Apple releases Safari 5.1.2 to fix memory usage, stability, page flashing

"address issues that could cause hangs and excessive memory usage,"


Apple address that issue? That'll be the day.

for some strange reason i don't see the update. why is that? because i'm black?

wait.. i am not black, so i don't see (pun) why the update isn't there.

anyway, i uninstalled almost all the extras and flash. OH GAWD! this shit flies again!

Just downloaded and installed....Can't notice any difference but I'll have a play tomorrow morning...


...actually, it does appear to be snappier - especially on YouTube

I hope the visual history is faster.

I just wonder when they are going to release a revamped safari 6. Compared to Chrome, and even the newer firefoxes (8.0+), safari is starting to feel rather slow, and at least to me, the aesthetics aren't all that great compared to some of the more modern browsers like chrome or opera.

There's less interface in Safari than in any other modern browser, and besides the memory leak, it's easily the fastest.

I hope i will be able to save bookmarks again! That's been pissing me off for weeks.

I find Safari to be very fast and offer the best and most streamlined aesthetics compared to other browsers



That sounds like it could be a PLIST or permissions issue.

I'm wondering if it's possible that there is a maximum number of bookmarks aloud. I haven't counted but i must have thousands over the last decade or so.

Hallelujah.....................

I did notice that pinch to zoom is still funky. That is when you zoom in some times the image fails to refocus and allow you to scroll. If you bump the size again it works fine. It has been like this for some time now.

As to other features and improvements, what can I say it has only been a few minutes. It does look good though.

I agree with MoXoM, it does seem more responsive.



1) You have so many bookmarks the purpose of bookmarks may be somewhat diluted. My recommendation is to put them all in a folder and then pull out only the ones you need. Once you get to your current level of need then just delete the old bookmark's folder.

2) There might be an upper limit built into Safari but I doubt that a few thousand would be even close.



That's one feature I hate. I wish I could turn it off as I trigger it accidentally way too much. If I want smaller or bigger (which I rarely do) I'll just use Command+(minus) and Command+(equals).

Slow? Not a bit from what I can see. As to aesthetics that is in the eye of the beholder. personally I like the browser to disappear when viewing a web sight. Sometimes I go into full screen mode to eliminate as much of the aesthetics as possible. Why? To see the web site without distractions and to fully utilize the screen on my MBP.

So from this guys point of view Safari has it right.

Haven't ran it long enough to tell but scrolling seems to be a little more fluid. I'm actually hoping the memory leak bug fixes help with memory on my MBP. Sadly when I went to Lion I suddenly had to deal with a lot more paging slow downs.

Strange issue if you ask me. Well designed software shouldn't have limits on stored data.

Wow I couldn't get buy without it. I instinctively try to use the features in apps that don't support it. Now occasionally I do get zoom that I don't want so I understand your point of view. I have to wonder if there is a hidden defaults write solution for that. If not put in a bug report with Apple as this should be an easy thing to deal with as a preference.

Anyone update Safari who uses Glims? If so, is Glims functional in 5.1.2?

Do you mean page outs? Just get more RAM. RAM is dirt cheap.

Still needs a reboot? Still?

Yep. Not just a Safari app update, but the WebKit framework for Mac OS.

That doesn't always work. On my MBP, 3 GB is the maximum it will recognize. And with 3 GB, Safari used to use up all the available RAM in no time. 5.1.2 appears better so far - and I've been experiencing this problem for years..

WOW, that takes me back. Haven't used that since Safari 3

Is there really anything that it does that Safari itself doesn't already anymore?

I'm right with ya. I love Safari 5.1.x to death. Chrome may have a slight edge on speed, but the Safari interface beats everything else out there thanks to its minimalism.

I'm running Lion but can't help to wonder why doesn't Apple support Safari 5 on Leopard yet they continue to support Windows XP? The same Windows XP that Microsoft dropped support for in IE9.

The biggest reason seems to be the sheer number of XP users compared to Mac OS users, much less Leopard users. People weren't switching to Vista from XP and MS already has a saturation where Macs (HW) are growing faster than the market yet still has a smaller OS marketshare despite profit and unit share dominance for their class. They are simply different kinds of markets so must be dealt with differently. There may also be reasons about Apple simply trying to cause a push to their newer platforms that they can't do with Windows that's less clear.


PS: Why aren't you at least using Snow Leopard?

Still Leopard is not even 5 years old, and for PowerPC Macs that's the latest release, you'd think Apple would support it a bit longer than usual for that reason.

Why should I be on Snow Leopard? I updated both my Macs to Lion and satisfied with that. I had issues initially, but ever since 10.7.2 it has been trouble free.



Here's something interesting, Safari was updated to 5.1.2 without even needing to restart Safari. How did that happen?

You have to restart your Mac to install Safari.

wtf Why would anyone want to compare to firefox or chrome? Chrome is (I'm guessing spyware) and firefox is for the bashers and tech turds. Opera is ok I guess but what do you guys have against Safari. It's a great NATIVE browser and it is supported regularly by Apple.

But I have 5.1.2 installed without restarting. How? This only happened on my MacBook Pro, for my Mac mini I had to restart.

Chrome and Opera are "more modern" in what way?

Anyone can issue version numbers. Apple should call the next Safari version 20! Does that make it "more modern"?

You do realize Chrome is built on Apple's "webkit", right?

Do you also realize that Android's web browser is also built on Apple's "Webkit", right?

Not only that, Chrome is just WebKit. Safari is WebKit2 already.

Here's to hoping to see less beach balls w/5.1.2

My Mission Control has started playing up since installing this - major graphical glitches.

The only other thing I've installed recently is BBEdit, but that's not tightly integrated enough with the system to cause this.

Well THAT is my opinion as well.

I've got Chrome and FireFox on my Mac, and as much as I like some of the geeked out goodness and have downloaded a bunch of extensions for Safari as well -- UNLESS I'm actively doing something geek with a website, I'm 99% of the time in Safari with NO extensions loaded but a basic "click to load extensions" like Flash. The LESS browser the better IMO.

However with the new "single process" in Safari, I can almost safely run Flash without it driving me crazy (and I develop projects for money in Flash).

However, I cannot wait for HTML5 to become the standard. I realized when using a "tweening library" for animation code in Flash's actionscript - and then having to debug messages to a server via javascript in a browser, and having to create a process to handle the script,... that I was pushing wet spaghetti into a Key Hole to open a lock. Flash requires too many moving parts and on a mobile platform like phones it was destined to die, as the THREE layers of junk become FOUR layers of battery sucking inefficiency ....

... OK, that isn't about the browser -- but I had to vent. It's just to point out that all the GEEK GOODNESS that FireFox and Chrome try to give me, and I find USEFUL when developing -- are in stark contrast to my sanity as a user of the web.

It is still nice to have the OPTION of a plugin to add functionality -- but when as a content developer should you depend on them? Never. The days of Proprietary on the web should be over -- a bad experiment that forced companies to hire programmers to "reinvent the wheel a million or more times" and users to hunt around for a way to "view the content."

I think Apple had the right paradigm of not having "virtual code" on top of Code. Safari is the best platform for HTML 5, CSS 3, and all the "standards" that don't require layers of Virtual Reality to make happen.

>> If Chrome takes the lead, you can bet it will have an economic model based on Google KNOWING ALL THERE IS ABOUT YOU. And if Microsoft wins, it's back to "embrace and extend" of standards.

As long as Apple LEADS but doesn't become a fat and comfortable monopoly, I LIKE how the Browser Wars are going. Everyone is now competing to render CSS faster, or run JavaScript code with less battery power and time -- Wow! 8 years ago, I would not have predicted a war on open standards and reliability.

>> No matter what your choice; Chrome, FireFox, Safari or something else -- it's GOOD to be a web user now. I just hope that HTML 5 developers don't make the mistake of abusing the User and make the equivalent of 50 endlessly lopping GIF animations and a MIDI song that cannot be turned off, coupled with a unclose-able Window that requires someone to disable Javascript or to quit the browser to get rid of. Ahh, who am I kidding,....

Before this update, even with six gigabytes of RAM (hardly paltry!) and Safari being the only app loaded I would easily get a page file of over 3 gigabytes!

That was nuts, there was clearly something wrong, and so far it looks like they fixed it - woot!

Agreed. It looks like they actually fixed it. Even I'm not experiencing it anymore, and I've had it for years

And just to confirm, my MBP hasn't been rebooted in three days. I have several applications in addition open to Safari (itunes, mail, etc.) and I have 5.77 GB in use and a swap file of 34 MB.

MB - not GB! Sigh - thank you Apple! It's about time...

I am running the latest Snow Leopard version on my Macbook and choose to install the software update with the Safari update last night.
Big mistake.
It asked me to restart when I clicked install...and my computer has not been able to boot up since then. I left it on all night just to be sure. It gets to the white page with the apple logo but never finishes to get to the desktop screen.
Any ideas. I have had no problems with my computer before this.