iPad Safari crashing regularly

Safari on my iPad is crashing fairly frequently; sometimes when I restart it retains the pages that were previously open, and sometimes not.

Have not yet established a pattern, but it seems prevalent on very large pages (for example pages with many images) and on pages with embedded video (particularly Flash).

Anyone else experiencing the same issue and/or have any further information? Anybody using a browser other than Safari on the iPad?

Mac OS X (10.5.1)

Posted on Jun 14, 2010 12:29 PM

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1,742 replies

Dec 19, 2011 4:46 PM in response to Rob Bruen

Just thought i would add my name to the list. I am ruuning ios 5.0.1 on an ipad1 and Safari crashes regularly. I have been using it for 45 minutes and it has crashed 3 times. This is quite the norm now since the late ios 4 updates and these new ios5 versions. However now i am getting a little sick of it as its bringing back memories of Microsoft software.

I will go through this post to see if i can find any solutions before, resetting my ipad. Will keep you informed...

Dec 19, 2011 5:04 PM in response to Rob Bruen

My iPad1 has days were it doesn't crash...and days when it crashes repeatedly. I've read where some of you are having apps and even your mail crash, in addition to Safari crashing...and I thought I had gotten lucky, because that HADN'T been something I had to deal with...but I've since had my mail crash twice and a couple of apps will shut down as soon as they're opened. Nothing on the scale as my problems with Safari, but the fact that things seem to be getting worse is not making me happy. Since I've already taken it back to the Apple store (in Oct) and they wiped it blank before re-installing 5.0, and I've emptied my cache and gotten rid of my cookies, among a few other tips I've tried, and nothing has tried has fixed things...the bottom line is that I know this isn't going away until Apple puts in a fix in one of their updates.

Dec 19, 2011 5:57 PM in response to hudsonfromsan diego

I would agree, I bought my iPad 1 at launch, so well over a year ago. I used Safari on a daily basis without problems (maybe the occasional crash, once/twice a week at most). After the iOS 5 update (and no other apps added) I was getting 4 or 5 crashes in an hour.


I have had my iPad 2 for about a month now, and virtually the same, the record was about 10 crashes in under an hour recently.


As I said, first Apple need to acknowledge the problem, and then fix it ASAP.

Dec 19, 2011 8:22 PM in response to iPad disconnects

Same here, I have an iPad1, never crashed until IOS 5.0.1. Now with Safari, and other apps, regularly crashes, often several times an hour, screen goes black, need to activate the Home button, open Safari, usually return to the page at the time of the crash. This happens offen when reading newspaper sites such as SFGate, WSJ, and others. Also with some store apps. Apple, you have a problem with iOS 5, and possibly with Safari. Please resolve, thank you.

Dec 20, 2011 8:27 AM in response to Rob Bruen

Same problem here. No problems at all till the IOS 5.0.1 upgrade and now my original iPad is useless.


So many people were reporting this as a problem I thought Apple would have released a fix by now but there doesn't even seem to be acknowledgement of a problem. I was going to get a iPhone in the new year but this is really putting me off switching from my current handset.

Dec 20, 2011 11:09 AM in response to kbink

Please try the suggestions in this thread and on google. me too threads aren't useful. Unfortunately, Apple does not monitor or post in these forums.


You need to do a DFU Restore and setup as *new* ipad. Do not restore from backup.


Before the restore:

1. Right click on ipad and say transfer purchases.

2. Right click on ipad and say sync.

After the the DFU restore (link to come):

Setup as new ipad:

Getting the apps from icloud is fine.


Syncing music and photos also fine. although you may want to test safari or other crashing apps before a sync and after a sync to make sure one of your files isn't causing the ipad to crash.


http://www.ifans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=279343


This is apparently a way of "forcing" a restore, whereas clicking the restore button in itunes doesn't always restore.


Setup as new ipad.


If problem does not resolve, it may be hardware and need servicing. I would encourage people to try this and post their results.

Dec 20, 2011 12:34 PM in response to Sam Katz1

Please try the suggestions in this thread and on google. me too threads aren't useful. Unfortunately, Apple does not monitor or post in these forums.

Sam Katz said:

You need to do a DFU Restore and setup as *new* ipad. Do not restore from backup.


>>>>>Snip


Setup as new ipad.


If problem does not resolve, it may be hardware and need servicing. I would encourage people to try this and post their results.

>>>>>>>>>!>END OF QUOTE


Just for the record, I (and probably many other users here) aren't newbies, or need to google how to restore or DFU.


Most of us, (I know I have) have tried to restore, set up as a new iPad, jump around on one leg, NOTHING helps. If you saw my earlier post, I have had an iPad since release day, it worked fine with only the very occasional crash. After upgrading the SAME HARDWARE to iOS 5 it started to crash, so, same hardware pre iOS 5 = good, same hardware post iOS 5 = BAD. Please explain how "If problem does not resolve, it may be hardware" makes any sense?


BRAND NEW iPad 2 set up as new iPad on iOS 5.0.1 crashes, virtually every Safari session. No other apps installed, brand new fresh iOS 5.0.1, Safari crashes.


It really is simple, there is a bug in iOS 5, Apple need to fix it.

Dec 20, 2011 2:49 PM in response to Rob Bruen

My upgrade to IOS 5.0 hung up. Apple tech support had me do a hardware reset and then re-update to IOS 5.0, which completed normally. I then restored my last backup. Then the problems started with Safari crashing, but not very often. Over time, the frequency of crashing keeps increasing. The upgrade to IOS 5.0.1 didn't make any difference.


I look at one of the investing web sites a lot, and it's getting hard to read more than 1 or 2 stories without Safari crashing. I've even loaded Opera Mini, but I have problems getting it to follow links to the stories I want to read.


I have gone through and killed all the running apps to free up memory, except Safari and Mail, and this didn't help.


I have a cellular wireless internet plan with a 5 GB allowance, and the iPad 1 is not the only computer. So there will be a substantial data overage cost to re-download everything from iTunes/iCloud (assuming setting up as a new iPad works). There needs to be a fix that won't cost me extra money to try.

Dec 20, 2011 6:09 PM in response to Rob Bruen

After Safari "crashed", I double-clicked the Home button to open the Fast App Switcher Dock. There was Safari! So it had not crashed -- It just closed it's window. This is a trivial distinction when using Safari, but an important one for anyone trying to troubleshoot the problem. I terminated Safari and restarted it. It crashed about 8 web pages later, so restarting Safari was no help. (iPad 1; increasingly frequent Safari crashes after IOS 5.0 and 5.0.1.)

Dec 20, 2011 6:31 PM in response to Sheepish15

Sheepish15 wrote:


After Safari "crashed", I double-clicked the Home button to open the Fast App Switcher Dock. There was Safari! So it had not crashed -- It just closed it's window. This is a trivial distinction when using Safari, but an important one for anyone trying to troubleshoot the problem. I terminated Safari and restarted it. It crashed about 8 web pages later, so restarting Safari was no help. (iPad 1; increasingly frequent Safari crashes after IOS 5.0 and 5.0.1.)

Your logic is faulty. First, it's not a "Fast App Switcher Dock." It's a "multitasking bar" that contains recently used apps, without regard to whether or not they are still active. You do not know if you terminated Safari or if it had already terminated and you merely removed the icon from the bar. Refer to page 23 of the iPad User Guide.


There have been some problems accessing pages on the Apple web site. If the hyperlink gives you a "We're sorry" message, try again.

Dec 20, 2011 7:17 PM in response to Philly_Phan

I agree with Philly_Phan about my logic was faulty. The Safari icon appearing did not mean it was still running, so I have to assume I only removed the icon. P. 23 could be more specific in the "Force an app to close" section that not all the icons are running and therefore not all are close-able; some are not running and only icon-removeable. Is there any way to tell which apps are actually running (or runable and suspended)?

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iPad Safari crashing regularly

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