Microsoft Edge Beta is Available for Download
A Beta release for the next version of Microsoft Edge is now available for all supported versions of Windows and macOS.
Beta is the third and final preview channel which will come online before launch. Beta represents the most stable preview channel, as features are added to Beta only after they have cleared quality testing in first the Canary channel and then the Dev channel. Microsoft says that major version updates can be expected roughly every six weeks, alongside periodic minor updates for bug fixes and security.
In the Beta today, you will see new ways to personalize your experience, along with support for 14 languages. With new tab page customization, you have the ability to choose what you want to see when you open a new web page by selecting either a Focused, Inspirational or Informational layout. You can also set a dark theme or visit the Microsoft Edge Insider Addons store or other Chromium-based web stores, such as the Chrome Web Store, to add your favorite extensions.
You can personalize your experience further by enabling tracking prevention, a feature designed to protect you from being tracked by websites that you don’t visit. Today, this feature is behind a flag but you can enable it in the Beta builds. When enabled, a user will be able to choose from three levels of privacy – Basic, Balanced and Strict. Additional features that Microsoft showed at the Build 2019 Conference will come to the Beta channel in the coming months. Collections is already available for testing in the Canary channel today.
Beta also includes many of the commercial features Microsoft announced at our Build conference, such as:
- Microsoft Search built-in to Bing.
- Internet Explorer mode, which streamlines today’s experience of viewing the web through two different browsers by bringing Internet Explorer 11 compatibility directly into
- Microsoft Edge. This is an important feature for the more than 60% of worldwide organizations that use both IE as well as another browser.
Windows Defender Application Guard helps to isolate enterprise-defined untrusted sites, protecting the company while employees browse the Internet.
Additional features, like the enterprise-focused new tab, will be coming soon to the Canary and Dev channels as well.
Microsoft has also extended the Microsoft Edge browser security bounty program to cover the Beta and Dev channels. Researchers are free to seek out and disclose any high-impact vulnerabilities they may find in these channels and offer rewards up to US$15,000 for eligible vulnerabilities.