Safari keeps restarting after quitting on Mac

Hi onebakerr

Welcome to this Apple (user-to-user) Community!

Re: "Safari isn't quitting

I have tried quitting regularly, then force quitting, and using activity monitor, nothing works.

The second it quits it restarts and opens. I have no idea why."

If I understand correctly, in macOS 26.1, when you try, you can not quit Safari, or even Force Quit Safari, because it restarts immediately afterwards..

Is it possible that Safari is in use for something ... eg: an unfinished download, or the recent MacOS update hasn't quite completed all it needs to do yet ?

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Else: If you haven't already: You might want to try restarting your Mac (Apple Menu - Restart) as that re-establishes connections, deletes temporary files, may update recent setting changes etc., and often restores order if something is not working as expected.

Apple support's online article:: Shut down or restart your Mac - Apple Support

Eg: says:

Restart your Mac

• On your Mac, choose Apple menu  > Restart.
• If you don’t want app windows that are open to reopen when your Mac restarts, de-select “Reopen windows when logging back in.”

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If you still need help with Safari ... you may want to try shutting down your Mac completely, and logging back in:

Shut down your Mac

• On your Mac, choose Apple menu  > Shut Down.
• If you don’t want app windows that are open to reopen when your Mac restarts, de-select “Reopen windows when logging back in.”
• A Mac is completely shut down when the screen is black. Some computers also don’t show an active power light or have any fan or drive noise.

Above article also says:

"Important: You can force a shutdown if necessary—for example, if your Mac becomes unresponsive—by pressing and holding the power button until your Mac shuts down. You may lose unsaved changes in open documents".

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If nothing above helps:

If you use third-party (non-Apple) apps on your Mac: There may be interference issues with your Apple apps.

✽ Unnecessary apps like ad-blockers, virus checkers, cleaners and the like (even VPN) often cause issues.

If installed, you can try turning them off (or use uninstallers from their developers) to see if that helps.

✽ Out-of-date browser extensions can also cause issues ... turn off / uninstall / or update if possible.

✽ Ensure no excessive amounts of blocked contacts have accrued from a third-party app.

✽ Any third-party apps you find necessary may need updating in order to remain compatible withMacOS, and not cause issues:

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Another possibility:

There may be malware or adware interference: Downloading and running the free version of the malwarebytes app (developed by a respected community member) may help: https://www.malwarebytes.com/mac

All the best :-)