Safari 15 has faced a barrage of complaints about its controversial new design, and while Apple has listened to user feedback and reversed some changes or made them optional, many users still struggle to discern an active tab from a background tab on the Mac browser because of the inverted shading.
Unfortunately for users who do not like the new design, Apple has not made any changes to the shading of tabs in either the Safari 15.1 beta or the latest version of the experimental Safari Technology Preview browser.
Fortunately however, developer Zhenyi Tan was inspired by John Gruber's Daring Fireballarticle about the issue and has since come up with a simple Safari extension called ActiveTab that provides a solution.
ActiveTab simply makes it easier to spot the active tab in Safari on Mac by drawing a line underneath it. There are eight colors to choose from, and the line below the tab can be customized to be between 1 and 7 pixels wide.
As Zhenyi notes, the extension works best with the "Separate" tab layout selected and "Show color in tab bar" disabled in the Tab section of Safari's Preferences. Zhenyi also cautions that ActiveTab will not work reliably if you have so many tabs in a window that the tab bar becomes scrollable.
ActiveTab is available for $1.99 on the Mac App Store, with no in-app purchases, no ads, and no tracking.
Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below.
Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
Tuesday December 2, 2025 11:09 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple is encouraging iPhone users who are still running iOS 18 to upgrade to iOS 26 by making the iOS 26 software upgrade option more prominent.
Since iOS 26 launched in September, it has been displayed as an optional upgrade at the bottom of the Software Update interface in the Settings app. iOS 18 has been the default operating system option, and users running iOS 18 have seen iOS 18...
Wednesday December 3, 2025 10:33 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today seeded the release candidate versions of upcoming iOS 26.2 and iPadOS 26.2 updates to developers and public beta testers, with the software coming two weeks after Apple seeded the third betas. The release candidates represent the final versions of iOS 26.2 and iPadOS 26.2 that will be provided to the public if no further bugs are found during this final week of testing....
Thursday December 4, 2025 9:30 am PST by Joe Rossignol
In a statement shared with Bloomberg on Wednesday, Apple confirmed that its software design chief Alan Dye will be leaving. Apple said Dye will be succeeded by Stephen Lemay, who has been a software designer at the company since 1999.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Dye will lead a new creative studio within the company's AR/VR division Reality Labs.
On his blog Daring Fireball,...
Monday December 1, 2025 4:37 pm PST by Juli Clover
We're getting closer to the launch of the final major iOS update of the year, with Apple set to release iOS 26.2 in December. We've had three betas so far and are expecting a fourth beta or a release candidate this week, so a launch could follow as soon as next week.
Past Launch Dates
Apple's past iOS x.2 updates from the last few years have all happened right around the middle of the...
Monday December 1, 2025 3:00 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is expected to launch a new foldable iPhone next year, based on multiple rumors and credible sources. The long-awaited device has been rumored for years now, but signs increasingly suggest that 2026 could indeed be the year that Apple releases its first foldable device.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
Below, we've collated an updated set of key details that ...
Friday December 5, 2025 10:08 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Intel is expected to begin supplying some Mac and iPad chips in a few years, and the latest rumor claims the partnership might extend to the iPhone.
In a research note with investment firm GF Securities this week, obtained by MacRumors, analyst Jeff Pu said he and his colleagues "now expect" Intel to reach a supply deal with Apple for at least some non-pro iPhone chips starting in 2028....
A U.S. appeals court has upheld a temporary restraining order that prevents OpenAI and Jony Ive's new hardware venture from using the name "io" for products similar to those planned by AI audio startup iyO, Bloomberg Law reports.
iyO sued OpenAI earlier this year after the latter announced its partnership with Ive's new firm, arguing that OpenAI's planned "io" branding was too close to its...
The iPhone Air has recorded the steepest early resale value drop of any iPhone model in years, with new data showing that several configurations have lost almost 50% of their value within ten weeks of launch.
According to a ten-week analysis published by SellCell, Apple's latest lineup is showing a pronounced split in resale performance between the iPhone 17 models and the iPhone Air....
Thursday December 4, 2025 5:18 am PST by Tim Hardwick
iPhone 17 Pro models, it turns out, can't take photos in Night mode when Portrait mode is selected in the Camera app – a capability that's been available on Apple's Pro devices since the iPhone 12 Pro in 2020.
If you're an iPhone 17 Pro or iPhone 17 Pro Max owner, try it for yourself: Open the Camera app with Photo selected in the carousel, then cover the rear lenses with your hand to...
Safari 14 tabs were a better UX design in every way: more attractive, more intuitive, more minimal, a more efficient use of available screen space, more drag-able and tab-like.
Lighter tabs are lighter because they are in the foregrounds - there is more light on them; darker tabs are darker because they are in the background - there is less light on them. It is 101. I can't understand why a designer at Apple would go the opposite way to this. There have been other controls in Mac OS / iOS that have done the same thing, and it is always confusing what the currently selection option is. Design is supposed to get out of the way, it should be 'invisible' so that we can use something without having to think about it.
Don't most people run dark mode? Well, I do and my safari looks fine. The active tab is lighter than the inactive ones, just as you'd expect.
It should be the same on light mode but it's not. That's the problem. When I switch to dark mode I'm even more confused. Suddenly active tab is lighter than inactive @@
I use auto dark/light mode: light during the day, dark at night. In dark mode, the lighter tab is active. In light mode, the darker tab is active. When the mouse hovers over a tab, it becomes the same color as the active tab. It's terrible design! Even in DOS things were more visible.
