After a download, a compass/safari icon remains on the screen

After googling around, I found the answer for anyone still wondering: This icon indicates you have Apple's "Handoff" feature enabled — which opens the same browser window on your phone or other Mac device. This feature is enabled or disabled on Macs via System Prefs:

And apparently this is how you activate "Handoff" on an iOS device:

Various apps take advantage of this "handoff link" between Apple devices, so I think different icons display when you are using apps that sync to iCloud.

For details, here is the Apple Insider article I find which produced these graphics.

http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/04/18/how-to-enable-apples-handoff-feature-b etween-your-ios-devices-and-mac

Try this from apple support..........NVRAM reset.

Shut down computer and hold the Option(Alt), Command, P and R keys. While holding those keys power on the computer and keep holding the keys until you hear the startup chime twice, then let go of the keys.

This seems to have worked for me on my 2015 MacBook Pro.

The Allow handoff option in General Prefs didn't work for me.

I broke the code, at least on my Mac Air (13 in, mid-2012) and iMac (21.5 in, mid-2011).

First, I added the Downloads folder to the Dock.

Next, in Safari settings I ensured the following was ticked off.

Now when I download, the grayed safari icon drops down into the downloads icon in the dock instead of the downloads icon on the safari toolbar.

That fixed it for me.

Yay - found a fix that worked!

Background:

In High Sierra, when you click to download a file, High Sierra creates an animation/visualization of the file (via a Safari icon) being download, in a very fast-moving "n" shape. Starting where you click, going to the top of the window and then back down to the "Download" folder in the Dock. If you DON'T have your "Download" folder in the dock, High Sierra cannot perform the animation and hence the Safari icon just gets "stuck" on the screen.

Fix:

In Finder, right click on "Downloads", then click "Add to Dock"

"Download" folder now added to the Dock

It's been driving me crazy since the release of High Sierra, hopefully, this "fix" works for you too.

Agreed, I misspoke, it's not a "fix" it's indeed a workaround. This workaround is great for users who want to continue using Safari without the Safari icon remaining on the screen after a download.

The "Download" folder that is added to the Dock takes up a very little amount of real estate in my heavily used Dock on my MacBook Pro.

For me, I am willing to make this slight trade-off to continue using Safari unencumbered rather than switching to a different browser that are inherently slower, consume way too much memory, and shortens my available battery time. I am patiently waiting for Apple to fix this problem, but in the interim, for me, it's a small price to pay for all the benefits Safari has to a Mac user.

I also have this problem. Resetting the NVRAM didn't work nor did turning off the handoff options. I also tried emptying the cache for safari, deleting all history, deleting flash player files and disabling all extensions. After a chat with apple support they say the only option is to reinstall mac os. Its very frustrating that you cant uninstall safari and reinstall it from a dmg. I suppose if they had that option you would have numpties without a web browser and unable to contact anyone to fix their problem.

1. Does a restart resolve the issue temporarily?

2. Try another self standing version of Safari, Safari Technology Preview after restarting the Mac.

Download a safe application like EtreCheck. https://etrecheck.com

Does the problem reappear?

Safari Technology Preview.

This is another self standing beta version of Safari.

This version doesn’t have Debug option if you need to use.

To install Extensions:

Download extensions by entering the extension name in the search bar.

Download it.

Finder > Downloads

Right click on the filename.

Open with > Safari Technology Preview.

To uninstall STP:

Finder > Applications > Safari Technology Preview

Right click STP and choose “Move to Trash”.

https://developer.apple.com/safari/technology-preview/

Spent some time on the phone with Apple support tonight. Long story, short: They had me update to High Sierra 10.13.3 and the problem appears to be resolved. Hopefully, that does the trick permanently.

For those who don't know how to initiate this update:

• Open your finder
• Go to the Appstore
• There is a button on the top that says update-click that and install 10.13.3

*You can also see what version you are currently running by clicking on the apple icon in the top right corner of your screen and selecting "About This Mac"

Hope it works, and hope this can help someone else out.

I have this same issue and was wondering where this is coming from.

I'm using Safari Version 11.0 (13604.1.38.1.6) and I just updated to the release version of High Sierra about an hour ago.

I've noticed that anytime I download something the gray compass logo appears on screen and doesn't go away. The only way I clear it is to completely quit Safari.

Does anyone have any idea why this occurs or how to stop it?

I haven't noticed it occurring over the past few days. It happened for me anytime I downloaded something right after I upgraded to High Sierra on 26 Sep 2017. But it didn't happen on the 27th and it hasn't happened today (28th). So, I'm not sure if it was just a short lived graphical error or if it's an intermittent problem that may return at some point.

Anyone come up with a solution. Mine is still happening. I have gone back and delete extensions, plugins in the /Library and ~/Library folders. I have searched and searched for the root cause without success.

Having the same issue on High Sierra version 10.13.1 using Safari version 11.0.1 (13604.3.5)

Only goes away when we quit the browser. Sounds like a plist issue or an extension but I haven't gone down that route yet. Any answers on this?

Thanks,

I have been having the same problem since upgrading to High Sierra. I have also had problems with bizarre issues of font substitutions in some non-Apple applications. I have wondered if it has to do with the graphics card on my late-2013 iMac (NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 1 GB).

A solution I have found is to use Firefox. I'm sure that is not what Apple had in mind.

I work in a school setting and some of the staff are having this issue. I disabled the handoff feature but the icon still pops up on the MacBooks after they download anything on safari. Is there any other setting or any step that may not be listed that needs to be done?

I've got this issue as well, but I have a mid2010 MacBook Pro. This means that I don't see the Handoff option under settings > general. Now what do I do? Honestly, I'm going to have to switch to Chrome or Firefox, this is annoying. Any ideas?