6 Solutions to Safari Not Working on iPhone on iOS 17/16

When you find that Safari doesn’t work on your iPhone with iOS 13/14/15/16, how can you fix it? Refer to this post, we will show you 6 solutions to get rid of the issue.

Dylan

By Dylan / Updated on November 21, 2023

Share this: instagram reddit

According to Wikipedia, Safari is a WebKit-based partially graphical web browser developed by Apple, favored by many iPhone and iPad users. This is because of its powerful built-in privacy features, enhanced system integration, less power consumption, Security Surf safe and sound and other useful features.

However, Safari may also perform unexpectedly sometimes. Many iOS users have complained about Safari not working issues on their iPhones after the iOS 15 update, iOS 16 update, or on other conditions, which occasionally becomes unresponsive, loads slowly, or shuts down, etc. Why is Safari not working on iPhone?

Safari Logo

The Reasons Why Safari Not Loading Pages on iPhone

There are many reasons why Safari can't load a website, or Safari quits unexpectedly, here we have summed up a variety of reasons, including:

1. Poor network connection.

2. Incorrect network settings.

3. Software glitches.

4. Running an older version of iOS.

5. Excessive data in the cache.

Although the reasons caused are various, don’t be fret too much. Refer to fixes below, you can find the simple ways to solve the issue.

How to Fix Safari Not Working on iOS 16/15

Solution 1: Re-launch Safari App

Sometimes continuous usage of Safari App causes deadlock or some system issue. So, in order to solve it, let’s start with some quick fixes for the app by relaunching the Safari app. Here are the steps you can follow.

Step 1. Go to the Home Screen > Swipe up and Pause in the middle of the screen. (To open the multitasking screen in order to view all the running apps)

Swipe Up Safari App Iphone

Step 2. Swipe up the Safari app to close it down.

Step 3. Wait for few seconds 30 to 60 seconds > Then re-launch the Safari app.

See if this fixes your concern. If not then move on to the next solution.

Solution 2: Restart Device

Restarting your iPhone has proven to be an effective solution for many of the tech problems including Safari not working on iPhone 12 or keeps crashing. It will refresh data and apps, and also appropriately clean iPhone to release the extra memory that could be responsible for Safari doesn’t work on iPhone. The steps blew you can try:

Step 1. Press and hold either volume button and the side button until the power off slider appears.

Step 2. Drag the slider, then wait 30 seconds for your device to turn off.

Step 3. To turn your device back on, press and hold the side button (on the right side of your iPhone) until you see the Apple logo.

Tips: If you fail to restart your device, please check the instructions below:
1. Plug in your device and let it charge for up to one hour.
2. After a few minutes, you should see the charging screen.
3. If you don't see the charging screen within an hour, or you see the connect to power screen, check the jack, USB cable, and power adapter.

Solution 3: Check for Restriction

The restriction is the parental control function, which allows you to control and manage your apps or content of the device. There's a potential that the Safari app's restriction function is enabled. So, you can turn off the restriction to repair safari not working on iPhone iOS 14/13 problem.

Step 1. Go to the Settings app > Select Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Make sure the Content Restrictions option is turned off.

Check For Safari App Restrictions

Step 2. Enter the passkey (if any) > Select Apps > Toggle off the Safari sign till it turns to gray/white.

Solution 4: Disable Suggestion Option of Safari Settings

Safari Suggestions is an interactive content designer that continuously recommending stuff. These ideas can be helpful at times, but they can also slow down the background device's operation or make data redundant.

So if Safari not loading pages on your iPhone, you can try disabling this feature to rescue. You can check it by the steps below:

Step 1. Go to the Settings > Select the Safari option.

Step 2. Turn off the Safari Suggestions.

Disable Safari Suggestions

Solution 5: Clear History, Cache, And Website Data

Another solution to fix Safari not working on iPhone is to clear history, cache and website data in Safari app. It will make the device run faster and solve unknown bugs or errors. The steps to clear cache/history are quite simple.

To clear History and Website data on your iPhone:

Step 1. Head to Settings > Safari app.

Step 2. Select Clear History and Website Data > Tap Clear History and Data.

Clear Safari App History And Data

To clear Safari browser history and cookies, you can try below:

Step 1. Open the Safari app > Locate Bookmark button in the Toolbar.

Step 2. Click on the Bookmark icon on the top left side > Click on the History menu.

Step 3. Check on Clear.

Step 4. See whether Safari can work well on your iPhone or not.

Clear Safari History And Cookies

Solution 6: Update iOS of iPhone/iPad

If you have tried all the solutions above, none of them can fix the problem of Safari not loading. It’s time to update iOS of your iPhone/iPad. The older version of iOS could be the underlying cause of Safari not working, or not responding on your iPhone. Updates are released with important bug fixes and security patches to ensure a smoother performance on your iPhone.

Note: Please keep in mind If the hardware of the device is too old to keep up, updates will bring lag.

Step 1. Go to Settings > Select General option.

Step 2. Click on Software Update.

Step 3. If any update is available, install it.

Ios Software Update

Besides, there are other simple solutions you can try to fix Safari issue:

1. Connect to a different network. Try to load a website, like Apple website, using cellular data. If you don't have cellular data, try connecting to a different Wi-Fi network and then try loading the website.

2. Reset All Settings on your iPhone. Just Go to Settings > Genera > Scroll to the bottom and tap Reset > Tap Reset All Settings.

3. Contact the website developer for more help, if the Safari issue continues and only affects a certain website or webpage.

Tips: Easy Way to Back Up Your iPhone Data

To have a wonderful experience of using iPhone, it not only needs all the functions are working well, including the Safari app, but also ensures the data safe and sound. Here we prefer to offer you one easy iPhone backup tool - FoneTool, to back up iPhone music, photos, videosthat may receive from Safari in an easy way, contacts and messages, and other data in an easy way.

The outstanding backup features as below:

Backup your data in a flexible way. Supports not only entirely iPhone backup but also selectively files backup.
With incremental backup. It will back up the changed or added data only, saving time and storage space.
Amazing backup speed to save time. Needs little time to back up your iPhone/iPad, it will save you more time to enjoy life.
Simple steps to back up. Just only a few clicks can finish the backup task, and allow to preview the backup items before starting.

Now you can download FoneTool free and find more info about it.

Download Freeware Win 11/10/8.1/8/7/XP
Secure Download

Step 1. Launch FoneTool. Then connect your iPhone to a Windows computer with a stable USB.

Step 2. Tap Trust This Computer on your iPhone. You can click to learn how to trust a developer on iPhone.

Step 3. Click Phone Backup. Go to Selective Backup and click Get Started.

Only Photos Or All

Step 4. Click an icon to enter Selection data, after that, click the Start Backup to begin.

Click An Icon

Tips: You can set up the storage path of backup files on your computer, for instance, save the backup files to the desktop, external hard drive or flash drive if you want.

Step 5. When the backup is completed, you can easily find your backup files by clicking Positioning in Backup History.

Backup Completed

Conclusion

In this post, we have talked about the 6 solutions to fix the problem that Safari not working on iPhone 14/13/12/11/X/8, with iOS 16/15. In my opinion, I prefer to choose solutions 4&5. Of course, you can choose one of them to try according to your situation.

What’s more, to make your iPhone data safer, we recommend you to use FoneTool to back up your crucial data easily. And you can also transfer data from iPhone to iPhone, iPhone to PC via it without syncing.