Per urging from Software Update, installed Safari 14. It switches graphics from integrated to discreet graphics card (generating lots of heat), and crashes shortly after launch. (MacBook Pro 2016, Mojave). Following a restart, I can launch Safari, once, with Radeon graphics and heat. Quitting and relaunching, it crashes every time.This may finally drive me to permanently switch to Firefox.
MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.13
Do you have AdBlock installed as a Safari extension? Removing it solved the problem for me (running 10.14.6 on a Retina 15" Mid 2015)
Hello ChuckR,
After reviewing your post, it seems like the MacBook Pro is getting hot when you use Safari for a short while. There are a couple things you can try that may be able to help. We would recommend you read these articles and use them to help troubleshoot the issue.
"Quit any malfunctioning processes
To quit a process, first try quitting it normally. For example, quit Safari by switching to Safari and choosing Safari > Quit Safari.
If you can't quit a process normally, you can use Activity Monitor to force it to quit. Save any documents related to the process, then select the process in Activity Monitor and choose View > Quit Process.
If you don't recognize the name of a process, it might belong to macOS or another process that you do recognize. To see the relationships between processes, choose View > All Processes, Hierarchically. If you see that a process belongs to an app, such as Safari or Mail, quit the app before deciding whether to quit any of its processes.
To help avoid malfunctioning processes, keep your apps, plug-ins, and operating system up to date."
See how apps affect Mac performance, battery runtime, temperature, and fan activity
If Safari is slow, stops responding, quits unexpectedly, or has other issues
Please don't hesitate to let us know if the steps resolved your issue or if you need additional assistance.
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities. Have a nice day.
I use gfxCardStatus (menubar app) to monitor what card is in use. It won't allow me to switch to integrated when Safari is open. Their tech info says: gfxCardStatus v2.3 and above actively prevents you from switching to Integrated Only mode when any apps are in the Dependencies list [which apparently Safari now is] (or if you have an external display plugged in). This is because if you were to do this, your discrete GPU would actually stay powered on, even though you've switched to the integrated GPU.
Very few applications I use require the discreet GPU to switch in. Photos, Quicktime7 Player, a couple of others. No reason for nearly any website to run the Radeon card. Another annoying "feature" of Safari is that, to this date, it cannot display any "3D" images posted to Facebook. Chrome can, Firefox can, Safari on my iPad and iPhone can.
I've posted this GPU issue on a couple of Mac forums, have not received any useful information to date, and have submitted a "bug" report for whatever that might accomplish, I might give Brave browser another shot.
MacBook Pro 15" 2016 13,3
macOS Mojave 10.14.6 (w latest Supplemental Update)
Safari Version 14.0 (14610.1.28.1.10)
Having the same problem here too. As soon as Safari is launched the MacBook Pro switches to discrete graphics. I realized this as my laptop battery was draining faster the last days with only surfing websites. Also of course the laptop got really nice and warm all the time due to the constant use of the discrete gpu...
Switched to Chrome for now as this is an unacceptable behavior. Now the integrated graphics is enough to browse the web and watch some youtube videos.
Macbook Pro 15 2019
Safari Version 14.0 (14610.1.28.1.9)
I have the same problem and I was wondering what's the reason behind the battery gets drained quite fast. And it turns out that Safari is using the discrete graphics instead of the integrated graphics card. This only happened after the latest updated. Safari was working fine before this bull**** update. It just ate 5-7 life cycles from the battery life for nothing... Get this fixed asap please... It's unacceptable. I'm using MacBook Pro 15 2018
MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2018)
Macos Mojave 10.14.6 (18G6032)
2012 MBP, running Mojave, no crashes but same issue where Safari switches to discrete graphics at launch, never did before last version update. While I'm not overly concerned about battery life, I'm not happy about the increased temp.
The following extensions were causing the switch to discrete GPU:
Turing these off and restarting Safari solved the problem for me, too.
Thank you some__user for the helpful comment!
Thank you very much some_user and DanielZen for that tip. For some reason, disabling extensions in that past had not worked, though I may have disabled them temporarily, without a subsequent relaunch of the app. Any other ad blocking suggestions that are effective without causing problems like this? I have AdGuard standing by but haven't activated it yet
ChuckR
This does not at all address the issue reported.
Safari 14 was crashing immediately on launch, not just running "a short while." I seem to have worked around this by running the diagnostic utility program Onyx, which rebuilds/repairs launch services databases, saved states and a number of other system files. Safari 14 is now launching and running satisfactorily. My "Heat" issue is that, for reasons unknown to me, Safari now calls the discrete. graphics card (Radeon Pro 450), regardless of webpage content, rather than the normal integrated graphics card (Intel HD Graphics 560). When in use, the Radeon GFX tends to generate more heat and consume more power than the integrated GFX card. The Radeon card has only occasionally been needed, like with Photos and some video editing apps, and rarely with Safari.
Some new annoying bit of code in Safari 14 appears to be now making this happen, which I am not pleased about.
I do know how to use Activity Monitor to assist with diagnosing problems, I had looked there and found nothing suspiciiojs.
Thank you.
Having same problem of Safari forcing the discreet gnu on launch, even when no pages are open. Even when no Safari windows are open. I use gswitch to force the integrated gpu to conserve battery power. But that is a temporary workaround. I'll be switching to Firefox if this keeps up. Unfortunately you can't assume that something the degrades user experience is a bug and not intended bull headedness when it comes to the Apple of today. So I'm expecting this is either fixed in the next week or two, or I'll just have to consider it intended and switch browsers. The speed of Safari doesn't justify the 5 fold decrease in battery longevity.
Safari on my machine also turns on discrete GPU all the time. In activity monitor, it shows that safari requires discrete GPU but does not show which process of safari requires it. Running macOS Mojave 10.14.6 and safari 14.0.1 on macbook pro retina 2015, 15''.
Problem exists/persists with or without extensions. There is now a dependency that calls the Radeon GPU into play, which was not the case prior to this version of Safari.
Have moved much of my browsing over to Firefox and Chrome, Giving Brave a go as well.
Updated to Safari 14, crashes and heat
