Kagi has officially launched Orion 1.0 for macOS today, moving its privacy-focused web browser out of beta after six years of development. The release positions the browser as a high-performance, zero-telemetry alternative to Chrome and Safari, joining the existing iOS and iPadOS apps to complete the ecosystem.
Built on the same WebKit engine that powers Safari, Orion is designed to feel native to the Mac while stripping away the tracking found in ad-supported rivals. Kagi says the browser collects absolutely no usage data and ships without built-in ad tech. It’s a deliberate choice to prioritize speed and privacy, offering a lightweight footprint that Mac users expect but with an architecture built for deep customization.
Orion ships with no AI code in its core. Kagi cites security risks regarding AI agents having deep system access, opting instead to keep the browser clean. Users can still connect to external AI tools if they want, but the browser keeps those integrations separate from core functions.
I downloaded it. Looks like Safari; only issues I’ve seen so far:
password management is wonky; no way to natively access iCloud passwords or the Apple Keychain, but Orion does allow for Chrome and Firefox extensions and I added the Chrome Web Store’s iCloud Passwords extension. It didn’t seem to work at first, but after I left Orion to begin composing this post, and went back to test the passwords again, it worked just like on Vivaldi. (I use iCloud Passwords with Vivaldi with no trouble whatsoever.)
The browser didn’t like opening up very many websites: I kept getting a warning that it couldn’t open Facebook, for example, due to lack of memory. That seems to have stopped…?
I like non-Safari webkit browsers. iCab is cool and I still miss Shiira (a weird browser from some Japanese devs with the greatest name EVAH for a tech company: The Happy Macintosh Developing Time.)
Not sure about the browser, maybe once it matures it may be worth having a go.
If I want to protect my privacy to extreme when I search something, I use Tor browser, for daily quick “I hate cookie pop-ups with million boxes to tick” I use DuckDuckGo browser and burn the page(s) after I finish. Vivaldi I keep just because (more for sentimental reasons as a replacement to Opera) Otherwise Safari does excellent job.
I haven’t used Google or Bing search for years, DDG is my default followed by Startpage, Ecosia and Perplexity.ai.
For anything complex or if I need to drill down to very specific result set, I use DevonAgent.
Anyway, the Kagi search is something I’ll probably give a go and if it’s good as they say, I may even start using it.
I still use Safari for day to day browsing. Its security protections are better than most. For sites that don’t like Safari, I use Vivaldi and currently trying Orion.
I haven’t used Safari for years; I never really liked it, but my favourite browser was OmniWeb which I used until they stopped developing it (there is once more a bit of development, but I don’t use it for every day work).
I’ve been using Brave, and currently Arc, though I wonder about them sometimes, as they are both Chrome-based and I feel I’d like to get way from Chrome. I have never got on with FireFox, for some reason, but recently I’ve tried Zen which is Mozilla-based.
On the other hand, I really like iCab and use it every day when working on the Typst web-app.
However, for me, a key question is integration with 1Password, which I have used for password management for about 20 years.
Sadly, iCab doesn’t integrate with it at all.
Zen uses the Firefox extension, but it opens a separate tab onto it, and doesn’t seem to allow allow automated field filling.
Arc uses the Chrome extension, but it only appears on the space where you set it up, not on other spaces you have set up for different spheres of activity.
Brave puts it in the Toolbar, which is fine, but I want to get away from Chrome.
Safari similarly seems to work well with 1Password, but I don’t actually like Safari… I only use it to access Apple websites!
So I’ve downloaded Orion and will give it a go. It has installed the Chrome 1Password extension without problem; uses vertical tabs in the sidebar, which I like, so I’ll give it a good try! It looks at first try that it will combine some of the ergonomics of Arc or OmniWeb, the 1Password integration of Brave, and hopefully much of the usability of iCab.
…does integrate with iCloud password manager, though. Tools---->Keychain Manager—> then it asks if you want Passwords app.
I used 1Password for several years until they went subscription; then I changed to LastPass and then BitWarden until now I’m happy with Apple’s Passwords.
I have iCab presumably using the iCloud password manager for the Typst site, but that’s all. All my other passwords are in 1Password along with all the passwords I know of my wife’s and of another elderly friend who can’t remember them and gets muddled with his records. It suits me.
I went subscription when they changed because I set up a family account so my wife could use it. In the event, she got irritated early on because it kept asking her if she wanted to save the login for each of the sites she visited, so she gave up.
I pay annually rather than monthly, so it is less and allows me to keep up-to-date.
There is reportedly a bug in MacOS Tahoe involving Electron apps that causes slowness and it affects Safari badly (one reason I’ve temporarily given up on it and use Vivaldi.)
From what I’ve read on some Apple news sites, this bug has been fixed in MacOS 26.2.
Maybe I’m blind, but I couldn’t find any link to a source code repository on the Orion website. Is this project proprietary software? Is there at least a credible audit that confirms their privacy claims?
Absolutely. Safari is a mess right now (says this web engineer). The more competition the better. But I’m also very, very wary of yet another closed-source browser.
I wish Firefox had more traction (and independence from Google monies…)
Strikes me that they’re in a poor state to launch a v1.0.
Most web-links return 404
The link to Orion+ only show the payment options; but not what you’re paying for.
The link to Learn more about Orion Plus links to the payment options page without anything more.
On the payment options page it says: Some add-ons may come at additional cost. Which is little non-specific.
There’s a title Kagi® Services Built Right In with a link to Discover the Kagiverse, which shows Kagi Search, which I presume is what the payment option (Orion+/Plus) is all about.
So, I think I know what they’re offering, but they aren’t exactly making it clear.
I used to use 1Password when it was free for Apple staff, but had to have the license renewed each year, so when I was leaving Apple for the first time, I swapped to Dashlane a lifetime free for Apple staff.
More recently I’ve been happy with Apple’s Passwords and now exclusively use that.
As above, I use Safari mostly and have none of the issues mentioned and Vivaldi works with the Google iCloud passwords extension.
I switched to Apple’s password manager some time ago as it simplifies sharing passwords across the family (as we’ll all Apple users & have an Apple One family account).
Incidentally, I use Safari as my main personal browser due to handoff between various Apple devices, but primarily because of security. So all my writing things are in there too.
Yup. It’s certainly no keynote material, but imagine they invested all this energy wasted on “Apple Intelligence”, “Liquid Glass” and other nonsense in improving WebKit / Safari, iCloud Drive, all the half-baked frameworks (looking at you, TextKit 2) and outdated documentation…
They’re open to suggestions, feedback and other sorts of opinionating.
I’m not using Orion for anything except to play with, for now. I’ll follow their progress and all that, but I’ll be sticking with Safari/Vivaldi. My main interest in Orion is their extension compatibility with Chrome and Firefox extensions (and although it’s advertised, but not yet in production: Safari extensions.) Having one browser with all three main extension ecosystems in it is pretty nifty.
“Q: Is Orion open-source? – A: We’re working on it! We’ve started with some of our components and intend to open more in the future. Forking WebKit, porting hundreds of APIs, and writing a browser app from scratch has been challenging for our small team.”
Fair enough. They should have stopped right there. But the answer continues:
“Properly maintaining an open-source project takes time and resources that we are currently short on.”
How many seconds does it take to set up a read-only repository and call it a day? Doesn’t mean you have to manage or even accept contributions to it if you don’t want to.
It gets worse, next question: “Is Orion truly safe if it’s not open-source?”
“… For example, the same tech company that offers a popular open-source browser also has the largest ad/tracking network in history, with that browser playing a significant role in it.”
That’s just wrong. Chrome ist not open source. Chromium is. Google builds Chrome on top of Chromium, does all kinds of weird shit with it, who knows what exactly! And precisely that is the issue.
It’s like taking WebKit, building a proprietary browser on top of it and… wait a minute!
Either they don’t understand this or they’re deceiving. Not sure which one is more scary.
“Find out whether your browser respects your privacy by launching a network proxy”
If I need to monitor the complete network traffic of your damn product, I feel I should rather cut it off from the Internet entirely. Too bad when it’s a web browser.
Something about this doesn’t feel right. Maybe I’m wrong. I’ll give it a fair shot once the entire source code is available.
Yeah I read that (and similar) and that’s me noping out of that and warning others away from it. Even if it does turn out to be entirely legit and above board, the fact they are stumbling on clarity of basic things like this isn’t good enough these days. I feelt bad for them if it’s just bad communication/management.
