Great utility for users of multiple web browsers

I like to do my work in Chrome and keep my personal life in Safari. Problem is, if I click a link in an email or a chat message from a coworker, I’m going to get sent to my system’s default web browser. Which means I have to pick one browser to handle all links, and then deal with the frustration of constantly being sent to the “wrong” browser. With so many great web browsers, why should I have to pick just one?

Thankfully, with Browser Fairy, I no longer have to! I just set Browser Fairy as my system’s default browser, and then it was very easy to set up some rules to control what links go to what browser. You can also choose a fallback browser to use if none of your rules are matched, or even set it up to prompt you, which allows you to make the final decision for links that may be questionable. With this setup, if I click a link in an email that goes to my corporate Intranet, it opens up in Chrome. If a friend emails me a link to a YouTube video, that’ll go straight to Safari. Magic!

I absolutely love this app. It’s such a simple concept, but makes a huge difference in my daily Mac usage. The only issue I’ve seen is that shortened links (t.co, goo.gl, etc.) circumvent any rules that are based on checking the URL, since the actual destination URL is unknown. I emailed the developer about this, and they were very responsive, replying back the same day to let me know this issue is on their radar but they have been cautious about dealing with it because any solution would also come with potential downsides (delay while determining the actual destination URL, for instance). But, hands down, a great app from a great developer!

Michael McAuley about Browser Fairy