Fix for Safari Freezing When Typing in Address Bar of Mac OS X & iOS

Some users have noticed that Safari hangs unexpectedly when attempting to type a search or URL into the address bar. This is usually a temporary disruption, and after a moment or few the text entry begins again within the Safari address bar as the address bar populates with smart search data and search results from the default search engine in the browser.

Safari freezing up when typing a URL or search into the address bar is pretty annoying however, but fortunately with a few adjustments you can usually resolve this issue rather quickly in OS X or iOS.

Fix Freezing Safari Address Bar Text Entry in Mac OS X

Before anything else, be sure you have updated Safari to the latest version available, you can check if there is a Safari specific update waiting by going to the  Apple menu > App Store > and reviewing the Updates tab for Safari software updates. The latest versions of Safari tend to perform better than prior releases and include bug fixes.

1. Open the browser if you haven’t done so already, then close all browser windows and tabs in Safari
2. Pull down the “Safari” menu and choose “Preferences”, then go to the “Search” tab
3. Uncheck all boxes under the “Smart Search Field” section



4. Close out of Preferences, then back at the Safari menu, choose to clear web history in Safari (for best results, delete all history rather than just recent history)
5. Quit out of Safari when finished and relaunch the browser, type in the URL bar again either a website address or a search as you typically would, no more freezing!

This should completely resolve the hanging search bar activity in Safari on the Mac, and typing and entering searches or website addresses should now be as fast as expected.

Fixing Freezing Safari with Text Entry in iOS

On the iOS side of things, clearing history and removing cookies and web data is usually sufficient to remedy the problem:

1. Open the Settings app and go to “Safari”
2. Choose “Clear History and Website Data”

Quit and relaunch Safari and then try using the address bar / search bar again, it should no longer hang on iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

Safari Still Freezing with Address Bar Use? Check iCloud

Sometimes however, this is not enough, and also sometimes users notice that Safari will freeze up when typing in the search bar on the Mac as well as their accompanying iOS devices. If this happens on multiple devices, the steps above may not be sufficient to remedy the problem, as it may actually relate to iCloud syncing of Safari data. If this is the case, you can force the Safari iCloud data to sync from a Mac to iCloud which often resolves the problem, but for users on particularly slow internet connections, sometimes simply disabling Safari usage of iCloud on the Mac is the only solution, which is possible in System Preferences > iCloud, and unchecking the “Safari” option found within the preference panel, doing this will disable both iCloud Safari tabs and Safari bookmark syncing through iCloud however.

Let us know in the comments if this has worked to resolve the freezing Safari address bar issue for you, or if you have another solution be sure to let us know of that as well!