Solution to the most typical errors in Safari

There are a number of errors that, despite not occurring at the same time, are usually the most common. In fact, almost all of them can appear in different versions of the operating system and in practically any type of Mac without distinction, so they are not associated with specific models or specific software. Luckily most have a quick fix that you can do yourself.

If it closes suddenly

This is not only one of the most common Safari failures, but it is also one of the most tedious. Being calmly browsing any web page and suddenly the application closes abruptly and without having received any prior notice. In what if there are variations is in what happens afterwards, since there are times when opening it restores the same tabs and windows that were before closing and others in which it starts from scratch. In any case, they are not normal closings and therefore it is always recommended to send a report to Apple about it if it is requested on the screen by means of a pop-up message after this.

If the failure is specific you should not worry, since it could be a very specific bug that does not require your attention to solve it. Now, if the failure occurs regularly and / or spreads to other apps , it is more than likely that you will have to end up restoring the operating system in the best of cases. At worst it could be due to an overload of the RAM , either because it has reached its limit or because it is faulty. In the latter case, you will have to contact Apple’s technical service.

History clears itself

Maintaining the Safari history on the Mac can be useful to make certain queries or to be able to enter more quickly in pages that are accessed on a regular basis. If in your case you give relevance to this section, it is more than evident that you will not like it to delete itself. Therefore, we recommend that you first review the settings in this regard by following these steps:

1. Open Safari.
2. In the Apple menu (top bar) follow the path Safari> Preferences.
3. Go to the ‘General’ tab.
4. Check the option that you have marked in ‘Delete items from history’. There are the following options:
   • After a day
   • After a week
   • After two weeks
   • After one month
   • After a year
   • Manually

If you have selected the option manually, the history should not be deleted, while if you had selected any of the other options, it will be deleted when that time established in the settings expires.

Another reason why the history could be erased “only” is because of the Mac cleaning applications , which optimize the performance of the device by deleting some data such as this history. If you do these cleanings manually, watch when you execute them so as not to delete this data and in case you have them automated, try to review the configuration so that it maintains the history without erasing it in each cleaning.

If it is very slow in loading web pages

As we said at the beginning of this article, Safari is one of the most recommended browsers to use on Macs due to its energy efficiency and the speed with which it works. However, it can be slow for several reasons, the main one being related to the internet connection. If you are connected via WiFi it is recommended that you verify that the signal arrives correctly and if it is via cable that you try another in case the one you have is giving failures. And in both cases, try to perform a speed test to see if you are browsing below normal.

You could also try opening pages in private browsing in order to see if they load better that way. If this is the case, it will be because all cookies will be publicly enabled, sometimes having much longer loading times due to them. Another option that you would have would be to try another browser and verify if the same thing happens to you or if, on the contrary, it is really Safari that is causing problems.

Problems with extensions

In the past it was not usual to have extensions in Safari, being something more typical of other browsers such as Chrome. However, the Apple browser has them and therefore there should be no problem for their use. The first thing you should check, as obvious as it may seem, is that these are activated . To do this you must go to the Safari menu (upper left) and open ‘Preferences’. Once you are there you should go to ‘Extensions’ and check if they are activated on the left side by means of their respective check boxes.

Another aspect to keep in mind is that they are compatible with the version of Safari you have, something that you can see from their tab in the App Store. If they are not compatible, it is likely that there is an update on them, so it is advisable that you download them to test their operation in the current version of the browser.

No markers appear or different ones appear

Safari bookmarks, also known as favorites , are those websites that can be saved to be accessed at any time even if history is cleared. Remember that these appear in the so-called ” Main Page “, which appears when you open a new window and / or a new tab if you have it configured.

If other than the ones you had saved appear, it may be due to iCloud synchronization. If you have this functionality active for Safari on the Mac and other Apple devices, in all of them you will have identical bookmarks and therefore you will not be able to make it different. And with regard to the fact that only some appear, it may be because they are not displayed, so we advise you to go to that bookmarks screen and click on the icon of an arrow so that all appear.

Actions that serve to solve any problem

If the comments in previous sections have not helped you to make Safari work well again, you can try one of the following tips. These allow you to solve any software problem on the device, including bugs with the browser, so they can end up being the most effective.

• Close all the applications that are open on the device, although not by clicking on the cross, since they would remain open in the background. What you have to do is close them completely using the keyboard shortcut CMD + Q or by going to the Apple menu (upper left part of the screen), clicking on “Force exit” and closing all the applications one by one.
• Kill all background processes , which does not always happen when applications are closed as we previously showed. Turn off and on (or directly reboot) your Mac to shut down the Mac and log in again to test if Safari is working fine.
• Update to the latest version of macOS , which will include a new version of Safari that probably has resolved issues like the one affecting you.
• Restore the operating system if you cannot get it to work properly, although it is recommended that you have previously made a backup of your most important documents. This is too harsh a solution, but it is certainly the most effective solution for practically any software problem that affects the Mac.