Safari keeps crashing/freezing after install of El Capitan

You realize that safari and supporting libraries are part of the install and could be corrupt, right?

Hi All,

Before you read on, I want to be upfront and let you know that I don't have a solution....for you. I just wanted to throw my hat into the ring because I'm having these same problems and found your posts after doing a Google search. My issues are the same as yours, here they are:

1. I have the most recent rMBP15 that I just bought this past summer.

2. Everything was awesome until I installed El Cap.

3. Since then Safari crashes by either freezing itself, freezing the entire system (but the cursor still moves around), or rebooting itself by first displaying the black screen of death. This happens when:

a. I watch a Youtube video.

b. I open a new tab after watching a Youtube video, then closing the Youtube tab.

c. Once when I was simply viewing pictures on Flickr.

4. When Safari crashes and brings my system down with it (I thought Mac apps were sandboxed so that this didn't happen??), my SSD requires "fixing." So I have to boot to recovery mode and use First Aid to fix it.

So here's what I did first: disabled, then ultimately uninstalled all Safari extensions. Cleared the cache via developer menu. Reset Safari by erasing all website data including cookies and history. None of that worked. Recently after yet another crash, I reset Safari again then rebooted. Then I uninstalled Flash and rebooted. The last thing I did, which you won't like but seems to have made Safari stable again, I stopped using Youtube. Instead, when I want to watch Youtube videos I use my iPad. That's unacceptable considering I just paid $2,500 for this MacBook just a few months ago!!!!!!! But at least now Safari and my MacBook are usable again whereas beforehand I couldn't rely on it to do anything.

I have sent notes to Apple and also sent those reports (after a crash) with full details of what I was doing each time....probably sent over 15 of those at this point. No response. And the two dot updates of 10.11.1 and 10.11.2 haven't fixed this issue at all.

So while I apologize for not offering a solution, I just wanted to ensure that I jump in the ring with everyone else to show that more and more users are having this same problem. Thank you all for your posts - at least I know it's not just me. 🙂 Hopefully Apple takes notice and fixes it.

NO NEED to apologize, Jimbo! On the contrary, you're contribution just helps bring attention to the problem. What I find interesting in your case is that it sounds like you may be on a 2015 rmbp while we were thinking this may be isolated to 2014. Are you on a 2015 model?

You may want to try other browsers on your Mac instead of resorting to using your iPad for YouTube until this ridiculous issue is fixed. I do a lot of work on YouTube, so I need to access it via the Mac. I know I can use Chrome or Firefox. However, one of my biggest draws to Mac is how tightly integrated the built in apps are with each other. It's simply a big efficiency boost. Using a different browser just because Safari can't handle the basics without bringing down a $2K+ machine is, as we've both said, unacceptable.

It is disconcerting that you had an SSD issue following the crash! I hadn't hear of that issue.

Thanks Adam! And you're correct, this is a brand-new 15 inch retina MacBook Pro that I just bought at the end of the summer. That was one of the reasons I wanted to post to this form because I noticed you guys were using similar 2014 machines and I wanted you to know that it was happening on the new 2015 ones as well.

I haven't tried any other browsers just yet. I do have Firefox on my machine but it probably needs an update. I have read before that using Chrome is sometimes a privacy issue given the information that Google collects, and I've also heard it's a bit of a memory hog (I could be wrong on all points). I'm not against it by any means, I just haven't tried it yet because I wasn't too comfortable with it. And to your point, I should certainly be able to use the apps that Apple builds into it's on the software!

@TheJimbo:

Thanks for the input Jimbo. Very interesting to hear you're having (what seems like) the same symptoms on 2015 rMBP. I hadn't come across that yet but am glad this thread's progressing in gathering clues.

I'm in much the same boat as you that I've had to switch my habits and pretty much avoid YouTube in Safari now. If I'm searching for something and know I've to watch more than one video I'll open it in Chrome now, which doesn't appear to have this problem for me. I had this issue since I received the laptop and kept thinking a fix or update will solve it, rather than immediately hammering support for a solution (although I since have). I felt the laptop was such a big purchase that it was disheartening to have such a hurdle with it from day 1 that didn't have a straightforward solution.

Same problem - really disappointed as I have loyally bought Mac products for years, and now I'm finding with each so called upgrade things seem to get worse. I agree with earlier comments that it's like running a 90's PC !!

Hello guys,

Same issue here as well. I've got a 2014 retina macbook pro, 13" and 256GB (i5, 8GB memory).

Usually it goes like this:

- After some time (like 1-3 days), I open youtube.

- It can occur, when I close a youtube tab, or navigate to another video, or close safari.

- When the freeze happened, it takes 1-2 minutes to be able to change spaces, or access menu/spotlight etc.

- During the freeze, I can move my mouse without any lag.

- In some cases, if I try to get to a different space, it starts to slide, than freezes during the animation.

- If I try to access the top menubar with my cursor, it freezes.

I've got an external monitor (via displayport). At first, it happened more often, when the monitor was plugged. Now it is not deterministic.

I use safari at fullscreen mode, have 2 extensions (ghostery and ublock), tried to uninstall them, but didn't help at all. Also using HTML5 version of youtube (flash was never installed).

I really hope Apple fix this soon, it's hilarious that I spend so much money on this, and can not even use it.

I've got the same machine, and the same problem. Between this, my two Apple TV 2's becoming totally unstable, my iPad 2 becoming unusable, my iPhone 6 having insane multi second lag between keystrokes when searching contacts (they even replace my phone to no avail), I've come to realize that Apple has become a mediocre company. Sad, but I guess entropy is winning. I'm migrating away from Apple, first with two Roku boxes to replace the ATVs. iPad will probably just go away. Phone will prob go on Ebay and I'll go with a Galaxy. And ultimately, looks like I'm going back to Windows. Really ***** to say that.

Hi guys!

Same problem here.

• Macbook Pro 15" Retina, Late 2013
• 2.0GHz, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD
• OS X El Captain (clean install)

If I'm using Safari for watching Youtube videos it works fine during the first X minutes and/or during the first X videos. Then it's freezing the whole system for minutes and nothing helps. I was trying to disable all the plugins (I have a password app, Pocket and Adblocker) but it was the same. While my Mac is freezing due to Safari I have to wait till it responds again because even the cmd+alt+esc isn't working.

Any idea?

Hi Everyone,

I honestly thought the 60 minutes piece on Tim Cook would resolve these nagging issues. He came across as arrogant and ignorant. He refused to divulge any numbers on the iWatch, nor did he address the declining orders on the iPhone? He bragged about the next and newest; how can he do that when he can't fix the present? All of this saddens me. Jane

Oh, and let me add to my list of Apple offerings that have failed me: iTunes version of The Martian audio book. Take a look at the reviews. Seems they have been selling a version that cuts off a lot of the end. This has been going on for many months. Imagine that, a hugely successful book and movie, clearly the audiobook is in high demand too, yet they are literally and knowingly selling a partial copy!

I don't think this, or any of my devices becoming unstable and unusable, are a result of willful intent. In fact, I think this Hanlon's razor says it best: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity". A mediocre company.

Time for me to sell my little batch of Apple stock. After last night's landing, I think putting that money into some more Tesla stock and having ready to invest in a SpaceX IPO is a wise move. Not giving advise here, just stating my personal opinion and strategy.

Great - Thank you @norbertsz and @balukapitany. Now we've got 2013, 2014, & 2015 rmbp models ALL experiencing the exact same issues. Looks like everyone experiencing the problems have tried disabling extensions and most of us have tried clean installs.

If this is a hardware problem - it's massive and extensive. I still think it's bad Safari code.

Let's keep this thread on track instead of bashing Apple. We need people to be able to find the thread and get the relevant info so that we can push forward to get it solved. (It goes without saying that this shouldn't fall on our shoulders and that these top and recent/recent-enough Mac models have cost us all a lot of time and money.)

Let's keep this thread on track instead of bashing Apple. We need people to be able to find the thread and get the relevant info so that we can push forward to get it solved. (It goes without saying that this shouldn't fall on our shoulders and that these top and recent/recent-enough Mac models have cost us all a lot of time and money.)

Yes please to do this. All the tangental issues coming up here are legitimate and very frustrating but for the sake of all of using this thread to figure out Safari freezes in El Capitan let's keep it on topic so the thread continues to shed light on that area. I urge anyone who is continuing to have separate frustrations to start or join messages relating to them or contact Apple if you haven't already to log those issues.

Thanks all for contributing. It's definitely helping form a bigger picture of the extent of the problem but I can't see a definite pattern yet as it's not every single 2013 - 2015 rMBP user. Since it relates predominantly to video in YouTube I'm curious if there's any pattern in graphics cards. I've the dual NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2048 MB and Intel Iris Pro. I'd imagine that the Intel Iris Pro is in use when the freezes occur as the system is being used fairly lightly when the problem happens. Not conclusive, just a hunch.

I've seen a separate freezing issue claim there's a problem when OSX switches from one card to another. I don't believe this is the issue here as the problem happens for me mostly as I switch or close a tab containing a YouTube video. The odds of the graphics card switching at this exact moment each time or close to non-existant.

I've seen a separate freezing issue claim there's a problem when OSX switches from one card to another. I don't believe this is the issue here as the problem happens for me mostly as I switch or close a tab containing a YouTube video. The odds of the graphics card switching at this exact moment each time or close to non-existant.

I think this is a different issue as well. I only have one GPU in the mid-2014 rmbp. Interesting to note though.

I tend to agree Adam. I have both graphic cards in my 2015 rMBP and if switching between the two was causing this issue then I would think it would happen in Adobe Lightroom when I'm editing photos (I'm a hobbyist photographer) and it never has. It almost only happens when watching YouTube videos and closing a YouTube tab. Since I uninstalled flash and stopped viewing videos in YouTube, I've had no crashes whatsoever. I realize that refraining from YouTube is not a solution for most as many need YouTube for work etc., but it least it seems to stabilize Safari until a fix comes out.