Q: iPad Safari crashing regularly

Settings / Safari / Advanced / Website Data.  At top of this page what is the current data size total displayed?  Clear down what you dont need.  Keeping this total below say 10% of your available memory will definitely help to keep your system responsive and help where crashes and hangs are experienced in your browser..  Also in Settings / Safari / General is your "OpenTabsInBackground" set to On or Off. Try it ON then as the page loads dont go to it until the tab name displaying 'Untitled" changes to the page name.

Similar problems as you describe are indeed attributable to buggy apps and inefficient use of memory space. particularly if an App fails to releaase memory correctly when closed (Closed by double clicking the Home Button and then closing from the Application Task Bar solves many of the problems seen from this).

Thirdly, sometimes the loading of a new App is not always efficiently done.  In this scenario, sync to your PC.  Then remove the App from the iPad. Then resync and reload the app by placing a tick in the Main App window of iTunes whilst your device is selected from the left hand pane. (Apps is selected from the top of the itunes window once your device has been clicked on).

Last but not least, if all else fails select the top reset button on the reset settings page in the "Settings" utility.   Settings / General / Reset / Reset all Settings (I tend to use this as a last resort when all else fails).  Note that this defaults iPad settings to their defaults, not the Apps or their data, or saved files etc.

Users experiencing problems with some pages loading may also want to try resetting Network Settings in the same page location of the ipad's Settings utility.  There are many default network settings that are not accessible to un-jailbroken devices - though it is possible some settings may be changed by Apps themselves - resetting network settings is always worth a try - but ensure any passwords etc are to hand before you do.

Skype users should be aware that Skype reserves a large amount of bandwidth to run its video link service on (encrypted) so those using 3g especially may experience slow downs and hangs when this is in service (Missing video feed in one direction is usually caused by poor available bandwidth so turn it off if not required).  Always close Skype totally using the Taskbar when finished with or not needed.

I had the Safari crashing problem since moving to IOS 5 (IPAD 1).  I recently upgraded to 5.1 and still had the same Safari crashing as before...certain sites only (and consistently).   I tried all of the suggestions in this thread and the only change that absolutely stops the crashing for me was to disable JavaScript.  Once I did this the crashes were completely gone.  Settings - Safari- JavaScript to off.  I even tried the TMZ site recently noted in this thread and it indeed crashed every time with JavaScript set to on....once I tuned it off again it consistenly loaded without an issue. 

This week, I wrote another complaint letter and received yet another call from the same Apple Excutive Relations assistant who I spoke with back in late January. Once again, she put me in touch with an engineer from Apple's iOS team.

It now is abundantly clear to me that engineering is diligently focused on fixing these bugs, now that the "new iPad" is shipping. I spoke with engineering three times this week. They asked for crash logs for three different scenarios (with tabs open and closed) and with the Safari "History" and "Cookies and Data" cleared. I even was able to send screen shots depicting the point of failure when our go-to "Safari crashing" Web page stops loading:

It's often been said that Apple uses relatively small engineering teams to develop and maintain the Mac OS and iOS software, and that this is one of the secrets to the clever and tight integration of its hardware and software. I've long thought that the delay in fixing the "Safari crashing regulalrly" problem may have been due to the OS engineering team being slammed as it focused on finishing up work on the upcoming new iPad and AppleTV devices at the end of 2011.

I don't really know if my theory is correct, but my sense is that Apple engineering now seems to be focused like a laser on fixing these iOS "Safari crashing regularly" bugs.

Nice!!  Hopefully we will see a fix soon!  As for my smart metre, I had a service tech come in and work on it.  The interference has stopped for the most part.  I can even send iMessages again!  Both my phone and iPad are working better.  I won't say perfect, but I have far less crashes than I did before.  That is just fine by me!

I do have to say that I still have everything iCloud set to off.  I have my browser set to private and I clear cache and cookies everyday.  I also try to reboot if it starts to slow down.  The update definitely helped, too.

I sincerely hope that there is a solution soon.  Good luck, everyone!

At several folks suggestion I contacted Apple Support.  I was told that they had only  one other complaint about this!!!! Then I was instructed to restore the ipad to a new ipad with itunes and reload everything manually.    And if that didn't work to get back in line to talk to them about a "hardware problem" I must have.

This entire situation is completely unbelievable

HI

Restoring is a perfectly reasonable first step. One other report is good too. Try it and remember it is reversible. If it doesn't work try the following.

DIsable iCloud safari bookmark and history sync.

Test.

disable load tabs in the background.

Test.

If that still doesn't work call back ask to speak to level 2. Have examples of sites that crash. Ask about a dfu restore.

Good luck.

Does it only happen at your home?

Are you running 5.1?

Ask if you can submit crash logs.

Are these crashes or hangs? Does safari exit to home screen or does the progress bar freeze when loading a page?

Returns to home screen.  Don't us icloud.  Happens anywhere.  Apple support was far from helpful, the fact that they only acknowledged one other such complaint is far from the facts.  There are numerous people on this thread who have complained to them about this very issue.  To tell a customer to go and try to fix a problem that they created with their software update is really very unacceptable.

Restoring does not sound like a good thing if it is my problem to reload everything i have back onto the device.

I am running 5.1....made no difference.  I had no problems until 5.0 update

What settings do you have in Time and Date in Settings/General page.  does the problem occur with the time set to update automatically On or OFF or both.  I have only come across this problem once before in Windows Vista.  It was due to an incorrect execution of the time setting via the network on Port 123.  Reinstalling my time service in windows cured the problem.  If this is indeed a problem with some machines as reported, then Apple will need to roll out a Service Patch specifically for this problem.

Any Admins following this thread may like to ask Apple about their time sync service and whether it is alterable by any particular apps.  The randomness of the fault across differing customers machines, together with the individual specs for settings eg. Java /on/off, icloud diabled etc does seem to point to a service fault, which may be possibly caused by more than one App.  Can Apple confirm if the TIME TRANSPONDER SERVICE updates the NETWORK TIMER at the correct interval. (remembering the broadcast time has to be sufficiently fast [once a second at least]) Some pages make use of this service for refresh and loading, others do not.  Mismatches will cause pages to crash as a conflict arises from real time loading and fallback to a cached copy.  Cached copies that have "live site information [updated video feeds for instance] may not load correctly, and cached cleared machines will fail to load at all, without a correctly synced Time Service.

My iPad 1 crashing problems did get better with the 5.1 update but certain sites would still crash every time (like tmz.com). Got my new iPad 3 and have the same issue with tmz but for the most part it doesn't crash at all on other sites.

Turning off javascript helps.  However try a different browser. Web pages will frequently be designed with a variety of media rich information, adverts and links. if you open safari with the Debug console turned on (Settings Safari Advanced), and leave it on, this will give you some idea of what is going on.  I have started using the Mercury Web Browser (free lite version) from the app store.  It handles all the rich media and videos very well on a site like TMZ.  I think the best solution for this thread is try and experiment with different browsers. Dependent on the site and the content some will be better than others. 

Interestingly, debug throws up errors for javascript even when browsing the Apple site with Safari!!!  Apple still have some way to go with their standard safari browser and the integration of plug-ins such as Java.

Turning Javascript off in Safari when using a site like Apple's will cause loss of functionality with some of the links.  Sometimes this can be overcome by holding down and seeing if the option to open in another tab is given.  However this will not always work as the underlying code pointer on the link points back to the page you are on, and what the link actually does is expand the page section you are already on - something that is not supported by Open in new Tab.

As with all operating systems across diverse code architectures, some results will be less than expected, and some, will not be obtainable at all, depending on your iOS platform and configuration.

Windows foundered on the issue of seamlessness, and there is every possibility that Apple may yet reach the same threshhold with its products.

Could you please try turning off "Load tabs in background" and see whether that fixes it?

Something you said "Sometimes this can be overcome by holding down and seeing if the option to open in another tab is given. " made me think this might work.

Turning JavaScript off helps because there is a confirmed JavaScript bug/ memory leak.   Turning JavaScript off renders a loss of functionality on certain sites because those sites are using JavaScript.  Turning it off is not a fix...Apple has to fix the bug.   Dont waste your time with all of the other methods and suggestions here because nothing with fix this problem except an Apple bug fix in a future update.   If you are on the latest version of iOS you will notice some improvement because they have fixed some related issues.  But certain web sites will still crash Safari.  This problem even happens on the brand new iPad 3 which was just released.   It's 100% a confirmed bug.

Absolutely right on the point.....why are we trying all these "fixes" when its the operating system that caused the problem!!!!

It's reassuring to hear this bug is recognized and being worked. But, patience is not my strong suit. TMZ was crashing repeatedly on my i-Pad 1, bought at launch, until turning off JavaScript, and losing functionality, natch. So I turned it back on, and now TMZ is solid. Don't know how long it will last. I tried the Mercury browser but it was no better. And the JavaScript toggle had no effect on Mercury.