DuckDuckGo becomes unresponsive in Safari

Similar issue: MacOS 13.6, DuckDuckGo, and sometimes the page won't scroll with the trackpad or scroll-wheel, sometimes after scrolling part-way down the page stops responding to trackpad or scroll-wheel scrolling. Reloading the page sometimes works. But I don't think this is limited to DuckDuckGo as I've had the same issues on other sites in Safari since updating the 13.6. Think this is a Safari issue as Chrome which I use roughly as much on the same Mac I've not had any issues.

I suspect the problem is triggered by some ads that display. A common trait with all the sites I've had issues with is all display ads.

I enabled a Safari extension I had previously used (Ka-Block!), and this week haven't had weird scrolling or lockups with DuckDuckGo or other sites. Also forgot how fast browsing is without the constant barrage of images and videos loading trying to get your attention.

Things started working smoothly for me again once I went into Safari > Settings > Search and unchecked "Preload Top Hit in the background".

Safari 17,2,1 /Monterey 12.7.2; To regain control on Duck Duck Go page :Go to Safari View menu. Click Show Reader .Then remove the reader page by clicking Hide Reader. in the

same menu .The page will be usable.

Thanks, @wassearching, flipping in and out of Reader mode with Shift+Cmd+R worked for me. I'm currently running Sonoma 14.2.1 and Safari 17.2.1 on my 2019 MacBook Air (Intel), but this has been a problem since I upgraded to Safari 17 last fall. I have had "Preload Top Hit in the background" unchecked all along. I'm glad I decided to check for any new solutions today. This may not be a fix, but an easy workaround is almost as good.

Jedka - thanks. Updating to 17.1 seems to have resolved DuckDuckGo search pages freezing on my macOS

It's not just DuckDuckGO, it happens to me on facebook.com as well.

What I noticed is when I try to scroll the frozen page (and realize it's frozen) and then resize the Safari window, the content jumps to the scroll position where I blindly tried to scroll. It still remains frozen though, but clicks on links work. So behind the scene every user action works but not rendered until the window is resized.

I am on Sonoma 14.2.1 and Safari 17.2.1 (coincidence?). I never used any of the preloading settings but still have the same problem. What fixed it for now is manually setting ddg as default for private windows.

Settings > Search > Private Browsing search engine

instead of checking "Also Use in Private Browsing"

(Strange capitalisation btw)

Safari 17.1 is out now, so it might be worth updating to see if the problem was fixed

I’ve got exactly the same problem.

I backed up my entire configuration (favorites/passwords).

delete the complete safari config and start from scratch.

after that the problem was solved.

It has nothing to do with the search engine. I think it’s more an upgrade problem (old settings with newer patches, something like that).

if you have iCloud backup enabled you simply could backup your safari config as described above, after a while safari gets its configuration from the cloud and everything went back to normal.

i wondered if this was just me! guess not.

one awkward workaround:

1. close the tab
2. immediately bring it back with "History -> Reopen Last Closed Tab" (or use keyboard shortcut command-shift-T or command-Z)

then the resurrected tab is able to scroll again (at least for me). it's still a hassle though!

Well (touch wood) mine seems OK now since I updated to OS 14.1 and Safari 17.1

preload top hit still unchecked

Teri54 I mean the complete safari configuration (the entire folders which holds the configuration for the app / but not the app ).

you also can do that with appcleaner.

Disabling preload. Since Safari 17.1.2 it seems to be working with that feature turned on again though.