Apple Releases New Big Sur and Catalina Safari 15.1 Betas for Developers With Restored Tab Design

Following in the footsteps of the macOS Monterey release candidate seeded earlier this week, Apple has released a fourth beta version of Safari 15.1 for macOS Big Sur and Catalina to developers that restores the previous tab design that was in place prior to Safari 15.

safari 15 1 old tabs
Safari 15.1 now features a standard Big Sur tab design, which is enabled by default and is labeled "Separate" in Safari preferences. For those who preferred the Safari 15 design rolled out last month, there is also a "Compact" option that merges the URL bar with the tab bar.

As with Safari in the macOS Monterey release candidate, the new Safari 15.1 beta also scales back on the option to have the Safari window chrome blend in with websites, moving the option to the Accessibility section of the Advanced page in Safari preferences and limiting it to only the Compact Tab Bar design.

With the public release of Safari 15.1 in macOS Monterey, Big Sur, and Catalina, Apple is scaling back on many of the design changes made in Safari 15, which was released for those macOS versions last month alongside iOS and iPadOS 15. Many users were unhappy with those design changes, so Apple will now be offering them as an option rather than the default or only layout.

Registered developers can download the new Safari 15.1 beta by logging in to Apple's developer downloads portal and then navigating to the More Downloads section. The latest version of macOS Big Sur or macOS Catalina is required to install the beta.

Tag: Safari

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Air Pastel Feature

iPhone 17 Air Battery Capacity and Weight Allegedly Revealed

Monday May 19, 2025 2:22 am PDT by
Apple is expected to launch an all-new ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air later this year, and while there have been plenty of rumors about the camera's overall design and thinness, we haven't heard any details about the device's weight and battery capacity until now. According to the leaker going by the account name "yeux1122" on the Korean-langauge Naver blog, the 6.6-inch iPhone 17 Air has a weight ...
Apple CarPlay Ultra instrument cluster themes 01

Apple's CarPlay Ultra Is Here – Does Your iPhone Support It?

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:17 am PDT by
Apple's recently announced CarPlay Ultra promises a deeply integrated in-car experience, but not all iPhone users will be able to take advantage of the new feature. According to Apple's press release, CarPlay Ultra requires an iPhone 12 or later running iOS 18.5 or later. This means if you're using an iPhone 11, iPhone XR, or any older model, you'll need to upgrade your device to access...
Apple Glass

Apple Smart Glasses: Everything We Know So Far

Wednesday May 21, 2025 8:21 am PDT by
Google made waves yesterday by showcasing a set of lightweight smart glasses featuring deep Gemini integration and an optional in-lens display. The demo has reignited interest in Apple's own smart glasses project, which has been the subject of rumors for nearly a decade. Here's a recap of where things stand. Current Development Status Apple is actively working on new chips specifically...
Apple CarPlay Ultra instrument cluster themes 01

Apple's 'CarPlay Ultra' Experience Now Available

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:07 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its next-generation CarPlay experience, now dubbed "CarPlay Ultra" begins rolling out today, starting with Aston Martin vehicles. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. CarPlay Ultra is now available with new Aston Martin vehicle orders in the U.S. and Canada. It will also be available for existing models that feature the brand's next-generation ...
WWDC 2025 Banner

Apple Announces WWDC 2025 Schedule, Including Keynote Time

Tuesday May 20, 2025 8:13 am PDT by
Apple today announced a more detailed schedule for its annual developers conference WWDC, which runs from June 9 through June 13. The schedule confirms that Apple's keynote will begin on Monday, June 9 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, with a live stream to be available on Apple.com, in the Apple TV app, and on YouTube. During the keynote, Apple is expected to announce iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16,...
macOS 16 visionOS Inspired Feature 1

macOS 16: Everything We Know So Far

Tuesday May 20, 2025 7:31 am PDT by
The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple's annual developer and software-oriented event, is less than three weeks away. We haven't heard a great deal about macOS 16 ahead of its announcement this year, so we could be in for some major surprises when June 9 rolls around. Here's what we know so far about the next major update to Apple's Mac operating system. macOS 16 Name? Every year ...
Apple Intelligence General Feature

Report: Apple's Next-Gen Version of Siri Is 'On Par' With ChatGPT

Monday May 19, 2025 9:00 am PDT by
Apple has big plans to improve Siri over the next few years, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and Drake Bennett report. Some Apple executives are now reportedly pushing to turn Siri into a true ChatGPT competitor. A next-generation, chatbot version of Siri has reportedly made significant progress during testing over the past six months; some executives allegedly now see it as "on par" with recent...

Top Rated Comments

PsykX Avatar
47 months ago
I was SO GLAD they brought back the current design.
I do UX myself (part-time job let's say) and I don't know what they were thinking.
I was this close to switch to another browser. ??
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Takeo Avatar
47 months ago
Oh thank god. Been using this thing for what… almost a month now? And I STILL find myself being confused over which “tab” is active or clicking in a “tab” to try to edit a URL. Probably happened a dozen times just today.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
macduke Avatar
47 months ago
HALLELUJAH!


I was SO GLAD they brought back the current design.
I do UX myself (part-time job let's say) and I don't know what they were thinking.
I was this close to switch to another browser. ??
I do UI/UX full-time and I don’t know what they were thinking.

Now I can upgrade with no remaining concerns. Sweet!
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mr. Awesome Avatar
47 months ago

I don’t know why I’m on MacRumors responding to this, but here we go:

Steve Jobs developed NeXT.

Steve Jobs died in 2011.

Apple had to license various things for Safari, because Steve Jobs died.

https://www.chromium.org/

If you think you can fix it, go write the fix and sell it to Apple.
* I have no idea what you’re talking about. Safari was released about 8 years before Steve died.
* Apple didn’t “license various things for Safari.” It was based on an open source browser called Konqueror.
* Contributing to Chromium changes nothing about WebKit. Contribute to WebKit instead.
* Changes to WebKit affect only the engine, not the Safari UI.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Sasparilla Avatar
47 months ago
Ahhhh, nice, no more buttons. Was wondering when we'd get it on the "old" OS's.

Have been liking the color thing, but would rather have tabs that look functionally correct instead.

Thank you for listening to and acting on the feedback Apple.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iisdan Avatar
47 months ago
People are so afraid of change, the new tab design is way better
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)