Safari freezes/issues on 2021 M1 Pro 14" MBP

Software
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1

Hi fellow Mac brainiacs, I need your help.

I’m loving my new M1 Pro 14" MBP but have been having constant issues with Safari. Here are a few issues I’ve encountered:

  • regular ‘stuttering’ when using the two-finger swipe gestures on the trackpad to go forward/backward through web pages. The current page that ‘slides’ to the right or left will just get stuck in the middle of the page or motion stutters.
  • When screen sharing in Zoom (often full screen video playback on safari), often times Safari is just completely unresponsive - it doesn’t play, I can’t open preferences, nothing.
  • When ⌘+shift+tab(bing) to bring up previously closed windows, the tabs are blank - no website description as well as blank windows.

I’m this close to just erasing my Mac and starting over since Safari is a key app that I use daily. That said, I’m not too savvy with other options that might exist. I’m somewhat of a MPU novice.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

2

I take it you are runnung on monterey? Check if system low power mode is enabled (System Preferences > Battery > Battery > Low power mode). This could explain your first two points when running on battery power.

3

I’m running a 2019 16" on Monterey and am also noticing issues. For example yesterday I had a presentation running on one screen whilst looking something up on another screen. The web page I was on looked like it was loaded but none of the elements were selectable. Reloading the page didn’t help and Safari hadn’t crashed because the presentation on YouTube continued to run as normal. The only solution was to close Safari and start again.

4

I read that ProMotion is not supported by Safari. So while other apps run up to 120fps, Safari is limited to 60. I don’t understand why this is, and why HDR video is also not supported in Youtube. It reduces even more if you turn on low power mode.

5

I’ve seen this in Monterey as well. Hopefully a patch is coming.

6

Hi Joost, thanks for the suggestion. Low power mode is not on.

7

I should have specified that I am running Monterey. I just went ahead and reset the machine. So far, the issues have not returned. I am slowly reinstalling apps and utilities, keeping an eye out to see if the problems return and if so, what apps/utilities may be affecting it.