Skip to main content

Safari on iOS and Mac crashing today for many users, bug related to Safari Suggestions, here’s how to fix

IMG_1516

Update: The Safari crash bug has now been fixed, according to Apple.

A strange bug is affecting many Safari users today, causing crashes on iPhone, iPad and Mac. For many users, simply tapping in the URL bar will cause the browser app to crash completely.  The exact issue causing the crashing has not been locked down, but it appears to be related to Apple’s Safari Suggestions service. It’s a very annoying bug that is affecting a lot of people all of sudden today.

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. There appears to be a bug in this server request that is causing Safari to randomly crash. Users are discovering some potential workarounds until Apple fixes the problem properly …

Disabling Safari Suggestions seems to be helping resolve the bug for many people on iOS. On your iPhone or iPad, go into Settings, tap Safari, and toggle off the ‘Safari Suggestions’ switch. This will fix the crashing, obviously its only a temporary fix until Apple sorts its servers out as it will disable the Safari Suggestions functionality.

Another option is to enter Private Browsing mode. In private browsing, by design Safari does not contact the suggestions server for intelligent completion options, so the server is never contacted and the crash never arises.

The bug is affecting users in many countries, but not all. It also depends on the state of your Safari, whether it has certain data cached already. The crash has been seen on iOS 8, iOS 9 and OS X 10.11. The bug could be even more widespread beyond these platforms however. It is pretty crazy flaw that is affecting so many people this morning, with many reports across European iOS customers.

We have contacted Apple about the issue for clarification, but it’s such a serious functional flaw that we expect a fix very shortly. Please note: this is an unrelated incident to the prank site CrashSafari.com.

In case you aren’t sure what to look for, here’s a super-short video showing the bug in action. Safari crashes as soon as you tap the URL bar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSPk0LaYJXc

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Comments

  1. Seth Weintraub - 8 years ago

    I switched to Chrome, problem seems to be resolved.

    • chrisl84 - 8 years ago

      lol

    • Francis Hwang - 8 years ago

      Lol

    • Jon Kip - 8 years ago

      this is really great, and interesting…. this bug apparently was on apple’s side and happened just today, as far as I know…and how little time it took for so many people to react and provide workable solutions is really cool…..

  2. taoprophet420 - 8 years ago

    Not sure if it is related, but Number Synckeeps un enabling for me. First it wouldn’t let me turn it on, then you wouldn’t verify the 911 address. On the AT&T site it is listing wearable devices instead of connected Apple devices like before.

  3. mahmudf2014 - 8 years ago

    C’mon Apple, you don’t expect me to be productive when these kind of problems are happening, do you? Should not have happened…

    • iSRS - 8 years ago

      So everything you do is 100% perfect, every single time? Never make a mistake?

      • dont think he meant to offend.. but this is a serious problem and apple should know better

      • Ricardo Mi Gusta - 8 years ago

        I don’t have thousands of persons working for me so that I don’t do a mistake this big. And I don’t have an obscene amount of money available to make sure I get the best persons on the job.

      • chrisl84 - 8 years ago

        Yeah lets compare a single person to a billion dollar business….smh

      • iSRS - 8 years ago

        Clearly a ton of software developers on this board.

        I didn’t take any offense, nor meant to offend.

        My point is this was something that clearly was server side based, and, at least for me, was remedied in a short time. Apple fixed it as quickly as it appeared.

        Yes, it “shouldn’t” have happened, but nothing is perfect.

    • PhilBoogie - 8 years ago

      Thanks for the laughs!

  4. Christopher Scott - 8 years ago

    “all of sudden” ?? I think a strange bug is affecting your grammar.

  5. Gordon Duncan - 8 years ago

    Problem started for me about an 90 mins ago in Australia with my iPad. Used Safari on my iMac to find the Safari Suggestions fix. Then I couldn’t type in the Safari Address bar on the iMac so I’ve turned Safari Suggestions on the iMac as well.

  6. Kristiana Kincaid - 8 years ago

    I can confirm that this happened for someone who hadn’t run the software update yet, so it’s unique to Safari and not specific to the IOS release.

  7. dont think he meant to offend anyone.. but this is a serious problem and APPLE should know better

    • iSRS - 8 years ago

      “Should know better” implies they tested this, it happened to them, and they released the code anyway.

      I seriously doubt that happened.

  8. I thought I was going nuts when this happened to me this morning then i decided to play around and figured out if i turned off safari suggestions in the system preferences it seemed to work, just gotten home and had other problems with safari on my macs so decided to do a search and came across other people having these problems just as of this morning….,

  9. helterskelter1987 - 8 years ago

    This temp fix worked on my 6s plus thanks

  10. PhilBoogie - 8 years ago

    Mine crashes without typing anything though. Just tapping in the omnibar crashes Safari. But your workaround does work, so what the heck do I know.

  11. Smigit - 8 years ago

    I find it curious this starts happening a few days after another Safari crash glitch hit the headlines – http://9to5mac.com/2016/01/25/safari-mac-iphone-ipad-crash/

    Probably two seperate things, but it hardly looks good, particularly when everything under 9.2.1 had been running fine until now.

  12. Burro Prize - 8 years ago

    I’m new to macbook, sorry for this question but where in macbook Safari can I change the settings? Thanks!

  13. rogifan - 8 years ago

    I’m not experiencing those so I guess I should consider myself lucky right now…

  14. Duncan McInnes - 8 years ago

    A million thanks for that solution. Now working coolio!!!!!!

    Cheers, Duncan McInnes

  15. Lorenz864 (@lorenz864) - 8 years ago

    I have this problem on my Macbook Pro with El Capitan 10.11.3…
    open Safari, go to preference, under “search” tab turn off Safari suggestions.
    It works now.

  16. Matisyahu Gardiner - 8 years ago

    “Safari on iOS and Mac crashing today for many users, bug related to Safari Suggestions, here’s how to fix”

    And yet you provide no guide when it comes to OS X. You do realise that people still use Mac’s?

  17. Roberto Marghelli - 8 years ago

    Really interesting the latest Apples’ solutions: In this case the solution it’s the disabling of an usable function of the browser, in another two issues related to wifi connection and bluetooth audio the other “genius” solutions are to avoid to use the wifi and connect with ethernet cable and instead of use external bt speaker use wired headphones… Does Apple loves the Vintage? In the next computer release we’ll have the Lisa instead of “working” and “usable” macintosh computers ?

  18. Also problem with macbook pro, thanks for this temp. fix ;)

  19. Jon Lamb (@comeinhandy) - 8 years ago

    Here’s a youtube video showing how to easily fix this
    https://youtu.be/bigLTlEpVp4

  20. Hedley Wright - 8 years ago

    Thanks for this, life saver :)

  21. Francis Hwang - 8 years ago

    I was furious this morning because of this exact problem. I have a fully loaded $1,200+ iPad Pro that I replaced my laptop with, so I need this to do business, and for Safari not to be stable has me more than a little peeved… I can;t believe I found this article this quickly…Thank you guys, and keep up the fantastic work

  22. varlottang - 8 years ago

    I had to fix my iPad and my iPhone, but a couple of friends told me that their devices work good.

  23. Joseph Obdami - 8 years ago

    Sure enough. Disabling Safari Suggestions fixed it. Anytime Safari starts acting up my first thought is “Goddamn Yahoo”. Well, I’m still saying it. Friggin’ hate Yahoo.

  24. Cna Mohammadi - 8 years ago

    I turned off the suggestions, cleared history and websites data, restart my phone turn the suggestions on, and everything’s fine right now. hope you make it through, it was driving me crazy. chrome in safari make my iphone 6s hot

  25. rileyharrisblog - 8 years ago

    Switching to private mode will work without a glitch

  26. Steph Gale - 8 years ago

    Thanks :)

  27. Hanafi Fraval - 8 years ago

    Does the problem exist with Bing or with Google only? In other words, would another fix be to switch from Google to Bing instead of shutting off Safari suggestions? Has anyone tried this?

  28. Margaret Hayward - 8 years ago

    Thanks for this. It’s been driving me nuts. Works with this fix now.

  29. Lougoober - 8 years ago

    “The Safari crash bug has now been fixed, according to Apple” not on MY ipod. But the fix here is working fine, so that’s okay.

  30. John Belsham - 8 years ago

    fix is perfect – thankyou

  31. Cara Fullerton - 8 years ago

    What’s the fix for a MacBook Air?

  32. Ralph (@Ralbloke) - 8 years ago

    Amazing, thanks for the temp fix. Been driving me mad all day!!

  33. Bill Lancaster - 8 years ago

    There is an easy fix. Settings/Safari/Clear History and Website Cache.

Author

Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Benjamin Mayo

Benjamin develops iOS apps professionally and covers Apple news and rumors for 9to5Mac. Listen to Benjamin, every week, on the Happy Hour podcast. Check out his personal blog. Message Benjamin over email or Twitter.