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Safari Suggestions bug causes browser crashes in iOS and OS X [Updated]

Not everyone seems to be affected, but disabling the feature resolves the issue.

Safari Suggestions bug causes browser crashes in iOS and OS X [Updated]
Andrew Cunningham

A server-side problem with the Safari Suggestions feature in recent versions of iOS and OS X appears to be causing Safari to crash and hang for some users. Developer Steve Troughton-Smith helped to identify the issue overnight, though it has also been discussed in a pair of Reddit threads in the Apple subreddit. The problem appears to be causing hanging and strange behavior in OS X and outright crashes in iOS. Going to Settings > Safari in iOS (or to the Safari Preferences and then the Search tab in OS X) and disabling the Safari Suggestions feature appears to fix the problem, or you could try using another browser.

The Safari Suggestions feature was originally introduced in iOS 8 (which also appears to be affected, if you haven't upgraded), and it pulls content from IMDB, the iTunes and App Stores, and other sources to present more information to you when you're doing a search.

We can't replicate the bug on multiple iDevices running iOS 9.2.1 or the iOS 9.3 beta, but some users in the reddit thread still appeared to be having problems as of less than an hour ago. It's possible that Apple has fixed the problem on its end, or that it's only affecting users in certain regions. If you're having problems, toggling airplane mode or resetting your network settings to flush your DNS cache may resolve them as long as Apple has fixed things on its end.

We've contacted Apple for comment about the cause of the issue and will update the article if we get a response.

Update: Apple has confirmed to us that this bug has been resolved on its end. Users who are still seeing the problem should be able to flush their DNS caches as outlined above to fix it.

Channel Ars Technica