Top 8 Ways to Fix Safari Not Loading Websites and Pages on Mac

Thanks to the groundbreaking Apple M1 chip, the popularity of the Mac lineup is rising to new heights. On macOS, most users stick with what comes out of the box and that includes the Safari browser. While it gets the job done with a nice look and a good set of extension lists, sometimes, you run into websites not loading issues on the Safari browser. Mac not loading websites and pages mostly happens on Safari browser, sometimes due to Webkit. Before you go ahead and download Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge for macOS, do check out the troubleshooting guide below to fix the issue.

Fix Safari on Mac Not Loading Websites Issue

There are many factors behind the strange behavior. We will go through some of the basic steps and jump to extreme actions only if it doesn’t solve the issue.

1. Check Internet Connection

This one is obvious. You should check if the Mac is properly connected to the internet. A sketchy internet connection might interfere with the website loading performance. It’s especially true when you try to load heavy web pages with lots of images and videos in Safari.

Go to the macOS menu bar and click on the Wi-Fi icon. Make sure that it’s connected to the 5G network and not the 2.4G. I usually face this issue on my MacBook Air. Every now and then, my MacBook Air decides to connect to the 2.4G band and not the 5G band. The practice results in extremely long webpage loading times.

2. Reset Router

Sometimes, the real culprit can be the router that you are using for the Wi-Fi connection. In such cases, you won’t be able to connect to the internet on any device, let alone loading websites on the Mac.

In such cases, you need to reset the router or upgrade the firmware to the latest version available. Try connecting to the internet and browse the web comfortably.

3. Disable Extensions

Extensions play a major role in any browser’s ecosystem. The Safari browser is no exception here. Apple tightly controls the whole experience and only allows legitimate extensions from the App Store.

However, some extensions might go out of date or become incompatible with the new macOS version resulting in Safari not loading websites on Mac.

It can be hard to determine which extension is causing Safari to not load pages. In such cases, you need to disable all extensions and try your luck with the web browser again. Follow the steps below.

1. Open the Safari browser.

2. Click on the Safari option in the Menu bar.

3. Go to Preferences.

4. Move to the Extensions menu.

5. On the right side, you will find all the installed extensions.

6. Select an extension one by one and use the Uninstall button from the right side to remove them.

4. Uninstall AdBlocker

No, I’m not talking about the Adblocker extension in a browser. Many users opt for a system-wide adblocker such as AdLock to remove any kind of ads from the OS.

These programs might affect the webpage performance on the device. If you are using such software then you need to uninstall the program.

Open the Finder menu on Mac. Go to the Applications option. Identify the culprit app and move it to the Trash.

5. Disable VPN

VPN apps allow you to establish a secure and private network connection. Some websites might not be accessible from the selected VPN location. You need to disable VPN and try the website loading again.

Most VPN apps for Mac offer a shortcut through the menu bar. Click on the VPN icon in the menu bar and turn off the service.

6. Clear Cache

A bad cache can ruin the day. It’s always advisable to clear cache and cookies from the browser at a regular interval. We are going to apply the same trick here to fix the website not loading issue on the Mac. Go through the steps below.

1. Open the Safari browser.

2. Click on the Safari option in the Menu bar.

3. Go to the Clear History menu.

4. The following menu will offer to delete all the browsing history along with cookies and related website data.

7. Update macOS

Safari not loading pages issue might be due to the recent macOS bug. Thankfully, Apple is quick to fix such annoyances. Go to the System Preferences > Software Update and install the latest macOS build.

8. Switch to a Chromium Browser

Chromium is a universally accepted rendering engine. Some websites are specifically designed keeping Chromium in mind. The Safari browser uses a Webkit rendering engine to load web pages. You can switch to the Safari rival such as Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge and try accessing the website again.

Wrap Up: Safari in Mac Not Loading Websites

Go through the troubleshooting tips above and one of them should easily fix the website not loading on Mac issue. For me, the cache and VPN tricks work all the time to fix the website loading issues on Safari.