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With Safari 26.3, Apple releases an update that focuses on functional improvements and technical optimizations. Alongside the current system updates, the new version brings not only a visible adjustment for Vision Pro, but also significant changes under the hood.
Safari 26.3 improves efficiency, expands support for modern web technologies, and fixes a variety of specific bugs in WebKit. The focus is clearly on stability, performance, and developer-friendliness.
Safari is an integral part of the Apple ecosystem. Every new version directly impacts the user experience on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Vision Pro. Safari 26.3 is released alongside:
- iOS 26.3
- iPadOS 26.3
- visionOS 26.3
- macOS Tahoe 26.3
Certain features, especially support for Zstandard, require Safari 26.3 to be running on one of these system versions.
The update is aimed at both regular users and developers, who will benefit from API extensions and bug fixes.
Improved full-screen display on Vision Pro
One of the most visible changes concerns Vision Pro under visionOS 26.3.
When a video is played in full-screen mode, Safari 26.3 automatically darkens the surrounding area. According to Apple, this adjustment is designed to focus more intently on the content. In a spatial user interface, this reduces visual distractions and provides a more focused viewing experience.
Additionally, a problem with the inline video controls has been fixed. Previously, the full-screen button did not display any visual interactivity on visionOS. The glow effect has now been extended to all button.circular elements, making the interaction clearly visible.
Zstandard (Zstd): More efficient compression for web content
Safari 26.3 now supports Zstandard (Zstd), an open real-time compression algorithm from Meta.
Zstandard compresses text-based web assets before they are transmitted to the browser. Fast decompression then takes place on the device. Apple highlights two key features:
- Very fast decompression
- Reduced strain on the devices
Compared to Brotli, Zstandard can compress quickly enough to be used spontaneously. Brotli is typically pre-compressed during the build process.
For Zstd to work in Safari 26.3, the latest system version (iOS 26.3, iPadOS 26.3, visionOS 26.3 or macOS Tahoe 26.3) must be installed.
For users, this means more efficient data transfer and potentially faster loading times. Developers gain additional opportunities to optimize their web applications.
Extension of the navigation API
Safari 26.3 extends the Navigation API. An AbortSignal is now provided in the NavigateEvent and triggered when navigation is aborted.
This creates a reliable way to stop running processes or asynchronous tasks as soon as navigation is interrupted. Especially in complex web applications, this improves control over background processes and prevents unnecessary resource consumption.
WebKit bug fixes and improvements
Safari 26.3 includes numerous fixes in the underlying WebKit framework. The changes affect CSS, DOM, media playback, rendering, and security features.
CSS
Several layout and display issues have been fixed:
- A style resolution loop that occurred when a position try field was inside a display: none ancestor was fixed. (163691885)
- Position jumps in anchor-positioned elements that repeatedly switched between display: block and display: none have been fixed. (163862003)
- Boxes with a fixed position that used `position-area` were previously incorrectly included in the calculation of the scrollable containing block. This issue has been corrected. (164017310)
- Text decoration: Underline was rendered too high when text-box-trim was applied to the root inline box. This rendering issue has also been fixed. (165945326)
- In multi-column layouts, the properties `widows` and `text-indent` caused incorrect indentation in the section that flowed into the next column. The error has been corrected. (165945497)
- CSS cursors such as move, all-scroll, ew-resize, and ns-resize were not displayed correctly. The rendering now works properly. (166731882)
DOM
A problem with the processing of timestamps has been fixed.
Safari now uses the raw touch timestamp, resulting in more accurate processing of touch interactions. (164262652)
Media
Several errors in the video playback area have been corrected:
- The full-screen button in visionOS's inline video controls displayed no visual interactivity. The glow effect was extended to all button.circular elements. (164259201)
- The video viewer mode for iframe videos on macOS has been fixed. (164484608)
- Safari could not play live videos when content was removed from and re-added to the source buffer, which prevented searches from completing. This issue has been resolved. (165628836)
Rendering
A bug in HDR-JPEGs with gain maps has been corrected.
Positioned or transformed Elements containing such HDR images were incorrectly rendered as SDR. Safari 26.3 now correctly displays this content in HDR. (163517157)
Safe surfing
A bug related to "Safe Surfing" has been fixed.
Previously, an entire website could be marked as unsafe if a request was made for a listing in the Public Suffix List and a provider reported that the entire effective TLD was unsafe. This behavior has been corrected to prevent misclassifications. (168155375)
Safari 26.3: Technical fine-tuning instead of a major overhaul
Safari 26.3 does not bring any fundamental design changes, but a number of targeted technical improvements.
Automatic ambient light dimming for full-screen videos on Vision Pro provides a more focused user experience. Zstandard support improves data transfer efficiency. Developers benefit from the expanded navigation API and numerous WebKit fixes.
Overall, Safari 26.3 improves stability, performance, and compatibility with modern web standards. The update is therefore a clearly technically focused step forward. (Image: Apple)
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