Microsoft Edge on Mac is Getting a New Update Experience
Microsoft announced today that it will move its Edge web browser on Mac off Microsoft AutoUpdate because users have found it confusing.
“Getting updates timely and smoothly is key to keeping web browsers secure. It also helps you try new experiences sooner on a fast-moving browser like Microsoft Edge,” Microsoft’s Olivia_Zhang explains. “Since Microsoft Edge launched on macOS, we have heard your feedback on the update experience on Mac devices, specifically [that] having to update through Microsoft AutoUpdate can be confusing, especially since it typically is used to update the Office suite applications.”
Additionally, users complained that the Edge settings interface on Mac was not always consistent with Microsoft AutoUpdate in showing update availability. And that the update experience has been slow: Users have to close and then reopen the browser when a new update is available and then wait until the update is applied before the browser restarts.
Microsoft will address these concerns with a new update experience that I believe will simply mimic how Edge updates on Windows. This new update experience is now “Edge-native” and updates will happen automatically and silently, with non-Edge notifications displayed.
This new experience is rolling out first in Edge Canary and will come to other channels, and then stable, over time.