Remember the days when every time we’d open a new webpage in Safari it would launch a new window? Just a few of those and you’re completely lost! But since the adoption of tabs, everything became more organized, which in turn allowed us to keep dozens of them open at once.
Apple reserves the right to refuse or limit the quantity of any device for any reason. In the Apple Store: Offer only available on presentation of a valid, government-issued photo ID (local law may require saving this information). Value of your current device may be applied toward purchase of a new Apple device. Delete com.apple.Safari.plist file. Empty your Mac’s Trash Quit all open applications Choose the Go from the Finder menu Select Go to folder and type in /Library/Preferences Locate the file com.apple.Safari.plist Move it to your trash or desktop Restart Open Safari while holding the shift to rebuild. See if that works for you.
If only we’d known the toll it would take on our machines. Some people today pay a lot extra for powerful rigs with the only goal to support their 100+ tab habit. You might be a bit of a tab hoarder yourself (no judgement, I am as well) if you’ve ever seen the “This webpage is using significant energy. Closing it may improve the responsiveness of your Mac.” message in Safari. But don’t run to the Apple Store for an upgrade yet — try these few ways outlined below first.
What to do when Safari is overloaded
The underlying reason for the “This webpage is using significant energy” error is your Mac’s resources being stretched too thin, which might either be the result of too many tabs open or even just a few tabs with websites that are continuously refreshing and loading up new scripts and content.
So the first thing to do is simply decrease the number of tabs by closing some (use the ⌘ + W shortcut). Alternatively, you can try to reload Safari completely. To do that go to Safari in the menu bar and then select Quit Safari, or use the shortcut ⌘ + Q. If none of that had any result, proceed with a few more steps.
1. Empty Safari’s cache and cookies
How To Get Safari Updates For Mac
Like any other browser, Safari accumulates lots of information about the websites you visit and information you share. All this is recorded in your cache and cookies, which might become too power-taxing over time.
To clean your cache in Safari:
- Go Safari ➙ Preferences in the menu bar (or use ⌘ + ,).
- Navigate to the Advanced tab and check the box “Show Develop menu in menu bar.”
- Now select the Develop menu in menu bar and click to Empty Caches.
- Restart Safari to make sure the cache is clear.
In addition, it could be beneficial to delete your cookies:
- Open Preferences once again.
- Go to the Privacy tab ➙ Manage Website Data…
- Click ⌘ + A to select all fields.
- Remove All.
Your Safari experience should become faster now, so the “This website is using significant energy.” error might be already gone.
How To The New Safari On Macbook Pro
2. Turn off all Safari extensions
Another power-hogging aspect of any browser is its extensions. So disabling them might actually help the problem, especially if you have lots going at the same time.
To turn off Safari extensions:
- Fire up Preferences (⌘ + ,).
- Go to Extensions.
- Uncheck all boxes to disable your extensions.
- Restart Safari to see if the error has disappeared.
Bonus: You can try turning extensions on one by one to see which of them really needs too much power.
3. Free up RAM for a faster system
Safari is showing you the “This website is using significant energy.” error because it has consumed all the available RAM. But other apps use RAM too. So freeing up that memory will give Safari more resources to utilize.
How do you free up RAM? Restarting your Mac is a quick but not a long-term solution. For immediate effect you need to use a special tool, like CleanMyMac X.
CleanMyMac X is a Swiss-knife utility designed to optimize all areas of your Mac. And resetting your RAM with it just takes a few clicks:
- Download a free version of CleanMyMac X.
- Open the app and navigate to the Maintenance tab, under Speed.
- Click Free Up RAM and then Run.
Now your Mac should feel instantly faster and all error messages should be gone.
Fix heavy memory consumers
It’s likely that the “significant energy” message is now gone. However, it’s good to make sure it doesn’t appear again by optimizing the apps that use a lot of memory and processing power.
CleanMyMac X will help you here as well:
- Get a free edition of the app.
- Open and go to the Optimization tab.
- Click on Heavy Consumers, check all the apps listed, and then Perform.
At last your Mac is fully optimized! All thanks to CleanMyMac X. In fact, if you have CleanMyMac X, you can skip all the manual steps of clearing your cache files and cookies, and turning off extensions (after all, you might really need them) and simply launch CleanMyMac X to do the work for you in just a few seconds. Feel the power of using the best tools available!
Private tab in Safari is useful for temporarily logging in to a different social account, preventing yourself from web trackers profiling you, or browsing the web privately. However, if you hand over your Mac to someone else, especially kids, at times, it becomes important to know what they do on the web. And even prevent them from accessing websites they wish you not find out. For such situations disabling Safari private browsing is a great solution. It makes sure that the sites they visit are shown in the browsing history. So, if you are looking to turn off private browsing in Safari on Mac, here are three ways to do it.
How To Reinstall Safari Mac
Use Screen Time to Turn Off Safari Private Browsing on Mac
- Click on the Apple logo from the top left
- Click on System Preferences.
- Now, Click on Screen Time.
- If Screen Time is not enabled, click on Options from bottom left.
- And then click Turn On.
- Next, click on Content & Privacy from the left sidebar
- Click on Turn On.
- Enable Limit Adult Websites.
Now you may close the System Preferences window. Next, launch Safari on your Mac and click on ‘File’ from the top menu bar. You will see that the option to open ‘New Private Window’ is grayed out. The keyboard shortcut for this also won’t work.
Secondly, when you click on ‘History’ from the top menu bar, you will see that ‘Clear History’ is also grayed and out of bounds.
To enable Safari Private Browsing back on Mac, follow the same steps and choose ‘Unrestricted Access,’ which is just above Limit Adult Websites.
How to Stop Sharing Safari Private Browsing Restrictions on Other Apple Devices
Safari Private Browsing Restrictions are synced to all your Apple devices that have the same Apple ID. So, if you enable Limit Adult Websites on your Mac, it is turned ON for your iPhone and iPad too.
If you do not want this, then in Screen Time, click on ‘Options’ from the bottom left and uncheck the box for ‘Share across devices.’ Now, Safari Private Browsing is disabled only for this Mac and not your other iOS, iPadOS, or macOS devices.
On this same screen, you may also check ‘Use Screen Time Passcode’ and prevent somebody else from changing or overriding the Screen Time settings. However, if you have ‘Share Across Devices’ checked, then you might also enable Screen Time on your iPhone or iPad, and Screen Time password will automatically reflect here on the Mac too.
Disable Private Browsing in Safari on Mac using Guest User
Guest User is another secure and easy way to disable Safari private browsing. If you do not already have a guest mode set up, you may follow this step by guide to enable a guest user account on your Mac. When enabling this, make sure you check the box for Limit Adult Websites.
- After that, restart your Mac and log in as a guest user, if you are handing the Mac to someone else for short temporary use
- You may also click on the Apple logo from the top left, click on ‘Log Out your name‘ from the bottom of the list, and then log in as a guest user.
- Or, you may click on your name from the top right of the menu bar and then click on Guest User.
How to Disable Safari Private Browsing for Family Members on Mac
Thanks to remote Screen Time management, you (the organizer) can also manage a Mac that one of the members of your family uses. For this, you must have Family Sharing set up beforehand.
How To Open New Safari Window On Mac
Once Family Sharing is set up, open System Preferences → Screen Time → Content & Privacy. Now, click on the dropdown menu from the top of the left sidebar and select a family member. After that, check the box for Limit Adult Websites.
Safari Private Browsing will be disabled for the Mac and all other devices belonging to the selected family member.
Does Private Browsing Restriction on Mac Work Outside Safari?
The above guide was all about disabling private browsing on Safari. You must know that this will not though, prevent the concerned person from using incognito mode or private browsing in any other browser like Chrome, Firefox, etc. that is installed on the Mac.
Further, on iOS, you can put a complete barricade on installing new browser apps (or any app) by going to Screen Time → Content & Privacy Restrictions → iTunes & App Store Purchase → Installing Apps → Don’t Allow.
On Mac, you can do this in Screen Time → Content & Privacy → Stores → Apps → Don’t Allow Apps. But this will only prevent the installation of apps from the Mac App Store. This does not prevent the installation of apps from elsewhere like the Safari browser itself, or a .dmg file from pen drive.
That’s all, mate!
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If you have a follow-up question or suggestion, make sure to put that in the comments down below.
Nikhil runs iGB’s official YouTube channel. He is the official lensman of iGB and GB’s small studio is Nikhil’s playground, where he does all wonders with his remarkable signature. When Nikhil is not in his studio, you may spot him in a gourmet restaurant, chomping his way through some delicious food. He is a great traveler, who can go for long drives in search of good food.
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