Starting back with iOS 10, Safari added some new and interesting features such as the ability to open multiple Safari web pages on your iDevice.
During recent testing, we found that Safari was unusually slow on the iPad and even on our iPhone, at times.
Usually, a software update (if available) helps, but if you are still experiencing a Safari that is slow or crashing on you, please follow the tips below.
How Can I Speed Up My iPad’s Safari Browser?
Clear Your Website Data
Close Safari app
Tap on Settings > Safari
Scroll down and locate Clear History and Website DataÂ
Tap and confirm your action by pressing Clear
While in Safari Settings, tap on Advanced
Tap on Website DataÂ
Tap Show All Sites
Delete one by one by swiping and selecting Delete
Or scroll down to the bottom and choose to Remove All Website Data
Open Safari again and see if it’s acting normally
Turn Off Javascript, if needed
Some readers found that the performance problem was solved by turning JavaScript off, at least temporarily.
To disable this feature go to Settings > Safari > Advanced > JavaScript > Toggle OffÂ
How Do I Stop Safari From Reloading Web Pages?
Some folks find that Safari is constantly reloading pages and when they open new pages, all the other open pages turn blank and need to reload, again and again.
This issue occurs when you have too many open tabs in Safari, so closing some tabs often fixes the problem.
How To Close Tabs in Safari
Press and hold the tabs icon (overlapping squares)
At the pop-up menu, choose either close all tabs or close this tab (and repeat for other tabs you can close)Â
We currently recommend you have no more than 12 open tabs at any one time–the less, the better performance!
What Do I Do When Safari Is Not Responding At All?
If Safari is open on your device, but no matter what you do you cannot get it to respond, then it’s best to force close the app and relaunch it.
Force close an app
From the Home screen, double-press the Home Button or swipe up from the bottom of the screen and pause slightly in the middle of the screen
Swipe right or left to find Safari’s app preview
Swipe up on Safari’s app preview to close the appÂ
Tap Safari to re-launch
How Do I Prevent Safari From Crashing?
This problem was first noticed when the Safari App would suddenly freeze or exit out.
Disable Safari Suggestions and Search Engine SuggestionsÂ
Step – 3 Clear Your Website Data
Follow the steps listed above to clean out all that website clutter in Safari.
Step – 4 Restart or Force Restart Your Device
Restart
For iPhone X and later and iPad with no Home Button: Press and hold the Power/Side buttons and either volume button until a slider appears on-screen. Slide to turn the device off. Press the Power/Side/Top button until you see the Apple Logo on-screen to turn the device back onÂ
For iPhone 8 and earlier, iPod Touch, and iPads with a Home Button: Press the Power/Top/Side button until the slider appears. Drag the slider to power off. Press and hold the Power/Top/Side button until the Apple Logo appears on-screen to turn the device back onÂ
If Safari does not work after a restart, crashes repeatedly, or is unresponsive, try a forced restart.
Force Restart
On an iPad with no Home Button and an iPhone 8 or later: Press and quickly release the Volume Up button. Press and immediately release the Volume Down button. Then press and hold the Power/Side button until the device restartsÂ
On an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus: Press and hold both the Side and Volume Down buttons for at least 10 seconds, until you see the Apple logo
On an iPhone 6s and earlier, iPad with a Home Button, or iPod touch: Press and hold both the Home and the Top (or Side) buttons for at least 10 seconds, until you see the Apple logo
Safari Slow, Unresponsive, or Crashing After iOS Update?
If your Safari experience proves to be slower than what you were used to, try the following tips to make it more responsive.
This fix is particularly helpful if you are using an older iPhone or iPad with the latest iOS!
Tip – 1 Clear the website data for Safari as explained above
Tip – 2 Tap on Settings > Privacy > Location Services. If your location services setting is ON, scroll down and locate Safari Websites on the list of apps and switch it to NeverÂ
Tip – 3 We have always heard it as a sure proof way to may the iDevice faster. Change your Background Refresh Settings. Tap on Settings > General > Background App Refresh and switch it to OFF. This change should indirectly help your Safari’s performance.Â
Tip – 4 Tap on Settings > Safari > Open Links and make sure that you have the set this to Open Links in BackgroundÂ
Tip – 5 If you are currently not using Apple Pay via Safari, you may want to disable it in the setting so that websites cannot check your profile and take time processing this check. To disable this, tap on Settings > Safari and scroll down to the Privacy and Security section. Toggle OFF Check for Apple Pay
Tip – 6 Preloading top hits for searches was started with iOS 7. You can choose to disable this feature to save bandwidth and stop Safari from pre-loading if you don’t find the feature helpful. Go to Settings > Safari and toggle off Preload Top HitÂ
Tip – 7 Ahh those old offline reading lists that have accumulated on your iDevices for years. Clean them out by tapping on Settings > General > Storage and tap on Safari. Swipe to delete all of your offline reading listsÂ
If you don’t want to delete everything in your Safari Offline Reading List, open Safari and tap the book icon from the bottom menu, then swipe on the items from the list you want to delete one-by-oneÂ
Tip – 8 Some of the most stubborn Safari problems are best tackled by resetting all settings completely on your device. Go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings
This process resets to default everything in Settings, including notifications, alerts, brightness, and clock settings like wake up alarms
Resetting all settings also reverts all your personalized and customized features like wallpapers and accessibility settings back to factory defaults.
Performing this action does not impact any of your personal device data, including photos, texts, documents, and other files
Obsessed with tech since the early arrival of A/UX on Apple, Sudz (SK) is responsible for the original editorial direction of AppleToolBox. He is based out of Los Angeles, CA.
Sudz specializes in covering all things macOS, having reviewed dozens of OS X and macOS developments over the years.
In a former life, Sudz worked helping Fortune 100 companies with their technology and business transformation aspirations.
I can no longer find the Safari history. Can’t close safari as sometimes instructed as it opens as soon as I touch icon.The button under the bookmarks is no longer there. Private browsing is off. Recently installed updates but not sure how to know which iOS I am using on my iPad. Am not very savvy but all instructions so far have sent me to where history used to be which is no help.
Sorry you’re having issues with Safari. Let’s first close the app by double pressing the Home Button—that opens your app switcher. In the app switcher, swipe left or right to find Safari’s app preview and once found, tap and hold it then swipe up, all the way off screen. This action closes the app.
After closing the app, restart your iPad by pressing the power button and sliding it off. Then power up your iPad. When fully restarted open the Safari App.
To find your history, tap the icon in the upper left that looks like an open book, then tap the icon that looks like a clock—this is your history button.
If you don’t see these options you may not be on the latest iOS. to check, open your Settings App, select General, and choose About. Look for Version—this is your current iOS.
To check if there is an update available, stay in the Settings App, General, and choose Software Update. if an update is available, perform a backup first of your iPad preferably using iTunes or if that’s not an option with iCloud. And only then update your software.
Previously I could tap on a link from email and it would open in safari. Now on my new iPhone 7 plus and my older iPad with iOS 10 it doesn’t open. If I go back to the email it opens the second time but that is very frustrating. Do you have a fix for that?
Safari is locking up every time I open a site from a search. I have to close safari and reopen it to get it to reset, then it just locks up again. This happens on my iPhone 6Splus and my iPad Air2. My friend is also having this exact problem on an iPhone 6S and we use different networks. None of the above suggestions fixed the problem, I have tried them all. All software is up to date at iOS 10.0.1. Very frustrated as this started in the past 72 hours…
& add disable experimental web features…
Safari has always worked fine – but now- it just stopped. The program won’t open at all.
I can no longer find the Safari history. Can’t close safari as sometimes instructed as it opens as soon as I touch icon.The button under the bookmarks is no longer there. Private browsing is off. Recently installed updates but not sure how to know which iOS I am using on my iPad. Am not very savvy but all instructions so far have sent me to where history used to be which is no help.
Hi Ana,
Sorry you’re having issues with Safari. Let’s first close the app by double pressing the Home Button—that opens your app switcher. In the app switcher, swipe left or right to find Safari’s app preview and once found, tap and hold it then swipe up, all the way off screen. This action closes the app.
After closing the app, restart your iPad by pressing the power button and sliding it off. Then power up your iPad. When fully restarted open the Safari App.
To find your history, tap the icon in the upper left that looks like an open book, then tap the icon that looks like a clock—this is your history button.
If you don’t see these options you may not be on the latest iOS. to check, open your Settings App, select General, and choose About. Look for Version—this is your current iOS.
To check if there is an update available, stay in the Settings App, General, and choose Software Update. if an update is available, perform a backup first of your iPad preferably using iTunes or if that’s not an option with iCloud. And only then update your software.
I hope this helps you!
Liz
I’ve tried all your recommendations and my iPad keeps crashing since the latest update. Please fix this problem.
Previously I could tap on a link from email and it would open in safari. Now on my new iPhone 7 plus and my older iPad with iOS 10 it doesn’t open. If I go back to the email it opens the second time but that is very frustrating. Do you have a fix for that?
This is a shame for Apple quality, my iPad Air Safari Crash a lot and other Apps like Pinterest, Facebook, Google Chrome also crash.
Safari is locking up every time I open a site from a search. I have to close safari and reopen it to get it to reset, then it just locks up again. This happens on my iPhone 6Splus and my iPad Air2. My friend is also having this exact problem on an iPhone 6S and we use different networks. None of the above suggestions fixed the problem, I have tried them all. All software is up to date at iOS 10.0.1. Very frustrated as this started in the past 72 hours…