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It would be nice if this browser supported some Safari extensions, as some of them have much better integration such as Dark Reader which has a better user interface and more lightweight than it's Firefox/Chrome counterpart. Also extensions such as Bitwarden, Instapaper, and Reeder's "read later" extensions do not work in Orion, and bitwarden does not support third-party browsers.

    • Nya

    • Best Answerset by Vlad

    For people trying to figure out how to add Safari extensions:

    Extensions > Add Extensions > Install From Disk > [browse to /Applications] .... and select your Safari extension.

    There’s multiple types of Safari extensions:

    • web-extensions: Made using JS, works almost identically to chrome/ff extensions
    • native code extensions: Made using Swift (or another language linked via swift), uses a custom secure connection to Safari and therefore cannot be used by Orion
    • content blocking extensions:

    "only Safari Web Extensions are currently supported."

    source

It is highly unlikely due to technical limitation of safari extensions being in proprietary format and not an API like Chrome/Firefox are.

    14 days later

    How does Safari Technology Preview able to use Safari extensions then? Is there a specific method that it uses? Aren't both of these browsers webkit?

      2 months later

      quarkw i think vlad once said that safari extensions aren't easy to integrate because of apple stuff.

          There were many posts like these, so this will be merged.

            Merged 3 posts from Safari extensions support.
              3 months later

              I was curious how safari handles extensions so I starting looking around. Not sure if any of this info is helpful:

              From lapcatsoftware.com
              --
              A modern "Safari app extension" has several parts, including the following:

              1. An app, distributed as an .app bundle. The app contains native Mac executable code inside the Contents/MacOS folder of its bundle.

              2. An app extension, distributed as an .appex bundle inside the Contents/PlugIns folder of the .app bundle. The app extension also contains native Mac executable code in the Contents/MacOS folder of its bundle.

              3. JavaScript and CSS, distributed as .js and .css files inside the Contents/Resources folder of the .appex bundle.

              On every launch, Safari runs 2, the native Mac executable code of the .appex bundle, regardless of whether the extension is enabled in Safari's Extensions Preferences. Safari does not load 3, the JavaScript and CSS, unless the extension is enabled.

              --

              It looks like the only extension data that safari store is in ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Safari/Data/Library/Safari/AppExtensions/Extensions.plist which stores enabled status, allowed domains, etc.

              All extensions are read from the individual host app that wraps the safari extension .appex. Looking at what files safari access It looks like it access the extensions using the Mac binary file in XXX.appex/Contents/MacOS/XXX rather than its resources folder that contains all the js/html.

              Since it's calling Mac binary I'm not sure how safari is loading in its data and it might not be possible to load them into Orion. I haven't seen another browser not made by apple attempt such a thing. There is a Mac binary reader on GitHub that might provide some clues but I have get to look into it.

              There is also a tool in Xcode for converting Web Extension to safari. I haven't look into it much but it might provide some clues on how safari interacts with extensions.

                16 days later

                kenobi If you have some time on your hands, create a prototype app that loads a simple safari extension and we will take it from there.

                  4 months later

                  I think this is the most important feature request. If at all possible, addding Safari extensions will be a huge benefit to the target market of this app, converting Safari users over to Orion. 👍️

                    Orionic It is not possible to run Safari extensions (as they are closed source proprietery format).

                        2 months later
                        2 months later

                        Vlad I don't know anything about the Safari extension API but would it be possible to like reverse engineer it?

                        • Vlad replied to this.

                            Oneechan69 You are welcome to try and let us know if you or someone you know succeeds. Happy to incoprorate it.

                                Do you give suggestions like that to everyone?! I've read that a few times here and its ridiculous. Look, not everyone programs, and if they do, they may not be interested or don't have the time to try to program these things themselves.

                                I was just asking if you knew or thought it would be possible. Is it?

                                • Vlad replied to this.

                                  Oneechan69 I do not know if it is possible, nobody in the world has done it ever. It would probably take hundreds of hours just to try.

                                  We do have over 1,500 other issues on this site that we know what to do with, so if anyone figures this out we are happy to incorporate.