Updating Safari on macOS with Jamf Pro: Three Practical Strategies

Updating Safari on macOS with Jamf Pro: Three Practical Strategies

Keeping Safari updated is one of the simplest ways to harden a macOS fleet. Apple ships security fixes for Safari frequently, and those patches often land before a full macOS point release. If Safari is lagging behind, your users are browsing the web with a larger attack surface than necessary.

In this post I want to walk through three strategies I use to stay ahead of Safari releases with Jamf Pro:

  1. Using Jamf Pro Patch Management with standalone Safari installers
  2. Using a script that targets a specific Safari version via Jamf Pro parameters
  3. Keeping macOS itself current with Blueprints and Declarative Device Management

Each approach solves a slightly different problem. In practice, I use a mix of all three.

Strategy 1: Patch Management With Standalone Safari Installers

Jamf Pro’s Patch Management feature is still one of the cleanest, most reportable ways to keep a single application aligned across the fleet. It gives you dashboards, smart groups, and a nice compliance view. For Safari, there is one catch: Jamf requires that you associate each version with a package, and Apple no longer hands us an obvious standalone Safari installer.

That is where Mr. Macintosh comes in and makes this strategy possible.

There is an excellent Safari installer database here:

https://mrmacintosh.com/macos-safari-full-installer-database-download-directly-from-apple/

The site tracks Safari releases and provides links to full, standalone Safari installers that come directly from Apple’s servers. Once you download the version you care about, you can upload it to Jamf Pro and wire it into Patch Management like any other title.

Walking Through the Patch Workflow

From the Jamf Pro side, I treat Safari just like any other patched application.

First, I head to the Patch Management section and open the Apple Safari software title. From the high-level Patch Report, I can quickly see how many Macs are already on the latest Safari build and how many are lagging behind.

Safari Patch Management – Overview

From there I drill into the Patch Report view. This gives me the percentage of devices on the latest version, broken down by version number. It is the easiest way to see whether the new Safari rollout is basically done, or if there are pockets of older versions hanging around that I need to investigate.

Safari Patch Management – Patch Report

Next I move over to the Definition tab. This page is the brain of Patch Management for Safari. It lists every version Jamf has in its definition feed, but only the versions that have an associated package can be selected in a patch policy. When you first open it, you will likely see the newer Safari versions without packages attached.

Safari Patch Management – Definition Versions

This is where the standalone installers from Mr. Macintosh come into play. I download the correct installer for my macOS baseline, upload that package into Jamf Pro, and then attach it to the matching entry in the Definition table. Once that association exists, Jamf Pro is happy and that Safari version becomes deployable.

Safari Patch Management – Package Associated

With the package attached, I create or edit a Patch Policy for Safari and target the new version. In the General and Scope tabs I decide who gets the update and when. In User Interaction I decide how noisy I want to be about the update: quiet installation in the background, a gentle prompt, or something a little more insistent with deferrals and deadlines.

Safari Patch Management – Patch Policy General

Once that policy is enabled, Jamf Pro handles the rest. Clients check in, evaluate whether they meet the minimum OS requirement, download the standalone Safari installer, and move themselves forward. The Patch Report view becomes my source of truth for how far along the rollout is.

The big upside of this strategy is that it is highly visible and automated. You get reliable reporting, a clear picture of compliance, and very little ongoing effort once the policy is in place. The trade-off is that you have to keep feeding Patch Management with fresh Safari packages as Apple releases them, which is exactly why Mr. Macintosh’s database is such a valuable resource.

Strategy 2: Targeted Safari Updates With a Jamf Pro Script

Sometimes I need more control than Patch Management provides, or I want to update a subset of devices without building a full patch policy around it. For that, I like using a simple Jamf Pro script that calls the macOS softwareupdate tool directly.

The script below does a few things:

  • Reads the current Safari version from the Safari app bundle
  • Compares that version to a target version
  • Installs a specific Safari update from the software update catalog, using an identifier passed in as a Jamf Pro parameter
  • Verifies that Safari actually landed on the desired version

Here is the script:

#!/bin/zsh

# JAMF Parameters
UPDATE_IDENTIFIER="$4"   # e.g., Safari26.1SequoiaAuto-26.1
TARGET_VERSION="$5"      # e.g., 26.1

# Get current Safari version
CURRENT_VERSION=$(defaults read /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Info CFBundleShortVersionString 2>/dev/null)

echo "Current Safari version: $CURRENT_VERSION"
echo "Target Safari version: $TARGET_VERSION"
echo "Update identifier: $UPDATE_IDENTIFIER"

if [[ "$CURRENT_VERSION" == "$TARGET_VERSION" ]]; then
    echo "✅ Safari is already at version $TARGET_VERSION. No update needed."
    exit 0
else
    echo "Safari is not at target version. Installing update..."
    if softwareupdate -i "$UPDATE_IDENTIFIER" --verbose; then
        NEW_VERSION=$(defaults read /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Info CFBundleShortVersionString 2>/dev/null)
        if [[ "$NEW_VERSION" == "$TARGET_VERSION" ]]; then
            echo "✅ Safari updated successfully to version $NEW_VERSION."
            exit 0
        else
            echo "⚠️ Update command completed, but Safari version is still $NEW_VERSION."
            exit 0
        fi
    else
        echo "❌ Safari update failed."
        exit 1
    fi
fi

Get Script Here

In Jamf Pro, I assign this script to a policy and make use of parameters 4 and 5:

  • Parameter 4 becomes the update identifier. This is the exact product name that softwareupdate exposes. I usually grab it from the Software Updates tab in a computer inventory record, or by running softwareupdate -l on a test Mac and copying the Safari line. It often looks something like Safari26.1SequoiaAuto-26.1.
  • Parameter 5 becomes the human-friendly Safari version I want installed, like 26.1. This is what the script compares against the version string in the Safari bundle after installation.

From there, the workflow is straightforward. I build a smart group that finds Macs whose Safari version is less than the target version and whose macOS build meets whatever minimum OS requirement Apple lists for that Safari release. I scope the policy and script to that smart group, pass in the update identifier and target version, and let the clients do the rest.

This approach has a few advantages:

It does not require uploading any packages. It uses the existing macOS software update catalog and simply tells the Mac to install one specific Safari update from that list. That is useful when I want something quick and targeted, especially if I am dealing with a small number of machines or chasing a newly disclosed vulnerability. Because Safari updates are almost always standalone and rarely require a reboot, these installations are usually low-impact for the user.

I also like this method as a troubleshooting tool. When a Patch Policy is behaving strangely, I can run this script manually through Jamf Remote or a temporary policy, confirm that softwareupdate is able to get Safari to the desired version, and then work backwards from there.

Strategy 3: Keeping macOS Current With Jamf Pro Blueprints

The third strategy stretches the scope a bit wider: instead of focusing on Safari directly, I focus on keeping macOS itself up to date. On newer platforms, Safari is tightly coupled with the OS, so a modern macOS build almost always implies a modern Safari build.

Jamf Pro’s Blueprint and Declarative Device Management story is a big step forward here. Rather than firing one-off commands from the server, you declare the state you want the Mac to be in, and the device enforces that state locally. That model maps very nicely onto OS updates.

A typical Blueprint in my environment might say something like this:

  • The Mac must be running at least macOS 15.1.
  • Software updates should be downloaded automatically in the background.
  • Users should be notified when an update is available but can defer it a limited number of times.
  • After a certain deadline, the update becomes mandatory and will be installed during a configured window.

Once that Blueprint is associated with a Mac, the system handles a lot of the heavy lifting. The device knows which updates it needs, when the deadline is, and how many deferrals the user has left. Jamf Pro becomes more of a source of truth and a reporting surface than a command-and-control clicker.

From a Safari perspective, this means that as long as I keep my minimum OS version moving forward on a reasonable cadence, Safari simply comes along for the ride. When Apple ships a major Safari security release tied to a macOS point update, I do not need a special Safari workflow at all; the Blueprint-driven OS update process brings both the OS and the bundled Safari build up to date.

This strategy is especially attractive in environments that are all-in on macOS Sequoia and newer hardware. It reduces the number of moving pieces in the patching story: instead of juggling a mix of standalone installers, scripts, and policies, I can treat the OS as the primary object and let Safari track along with it. I still keep the other strategies available for edge cases and older Macs, but my long-term goal is always to make the Blueprint-driven path the default.

Choosing the Right Approach

In practice, I do not pick only one of these strategies. I treat them as a toolbox:

  • Patch Management plus Mr. Macintosh gives me a well-lit path with strong reporting when I want a traditional patch flow and I am comfortable maintaining a library of Safari installers.
  • The Jamf script approach gives me fast, targeted updates driven directly by the softwareupdate binary and a pair of Jamf parameters. It is ideal for surgical patching and troubleshooting.
  • Blueprint-driven macOS updates let me zoom out, keep the operating system itself on a healthy cadence, and trust that Safari will stay in lockstep on supported platforms.

If you are just starting to tame Safari updates, I would start with the script and a couple of smart groups so you can see how softwareupdate behaves in your environment. From there, decide whether your long-term comfort zone is more Patch-Management-centric, or whether you want to invest in Blueprints and OS updates as your primary control plane.

Either way, the goal is the same: a fleet of Macs where the browser is never the weakest link.

Resources

Here are the resources mentioned above in one place:

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