Safari 14 on Big Sur: How to prevent a webpage from automatically reloading because it was using significant memory?

scharnks wrote:

Very inconvenient for online classes -- would love if this was fixed. My laptop is brand new and running Big Sur 11.2.1 (just updated to see if it would fix the issue..) I also tried clearing history and cache, but since it is only a few weeks of data I had low hopes of that working, and alas, it is still refreshing in a very stifling and unrefreshing way.

/K

Have you, and others, provided Apple Feedback through their provided Feedback mechanisms? See Product Feedback - Apple

If people don’t provide such Feedback, there is little chance that Apple will change anything.

I would provide my Feedback in the form of a Bug Report, on matters such as this.

In the meantime, there are a couple of things that have been found helpful:

1. Access such web-pages through a browser window with only a single tab: this helps isolate the resource use.
2. Other browsers, such as Google Chrome, don’t seem to have this issue.

angieet93:

Have you, and others, provided Apple Feedback through their provided Feedback mechanisms? See Product Feedback - Apple

If people don’t provide such Feedback, there is little chance that Apple will change anything.

I would provide my Feedback in the form of a Bug Report, on matters such as this.

In the meantime, there are a couple of things that have been found helpful:

1. Access such web-pages through a browser window with only a single tab: this helps isolate the resource use.
2. Other browsers, such as Google Chrome, don’t seem to have this issue.

lilmizeh:

Have you, and others, provided Apple Feedback through their provided Feedback mechanisms? See Product Feedback - Apple

If people don’t provide such Feedback, there is little chance that Apple will change anything.

I would provide my Feedback in the form of a Bug Report, on matters such as this.

In the meantime, there are a couple of things that have been found helpful:

1. Access such web-pages through a browser window with only a single tab: this helps isolate the resource use.
2. Other browsers, such as Google Chrome, don’t seem to have this issue.

Welcome, PP38, to Apple Support Communities!

It will all depend upon the way the “streaming” site has been programmed.

1. Websites are not supposed to use large amounts of browser storage: they are supposed to use Server Side storage.
2. Unfortunately, many websites have gotten increasingly lazy about using Browser memory.

Perhaps contributing to this problem are the following:

1. Many streaming sites used to use Flash for such purposes, but with the demise of Flash (at the beginning of this year, even though they were forewarned three and a half years ago, they may be new to the idea of streaming directly to browsers using HTML5.
2. There are some web-browsers that have very “relaxed” standards about the use of your computer resources: these browsers are well known resource “hogs”, but they may have contributed to websites being lazy in their use of browser resources. (Google Chrome is one well known resource “hog”.)

Have you, and others, provided Apple Feedback through their provided Feedback mechanisms? See Product Feedback - Apple.

If people don’t provide such Feedback, there is little chance that Apple will change anything.

I would provide my Feedback in the form of a Bug Report, on matters such as this.

In the meantime, there are a couple of things that have been found helpful:

1. Access such web-pages through a browser window with only a single tab: this helps isolate the resource use.
2. Other browsers, such as Google Chrome, don’t seem to have this issue. (Resource “hogs.)

StarklyNedStark wrote:

… So I start watching a recorded Zoom lecture on Safari, and it keeps crashing and saying it's using too much memory. I often play these on Safari on my iPhone while I'm at work and never had a problem. Ugh. …

That’s interesting:

• Works on an iPhone, but has an issue on a MacBook.
• Both using Safari.

Since the iPhone certainly has less memory capacity and, likely, other cases of fewer resources, the only remaining explanation is that the website (for your «recorded Zoom lecture[s]») must be changing its behavior for Safari on iPhone, in order to work properly.

Hence, all that is necessary is for the website to similarly change its resource use of Safari on the MacBook.

Note:

1. Websites are not supposed to use large amounts of browser storage: they are supposed to use Server Side storage.
2. Unfortunately, many websites have gotten increasingly lazy about using Browser memory.

Perhaps contributing to this problem are the following:

1. Many streaming sites used to use Flash for such purposes, but with the demise of Flash (at the beginning of this year, even though they were forewarned three and a half years ago), they may be new to the idea of streaming directly to browsers using HTML5.
2. There are some web-browsers that have very “relaxed” standards about the use of your computer resources: these browsers are well known resource “hogs”, but they may have contributed to websites being lazy in their use of browser resources. (Google Chrome is one well known resource “hog”.)

Have you, and others, provided Apple Feedback through their provided Feedback mechanisms? See Product Feedback - Apple.

If people don’t provide such Feedback, there is little chance that Apple will change anything.

I would provide my Feedback in the form of a Bug Report, on matters such as this.

In the meantime, there are a couple of things that have been found helpful:

1. Access such web-pages through a browser window with only a single tab: this helps isolate the resource use.
2. Other browsers, such as Google Chrome, don’t seem to have this issue. (Resource “hogs.)

Welcome, DeepS Tunes, to Apple Support Communities!

Have you provided your Feedback to Apple, such as through Product Feedback - Apple?

We are but fellow users, here. Apple does not frequent these fora.

In the meantime, there are a couple of things that have been found helpful:

1. Access such web-pages through a browser window with only a single tab: this helps isolate the resource use.
2. Other browsers, such as Google Chrome, don’t seem to have this issue. (Resource “hogs.)

(Oh. By the way, I only access Disney+ and Netflix through their Apps. No such issues there.)

MartinAS65:

The problem is:

1. Websites are abusing the internal memory of your browser. This should not happen. Websites should be using Server-Side storage (especially for uploads). Only the offending website can correct this.
2. There are, typically, not browser options to permit this abuse, though some browsers are more permissive than others. (This does provide for a workaround, in many cases. Another potential workaround is to isolate the offending website to its own browser window with no other tabs.)

Perhaps the most important Feedback is to the abusive website(s).

One can also provide Feedback to Apple: Product Feedback - Apple.

Edited to add: This looks like it may be an issue with Zoom's web client for recorded videos not playing nice with Big Sur? I started a video and watched in Activity Monitor that over the course of a minute or so, the zoom Safari tab ate more and more memory until Safari killed it at about 6.5gb -- this wasn't happening earlier today under Catalina. So, it's not clear to me whether this is an issue with Zoom, or an issue with Big Sur, or an issue with Safari 14 -- but in any case, there's some kind of runaway memory usage happening.

***

I just updated to Big Sur today, and I'm now having the same issue -- I'm watching a recorded lecture video in Safari and the webpage keeps being automatically reloaded while I'm watching. Safari is now unusable for one of my biggest use cases.

KerryA21 wrote:

… Worse is that no representative from apple has even addressed this issue (unless I missed it) or given any explanation.

Representatives from Apple do not “weigh in”, here, usually.

This is not the best place to post, if you want to get Apple’s attention.

Instead, one should provide Feedback, to Apple, by way of their provided Feedback mechanisms: see Product Feedback - Apple

Well, notreallytristan, a setting for how to handle webpages that use excessive memory (perhaps the “amount” should, likewise, be a user option) would be a great request to send to Apple, via their Feedback mechanisms: Product Feedback - Apple.

jelleverbeek wrote:

Halliday considering this is a thread about an error message in Safari you can correctly assume I'm running this through the browser Safari. Considering the 6 pages of replies also mentions it several times, you'd also be correct to assume Safari is the only browser on macOS that gives these messages, so yes, a different browser would fix the problem but a different browser would give me other issues I don't have with Safari.

I have learned, over decades of experience, to do as little assuming as possible.

I don’t access Disney+ nor Netflix through a browser.

Additionally, all we can do, here—seeing as we are but fellow users and Apple does not frequent this User Community—is to provide whatever “solutions” may already exist—usually only consisting of workarounds.

If you actually need Apple to make a change/fix, then you will be best served by providing Apple Feedback through their designated Feedback mechanisms: See Product Feedback - Apple

If people don’t provide such Feedback, there is little chance that Apple will change anything.

I would provide my Feedback in the form of a Bug Report, on matters such as this.

DeepS Tunes wrote:

…

ps: when i said manage the website, i meant manage how the browser deals with the website, apologies for being unclear

Thank you, for the clarification.

Unfortunately, there are no such controls, either.

However, at least in that case, some such controls are, at least, possible, in principle.

That’s the kind of Feedback one can provide to Apple: Product Feedback - Apple.

Welcome, jbmint, to Apple Support Communities!

Unfortunately, there are no such controls, at this time.

However, at least in that case, some such controls are, at least, possible, in principle.

That’s the kind of Feedback one can provide to Apple: Product Feedback - Apple.

On the other hand, you wouldn’t have any need for such “controls” if the website were properly coded.

The very best thing to do is to provide Feedback to websites that abuse the local resources of your browsers.

Websites have access to Server Side resources which you, the user, have no actual access to: these Server Side resources are what legitimate websites use!

pkabirr wrote:

@Halliday , I am glad to see a spark of understanding in your last message.

I wish to point out one important observation though: you keep repeating the word "abuse" in your answers. It is a highly subjective term - and I still hold the position that it's the end user who must decide whether something is an abuse or not.

Actually, it is «abuse» of resources of software you do not have any semblance of control over.

It is «abuse» of resources that the International Internet Standards, that pertain to World-Wide Web (WWW) interactions, have not given over to control by websites.

Hence, it is not about resources the Web-Browsers need yield control over to websites or even users.

However. If you, and/or your users, wish to petition Apple for control of such resources, you will get nowhere, here, on these fora.

Instead, you, and your users, are completely free to petition Apple for such through their provided Feedback mechanisms: Product Feedback - Apple.

Note: I am but a fellow user. I have no special relationship with Apple or Apple’s developers.

Similarly, I am not a holy warrior and I don't really wish to "impose my desires" on anyone - what I felt was right to do was to point out that it was Apple who did the imposing this time, and I did my best to explain why this is wrong. It was a kind request on my end, and it's up to the decision makers to decide now.

Both Apple and other Web-Browser companies have been imposing these limitations for as long as there has been a WWW.

It is nothing new, nor a feature of any single company.

(Of course, different Web-Browsers are completely free to impose different limitations. It is the wide variation in such limitations, and the need for websites to properly negotiate such, that is the root cause in the changes in International Internet Standards, governing the WWW, that I have written of, in earlier comments.)

Also, as an observation, you might disagree with me on the point of Web apps becoming not really different from desktop apps - I definitely feel this has been the trend in the last years, for better or worse. That might be a crucial difference in our positions.

While it, undoubtedly, is a contributing factor, in motivations, it is, however, basically, irrelevant.

It is one things to write you own Apps with their own resource requirements.

It is, fundamentally, a distinct proposition to insist upon using the resources of an App that you have no control over.

I will leave this discussion now and I thank you for the dialogue.

Any Apple decision makers that matter probably don't monitor the user space anyway - and I already gave my feedback to them directly. On the other hand, most of who read this thread don't care a bit about what I do and will probably join your position. ****, even I am mostly aligned with it for non-business web applications and consumer-facing websites.

(Emphasis added)

Good.

If you feel that way about other software, then why don’t you respect the same for others?

Simply do as I have recommended: create your own App (potentially built upon a Webview) so you have full control of the resources involved, rather than insisting that someone else modify their App (a web-browser) to accommodate your resource use desires.

Now, back to writing my monstrous, resource-abusing software![*]

[*] as I pointed out, relatively high memory usage only happens for a handful of high-profile clients with enormously sized reports. It's not a problem for most of our users.

Then, so long as you don’t do as I have recommended, so you have control over the resources involved, those users will be disadvantaged by your refusal to “do the right thing”™️.

The solution is entirely in your hands, if you choose to avail yourself of such.

You need not depend upon any other App developers.

LemonsterOG:

Please see, for instance, my previous comment at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252041706?answerId=255235890022#255235890022 .

If you look further back, within this Discussion, (and more recently) you will find that I have posted much on this issue and what appears to be going on at the Standards Committee (industry) level, there on.