Safari is one of the most proficient apps on Mac and it has been improvised from time to time. However, a pinwheel of death is inevitable and every one of us has experienced that while using Mac. What if it comes when you are surfing on Safari and opening an important page such as banking website and it gets stuck. You can’t do anything and the only resort is to force quit Safari. If this happens more frequently, then you need to address the issue.
In this post, we have listed a step by step guide to deal with Safari keeps crashing on Mac. Also, we have listed some of the probable reasons why it happens in the first place.
Why Does It Happen?
It is not easy to know why exactly Safari crashes unless you send a report to Apple Genius to analyze the crash reports, which seems to be practically impossible. However, there could be probable reasons for the delay:
- Numerous Windows or tabs opened at once.
- The website that you are working on, has overloaded Safari with its plugin use or processing demands.
- A lot of caches and cookies can be the reason.
- An outdated extension can be the culprit.
- You have an older version of Safari
- Your Mac might be running slow.
- Something fishy with the webpage you are trying to open.
- Macs can be low on storage space.
- Problem with a plugin.
- Other applications running along.
- Number of tabs or windows has exceeded by a large number.
- Old version of the operating system.
So here we listed the major issues for Safari not responding on your Mac. Let’s take a look at how we can take measures to fix the issue if Safari is not opening.
How to Fix Safari when it Crashes?
When Safari stops responding, the first thing that would be required is Patience. Sometimes, the poor browser might need a minute to get the things in place. To speed up the process, try and close other applications to let Safari get back to life. If nothing happens, then follow these steps:
1. Close all the tabs. Look out for the web pages that have heavy flash ads, often they are the reason for frozen Safari, and it will also deter Mac’s performance. This might be the possible reason why Safari keeps freezing on Mac.
Note: Common sign of too much background processes running is if your computer heats up real quick with the fan running wild.
2. Now force quit Safari by pressing Control Key along with the mouse cursor clicking on Safari icon in the dock. Choose Quit or Force Quit. It is the best way to fix the Safari not responding and further we can look for the deep-rooted reason.
Note: Turning Off the computer is a better option when your computer along with Safari is also frozen, then hold the Power button for 3 seconds until the screen goes dark. Press the power button again to restart your Mac.
3. Check if Safari is updated to the latest version. To do that, relaunch the app. Now go to the top right corner and choose Safari > About. A window will open, you can see the Safari version listed. If it is not the updated version, go to the Mac App Store and update it to the latest version.
If Safari crashes on opening, it might be the case of older versions that are no longer compatible with the system. When we update it, the issues can be resolved quickly.
4. One of the reasons for crashing could be cookies and caches on Safari. Go to History and then choose “Clear History and Website Data”. You will get a prompt asking to clear history, cookies and other website data for the last hour, today, today and yesterday and all history. Click on all history and then Clear History.
Note: This will delete all the history on your Safari along with cache, and this could fix crashing issues. It is good to make it a habit of clearing cache and history daily to avoid the issue in future.
5. You can also remove unwanted extensions from Safari to avoid the issue. For that, go to Safari-> Preferences. It is one of the reasons for Safari crashes on opening or Safari freezing on Mac.
On the window opened, go to the Extensions tab. You will get a list of extensions that you have enabled or installed in your Safari. To remove unwanted extensions, click the “Uninstall” button. You can also uncheck the “enable” box for extensions which are not used frequently. If you think any of the installed extensions are responsible for the crash, try uninstalling the app. Also keeping them up to date is a healthy way to reduce their load on Safari.
6. If any of the fixes don’t work for you, then Safari might not be at fault. If you are using an Older Mac machine, and if the startup disk is running out of disk space, then it could not be the issue of Safari.
In this case, Safari keeps crashing on Mac, but none of the above methods seems to work. We recommend using Cleanup My System, which is an excellent software to fix all performance-related issues on Mac. It comes equipped with various useful tools to clear out the junk, temporarily saved files etc. to make space in disk storage. It also helps in clearing out the redundant applications which can hog up a lot of space. Get Cleanup My System now and go to Smart Cleanup to the scan for your cleanup and optimization of Mac.
As you run the scan, you will get the scan summary which shows all of the unwanted cache files, temporary files etc. Click on Clean Now to get rid of the junk quickly.
As you recover disk storage space, your Mac performance will improve. Cleanup My System will also help in fixing the Safari crashes on opening issues.
So, these are some of the methods which could help you to fix Safari keeps crashing on Mac. Try them out and let us know what worked for you!