App to Run Userscripts on iOS Safari

by Rian

What I like about Firefox and its community-driven open source nature really coincides with a lot of what I like about Python. There are always like-minded people trying to solve a problem that is often too niche for other browsers. Having said all the that, Safari, as a browser platform, lacks that community attention yet. I often found myself trying to find which “slop” is the real extension I am looking for.

Being able to run userscripts on a browser solves many of the problem I just outlined. And Safari now has a clean, iOS-looking extension called Userscripts on App Store to do just that. It’s also free and open-source, and it runs on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. With userscript support, you don’t have to hunt for “real” add-on; just find the right javascript. In all likelihood, especially if the website supports responsive web design, desktop scripts also work on mobile environment.

I did some testing compared to other alternatives available on the App Store, so far Userscripts was the only app that had streamlined UI. It may not be perfect — there are the usual big players often recommended on Firefox and Chrome that are not available on Safari — but it delivers what I would call iOS-like experience. It’s clean, and it gets the job done. I’m not flooded with badges or notifications. The settings page is not all over the place. Again, there are other managers available on the App Store. Just be sure to choose one from reputable sources.