"A problem repeatedly occurred error..." in Safari

Question

Level 1

4 points

"A problem repeatedly occurred error..." in Safari

When visiting various sites in Safari I get the error as seen in the attached screenshot.

I've tried deleting my history/cache, but when I go to: Safari > Settings > Privacy > Manage Website Data Safari then crashes.

This is only started to happen in the pst 48 hours or so. I've not updated or downloaded any new files etc.

Can anyone help me with this?

Safari is becoming more and more unusable depending on the site I'm visiting, and I'm being forced to use Chrome which is giving me the ick.

Cheers.

Posted on Dec 1, 2025 10:39 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

6x6

Level 6

19,245 points

Dec 2, 2025 5:20 AM in response to Bootfit

Thanks for the list.

Did you try another user account as suggested? I’d try that before anything else as it might tell us where the issue lies.
Reinstalling macOS is safe. This Apple article could give you more confidence: How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support. You may want to back up your Mac before reinstalling macOS. Hold off for the time being, though. There may be other things we can try.

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Answer 2

6x6

Level 6

19,245 points

Dec 2, 2025 5:30 PM in response to Bootfit

Quit Safari. Open Finder and go to the folder:

~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Safari

And delete its content. It will be recreated the next time you open Safari.

If the issue persists, reinstall macOS (see link in previous answer).

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Answer 3

6x6

Level 6

19,245 points

Dec 1, 2025 6:22 PM in response to Bootfit

There is no way to reinstall Safari. You'd need to reinstall macOS. But if the issue is related to files/settings/caches with your user account, this won't help.

Now, log on to another user account on your Mac (create one if you need to) and see if Safari works. This will confirm that the issue is related to your current user account.

Could you also list the things you have tried so that I don't suggest something you've already done?

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Answer 4

Bootfit Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 2, 2025 3:53 AM in response to 6x6

OK - based on various sources across the web I've deleted or cleared most (if not all of the following):

~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari

~/Library/Caches/com.apple.WebKit*

~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari

~/Library/Caches/com.apple.WebKit

~/Library/Caches/com.apple.WebKit.Networking

~/Library/Safari/LocalStorage

~/Library/Safari/Databases

~/Library/Safari/Metadata Cache

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.plist

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.RSS.plist (if it exists)

~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.SafeBrowsing.plist (if it exists)

~/Library/Group Containers/<random>.com.apple.Safari/WebsiteData

~/Library/Group Containers/<random>.com.apple.Safari/WebsiteDataStore

~/Library/Group Containers/<random>.com.apple.Safari/WebKitWebsiteData

~/Library/Group Containers/<random>.com.apple.WebKit/WebsiteData

~/Library/Group Containers/<random>.com.apple.WebKit/WebsiteDataStore

~/Library/Group Containers/<random>.com.apple.WebKit/WebKitWebsiteData

/Library/WebKit/WebsiteData

/Library/WebKit/NetworkProcess

/Library/WebKit/WebProcess

/Library/WebKit/Storage

/Library/WebKit/GPU

~/Library/Group Containers/Library/Caches

~/Library/Group Containers/Library/WebKit

~/Library/Group Containers/Library/WebsiteData

~/Library/Group Containers/Library/Safari

I've also found this tutorial on how to reinstall your OS which say will also reinstall Safari - don't know how safe it is though... Link here...

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Answer 5

6x6

Level 6

19,245 points

Dec 1, 2025 5:40 PM in response to Bootfit

Did you try to clear the caches (Develop > Clear Caches in the menu bar)? (If you don't see the menu, go to Safari Settings> Advanced and check "Show features for web developers".)

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Answer 6

Bootfit Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 2, 2025 5:12 PM in response to 6x6

OK - I created a new user account and that account has no problems with Safari, so it looks like the issue is with my account.

Any idea what to try next?

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Answer 7

6x6

Level 6

19,245 points

Dec 3, 2025 5:34 AM in response to Bootfit

It’s hard to tell when we might get an update of macOS Sequoia as Apple will only issue security updates for that version. Yet, there is hope that newer versions of Safari (the 26 versions) for macOS Sequoia will be available as we’ve got them since September.

There might be an easy way to recover some space. Open Disk Utility (in the Applications > Utilities folder), select Macintosh HD - Data in the sidebar and look at the APFS Snapshots sections. Delete older snapshots or even all snapshots, if you have a Time Machine backup.

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Answer 8

6x6

Level 6

19,245 points

Dec 3, 2025 4:52 AM in response to Bootfit

Where do you see those values? (A screenshot could be handy.) macOS has the concept of purgeable space that muddies the values of free storage space.

Try starting your Mac in safe mode: Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support. This type of startup cleans of few of the cached files (1GB the last time I used it) but probably not enough for your need. macOS requires from 40GB to 50GB to run an installation. Try freeing that much space, by emptying Trash for instance.

You could also try to create a bootable key instead: Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support. Conceptually, this would require less free storage space on your drive. I admit that I never verified if this solution. (Delete the “Install macOS…” in the Applications folder once the key is created to recover storage.)

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Answer 9

Bootfit Author

Level 1

4 points

Dec 3, 2025 4:24 AM in response to 6x6

I’m trying to reinstall MacOS based on the instructions in the link provided.

I have 230Gb free on my HD, but the HD disk icon on the installation says I only have 36.87Gb free and gives the message “There is not enough free space on the the selected volume to upgrade the OS. An additional 2.31Gb is required.”

Is there a way to force-refresh the disk icon or some other way to show the correct storage amount?

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Answer 10

6x6

Level 6

19,245 points

Dec 3, 2025 7:32 AM in response to Bootfit

Your 1st screen shot shows that you have 196 GB of purgeable space. I'm not clear on how to force purgeable space to be recovered. There are several discussions on this site or elsewhere that offer potential solutions but I've never found a definitive answer. You could search for one, though.

Regarding the APFS Snapshots, this is what I mean:

I use Time Machine to do backups. I was never clear as to whether the APFS snapshots are a result of using Time Machine or not.

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