Safari Crashing on Your Mac? 8 Easy Solutions

Safari crashes always seem to happen at the worst times. After some quick troubleshooting, I found a few reliable solutions that can help stop those crashes. In this guide, I’ll walk you through easy steps to get Safari working smoothly on your Mac again.

How to Fix Safari Crashing on Mac

Let’s explore these eight best solutions to fix the Safari crashing issue on Mac:

1. Force Quit Safari

To force quit Safari on a Mac, follow these steps:

1. Click the Apple logo and select Force Quit. Alternatively, press Command ⌘ + Option ⌥ + Esc simultaneously to open the Force Quit Applications window.

2. In the Force Quit Applications window, select Safari.
3. Click the Force Quit button.

4. Click Force Quit on the pop-up to close Safari.

You can also use Activity Monitor to force quit Safari.

1. Open Activity Monitor using Spotlight search. Press Command ⌘ + Spacebar and type Activity Monitor.

2. In the list of processes, look for Safari.
3. Select Safari and click the X button in the top toolbar.
4. A prompt will appear asking if you want to quit this process. Click Force Quit.

2. Close Unnecessary Tabs in Safari

Too many open tabs can cause crashes, so closing unused ones frees up memory. Here’s how to close all unused tabs at once in Safari:

1. Select your Safari window with multiple tabs open.

2. Right-click the tab you want to keep and select the option Close Other Tabs from the context menu.

This will close all tabs except the one you selected and fix Safari crashing on your Mac.

3. Restart Your Mac

A simple restart can refresh your system and resolve any temporary issues causing Safari to crash. To restart your Mac, follow these steps:

1. Click the Apple logo in the top-left corner of your screen.
2. Select Restart from the dropdown menu.

3. If you have open documents with unsaved changes, you’ll be prompted to save them.
4. Confirm the restart by clicking Restart in the dialog box.

4. Clear Safari Cache and Cookies

Clearing cached data and cookies can help Safari run more smoothly and prevent crashes. To clear cache and cookies on Safari, follow these steps:

1. Open Safari, click Safari in the menu bar, and select Settings.

2. Select the Privacy tab.

3. Click Manage Website Data. 

4. Select Remove All to clear your cache and cookies.

5. Confirm by clicking Remove Now on the pop-up.

6. Restart the Safari browser, and it should fix the crashing issue.

5. Disable or Remove Safari Extensions

Faulty or outdated extensions can cause crashes, so disabling or removing them can improve stability. Here’s how to disable or remove browser extensions on Mac in Safari:

1. Open Safari, click Safari in the menu bar, and select Settings in the drop-down menu.

2. Select the Extensions tab in the new window.

3. Uncheck the box next to each extension to disable them.

4. Close Safari and reopen it to see whether the problem is gone.

6. Update Safari

Using the latest version may prevent Safari crashing on your Mac due to errors and bugs. To update Safari on your Mac, follow these steps:

1. Head to the System Settings via the Apple icon.

2. Select General and click Software Update.

3. If an update is available, click Update Now to download and install them.

4. This will update your macOS, and Safari will be updated, too.
5. Restart Safari, and the crashing issue should no longer exist.

7. Get Rid of Malware on Your Mac Using MacKeeper

Malware can slow down or crash Safari, so scanning and removing it helps improve performance. You can use MacKeeper’s Antivirus to run a virus scan on your Mac. Here’s how:

1. Download and install MacKeeper on your Mac.
2. Launch Mackeeper and click the Antivirus tab in the left sidebar.

3. Click the Start Scan button to scan your system for issues.

4. Once the scan is complete, click the Fix items button to fix any problems found.
5. If no threats are found, click Restart to run the scan again or close the process.

6. Restart your Mac and try using Safari again. Hopefully, you won’t face Safari crashing on your Mac after this.

8. Delete Your Safari Preference Files

Deleting your Safari preference files can be a useful step in troubleshooting issues with Safari on a Mac. Here’s how to do it:

1. Make sure Safari is not running. If it is, quit the application by right-clicking the Safari icon in the Dock and choosing Quit or going to Safari > Quit Safari in the menu bar.

2. Click the Finder icon in your Dock to open a new Finder window.

3. Hold down the Option ⌥ key and click the Go menu at the top of the screen.
4. While holding the Option ⌥ key, the Library folder appears in the menu. Click on it to open the Library folder.

5. Inside the Library folder, find and open the Preferences folder.

6. Look for files named com.apple.Safari.plist and any other files that start with com.apple.Safari.

7. Drag these files to the Bin. Alternatively, you can right-click them and select Move to Bin.
8. Right-click the Bin in the Dock and select Empty Bin. This will permanently delete the files.

Prevent Safari Crashes on Mac

Now that you’ve figured out how to troubleshoot Safari crashes on Mac, you may want to avoid such scenarios in the future. To prevent future crashes and performance issues on Safari, try these tips: 

• If Safari bookmarks disappeared on Mac, you can restore them by quitting and restarting Safari.
• Delete Safari history on your Mac regularly to prevent it from piling up.
• Block websites on Safari on Mac if they are causing it to slow down or crash.

Frequently Asked Questions