Since I installed the 10.15.4 update which updated Safari to 13.1 I've been experiencing freezes while typing posts.

Anyone else?

I'll try running the Combo over the Software Update Delta I originally ran and see what happens.

I haven't seen that problem. Let us know if running the Combo helps. FWIW, I now make it a habit to use only the Combo when updating.

I ran the Combo exclusively from day one, but after reading that the Deltas were machine specific I began updating via Software Update, and this is the first time I've had to run the Combo on top of the Delta.

So far so good.

Do you mean posts on this site, or just in general?

I have still experienced delays, timeouts, etc. with posts on this site.

I've experienced it only while typing FTM posts.

This is entirely different than the usual issues that have plagued us for the past coupl'a years.

Nope, no luck with the Combo. It just happened again.

It seems to happen only when I try to click on "Preview Post." I get no response to the click, and it takes a bunch of additional clicks before I get a response.

I"ll try waiting, to see if the additional clicks are really necessary, and I"ll also try working with Activity Monitor open.

Have you tried disabling extensions to see if one of them is causing the problem?

I'd be awfully surprised if an ad blocker is my culprit, but I'll never find out. My ad blockers are more important to my well-being than this occasional, minor annoyance is detrimental.

But thanks for the thought.

I have run into one or two hard freezes in Safari Technical Preview that I attributed to network conditions, but I have also noticed a real uptick in dropped characters when typing, such as writing this reply which I had attributed to fat fingering the keyboard or maybe the result of the muscle relaxant I am on. It isn't consistent and seems to home in bursts. Does that sound like what you are encountering?

Shot in the dark: try booting in Safe Mode and see if the freezing still occurs. That will purge the font caches at the same time. Last time I had such problems, it was down to fonts.

Not at all. My issue is limited to when I click on "Preview Post" I don't see the animation, and my cursor, but, I think, not my keyboard, is frozen for a period of time.

And I don't recall it ever happening when I click on any of the other post/preview/delete options.

I'll pay closer attention to precisely what's happening and report back.

The problem isn't nasty enough to induce me to live in safe mode for more than a minute or two, but I'll try the safe boot to purge those caches.

Thanks for the suggestion.

FYI I have definitely been encountering Safari freezes today on FTM, and two bank site. I can roll the page up and down or swipe sideways, but no click action was accepted. An observation: the end of the freeze coincided with the start of a Time Machine backup.

Did the end of each separate freeze coincide with TM, or did one freeze last long enough for you to experience it on more than one website? I don't run TM, so I can't look at this from that angle, but I"ll see if I can dream up some sort of analog for it.

I've now run into the glitch on wunderground.com in addition to FTM.

I've had Activity Monitor on my desktop, but it didn't show anything.

I"m trying to quantify this, but it's shifty.

Each incident lasted anywhere from thirty seconds to a minute and then would quit. I did notice during one episode that both the mouse and trackpad reported re-connecting to bluetooth. I can't reconcile a bluetooth disconnect with the fact I could use the mouse and trackpad to scroll but not click. 🤔


I didn't see anything in Activity Monitor either. Based on Freelance's suggestion I used TinkerTool System to flush the font caches and I haven't seen the problem since, but it is sufficiently intermittent that doesn't necessarilly mean anything. Tinkertool System has a tool that permits deactivating selected application cache files, testing and then restoring or discarding the various application caches as appropriate. I am going to try that if this continues to happen only in Safari.

It has occurred to me that the association with Safari/Safari Technology Preview could simply be because it is the app I spend the most time using.

My freezes don't last that long. I always forget to look at the clock, but seat of the pants, I'd say 10-15 seconds.


I forgot to mention that freelance's suggestion prompted me to try a safe boot, but the issue has recurred several times since.

Safari is the app that I, too, spend the most time using, but I use enough other apps enough of the time that I"d expect the issue to have reared its head in at least one of them at least once, but nope. (I've now experienced it for the first time on the FTM Forums page.)

I wonder why this issue seems to be affecting only the two of us? It's obvious enough that everyone else can't possibly be missing it, and it's not like Safari is an obscure, infrequently encountered app.

Actually my wife has complained of it too.

Like Jon, I have not encountered the issue.

Your situation may be explainable by the fact that you're not up to date with macOS.

Jon's current, so I dunno what's up with him, or, for that matter, everybody else.

I can't explain it either. In any event, I have not had anything remotely like your issue.

The problem still has not recurred since I flushed the system and user font caches 🤞

I installed MacOS 10.15.5 Beta 1 this afternoon so that will have changed the test parameters and make any conclusions from my experience suspect. 😞

I couldn't use TinkerTool System because I screwed up and used up my free trial, but I ran everything both OnyX and Catalina Cache Cleaner had to offer, and I'm still experiencing slowdowns.

New info: On wunderground.com I can bring on a freeze on a 10 day view page by not doing anything for an indeterminate while.

And I can bring one on on an FTM Posting form by doing nothing for a similar indeterminate while, BUT only if my focus is NOT on the "Post:" box, i.e. no flashing cursor in the box.

This has been 100% reproducible so far.

Chances are the delay is why the bug is so obscure.

By the way, which version of Safari are you running in 10.15.5?

My issue is with Version 13.1 (15609.1.20.111.8).

The version of Safari in MacOS 10.15.5 is Version 13.1.1 (15609.2.3), but I haven't opened Safari in literally years other than to test something. Instead I use Safari Technology Preview and the current version is Release 104 (Safari 13.2, WebKit 15610.1.8.3). The webkit version is equally if not more important than the Safari version as Safari is essentially a GUI for Webkit.

Apple uses STP to test out new features some of which will make it into a Safari release and some will either morph into something else or simply disappear. Some of those new features are substantial like a new webkit build, some are unnoticeable to all but the most techie user, and some are significant changes that will effect even the casual user.

OK, so versions are irrelevant in this instance.

At least I now know how to avoid the freezes.

Has it occurred to anyone that due to the current pandemic, everyone is sitting at home glued to the Internet, and the ISP's and webhosts may be seriously overloaded, thus causing all kinds of strange problems? So, it may not be your browser that's acting up.

BTW, I gave up on Safari a couple of years ago when I found that Firefox was vastly improved after they did a complete rewrite of the Mac version.

No, this is completely removed from what you're speculating.

I'm not experiencing beach-balling or other freezes all over the Internet, rather I"m experiencing specific, reproducible freezes in only three situations, all of which I'll erroneously call "interactive."

Here on the FTM posting form I lose the ability to click within the box and on "Submit" and "Preview Post."

At New York City, NY 10-Day Weather Forecast the time of day slider and clickable items stop working.

At COVID-19: Daily Voice's Interactive Map Of NYC Metro Area Cases I lose the ability to manipulate the map and click within it.

And as I said both here and earlier, this is 100% reproducible, which automatically eliminates random ISP and server overloads from possible culpability. And the Safari issue, which is the first one I noticed, predates the lockdowns anyhow.

I'm fine with Safari; it works exactly as I like, as opposed to Firefox which makes me jump through hoops to accomplish even simple stuff that I can do easily with Safari. And Firefox's prefs give me nightmares.

I hadn't thought about it, but I have occasional freezes when I play Tiles at https://www.nytimes.com/puzzles/tiles I have been doing this for amusement and the issue occurs sporadically if I spend some time thinking before clicking. Then, it seems to resolve itself. This is the only instance that I can recall. (No spinning beachball; the site simply becomes unresponsive to clicking.)

I use Firefox once in awhile, but Safari does everything that I want. Maybe I could tweak Firefox to customize it, but I see no compelling reason to do so.

That's it, Jon.

I followed your link, and the freeze is exactly what I've been experiencing.

It happens only in a precise set of circumstances.

FWIW, I am not encountering any freezes playing the tiles game on Safari Technology Preview Release 104 (Safari 13.2, WebKit 15610.1.8.3) or Firefox 74.0.

Within minutes of posting that a Safari Technology Preview update was announced. It is now Release 105 (Safari 13.2, WebKit 15610.1.10)

Now that I understand what's happening and can avoid it I can live with it, but fingers crossed for Safari itself all the same.

It appears that the issue has finally been corrected in 10.15.6.

Spoke too soon.

I THINK it happens less often, but it DOES still happen.

That is my experience as well. It seems to take a longer pause on my part before it freezes, but I have not measured this objectively.

I'll say that it definitely does take a longer pause before it happens, which is why it took me a while to notice it.

I'll go out on a limb...again and say that it looks like the freezes have been banished from Safari 14.0

So far, so good for me too.