Get Firefox, a free web browser backed by Mozilla, a non-profit dedicated to internet health and privacy. Available now on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS. For this reason, you can now download Internet Explorer for Mac OS X, and it's free. There are legacy websites that still use Flash and Java, so Internet Explorer still has a target audience of websites that it can be used with. Mac Internet Explorer works just as you would expect, and it does a good job at rendering websites and basic navigation.
How To Download Internet Explorer For Mac
Once upon a time, Internet Explorer was the default browser on all Apple Mac devices. Until 2003, when Apple released Safari, which eventually resulted in Microsoft discontinuing any support for Internet Explorer for Mac from 2005 onwards.
After that, the agreement that Apple and Microsoft was dissolved and any download links from official sites were removed. Getting IE or a newer Microsoft browser, Edge, on a Mac, simply isn't possible unless you want to download a potentially risky version from Torrent sites (not recommended).
So unless you are still running Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and earlier versions, you won't be able to get and operate Internet Explorer, and the only versions you might be able to access have been unsupported since 2005.
For anyone with a passing familiarity with computers, that sounds like a major security breach waiting to happen. You don't want to be attempting to run a browser that hasn't benefited from any official support and upgrades for over a decade; so for those who need access to IE, this article is about how to get Internet Explorer for Mac.
How to get Internet Explorer for Mac?
As we mentioned, IE and Microsoft's more evolved browser, Edge, is not directly available for Mac users. It isn't as though there aren't plenty of other browsers around, including Safari, Firefox and Chrome.
Download Internet Explorer For Apple Mac
However, for those who develop apps and web-based technology, it can be useful - if not essential - to view how something is going to look and function on other web browsers, including Internet Explorer. It could be detrimental, especially if you've got users or customers of a web-based product, to launch it with no knowledge or testing of the user-experience across a range of browsers, including Internet Explorer.
Thankfully, there is a way to simulate having Internet Explorer on a Mac without downloading a security risk or using a Mac which is running Snow Leopard. Here is how you can get Internet Explorer on a Mac:
- Open Safari (this can be used to test the browser experience from other operating systems)
- Go to Preferences > Advanced
- At the bottom of this is a checkbox: Tick it: 'Show Develop menu in menu bar'
- Now this gives you access to Developer Tools (known as the Develop menu in Safari's menu bar);
- The Develop Menu is accessible through the top toolbar when Safari is open
- Go to User Agent
- Within that, you should be able to select a number of Internet Explorer and Edge browser versions to experience on a Mac, which should give you the user-experience required to test a new web-based product on those browsers on a Mac
- Whatever website you are on will automatically refresh to mirror an IE or Edge experience, on Mac. Do remember to switch back to Safari after you've visited that website using the User Agent option in the Develop menu.
If, for any reason, you need to take the IE experience to the next level on a Mac, you could download a virtual machine (such as VMware Fusion, which has a Windows license), therefore creating a Microsoft environment on a Mac, which would allow you to download Internet Explorer.
Before you do that, it can be useful to make sure your Mac is running at peak performance and not cluttered up with unwanted system junk. Here is how you can do that:
- Download CleanMyMac X (for free, here)
- Click on the Systems Junk tab
- Once your systems have been scanned, you can safely delete anything taking up space and slowing your Mac down.
Run Internet Explorer on a virtual machine
For those who need to take this one step further, here is how you can use Internet Explorer and run other Microsoft programs.
- Buy and download virtual machine software (such as VMware fusion)
- Now download a Windows ISO file (from the relevant Microsoft website)
- Launch VMware Fusion
- During the installation sequence, click 'Create a new custom virtual machine'
- Drag and drop the Windows ISO file into the dialogue window
- Click Finish
- Then relaunch the Virtual Machine
- Now you can download Internet Explorer, Edge and any number of web or app-based Microsoft products.
When you want to go back to running software on macOS, remember to close the virtual machine and revert to your Mac how it usually is. For those who want to improve their overall Mac experience, the app we mentioned - CleanMyMac X - is well worth downloading. CleanMyMac X was created to make your life and work easier, and make your Mac operate as good as new.
If you don't know how to download Internet Explorer for Mac, you can follow the instructions given in this write-up for doing so.
If you visit the official website of Microsoft, you wouldn't find Internet Explorer for Mac available for download. This is due to the fact that the agreement between Apple and Microsoft regarding the Microsoft IE Mac edition ended way back in 2003. At one time, the IE Mac edition was the default browser for all the Apple computers. Initially, it had the same code base as the Internet Explorer Windows edition, however, Microsoft later came up with a unique layout engine for the Mac edition of Internet Explorer.
Would you like to write for us? Well, we're looking for good writers who want to spread the word. Get in touch with us and we'll talk...
In 2003, Apple brought its own web browser (Safari) and terminated its agreement with Microsoft. However, some Mac users still want to download IE Mac edition. Most of them are web designers and developers who need all the browsers for conducting cross-browser testing of their websites and apps. Let's learn about the process of downloading IE for Macintosh computers.
Can You Download IE for Mac?
- Open Safari (this can be used to test the browser experience from other operating systems)
- Go to Preferences > Advanced
- At the bottom of this is a checkbox: Tick it: 'Show Develop menu in menu bar'
- Now this gives you access to Developer Tools (known as the Develop menu in Safari's menu bar);
- The Develop Menu is accessible through the top toolbar when Safari is open
- Go to User Agent
- Within that, you should be able to select a number of Internet Explorer and Edge browser versions to experience on a Mac, which should give you the user-experience required to test a new web-based product on those browsers on a Mac
- Whatever website you are on will automatically refresh to mirror an IE or Edge experience, on Mac. Do remember to switch back to Safari after you've visited that website using the User Agent option in the Develop menu.
If, for any reason, you need to take the IE experience to the next level on a Mac, you could download a virtual machine (such as VMware Fusion, which has a Windows license), therefore creating a Microsoft environment on a Mac, which would allow you to download Internet Explorer.
Before you do that, it can be useful to make sure your Mac is running at peak performance and not cluttered up with unwanted system junk. Here is how you can do that:
- Download CleanMyMac X (for free, here)
- Click on the Systems Junk tab
- Once your systems have been scanned, you can safely delete anything taking up space and slowing your Mac down.
Run Internet Explorer on a virtual machine
For those who need to take this one step further, here is how you can use Internet Explorer and run other Microsoft programs.
- Buy and download virtual machine software (such as VMware fusion)
- Now download a Windows ISO file (from the relevant Microsoft website)
- Launch VMware Fusion
- During the installation sequence, click 'Create a new custom virtual machine'
- Drag and drop the Windows ISO file into the dialogue window
- Click Finish
- Then relaunch the Virtual Machine
- Now you can download Internet Explorer, Edge and any number of web or app-based Microsoft products.
When you want to go back to running software on macOS, remember to close the virtual machine and revert to your Mac how it usually is. For those who want to improve their overall Mac experience, the app we mentioned - CleanMyMac X - is well worth downloading. CleanMyMac X was created to make your life and work easier, and make your Mac operate as good as new.
If you don't know how to download Internet Explorer for Mac, you can follow the instructions given in this write-up for doing so.
If you visit the official website of Microsoft, you wouldn't find Internet Explorer for Mac available for download. This is due to the fact that the agreement between Apple and Microsoft regarding the Microsoft IE Mac edition ended way back in 2003. At one time, the IE Mac edition was the default browser for all the Apple computers. Initially, it had the same code base as the Internet Explorer Windows edition, however, Microsoft later came up with a unique layout engine for the Mac edition of Internet Explorer.
Would you like to write for us? Well, we're looking for good writers who want to spread the word. Get in touch with us and we'll talk...
In 2003, Apple brought its own web browser (Safari) and terminated its agreement with Microsoft. However, some Mac users still want to download IE Mac edition. Most of them are web designers and developers who need all the browsers for conducting cross-browser testing of their websites and apps. Let's learn about the process of downloading IE for Macintosh computers.
Can You Download IE for Mac?
Yes, you can download the IE Mac edition. However, it is not available on the official Microsoft website. So, there are other places where you can download IE for Mac. There are some websites that are specifically aimed at aggregating and providing old apps and software. Old apps is one such website. free. software download websites like softpedia or download.cnet may also provide some versions of IE for Mac.
How to Download
You can look up a website that has IE Mac edition available for download and follow the instructions there, or you can download it from the old apps website. There is another way of doing it, and that involves using an app called wineBottler. It is an app that converts Windows apps into apps that can used on Mac. Just download (google it) wineBottler and launch it. Now, look for the option ‘install predefined prefixes' and click on it. Choose the version of IE that you want to install. Now, assign a location for the installation on your Mac and install it.
Not all the IE versions work with stability on the Mac; you should avoid the version 8 of the software. If you just want to test your websites in IE, you could use websites like browsershots that show you screenshots of your websites in many different web browsers. You can also choose to install the last supported version of Internet Explorer for Mac, which was Internet Explorer 5. You could get this version from oldapps.
There are many ways in which you can test your website in different browsers. However, if you want to personally test your website in all the browsers along with its usability and accessibility, you can try using the aforementioned methods to download and install IE for Mac. As for browsing, there are several better alternatives to IE that give you a better speed and browsing experience.
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