In the third developer beta of macOS Monterey, which came out this morning, Apple has overhauled the design of Safari, making the tab bar more similar to the current tab bar in macOS Big Sur.
The prior Safari design did away with the dedicated URL and search interface, instead allowing any individual tab to be used for navigation input. Tabs were also all arranged at the top of the display to minimize the space taken up at the top of a Safari window.
In macOS Monterey, Apple has walked this back. There's a dedicated URL/search bar at the top of the Safari window, with the tabs arranged below it. Clicking on a tab makes it the active window and it's easier to drag tabs for rearranging or opening in a new window.
It's still quite far off from the current Safari design in macOS Big Sur, but it's certainly an improvement over the initial macOS Monterey design.
The new and separate tab bar is enabled by default when upgrading to macOS Monterey beta three, but Apple has included an option to revert to the original Monterey design. If you to go View and toggle off "Show Separate Tab Bar," you can use the original design.
macOS Monterey beta 3 also appears to lay the groundwork for Universal Control. Under System Preferences -> Displays -> Add Display -> Advanced, there are now preferences that can be selected for the Universal Control feature.
Unfortunately, Universal Control is not functional and we'll have to wait for a later beta to experience a working version.
Thursday August 28, 2025 4:08 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
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Friday August 29, 2025 4:54 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
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Tuesday August 26, 2025 4:17 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple today announced its "Awe Dropping" iPhone-centric event, which is set to take place on Tuesday, September 9 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time. There are a long list of products that are coming, but we thought we'd pull out five feature highlights to look forward to.
That Super Thin iPhone - Apple's September 9 event will see the unveiling of the first redesigned iPhone we've had in years, ...
I feel like I’m the only person that liked the change! Oh well, not a big deal to me at the end of the day as I’m one to never really have more than 5 tabs open and close them as soon as I’m done. I mostly appreciated how the interface stayed thin with more than one tab open. Oh well, can’t please everyone!
edit: as others have pointed out, there’s a choice between the two styles! Happy day :)
Biggest design overhaul since iOS 7 with Liquid Glass, plus new Apple Intelligence features and improvements to Messages, Phone, Safari, Shortcuts, and more. Developer beta available now ahead of public beta in July.
