-0.72) Apple Safari - 24.22% (+0.13) Samsung Internet - 4.86% (+0.05) UC Browser - 1.63% (+0.48) Opera - 1.59% (-0.03) You can check out Statcounter's latest report on the official website. -
You may soon be able to pay with Apple Pay on Chrome, Edge, and Firefox in iOS 16
Fiza Ali posted a topic in Front Page News
You may soon be able to pay with Apple Pay on Chrome, Edge, and Firefox in iOS 16 by Fiza Ali There is a possibility that Apple Pay may soon be supported by Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox in iOS 16, as suggested by a new finding by Steve Moser of MacRumors. Those using iOS 15 or older won't be able to use any browser other than Safari to pay with Apple Pay when shopping on the web. Moser has discovered that Apple Pay works with Edge and Chrome in the iOS 16 beta 4, and went on to share the information on Twitter. Screenshots shared by him show a “Continue with Apple Pay” option on Apple's checkout page on Edge. On the latest iOS 16 beta Apple Pay works in Edge, Chrome and I assume any third party browser. On iOS 15 Apple Pay only works in Safari. pic.twitter.com/x7zV5xCuiC — Steve Moser (@SteveMoser) July 30, 2022 The Verge added to the plausibility by pointing out that many users found out that Apple Pay is also compatible with Firefox prior to the release of the iOS 16 beta 4. This was further supported by a post on Reddit, that shows an option to pay with Apple Pay in iOS 16 beta 2 when using Firefox, and by a user on iOS 16 beta 3. Moser also noted that the reason Apple Pay isn't available in the latest macOS beta is possibly because Chrome, Edge, and Firefox use Safari's rendering engine, WebKit, on iOS owing to the requirements set by Apple. Via: The Verge -
UK competition regulator wants to break Apple's and Google's mobile browser dominance
zikalify posted a topic in Front Page News
UK competition regulator wants to break Apple's and Google's mobile browser dominance by Paul Hill The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is planning to launch an investigation into Apple’s and Google’s mobile browser practices on their respective platform. As a result, Apple could be forced to allow fully-fledged alternatives to Safari. Currently, Apple allows other browsers on iOS and iPadOS but they have to use Apple’s browser engine. The decision to consult on an investigation comes after a year-long study found that Apple and Google have an “effective duopoly” on mobile ecosystems. With this power, the CMA said they have total control over operating systems, app stores, and web browsers on devices. While forcing Apple and Google to be more liberal on their platforms will certainly be appealing to some, it’s important to remember why so many people like iPhones; they just work. By loosening Apple’s grip on its ecosystem, it potentially opens users up to less pleasant experiences such as browsers crashing or running more slowly. There’s also a chance that some websites won’t work properly with third-party browsers. Commenting on its plans, Andrea Coscelli, Chief Executive of the CMA, said: “When it comes to how people use mobile phones, Apple and Google hold all the cards. As good as many of their services and products are, their strong grip on mobile ecosystems allows them to shut out competitors, holding back the British tech sector and limiting choice.” In addition to the browser situation, the CMA is not happy that Apple has been blocking cloud gaming services from the App Store. The CMA acknowledged that gaming apps are a big part of Apple’s revenue and that cloud gaming poses a threat. Nevertheless, the regulator seems keen that the firm allows cloud gaming services into the App Store so that mobile users don’t miss out on the benefits of cloud gaming. -
Chrome continues to be the fastest browser on macOS, improves by 20%
Usama Jawad96 posted a topic in Front Page News
Chrome continues to be the fastest browser on macOS, improves by 20% by Usama Jawad Back in March, Google proudly announced that it is the fastest browser on macOS, validated by Apple's own benchmarking tool, Speedometer. The tool is used to test browser responsiveness. Today, the company has touted more impressive gains for its browser, saying that Chrome on Mac is now 20% faster than it was in March. This news comes from a rather low-key tweet by the official Chrome Twitter account: Speed has shaped our work since #Chrome’s launch in 2008. Three months ago, we recorded the highest score on Apple’s Speedometer — and now, Chrome is 20% faster on Mac, scoring over 360. pic.twitter.com/FO3t06c9p3 — Chrome (@googlechrome) June 5, 2022 As can be seen, Chrome has reportedly scored over 360 this time, which is a 20% increase over the 300 it scored three months ago with Chrome 99. That said, due to the lack of a dedicated blog post, the details regarding the performance improvements are unclear. We do know that Safari scored 277 last time, and we can assume that it's Chrome 102 - released a couple of weeks ago - that has scored 360 points this time. While we wait for further information, we should recap that the performance benefits in Chrome 99 were due to the ThinLTO build optimization technique, the V8 Sparkplug compiler, and short builtin calls. It remains to be seen what changes have led to the latest gains. -
Microsoft Edge slowly gets more popular among users by Taras Buria Last month, for the first time since its introduction seven years ago, Microsoft Edge climbed past the 10% mark. Edge is now the second most popular browser, and in May 2022, it managed to increase its market share slightly. According to StatCounter, Microsoft Edge currently has a 10.11% global desktop browsers market share. In May 2022, the percentage went up by 0.04 points. Google Chrome was, is, and will be the most popular browser for quite a while. Its current market share is 66.1%, unreachable for any competitor in the foreseeable future. Apple's Safari is third with 9.16%, which is 0.46 points lower than in April 2022. Mozilla Firefox is fourth with 7.66%, and Opera closes the top 5 desktop browsers with 2.81%. Opera and Edge were the only two browsers that gained new users in May 2022. Interestingly, about 1.68% of users still use the almost-deceased Internet Explorer. Microsoft wants to change that and move every IE customer to the Edge browser by offering a dedicated IE mode. Here is a breakdown of the global desktop browser market: Google Chrome - 66.1% (-0.57) Microsoft Edge - 10.11% (+0.04) Apple Safari - 9.16% (-0.46) Mozilla Firefox - 7.66% (-0.21) Opera - 2.81% (+0.37) Google Chrome also crushes any competition on the mobile side, although Apple firmly holds a quarter of the market. Microsoft, which was quite late to the party with a mobile version of Edge, is nowhere to be found in the top 5 list: Google Chrome - 64.83% (+1.26) Apple Safari - 24.77% (-0.05) Samsung Internet - 4.84% (-0.06) Opera - 1.72% (-0.16) UC Browser - 1.25% (-0.16) Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, and other developers try to attract new customers and maintain existing ones by pushing regular updates with new features. Google recently released Chrome 102 with PWA improvements; Mozilla pleased its customers by restoring the old downloads prompt in Firefox 101, and Microsoft shipped several bug fixes in Edge 102. Source: StatCounter
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Microsoft Edge now has more than 10% of the desktop browser market share
TarasBuria posted a topic in Front Page News
Microsoft Edge now has more than 10% of the desktop browser market share by Taras Buria Although the original Edge was a solid browser with unique features, good efficiency, and superior optimizations for computers with touchscreens, its proprietary engine was causing all sorts of compatibility issues. Because of that, the browser struggled to get traction and never made it past single-digit market share values. Stuck in the "no users because developers do not support and developers do not support because no users" loop, Microsoft pulled the plug on the original Edge in 2019. Seven years since its introduction and more than two years after switching to Chromium, Microsoft Edge is finally making slow but steady progress. According to the latest data from StatCounter, Microsoft's browser crossed the 10% mark in April 2022. StatCounter claims Microsoft Edge managed to gain 0.42 points and reach the magical 10.07%. Of course, it is still a far cry from Chrome with its massive 66.64% (-0.65), but enough for Edge to claim the "second most popular browser" title. Apple's Safari holds third place in the desktop browser market with a 9.61% share (+0.05), and Firefox is fourth with 7.86% (+0.29). Google Chrome - 66.64% (-0.65) Microsoft Edge - 10.07% (+0.42) Apple Safari - 9.61% (+0.05) Mozilla Firefox - 7.86% (+0.29) Opera - 2.43% (-0.38) There are no major changes in the mobile browser market. Chrome and Safari hold together almost 90%, and other manufacturers made little to no progress in April 2022. Google Chrome - 63.57% (-0.02) Apple Safari - 24.82% (-0.01) Samsung Internet - 4.90% (+0.00) Opera - 1.88% (+0.00) UC Browser - 1.41% (+0.00) Source: StatCounter -
Microsoft Weekly: Google on the offensive, Defender wins, and default browsers
Usama Jawad96 posted a topic in Front Page News
Microsoft Weekly: Google on the offensive, Defender wins, and default browsers by Usama Jawad We are at the end of yet another week, so it's worth recapping everything that went on in the world of Microsoft in the past few days. This was a very, very busy week with lots of news about browsers, continued impressive performance from Defender, and a disappointing offensive move from Google. Find out all the details about this and more in our weekly digest for March 26 - April 1! Google on the offensive Out of nowhere, Google went on the offensive this week to criticize the use of Microsoft software and services in private and government organizations. It implied that these institutes are primarily using legacy software which makes them a ticking time bomb in the cybersecurity space and that the only reason that they are not switching to other vendors - preferably Google - is because of the natural resistance to change. Google made all of these claims while citing the results of a survey that it commissioned itself. The survey interviewed 2,600 U.S. workers across different domains. The majority of the respondents claimed that the use of Microsoft tech makes their organization vulnerable to cybersecurity incidents while almost half also stated that there are other non-Microsoft products which would allow them to be more productive at work. Interestingly, this survey doesn't go into details about why the respondents have these stances. In a response, Microsoft has stated that it is disappointed but not surprised at Google's antics. However, it brushed off the claims on a sassy note saying that it will continue supporting customers with its "best software and security services". You can find out more details about Google's marketing fluff / hit piece survey here. Browser news galore This was a super-busy week when it came to news related to browsers. Most importantly, Microsoft is finally making it a bit easier to change the default browser in Windows 11. Rather than manually changing the association for every extension, you can use a single button to set associations to your preferred browser for major file types and extensions. In a statement to Neowin, Mozilla appreciated the changes but demanded that Microsoft should make the process even easier and developer-friendly. Earlier in the week, a serious but undisclosed Chromium vulnerability was also patched which resulted in both Microsoft and Google to issue emergency updates to their respective browsers. Microsoft is also planning some other changes to Edge. Canary builds of the browser include quick access to Office web apps, hints of the return of Workspaces, saving of tab groups as bookmarks, and an improved history experience with a custom date picker. In the same vein, Edge 100 also landed today with PDF previews and protection against memory-based vulnerabilities. Edge adoption is picking up pace too, the browser has managed to overtake Apple's Safari as the second most popular desktop browser, according to Statcounter data. In fact, Microsoft has also placed an upgrade block on some Internet Explorer users and won't offer them Windows 11 unless they first import their data to Edge. Talking about Windows 11, the only build in the Dev and Beta Channel this week was 22581.200 (KB5013296) to test the servicing pipeline. However, Microsoft has stated that we'll possibly get new builds in the coming week. Although Windows 11 adoption appears to have stalled a bit, there are a couple of app updates design to pull in more customers. Microsoft has been slowly improving its unreleased tabbed File Explorer user experience, "Your Phone" has been renamed to "Phone Link" with a Windows 11 design refresh and Honor support, and the Clipchamp app now allows unlimited 1080p video exports. Defender continues to impress There was no shortage of news in the cybersecurity space either. For starters, Microsoft Defender once again scored full marks in the latest AV-TEST rankings and performed similarly well in MITRE's Engenuity Adversarial Tactics, Techniques, and Common Knowledge (ATT&CK) Evaluations. In the latter, Microsoft's defensive arsenal was tested against human-operated ransomware in simulations across multiple platforms. The simulation sported over 100 steps and 66 unique ATT&CK techniques and Microsoft 365 Defender was able to detect and protect against all major attack stages. Even if we talk about typical consumer use-cases, Defender now has a "Vulnerable Driver Blocklist" to protect PCs from malicious drivers. This system has been built in partnership with other vendors. However, Defender SmartScreen on Windows 11 Beta devices is apparently causing some performance issues with media playback. The "fix" appears to be disabling Defender SmartScreen, but that could leave you vulnerable to other threats. Circling back to the enterprise space, five critical vulnerabilities have been discovered and patched in Microsoft Azure's Defender for IoT. And finally, Microsoft has announced Office 365 Government Secret cloud for the U.S. government. This will allow it to secure classified data with the highest level of protection. Dev Channel Microsoft has formed a new cloud-native Xbox division and restructured to prioritize Android services too Surface Laptop 4 AMD and Surface Studio 2 have received March firmware updates Microsoft is now selling certified refurbished Xbox Series X consoles, with some conditions in tow Xbox Game Pass may get a five-user family plan later this year while PC Game Pass is expanding to more Asian countries Build 2022 will begin on May 24 "New" Azure Front Door has been announced as Microsoft's modern enterprise CDN PowerToys 0.57.0 is out with some stability improvements Microsoft Business Applications Launch scheduled for April 6, registrations now open Office for iOS will soon let you edit OneDrive documents files, even when you're offline Microsoft shared a guide about how you can configure Group Policy to make the most out of Windows updates Minit has been acquired by Microsoft Steam Deck now supports Windows 11 Visual Studio 2022 version 17.0 for Mac Preview 8 is now available Enhanced Teams apps like Power BI, SurveyMonkey, Zoho Projects, and Mural can now be utilized in Office.com and Outlook in certain preview channels System Center 2022 has hit general availability Under the spotlight This week, Neowin News Reporter Dean Howell directed our audience to Killed by Microsoft, a website which calls itself "a free and open-source list of discontinued Microsoft services, products, devices, and apps". It's a pretty interesting repository and you will likely see several familiar names, including Windows Phone (R.I.P), Zune, and Silverlight. Read more about this here. Meanwhile, I published a roundup of the top 10 features that people want from OneDrive. Although Microsoft is quite responsive to feedback in this space, and the company does keep adding new features, it's clear that there is a clear divide between what consumers want and what they actually get. Finally, News Reporter Taras Buria wrote a handy guide on how you can customize folder thumbnails in Windows 11 version 22H2. If this is something that tickles your fancy and you love personalizing your software, do check out the guide here. Logging off Our most interesting news item of this week is related to University of Arizona now allowing students to earn credit towards their degree for playing Age of Empires IV and interacting with the supplemental educational content being made available in the title. It's a pretty unique initiative and is the first of its kind at this scale. Read more about it here. If you'd like to get a weekly digest of news from Neowin, we have a Newsletter you can sign up to either via the 'Get our newsletter' widget in the sidebar, or through this link. Missed any of the previous columns? Check them all out at this link. -
Statcounter: Microsoft Edge is now the second most popular desktop browser
TarasBuria posted a topic in Front Page News
Statcounter: Microsoft Edge is now the second most popular desktop browser by Taras Buria A couple of days ago, Adduplex published its March 2022 report with the latest information about the Windows market. The data revealed that Windows 11 gained little to no users in March 2022, while the most recent Windows versions managed to increase their shares. Now March 2022 report from Statcounter shows that Microsoft Edge is steadily climbing and gaining more consumers. According to Statcounter, Microsoft Edge is now the second most popular desktop browser. In March 2022, Edge managed to overtake Apple's Safari and hit second place with a 9.65% market share (+0.05). Safari is third with 9.56% (-0.21%), and the almighty Chrome remains first with 67.29% (+2.4%). Google Chrome: 67.29% Microsoft Edge: 9.65% Apple Safari: 9.56% Mozilla Firefox: 7.57% Opera: 2.81% Things are different in the global market that combines mobile and desktop platforms. Google Chrome is still the king with an overwhelming share, and the mobile market grants Safari a comfortable second position, far from Microsoft Edge. Google Chrome: 64.53% (+1.75) Apple Safari: 18.84% (-0.46) Microsoft Edge: 4.05% (-0.01) Mozilla Firefox: 3.4% (-0.81) Samsung Internet: 2.82% (+0.05) Microsoft is a relatively new player in the mobile browser market, and it has a hard time rivaling Safari and Chrome. Also, Microsoft has no power to force users to switch to Edge on mobile, which is another reason why Android and iOS combined tank Microsoft's figures in the browser market. Still, Edge demonstrates healthy progress on desktop platforms. Besides, with Microsoft making changing the default browser in Windows 11 less frustrating, you can expect Edge to continue gaining more favor in the eyes of consumers. Source: Statcounter. -
Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Mozilla join forces to make browsers better
TarasBuria posted a topic in Front Page News
Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Mozilla join forces to make browsers better by Taras Buria Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Mozilla Foundation announced a joint effort to improve browser interoperability to ensure Chrome, Edge, Safari, and Firefox provide the same reliable and consistent web experience. A post on web.dev details how the four companies, alongside other contributors, will work on a new interoperability benchmark for modern browsers called Interop 2022. The ultimate goal is to reduce “pain points” for developers and help them focus on building their web experiences instead of working around various inconsistencies in browsers. Interop 2022 is a benchmark that focuses on 15 different areas of modern browsers. Those areas often cause headaches for web developers due to platform differences. Google, Microsoft, Apple, Mozilla, Bocoup, and Igalia agreed to ensure browsers behave the same in those areas. They include cascade layers, color spaces, CSS color functions, viewport units, scrolling, form controls, etc. Some of the focus points are derived from Compat 2021, another joint effort Google announced in late 2021 to improve compatibility across the most popular browser. Developers and users can track how Chrome, Edge, Safari, and Firefox progress in the 15 areas on the Interop 2022 dashboard. The page shows scores for stable and experimental versions of each browser (Chrome and Edge Dev, Firefox Nightly, and Safari Tech Preview) and explains how the benchmark calculates scores. Current Interop 2022 results for stable versions of Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari. Interop 2022 is a multi-year project to ensure every browser can provide the same experience for developers and users. It is a welcomed change in the world where Google Chrome dominates the browser market, and alternatives lag behind due to numerous compatibility issues. According to the latest data from Statcounter, Google Chrome holds an immense 64.92% share in the desktop browser market. Perhaps, Interop 2022 will help other players to improve their products and catch up with Google. -
Google: Chrome is faster than Safari on Mac, and we have Apple's own software to prove it
Usama Jawad96 posted a topic in Front Page News
Google: Chrome is faster than Safari on Mac, and we have Apple's own software to prove it by Usama Jawad Google Chrome 99 landed in the Stable channel almost a week ago with a bunch of improvements for developers and consumers alike. However, one thing that Google did not highlight at the time of release was that Chrome 99 is also faster. Today, it has emphasized this in a dedicated blog post with some cheeky comparisons to Safari. Google has proudly claimed that Chrome on Mac is now the fastest browser ever. To prove this, it actually has the results of Apple's own benchmarking software, Speedometer, which is used to score browser responsiveness. Chrome 99 on Mac managed a score of 300, which is the highest score to date. According to 9to5Google, Safari usually scores around 277. Google credited the usage of the ThinLTO build optimization technique, the V8 Sparkplug compiler, and short builtin calls for the performance gains. Even on the graphics side, the company claims that its browser is 15% faster than Safari. In the 17 months since Chrome's launch on M1-powered Macs, the browser is already 43% faster than its initial version. Google went on to say that: We know that benchmarks are just one of many ways of measuring the speed of a browser. At the end of the day, what matters most is that Chrome is actually faster and more efficient in everyday usage, so we’ll continue to invest in innovative performance improvements that push the envelope of what’s possible in modern computing. However, this does not mean that Mac is the only platform that Google is focusing on when it comes to Chrome performance. It says that it is trying out several techniques to make the browser more performant on Android, and just a few months ago, it also claimed that Chrome on Windows has become significantly faster as well. -
Chrome 99 is coming today with improved PWAs and a hotly debated JS spec change
Usama Jawad96 posted a topic in Front Page News
Chrome 99 is coming today with improved PWAs and a hotly debated JS spec change by Usama Jawad Chrome 98 landed a month ago and since the Stable release channel shifted to a four-week release cadence recently, it is now time for Chrome 99 to ship. There aren't a whole bunch of new features present in this build, but that makes sense given that Google is very close to the Chrome 100 milestone. For starters, Chrome 99 will change the implementation of the JavaScript (JS) adoptedStyleSheets specification. This previously used the FrozenArray backing array but will now leverage ObservableArray. The new methods will make it easier to mutate JS arrays. While this is all quite technical, the arguably interesting thing for our readers would be that changes to this specification have been debated between Microsoft, Mozilla, Apple, and Google since 2018. As it currently stands, Google will go ahead and implement this in Chrome 99. It is supported by both Mozilla and Microsoft. On the other hand, we have Apple's WebKit team which is refusing to support the change in implementation, noting that there's no worthwhile benefit to it. Google has stated that it will continue to ensure backward compatibility with the previous implementation but has mentioned in a rather disappointed tone that: WebKit continues to be skeptical of this usefulness of this feature, despite the general agreement of the rest of the web components community, and the support of the developer community. So the interop risk is mainly that WebKit decides not to implement this feature. Compat risks (from the change from FrozenArray to ObservableArray) should be minimal, as the same re-assignment semantics will continue to work. As documentation improves, and usage expands, we expect re-assignment usage to wane, and mutation (e.g. adoptedStyleSheets.push()) to expand. The latest version of Chrome also incorporates a new Handwriting Recognition API that can be used by web developers to offer inking capabilities, for example, in a note-taking web app. They won't need to lean on third-party integrations. Talking about web apps, Chrome 99 will allow installed Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) to cover more area on the screen so that they appear more like native apps rather than web apps. On the CSS side of things, the calc() math function now functions more closely to the official specification. CSS cascade layers should make management of layers in web components easier for developers too. Similarly, the "-webkit-standard" font-family value is being removed to improve interoperability with Firefox, developers can just use "-webkit-body" explicitly instead. And if you're doing some textual formatting using CSS, check out the new properties supported in Chrome 99 here. The Canvas 2D API is being modernized to attain feature parity with other 2D APIs, leverage existing CSS properties, and improve performance. The API is primarily used in games and "full featured apps". In the same vein, the Gamepad API is being enhanced to align with standard specifications. Google is also offering a new surface to the File System Access API which will give performant and in-place write access to files if you're a developer using the Origin Private File System. This is being implemented by Apple's WebKit team too. There are a bunch of other developer-facing features in tow too such as Autofill in ShadowDOM, a programmatic picker for HTML input elements, introduction of Intl Enumeration and Intl Locale Info APIs, and a new destination for PaintWorklet. But that's not all as there are lots of new capabilities in Chrome 99 DevTools too, and you can check out all the details here. Chrome 99 will start rolling out in the later hours of today. If it does not update to version 99 automatically for you throughout the course of the day, head over to Help > About Google Chrome to trigger the update once it becomes available. Next up is Chrome 100 which will hit the Beta channel on March 3, and will land on Stable on March 29. -
Google Project Zero detected the most vulnerabilities in Microsoft products recently
Usama Jawad96 posted a topic in Front Page News
Google Project Zero detected the most vulnerabilities in Microsoft products recently by Usama Jawad Project Zero is Google's security team tasked with finding security flaws in the company's own products as well as those built by other vendors. After finding such an issue, it privately reports them to vendors, providing them 90 days to fix the flaw before it is made public. Depending upon the complexity of the fix, some grace period may also be allotted. We have extensively covered the team's findings on Neowin in the past. Today, Google has shared some statistics regarding its research within the past couple of years. Image via Shutterstock Between January 2019 and December 2021, Project Zero reported 376 issues with a 90-day deadline. 351 (93.4%) of these have been fixed, 14 (3.7%) have been tagged as "WontFix" by vendors, and 11 (2.9%) are still open. However, out of the final category, three are still within the 90-day deadline. Interestingly, 96 (26%) detected bugs were present in Microsoft products, 85 (23%) in Apple, and 60 (16%) in Google. Oracle exceeded the most deadlines, while Microsoft was at second. In terms of the time it takes for major vendors to fix by year, you can check out the breakdown by year below: Vendor Avg days to fix bugs in 2019 Avg days to fix bugs in 2020 Average days to fix bugs in 2021 Apple 71 63 64 Microsoft 85 87 76 Google 49 22 53 Linux 32 22 15 As can be seen above, there are positive changes for vendors across the board. However, it is interesting to see that in 2021, the grace period was requested nine times, with half of it being requested by Microsoft. On mobile, 76 bugs were reported for iOS, 10 for Samsung products, and 6 for Pixels. The average fix time for iOS was 70 days whereas it was 72 for the other two. If you're wondering why such a high number of security flaws were detected on iOS, this is because Apple ships a lot of apps as part of the OS whereas Android app updates are primarily managed through Google Play so don't fall under OS-level flaws. On the browser side of things, 40 bugs were reported for Chrome, 27 for Apple's WebKit, and 8 for Firefox. WebKit was the slowest to patch flaws coming in at 72 days, with Chrome at 30 days, and Firefox at 38. Google Project Zero has noted that: Overall, we see a number of promising trends emerging from the data. Vendors are fixing almost all of the bugs that they receive, and they generally do it within the 90-day deadline plus the 14-day grace period when needed. Over the past three years vendors have, for the most part, accelerated their patch effectively reducing the overall average time to fix to about 52 days. In 2021, there was only one 90-day deadline exceeded. We suspect that this trend may be due to the fact that responsible disclosure policies have become the de-facto standard in the industry, and vendors are more equipped to react rapidly to reports with differing deadlines. We also suspect that vendors have learned best practices from each other, as there has been increasing transparency in the industry. One important caveat: we are aware that reports from Project Zero may be outliers compared to other bug reports, in that they may receive faster action as there is a tangible risk of public disclosure (as the team will disclose if deadline conditions are not met) and Project Zero is a trusted source of reliable bug reports. We encourage vendors to release metrics, even if they are high level, to give a better overall picture of how quickly security issues are being fixed across the industry, and continue to encourage other security researchers to share their experiences. The Project Zero team has noted that Microsoft takes a long time to fix bugs because it usually relies on its Patch Tuesday update cadence. However, it hopes that Microsoft can determine a better and more streamlined way to push out security updates faster. The Project Zero security team has the same hopes and recommendations for Android security patching too. You can find out more interesting details here. -
Safari API bug can leak your personal data and enable online tracking
Usama Jawad96 posted a topic in Front Page News
Safari API bug can leak your personal data and enable online tracking by Usama Jawad Securing APIs properly is extremely important. Back in August 2021, the default configuration in Microsoft's Power Apps portals led to 38 million records being leaked due to a publicly accessible API hosting confidential information. Now, security researchers have identified a similar bug in a Safari 15 API that can leak your personal data. Security researchers over at FingerprintJS have located an issue in the implementation of the IndexedDB API which should follow the same-origin security mechanism where indexed databases, scripts, and documents of one origin should not be able to interact with objects from another origin. However, IndexedDB violates this policy. The researchers have noted that every time a website communicates with a database, Safari 15 on macOS and all versions of the browser on iOS and iPadOS 15 create a new and empty, but shared, database in all active tabs, frames, and windows inside the same browser session. What's worse is that this cross-origin duplicated database is created with the same name as the original which means that it's easier for a malicious website author to determine the sensitivity of the data you are accessing. The security analysts have noted that some websites such as YouTube, Google Calendar, and Google Keep create databases based on IDs such as Google User ID, which can then be used to track and link heterogeneous data belonging to an individual. The blog post mentions that: Note that these leaks do not require any specific user action. A tab or window that runs in the background and continually queries the IndexedDB API for available databases, can learn what other websites a user visits in real-time. Alternatively, websites can open any website in an iframe or popup window in order to trigger an IndexedDB-based leak for that specific site. Essentially, any website that uses IndexedDB is affected, which also means that users of those websites have their privacy at risk. What's worse is that even people using Safari in private mode are not safe, although the fact that private mode is restricted to a single tab reduces the potential extent of data leakage. However, if you visit multiple websites in the same tab, your data will leak over to all those websites. FingerprintJS reported the issue to Apple on November 28, 2021 but Safari has received no update for this bug so far. The researchers have also published proof-of-concept code and a demo of the bug publicly which also means that there is a higher chance of malicious actors leveraging from the exploit and that Apple will need to push out a fix as soon as possible. For now, the only way to protect yourself from data leakage and tracking is to block all JavaScript by default but that will likely hamper your browsing experience. People using macOS can also switch to a different browser for the time being but this workaround will unfortunately not work for iOS users since all browsers on Apple's mobile OS are based on WebKit, which means that they are also affected.