iPhone and Mac users worldwide are reporting Safari is not working and crashing whenever they try to enter something in the search bar. Thankfully, there’s an easy fix for these browser problems, and it has everything to do with turning off the Safari Suggestions option in the settings menu.
when your phone is old but you're not due for an upgrade yet and safari stops working pic.twitter.com/uCza0rC0Aa
— neenie (@deneengove) January 27, 2016To turn off the Safari Suggestions option and make Safari work again on your iPhone, navigate to the Settings app before clicking into the Safari menu option, which should be the second to last option in the fifth cluster down. Then, simply click on the green toggle button to turn off the Safari Suggestions option.
Safari Not Working Temp fix for OSX: Safari Preferences > Search > Smart Search Field > deselect Include Safari Suggestions #Safari
— Andrew Goodlad (@Ichorus) January 27, 2016Alternatively, you could always open up a page in Private Browsing mode. This means that none of your history or activity will be saved, but it does also means that Safari Suggestions won’t crash your device.
Another possible idea is using the Google Chrome browser, which is equivalent to Safari in almost every regard except for smartphone to computer syncing.
Google Chrome does exist for iOS, but its functionality is limited compared to the official iOS Mobile Safari app.
Anyone else having issues using the search bar on safari? Mine seems to not be working right on my phone and the laptop! __
— Kayleigh Johnson (@k_leexjx) January 27, 2016The problem with the Safari Suggestions option seems to stem from an API issue with the Apple servers, as devices of all ages and operating system versions are affected by the bug. This is a major bug, so expect Apple to fix it quickly.
If it’s working for you, you either: 1) have search suggestions turned off, 2) you have a cache. Fresh Safari doesn’t work
— Steve T-S (@stroughtonsmith) January 27, 2016
