Within this past week, Apple released Safari 13. I had been so behind on some of my updates, I hadn’t even realized it, or I never would have let it happen!
As mentioned in http://osxdaily.com/2019/09/19/safari-13-released-for-mac/, the new version of Safari disables ALL extensions from outside developers (including, and especially, ad-blockers!) Now, in order for a third-party to offer an extension, they need to pay a fee to Apple, and Safari will only enable installation from the App Store. I think we can say goodbye to most of the free options (I’m going to miss Blur), and we’ll have to pay to upgrade some of the apps we depend on, as they’ll see no real benefit to updating older versions to fit within Apple’s new rules and code (thanks a LOT, 1Password!).
As for Ad Blocking, I’m currently testing AdGuard – but I’m concerned that some of it’s most useful features may be security risks, so I didn’t enable those. I’ll have to upgrade my 1Password application to enable it to work with the new Safari (I’ve been using it for so many years, I don’t even want to seek another password app).
Some of you may be asking: “Why not use another browser, then”? Well, I thought of that – and realized that since I’m in the “Apple ecosystem”, my devices all sync bookmarks through iCloud. I use that function a lot, and haven’t found a good option for syncing my bookmarks from other apps to Safari (I tried BookMacster, but even with their excellent support, it never quite worked well for me).
I’ll keep you updated on anything new I find. In the meantime – if you like your Safari Extensions – AVOID the upgrade to Safari 13!!!