Safari is one of the best stable web browsers available across all devices available on the modern internet. But at times, you might face random freezing and crashing issues. The guide aims to help you resolve the iPad Safari keeps crashing issue, and bring the joy back to your favorite browser.
There are a few reasons why Safari keeps crashing when you try to open it or when already on the website.
- It might be something going on in the background of the website you are visiting or an issue on the one you have opened in another tab.
- You might be running an older version of the software with an issue that has since been fixed.
- A webpage might be using a plug-in, an extension, or other software that has a problem.
- Your Mac might be running low on memory or storage space.
We’ll therefore look at each below and explain how you can fix, or even avoid crashing altogether.
Force Quit the Safari App and Relaunch It
The first basic solution is to force quit the Safari app and reopen it.
- For this, on an iPhone with no Home button, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and hold.
- On iPhone with the Home button, quickly double press it. Then, drag the Safari app card up, to force close it. After a few seconds, open Safari again.
Restart your iPhone
There are two ways to restart or reboot your iPhone/iPad.
- Use the physical button(s) on your device to switch it off. Long press the Power button as well as the Home button concurrently. When the Apple logo appears on the front of your screen, now release your finger. The iPhone will forcefully restart and could fix more than one problem at once.
- Another method is to open the Settings app, tap on General, and then tap Shut Down to turn off your iPhone or iPad. After a minute or so, go on and switch it back on.
Update to the latest iOS
Since Safari is not a third-party app, it can not be updated through the App Store like other apps. To fix bugs and existing problems in Safari, Apple releases incremental iOS updates. Make sure to always run the latest version of iOS or iPadOS on your devices.
To update to the latest software version,
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
- Tap on General and then tap on Software Update.
- If there is a pending update available, tap on Download and Install option. This will automatically download and install the latest update.
Clear Safari History and Website Data
Safari collects browsing history, cookies, caches, and other data on your iPad or iPhone. This stored data makes loading faster on sites you most frequent. From time to time, that data can also intervene with the functionality of the app. Clearing them out could fix the iPhone Safari Crashing issue or Safari stalling on some websites.
- Tap Settings
- Go to Safari and then tap Clear History and Website Data.
Turn off the JavaScript option
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad and tap on Safari.
- Tap on Advanced from the bottom
- Turn off the toggle for JavaScript.
Use Reader mode
If you find Safari isn’t working for just one website, you could try viewing it in Reader mode.
- Click on the icon that looks like a cluster of lines on the left of the URL/search bar.
- This will open a “Reader mode” view of the webpage, removing some of the things that could be causing problems for you, such as the adverts.
There is an option also to always divert that particular website to always display on the “reader mode view”. Just right-click on the Reader icon and select “Use Reader Automatically” on [website name].
Disable iCloud and Safari syncing
Safari syncs all your data to your iCloud account as a backup and makes it available on the iPad/iPad. If this syncing is interrupted, the information mismatch can cause Safari to freeze or crash. Try to disable iCloud Safari syncing momentarily.
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone. Tap your name at the top.
- Go to the iCloud settings page and toggle the switch next to Safari to disable syncing.
Turn Off Safari Suggestions
When you type a URL, Apple sends what you type to its servers, returning a response with autocomplete search queries, Top Sites, and other info.
Disabling Safari Suggestions seems to help resolve the latest bug causing crashes on the iOS/iPad. On your iPhone or iPad,
- Go to Settings, tap Safari, and toggle off the ‘Safari Suggestions’ switch.
This is a temporary fix until Apple sorts its servers out, as this also disables an important feature, the Safari Suggestions functionality.
Another option is to use Private Browsing mode. In private browsing, Safari does not contact the suggestions server for intelligent auto-completion options. So, the server is never contacted, and the crash thus would not arise.
Disable or Remove Safari Extensions
The Safari extensions can offer additional features, but they can also cause issues. Follow the steps below to detect and delete the culprit extensions from Safari:
- Go to Safari
- Tap on preferences, then press the Extensions option to display all extensions.
- Uncheck the extension you want to disable.
- Another option is to click on the target extension and then click Uninstall to uninstall it from Safari.
Close Safari Tabs
Each tab or Safari window takes up a little space in memory. This means, the more tabs opened, will make Safari start fighting for resources with other apps. This will lead to Safari slowing down dramatically. To close the Safari tabs, follow the following steps.
- Open the Safari app on the iPhone/iPad.
- Tap the two square icons on the Safari interface.
- Then, choose Close [number] Tabs.
Find an alternative replacement to Safari
If a browser is not working, you have to try some other browsers to utilize. This possibility is more realistic now since Apple provides an option to change the default browser, and no longer only default to its Safari option. There are a number of other web browsers available for iOS users to download from the App Store. Try some of them: Google Chrome, Firefox, and even Microsoft Edge.
Conclusion
Above are some effective solutions to fix the problem of Safari crashing and freezing on your iPhone or iPad.
Always, it is advisable to contact Apple to get further technical support If this issue persists.
An alternative also will be to install another browser altogether.