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

Nov 29, 2013 6:36 AM in response to jw99515

I have (original) 32Gb ipad mini with cellular and until I updated to IOS 7.04 Safari worked fine. Since then it crashes frequently and can only be restored by doing a hard re-set. I did send a message to Apple care and allowed them to do an on-line diagnostic. I got no feedback. Trying to make a call via Applecare failed as it didn't seem to think my mabile phone was a legitimate number. I've used Macs since the days of System 9 and I must say, this is their worst snafu - Apple has managed to look like Microsoft.

Dec 8, 2013 8:55 AM in response to Rob Bruen

After getting the crashes in Safari and then doing the iTunes Store movie test posted by another user my iPad Air crashed again and again whilst try to preview a movie.


Went to Apple Store today and they adviced I do a full restore and set up Air as new, so don't bring down my apps etc and then see if the problem still happens. At the point of doing this I wasn't sure which button to press in iTunes to restore so phoned Apple support and explained what was happening and what button do I need to click. After I was sure what I was doing I hit the restore without backing up my Air as had a backup version that was day old. What for it to download abd install and then said set up as new device, followed the Air onscreen instructions to connect to my wifi and Apple ID and once done run iTunes again to preview an HD movie.


CRASHED CRASHED CRASHED CRASHED CRASHED


So at the point of the Apple Store visit they had no idea of this issue and couldn't find a hardware issue, at the point of phoning Apple support they didn't know about it and said that once I had restored and the issue continued that it was likely a hardware issue, so after restore and crash phone Apple support again and they have booked me in to replace my Air.

Dec 8, 2013 9:31 AM in response to DIVX360

DIV, you should expect your replacement to do the same thing. The "backup, reset, restore without apps" is the Apple party line. "You must have an app that's causing it." But it's a joke, because they know it will do it again. The joke is on us, who take the time to go through this process. I don't know how many times I have done this, including on my "replacement" iPad. Shame on Apple for not owning up to this issue.


I have given up. They will not acknowledge this or do right by us, the customers with these dud ipads. :(

Dec 9, 2013 6:01 AM in response to Mr.Eee

I posted this on another thread...

I've just finished talking to Apple via Apple Chat Support (I have an ipad mini that will not browse with safari since an IOS7.0.4 update).

They were very nice but insisted on going through a list of things people have already tried (hard reset, complete wipe and restore, replacement hardware). Because I'd looked through various postings here, I was able to say "this is not a hardware issue" and asked outright if Apple knew there was something wrong with IOS7. The engineer finally 'fessed up, saying he was having the same trouble with his iPhone after updating to IOS7.0.4 and that "our engineers are working on it" and that "a new update should be released soon". It's probably worth waiting - maybe turn off safari synching in the iCloud settings window in the meantime.

Dec 9, 2013 8:01 AM in response to Sam Katz1

Sam is correct, an iPad 1 can only run iOS 5.1 max. iPad 2 can run iOS 7. I have updated testing results with possible solutions for web pages that can cause crashes:


iOS mobile safari is very bad at removing items from the DOM even after it's been removed.

iOS mobile safari does crash if Javascript loads exceed its threshold.

We used an older version of jquery 1.9.1 (1.10.2 seemed too much for mobile Safari to handle) and removed any javascript files running on the website that fired events repeatedly (you can view which javascripts events fire off non-stop with the Safari or Webkit Web Inspector - Javascript & Events timeline). We also have replaced any array of images with the base 64 tiniest gif and tightened up animation times and sizes to be very minimal.


We are prompting users to updated their iOS to the latest iOS version now.

Dec 11, 2013 9:27 AM in response to Rob Bruen

Since there are "94" pages of complaints of Safari and other applications crashing with updates dating back to iOS 5 do you REALLY think Apple cares about fixing any of these problems? All they do with their updates is create more problems! Instead of coming out with new tablets every year why don't they try concentating on getting the existing iPads to work as efficiently as the original iPad did when it was first released! Why release new ones when the old ones don't work? Just to beat out the other guy?!!!!


Just saying!!!!

Dec 11, 2013 10:06 AM in response to Nutsochick

Let me just say that I have had an iPad 2 ever since it came out (literally, snagged mine the second day after release), and it NEVER had this level of problem with Safari crashing until iOS 7 came out. Yes, there was the occasional Safari or other crash. Yes, some earlier versions of iOS seemed particularly unstable--when iOS 6 first came out, I remember noticing frequent Safari crashes, which I thought were especially bad at the time and caused me much annoyance. But (1) it was never anywhere near as bad as with iOS 7 from day one, and (2) it was fixed with updates within a few weeks. By the last version of iOS 6, I was getting the most stable Safari performance I ever remember having on my iPad (which I use heavily for web browsing).


The instability of Safari in iOS 7 is by far the worst it has ever been. And the fact that we are now three months from iOS 7's release and the problem is still not fixed (let alone the fact that they did not catch and correct this during beta testing in the first place--I mean, seriously?) have me pretty infuriated.


After years of owning iOS devices (4 versions of iPhone, and now 2 of iPad) and occasionally lurking this forum when a problem cropped up, this was the first problem that was so bad and went uncorrected so long that I was prompted to register and start posting about it. Indeed, I think I might have created the very first threads here about this specific problem (i.e., the thread topic was specifically about iOS 7 Safari crashes) on 9/27, since I searched and didn't find any discussions specifically about iOS 7 Safari.


Anyway, at this point, I have spent three months with Safari crashing on me multiple times per day on iPad 2, iPhone 5, and now brand, shiny, expensive, new iPad Air. I repeat, I NEVER had this same level of problem BEFORE iOS 7--if that were the case, I'm sure I would have stopped buying Apple products a long time ago.

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iPad Safari crashing regularly

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