Safari Randomly Bringing Itself to Front

The Kwamster wrote:

Refreshing a question from user @ejf555:

"Safari has recently begun frequently stealing focus.  Whatever other window I am in, Safari jumps in steals the show.  This doesn’t seemed to have happened as a result of any major OS change or anything, just started happening.  My MBP is basically unusable as long as I have Safari running.  Any ideas?"

This has begun happening to me, too. No matter what other app I'm using, at random times, Safari will just bring itself to the front, disrupting my workflow. I can't tie it to any specific update, app, or activity. It's just completely random and happens 3-5 times a day, at least. Doesn't seem to matter how many windows, desktops, or websites I have open. Anyone else experiencing this?

Hmmm...

I would verify you do not have Hot Corners activated or some such

Use hot corners on Mac - Apple Support

You can always use another browser, change the default as an option and compare your results.

Change the default web browser or email app on Mac

I would try SafeBoot How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support will sort many anomalies

To trouble shoot further you can:

—Test issue in another user (or guest user) account Change Users & Groups settings on Mac - Apple Support

This will tell you if it a universal issue or isolated to your user/admin account. 

Have you installed and run any "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus or VPN apps on your Mac?

Shortly after this post, I was able to fix it by playing around with the options.

Apple > System Settings > Desktop & Dock

Enable: When switching to an app, switch to a Space...

Enable: Group windows by application.

Now my command + tab works like before.

Mine isn't quite random, but Safari always wants to come into view whenever I command + tab or click another app. Same with Preview. I don't have Stage Manager, Mission Control, Spaces or anything setup. I have my laptop display and external display. I noticed this problem after I updated from Mojave to Ventura. It used to work properly before that. Command + tab used to switch properly to the app I want and will put into focus the correct window of the app I was using last. This is how it works now...

I have a Chrome window on laptop display and another at external display.

This one is currently active on both displays.

Safari is on the external monitor.

VS Code is on the laptop monitor.

Again, Chrome currently is active on both displays.

When I command + tab to VS Code, VS Code shows up on laptop monitor BUT Safari also comes up on external monitor. I attempt to switch back to Chrome. Laptop monitor puts Chrome actively on display. External monitor still shows Safari. If Chrome is on external display and VS Code is on laptop display, and I click on VS Code window... guess what? Safari pops up on external display!!!

Another funny thing that happens is if Safari has focus on external monitor and I attempt to drag Chrome to external monitor, Safari stays on top and active the whole time. I have to control + down arrow and select Chrome to get it back in front.

It's the same deal with Preview. It is quite annoying. It didn't used to behave this way.