Safari 'Helpful' field missing on MacBook Pro running macOS 26.2

In Safari (but not other browsers) the "Helpful" field does not show up. It looks like this:

with no thumbs or "helpful" fields. Safari works right in another user account. I have no login items. Safe Mode doesn't help. This is on an M3Book, OS26.2.


I guess this must be some box I need to un-tick, or something, but I can't figure which one!


Any idea what I should try?



[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Safari has no thumbs

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 26.2

Posted on Dec 19, 2025 8:34 AM

Reply
5 replies

Dec 19, 2025 12:24 PM in response to Richard.Taylor

This website, or...?


ASC has been implementing a variety of behind the scenes changes recently and I don't know what that field may be. I seem to recall "helpful" and "not helpful" but that was a few days ago and I haven't seen it since.


If Safari doesn't work as expected on Mac - Apple Support offers mostly generic recommendations, but there are a few helpful ones buried among the others. Don't overlook anything.


Tried clearing history?

Dec 20, 2025 6:53 AM in response to John Galt

John Galt wrote: …This website, or...?

The original title was "Safari Has No Thumbs"-- I thought that and the screenshot would give it away, but the moderators didn't like my title. I thought it completely explained the problem--and that it was cute

ASC has been implementing a variety of behind the scenes changes recently and I don't know what that field may be. I seem to recall "helpful" and "not helpful" but that was a few days ago and I haven't seen it since.

It started with that or with my loading Tahoe. Or maybe it was something else.

…Tried clearing history?

Well, I hate to admit it since I should already have tried it, but clearing Apple data from Safari did the trick. Thanks for prompting me!


Actually, I now have thumbs, but not the "Helpful" etc, as in FireFox.

Hmm.

Dec 20, 2025 12:57 PM in response to Richard.Taylor

I suspect this site is using "AI" to modify post titles. In most cases that retitling has been beneficial, but in some cases it obscures and can even contradict the post content. Personally I think yours would have elicited more interest if its original title had been left alone for the simple fact it was interesting.


Glad you fixed it. I know of very few websites that have ever needed their histories or cached data cleared; ironically this is one of them. For example about a month ago the "reply" button completely vanished, making replies impossible, but clearing Safari's history fixed it.


As for the "helpful" / "not helpful" text associated with those buttons, I don't recall which browser or which operating system I had been using at the time. I think the idea is to reinforce the concept that a particular reply may in fact be "helpful" or not, and not just a popularity contest as it seems to have (predictably) become. Helpful replies ought to be easy to find, but the most valuable replies on this site tend to get buried when a lot of people pile on with unhelpful, "me too" replies that are "thumbed up".


What was so bad about "This solved my problem"? I have no idea. Seems to me this site and ones like it ought to be all about finding solutions to problems, but that's just my opinion.

Dec 21, 2025 6:49 AM in response to John Galt

John Galt wrote: …As for the "helpful" / "not helpful" text associated with those buttons, … the idea is to reinforce the concept that a particular reply may in fact be "helpful" or not, and not just a popularity contest as it seems to have (predictably) become. Helpful replies ought to be easy to find, but the most valuable replies on this site tend to get buried when a lot of people pile on with unhelpful, "me too" replies that are "thumbed up".

Rants often get bunches of 'thumbs up." Helpful seems more meaningful

What was so bad about "This solved my problem"? I have no idea. Seems to me this site and ones like it ought to be all about finding solutions to problems, but that's just my opinion.

I had thought about this-- I think there are a lot of responses that are helpful, even if they don't finally solve the problem. "Solved" seems like it could only happen once, but "Helpful" could apply to good probing questions as well as to answers. Seems OK to me. But, of course, I still don't see it on Safari.

Dec 22, 2025 9:57 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

"Solved" seems like it could only happen once, but "Helpful" could apply to good probing questions as well as to answers.


That's exactly how it used to be. The OP had the opportunity to tag as many as two replies "helpful" and one "solved". That tiny amount of effort on their part made answers easy to find.


Now... not so much.


Similar user-to-user support sites certainly have their share of problems, but a prominent, first page "this solved my problem" or "Accepted Solution" is one advantage they have that ASC does not.

Safari 'Helpful' field missing on MacBook Pro running macOS 26.2

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