Andy Hawthorne
I write and I code.
3 Ways to fix the Safari iOS5 Crashing Problem
If you have experienced the problem where Safari crashes constantly on your iPad, this may be of some help to you. Read on to discover 3 ways that you can use to try and solve the problem.
Safari crashes randomly on iOS5
It all started when my wife mentioned to me that she wanted a laptop. I was surprised because this was coming from a lady who really enjoys using her iPad. She has a first generation iPad, running iOS5, and it has been perfect for her needs.
When I asked her why she had fallen out with it, she replied: “Safari keeps crashing back to the home screen when I go to any of my favourite web sites.”
After a few more questions, I was able to establish that:
- Safari on her iPad would crash randomly on various different sites
- It also seemed to affect the native mail app
- The crashing only started happening after the upgrade to iOS5. The upgrade to 5.0.1 made no difference
If you are experiencing this problem you are not on your own. The Apple support forums have quite a long thread about it.
3 Possible Fixes
So there are 3 things you can do to try and resolve this problem. I probably should point out that I have an iPad 2 and have never experienced this problem. Some iPad 2 owners are saying they have though. I should also say that these solutions get more serious as you go through them. Please make sure you have backed up before attempting these solutions (2 and 3).
- Switch off bookmark sync for iCloud:
This one worked on my wife’s iPad. It is running iOS5.0.1 and everything else syncs with iCloud. As soon as I switched off the bookmark sync:
switch off bookmark sync
The problem was solved. There were no more Safari iOS5 crashes.
- Switch off your iCloud email account:
I can’t vouch for this one, but some people are saying that it works. You should be able to switch it back on again afterwards. - Reset the device, and then restore from iCloud. This is apparently the advice that you get from the Genius Bar in an Apple store. This one generally fixes most things on an iPad. But it is a drastic measure.
PLEASE BACK UP FIRST!
Final Words
I’ll say it again, please carry out options 2 and 3 with care, it could result in data loss!
There is no word from Apple on this yet. That is normal though, they often just put the fix out, and then acknowledge the problem.
