Forum Discussion
Olivia_Zhang
Microsoft
MicrosoftNew Update Experience for Mac available in Edge Beta / Dev / Canary
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.
Since Microsoft Edge launched on MacOS, we have heard your feedback on the update experience on Mac devices, specifically:
- Having to update through Microsoft AutoUpdate can be confusing, especially since it typically is used to update the Office suite applications.
- edge://settings/help was not always consistent with Microsoft AutoUpdate in showing update availability
- Update experience was not rapid: when you close and then reopen your browser when a new update is available, you will need to wait until the update is applied before browser restarts.
We are now excited to announce an improved update experience on Mac to address your feedback, making updating faster and smoother. This experience is currently rolled out to Mac users (both Intel and M1 users) on Beta versions higher than 93.0.961.11, Dev versions higher than 91.0.852.0 or Canary versions higher than 90.0.816.0 behind a feature flag.
Here are some highlights of the new experience:
- The new update experience is now Edge-native. It will solely be responsible for updating Edge-related products and will not be affected (e.g. blocked) by other pending product updates. Updates will happen automatically and silently, and no out-of-Edge notifications/toasts will be shown.
- Update sizes are now reduced by as much as 80% on average! This speeds up updates by over two thirds!
- edge://settings/help now more consistently reflects update status and allows seamless updates. In-app update notifications are promptly reflected when an update becomes available.
- When you restart the browser when an update is available, your browser will now instantly relaunch with the updated version rather than wait for update to be applied.
As always, please do not hesitate to send any feedback on the update experience our way so that we can make your experience better! You can do so by selecting the "send feedback" button or going to … menu -> Help and Feedback -> send feedback.
- 1.7 years later and this still hasn't been implemented. Doesn't even look like it's implemented in the insider channels any more (on intel or apple chips). Is this a scrapped project?
dchilders I think I've had the new update process for a few months now. macOS 12.6, Edge 106.0.1370.47.
- Interesting. I haven't tried to install it because I can see the .pkg file still includes the autoupdater and I'm assuming it installs. Do you know if it still installs the autoupdater or is it still just packaged for some reason?
Olivia_Zhang After a year of promises to remove Microsoft Auto Update, I decided to try Edge again.
My feedback:
+ overall, Edge is a great experience, for me the best experience of any Chromium-based browsers, beating Chrome, Brave, Ungoogled-Chromium. The UX is intuitive, everything runs smooth and the required features are present. On top of it, the UI is pleasant.
- Microsoft Auto Update is still installing on my system. For me and most pro Mac users, we hate such apps running in the background. It was never about the way we update the browser, it was about all those daemons clogging up our system, in Windows Auto Update is baked into the system, the same as for macOS Safari updates happen through the OS update handler. But having an extra handler for third-party products constantly running in the background is not acceptable. I will uninstall Edge again until MAU is completely removed. Is there are plan for that? If yes, what is the timeline?
Olivia_Zhang Version 99 is now in the Stable channel and there is still no trace of the new update method. It has been a year since it was announced as coming imminently. It seems it has been shelved and nobody bothered to announce it.
I've noticed in version 100.0.1185.44 (stable channel), when I go to "About Microsoft Edge", the version check is nearly instantaneous, just like on Windows. I haven't had to actually run an update just yet, so I can't comment on what that experience is like, but this is definitely different than previous behavior, where it took a good 10 to 15 seconds to check for updates. Presumably, this is because Edge was interfacing with the MAU service.
Seems like this is rolling out now?
Olivia_Zhang We’re on version 98 in the stable channel and there are still no news on the new update system. Has this been scrapped?
- Is the new update experience still coming at some point? We're on version 97 in the stable channel now and there is still no sign of the new update system, MAU is still necessary to update the browser.
I'm also wondering what happened to this issue. I'm still getting MAU updates for edge like every other day (feels like). Any updates regarding the state of affairs?
Hmm... is there an update on this? Running 97.0.1072.34 (Official build) Beta (arm64) I don't see msMicrosoftEdgeTestMacUpdate under edge://version/?show-variations-cmd, and it appears Microsoft AutoUpdate wants to handle updates for Edge Beta (it lists both Edge Beta and Edge that I have installed.)
I hope Microsoft still plans to move forward with this, or to bring the silent/non-intrusive update behaviors to Microsoft AutoUpdate itself. I've had to manually quit Edge 96, and wait out the Microsoft AutoUpdate dialog as it downloads/installs, 3 times this week, I think - a bit ridiculous.- Is this also now available with Edge 95.0.1020.30 in the stable channel on Mac?
- When you restart the browser when an update is available, your browser will now instantly relaunch with the updated version rather than wait for update to be applied.
The problem with this (I'm on 92.0.902.73) is that it also occurs when you QUIT the application. So, when you no longer want to use Edge and you quit it, you're made to wait for an update to process and for the browser to restart only for you to have to quit it again. If I wanted to wait around for software updates I'd use a Windows machine. Will this release resolve the issue I've described?
Thank you for sharing this exciting news Olivia_Zhang .
I'm wondering if this has been rolled out to stable release, now I'm running Version 91.0.864.37 (Official build) (x86_64), and has manually removed MAU from my laptop. When I open edge://settings/help, it's stuck in Checking for updates, even for days.chenrylee, unfortunately, it's only available on the dev channel for now. Both stable & beta still relies on MAU, so you might want to reinstall the MAU to fix the Check for updates looping.
Thank you chungweileong
If so, I'd like to install the dev version. Before new installation, I have a few concerns:
1. Does the installer of latest dev contain MAU?
2. If yes, does it work normally if I manually remove MAU?
Thank you in advance.
Olivia_Zhang When can we expect this to be released on the stable channel?
It's frustrating whenever there's a new update released, the browser basically never going to open itself after the update, even by clicking the app icon. I have to force quit the MSEdge in Activity Monitor to get it to works again.
- Olivia_ZhangHello! Thank you for your feedback, I am sorry to hear about your current experience on MAU. Have you tried giving it longer to update after Edge closes? Do you end up getting stuck regardless?
We don't have a set timeline yet but we are actively working on the new updater and are eager to bring it to everyone!- So the Edge is basically stuck forever, but for some reason, there's an invisible Edge window that cannot be close, I guess it's maybe something to do with the update stuck? Anyway, I have to force close the Edge in Activity Monitor to end the "forever stuck" issue.
So this might not be related to this topic, but the invisible window seems to be quite an annoying issue to due with, this is so far what I can find on Google that exactly describe my issue
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251214156
Olivia_Zhang hi, i wanna know when will this feature be supported in the stable version? Is there a clear version number or schedule? thank you!
- Olivia_ZhangHello, thanks for your feedback. There isn't a set release version yet, but we are actively working on it and will make announcement when it makes it to Stable!
- Hi, is there any news to share on this? Where should I look for an announcement? Thanks.
