Apple introduced macOS 11 Big Sur earlier this week and spent some time talking about Safari's new features and improvements. In addition to native extensions, Apple has added support for web extensions, which will make it much easier to port an extension developed for Chrome, Firefox or Edge.
Apple explained more details on how this novelty works in a session at WWDC. Safari already supports extensions, but if you use Safari, you know there isn't much diversity.
Sharing extensions allow you to add functionality to Safari's sharing menu. For example, Pocket or Instapaper take advantage of sharing extensions to be able to use JavaScript on a web page and return the result to the page.
Other browsers have used a different approach. They take advantage of web technologies such as JavaScript, HTML and CSS. That's why Apple is adding other types of extensions with Safari Web Extensions.
Like other Safari extensions, web extensions designed for Safari are packaged as native apps. This means that the developers will submit the extensions to the App Store for approval. Users will download the app which contains the extension. The app doesn't have to do anything, it can just be a container.
Apple created an extension converter to make it easy to quickly transfer extensions. When you run it, it will tell you if everything will work as expected. From ok you can package it as an Xcode project, sign it and send it to the App Store.
Some extensions require special permissions, because they must access all web pages visited, which is why Apple has developed a system that allows you to limit the use of an extension to one or more specific web pages or only to the active tab. The extension can also be activated for one day so that it is not activated for life.
The user will see a notification the first time the extension tries to access a web page and there will be a big warning in Safari settings before activating an extension that can access all browsing history
This change could mean that many extensions now available in Chrome will soon be available for Safari as well. Chrome extensions are one of the main reasons why users of this browser are reluctant to abandon it, as it allows them to increase its functionality by incorporating the appropriate extensions.
If Apple detects new developments such as Safari extensions, the gap between the capabilities of one browser and another could be narrowed.
