Safari Lagging On Mac In macOS Monterey 12.1 (Fix?!)
Last updated on January 4th, 2022 at 08:32 pm
Posted in Bug Fixes by Tyrone on December 15, 2021
Safari lagging in macOS Monterey 12.1
Is Safari lagging on Mac since macOS Monterey 12.1 update? Does Apple’s browser hang and act overloaded? Text in address bar becomes invisible and seriously affects your productivity?
Safari Lagging On Mac Issue
This problem has been reported by Toni M. on our macOS 12.1 review page:
“Safari lagging heavily since 12.1 update. Did not have problems in Monterey 12.0.1. Anyone else?”
I’m experiencing the same issue on a MacBook Air (2017) running macOS Monterey 12.1 and problems started soon after updating.
Are you also experiencing the same glitch? Use the comments section to share your feedback and help us determine how widespread this bug is!
How To Fix Safari Lagging In macOS Monterey
Until this issue is addressed in a software update, you can temporarily fix it by relaunching Safari. However, this workaround isn’t ideal because it’s not permanent and you have to start over every time:
- Right-click the Safari icon in your macOS Dock.
- Go for Quit. Black dot displaying below the Safari icon should disappear.
- Wait a couple of seconds and click on Safari. Resume your web browsing. It should work normally now.
Other Fix For Safari Lagging On Mac
(Updated, January 4)
According to Fabrice both Safari, as well as Mail, App Store and other apps that are lagging, unresponsive or not loading after macOS Monterey update, can be fixed by changing DNS settings:
- Open System Preferences and click on Network.
- Go for Advanced.
- Click the DNS tab, available in the top menu.
- Click the ‘+’ icon to add a new DNS server
- Input a public DNS Server. You can use Google’s ones:
8.8.8.8and8.8.4.4. - Click OK to save your changes.
Fact: This fix for Safari lagging in macOS Monterey has been also confirmed by Paul R.
Safari Still Hanging On Mac?
If the overloading issue continues, the next step is to restart your computer:
- Click the Apple logo, in the top-left corner of the screen and go for Restart. Does Safari feel snappier after the reboot?
Other Safari Issues In Still macOS 12.1
Besides the lag we’ve also encountered the following glitches too:
1. Invisible Text in Address Bar
While Safari lags on Mac, the URL in the address bar becomes invisible.
Invisible text in Safari address bar.
It’s only fixed after quitting and relaunching the browser.
URL displays normally in address bar after relaunching Safari.
Have you managed to fix Safari lagging on Mac? Do you have a better solution? Use the comments section and share your feedback.
Related: Getting black screen on videos in Safari after updating to macOS Monterey. Here is how to fix it!
I have exactly the same problem, quitting it resolves it, but only to return. Same with restarting the computer. Hopefully, a fix will be out soon.
Thanks for confirming the issue Sally. Are you running macOS 12.1 too? Did the problems start only in this version or since macOS 12.0.1?
Since macOs 12.0.1, but seems worse with 12.1
Thanks for clarifying. We will submit feedback for it. If anyone else experiences the same please comment. We will provide the link for this page in the report.
I’m experiencing the same problem. But for me it only started with the upgrade to macOs 12.1
Thanks for confirming Chris. Same case here. Hasn’t occurred again during the weekend though. Did you experience it again after force quitting Safari or restarting MacBook?
I have a 2019 MacBook Pro 16-inch.
I have the same problem, but maybe worse. Since I updated to Monterey 12.1, safari has completely stopped working. The progress bar moves about 10% and stays there. But, CHROME WORKS FINE!
MS Outlook desktop will NOT update and get any new emails.
I tried changing the DNS to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 with no luck.
Ok, well I have good news,
Seems that changing DNS to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 HAS fixed my safari issues.
Thank you for suggesting that fix.
And outlook now works! Woot!
I’ll update my post if anything changes
Thanks for reporting this Paul. Yes, I had this Safari stuck on loading web page a couple of times. Had to force quit the browser and relaunch.
Regarding, Outlook, did not experience this issue yet. Does it work if you force quit the app and relaunch?
Thanks for the followup!
I have the same problem since updating to Monterey 12.1. Safari is completely unresponsive even after quitting/force quitting or even after full computer reboot. I tried clearing cache, removing all cookies and extensions but nothing helps. I’ve been using Firefox for the last few days, this is pretty sad for Apple to kill their own browser on an OS update. I have a 2019 Macbook Pro 16″ 2.3 GHz Intel Core i9 with plenty of memory.
Thanks for sharing your feedback Fabrice. That’s crazy. Didn’t get to that point. Safari would recover after force quitting and rebooting Mac. Not sure what else to suggest at the moment. We’re looking into this and will update you if anything new is available.
Important update/fix:
I noticed that the AppStore application was also completely unresponsive (blank screen), then I noticed that my Mail app was extremely slow getting emails and that the Speedtest (by Ookla) took forever before finding a server. Since it looked like a network issue I decided to change my DNS settings (in the advanced settings) to the Google Public DNS 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.
Since making those DNS changes Safari is flying, same goes for the App Store, Mail app and Speedtest. I have no idea how/why changing the DNS settings fixed the issue for me but I thought it was worth sharing. Hopefully, that fix works for others too.
I can confirm that changing DNS to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 HAS fixed my safari issues.
Thank you for suggesting that fix.
And outlook now works! Woot!
I’ll update my post if anything changes
Great. Thanks for confirming. I will update this fix now in the main content of the article.
Got nothing to do with DNS settings, Safari is just plan slower than previous versions. It is very laggy scrolling and sometimes pages just never load. More likely Safari has issues with some web sites rather than DNS issues.
So many seem to complain about Safari 15 that I think the browser has some significant bugs or rather maybe the developers at WebKit just flat out messed up. When any other browser does not have this issue, it is not a DNS or internet connection issue. This is a Safari or app specific issue. Monterey in my own experience on my M1 Mac mini is just performing badly. Much worse than Big Sur and that release wasn’t that great.
Safari is every bit as laggy – if not more so – on Monterey 12.2.
Read My Ernie POST
What worked for me was that I have a Ethernet wire connects and have WIFI on so in the network settings I made Ethernet Manually IP (Like IP 192.168.1.150, Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0, Router 192.168.1.1, DNS Server 192.168.1.1) Address and then made the WIFI TP/IP Manually also with and Different IP Address (Like 192.168.1.153) Saved this as a location. I think the problem is that the Ethernet and WIFI getting the same IP Address.
That DNS fix actually does it. Thanks!