Built on WebKit.
Honest about the rest.

Last updated 27 October 2026. Aether is an early developer preview built by one person. It has not had an independent security audit.

What protects you

Web pages are rendered by Apple’s WebKit, which runs each page in a separate sandboxed process and receives security fixes through macOS updates. Aether does not bypass certificate checks, refuses javascript:, data: and file: addresses typed in the address bar, and keeps each profile’s cookies and storage separate. Private browsing keeps nothing on disk.

Secure connections

Aether tries https:// before http:// and asks before using a site that has no secure version. Pages loaded over plain HTTP show a warning in the address bar. Addresses on your own machine and network are left alone.

Trackers

Aether blocks requests to well-known analytics, advertising and tracking hosts when another site loads them. The list is a starting point, not complete protection.

Updates

Aether can check GitHub once a day for a newer release. It installs an update only if it is signed by the same Apple Developer team as the copy you are running, is notarized by Apple and has a higher version. You can turn automatic checks off in Settings.

Your data on disk

History, bookmarks and the optional searchable page text are stored in your Library folder, readable only by your user account. They are not encrypted by Aether itself; turn on FileVault to encrypt the disk. Remembered page text is deleted after a period you choose and skips private browsing and pages with password fields.

Extensions

Extension support is experimental and off by default, because extensions run their own code inside the pages you visit.

What it does not do

Aether’s own app process is not sandboxed (the web pages it shows are). There is no built-in password manager yet, and browser passkeys are waiting on Apple’s approval. Treat the preview accordingly, and do not rely on it for high-risk browsing.

Report a vulnerability

Please report security problems privately, not in a public issue: open a private security report on GitHub. Include the Aether version, your macOS version, what you did and what happened. Reports are handled by one person on a best-effort basis; expect an acknowledgement within a few days. Please give a reasonable time to fix a problem before discussing it publicly. Good-faith research that avoids other people’s data is welcome.