How to fix "This webpage was reloaded because a problem occurred" in Safari

Frustrated by the ‘this webpage was reloaded because a problem occurred’ message in Safari? If a certain webpage keeps reloading or looping, that usually means that Safari is actually recovering from a tab crash, not anything more sinister like a virus or broken software.

The good news is, despite this being annoying, when you’re trying to simply load a page, it’s actually a pretty quick fix; I’ve got six things you can try.

What does this error actually mean?

The webpage was reloaded because a problem occurred error usually means that one tab has either become too heavy or unstable for Safari to keep running it safely.

Safari runs each tab in its own WebKit process, so if one tab exceeds its memory limit or hits a bug, Safari can kill and reload that tab instead of crashing the whole browser.

There’s usually the same culprits behind the issue:

• Too many open tabs eating up your RAM

• Heavy or buggy pages usually running ads or with broken JavaScript

• Corrupt extensions or a Safari cache

• Outdated macOS

I did also see a couple of cases mentioned on the forums of content blockers stripping scripts the page needs, but they were pretty rare.

So, now it’s time for the fixes.

Fixes: The webpage was reloaded because a problem occurred

Just work your way through; you can stop when you find one that works for you.

1. Close other tabs and try again

Do this one first, because 70% of cases are related to memory pressure. Safari tabs can use a lot more RAM than you expect, especially if you’ve got videos running, a ton of ads open, live chat widgets, or real-time dashboards. Close anything you don’t actively need with Command - W, then reload the problem page and see if it holds.

2. Restart Safari

If closing tabs didn’t work, then the next step is to restart Safari completely. Just press Command - Q to quit the app, then reopen it and try the same page again.

If you find Safari is frozen, you can also press Option - Command - Esc, select Safari, and click Force Quit. That will also clear out the browser’s in-memory state without changing your settings.

3. Clear cache and website data for the problem site only

You can try to remove the data for the site that’s actually failing, instead of blanket clearing everything. In Safari, go to the main Safari menu > Settings > Privacy > Manage Website Data, search for the website that’s not loading, and click Remove.

4. Disable extensions one at a time

Back in the Safari main menu > Safari Extensions,  switch your extensions off one by one. Then recheck and reload the page. Look for any content blockers or password managers, because they usually have a role to play. If you find which extension is causing the issue, I’d consider removing it completely.

5. Update Safari

If Safari is outdated, you probably won’t be able to fix this issue till you update it, and to do that, you need to update your entire macOS. Go to your main Apple menu > System Settings > General > Software Update.

6. Remove all data

As a last resort, you can also clear your entire Safari history and all its collected website data from Safari menu > Settings > Privacy > Manage Website Data > Remove All. 

Then, open Activity Monitor from Applications > Utilities and go to the Memory tab to see what’s happening. If your Mac is sitting near full memory even with Safari closed, the problem probably isn’t Safari alone.

If Activity Monitor shows your Mac running close to full memory, Safari tabs will keep crashing no matter how many times you reset.

Use a tool like cleanmymac.com, which comes with a really great real-time Menu App that monitors your Mac’s memory and CPU. Then, you can use its other features like Performance to Cleanup to do just that: boost your machine's output and clear up junk that's weighing it down.

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That’s all there is to know about this webpage was reloaded because a problem occurred.