Okta Extension App 4+

Broken in Safari 18.0

The extension that usually shows a list of apps in my Safari top bar now is prompting me to sign in—and no matter how many times I sign in, nor how many times I uninstall and reinstall this app, it's no longer able to show the list of apps.

I did like how convenient this was, but please fix this, this is the main reason why I have this installed!

Now Needs Excessive Permissions

I don't use Okta to store passwords, but rather use it for SSO to various things we use at work. Before the latest update, I was able to use the Okta extension essentially as a set of bookmarks for work tools, and I would get signed on with SSO when clicking on the icon in the drop-down.

With this latest update, the drop-down requires full permission on whatever site I'm currently on, which I refuse to give Okta. This didn't need access to that level of data work previously, and it still doesn't.

What is this app doing?

My company uses Okta for single sign on, which is fine. But in order to use the app portal, it basically forces you to use this plug in.

What exactly does the plug in do? in addition to its apparent end user functionality, what else is it doing? does it log web data? are employers using it to snoop into employee browsing activity? is it sucking data and sending it anywhere?

many people work at home, some people live in europe, it seems like an extension like this could run afoul of privacy concerns pretty quickly. it would be nice to have a statement from Okta on this.

Developer Response ,

Hi Mdhj, The Okta Extension App is required by Apple to install the browser plugin that allows you to securely login to applications that don’t support SAML using Single Sign-On. Essentially, the plugin allows for credentials for certain websites to be securely passed from the Okta cloud directly to the web sign-in page, without the need to store those logins on your computer. This also allows for instances where your IT may have pre-defined (shared) website credentials that they may like you to use for specific sites. It also allows you to secure your sign-in information from websites you frequently visit on to the Okta cloud, if your IT has enabled feature. The message to install the plugin will only be displayed if you have been assigned applications that require the plugin to securely sign you in. This extension does not allow employers to monitor your browsing activity, log your website data, or snoop on you. The purpose of the App is simply to install the plugin in Safari that allows you to be authenticated to certain types of websites. For more detailed information about this plugin, please visit: https://help.okta.com/en/prod/Content/Topics/Apps/Apps_Browser_Plugin.htm.

Hope this helps!
Okta Customer Support