Is there a way to revert back from Safari 14. Smooth scrolling issues

[DaveWil]

I upgraded Safari and have been regretting it. Pages like reddit and one I use for work not longer scroll smoothly. It is a very jerky scrolling experience. Is there a way to revert back to the previous version?

 

[Taz Mangus]

Try these steps:

• Download the latest 10.15.6 Catalina installer from the Mac App Store.
• Follow steps outlined in the link below.
• Restart back to normal mode.
• Run the Catalina installer that downloaded from the Mac App Store. This should bring back v13.1.2 of Safari.

How to Uninstall Safari on Mac - Detailed Guide | Nektony

There is a way to delete Safari on Mac using the Terminal command line. To uninstall Safari, you need to disable System Integrity Protection.

nektony.com

‎macOS Catalina

‎macOS Catalina gives you more of everything you love about Mac. Experience three all-new media apps: Apple Music, Apple TV, and Apple Podcasts. Locate a missing Mac with the new Find My app. And now coming to Mac, your favorite iPad apps. You can even extend your desktop using iPad as a second...

apps.apple.com

 

[usernametakenforever]

Same here. After upgrading to safari 14 many websites are not smooth anymore. Looking for a way to downgrade now.

 

[Taz Mangus]

Make sure to send feedback to Apple.

Feedback - Safari - Apple

 

[alisalem]

I noticed it's an issue in pages that have automatically playing videos like Twitter and Reddit.

 

[usernametakenforever]

One thing you could try is to download the latest 10.15.6 Catalina installer from the Mac App Store. Save off a copy of the installer from the Applications folder to your Downloads folder as you might need it again if this part does not work. Run the installer, it won't erase any of your user data, only refresh OS system files and it might replace v14 of Safari with v13.1.2.

If that does not work:

• Boot into Recovery Mode (command-key R-key).
• Launch the Terminal app from Utilities and disable SIP:

csrutil disable

• Verify that SIP is disabled:

csrutil status

• Restart back to normal mode.
• Copy /Applications/Safari application to your Downloads folder. Just in case you need it again.
• Move /Applications/Safari application to the Trash and empty the Trash.
• Boot into Recovery Mode (command-key R-key).
• Launch the Terminal app from Utilities and enable SIP:

csrutil enable

• Verify that SIP is enabled:

csrutil status

• Restart back to normal mode.
• Re-run the Catalina installer that you saved in your Downloads folder. This should bring back v13.1.2 of Safari.

‎macOS Catalina

‎macOS Catalina gives you more of everything you love about Mac. Experience three all-new media apps: Apple Music, Apple TV, and Apple Podcasts. Locate a missing Mac with the new Find My app. And now coming to Mac, your favorite iPad apps. You can even extend your desktop using iPad as a second...

apps.apple.com

I was able to revert back by resetting MBP to factory. Reinstallation of Mac OS was running into installer resources error and disabling SIP using csrutil helped. I can also confirm that the method you described will also work. Since my MBP was a week old and it didn't have much data and apps installed, I went back to factory settings.

 

[dklj]

Taz,

• Move /Applications/Safari application to the Trash and empty the Trash.

I was able to do all of the steps with the exception of the above. Safari v14 could be copied but not trashed/deleted. Did go back in to Recovery Mode/Utilities/Terminal/csrutil status and found SIP disabled. Back into Normal Mode/Terminal which reported csrutil status could only be run in Recovery Mode.

Any ideas why Safari v14 couldn't be trashed?

MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2016), 10.15.6 (19G2021)

 

[dklj]

Correction to my last:
Normal Mode/Terminal/csrutil status System Integrity Protection status: disabled.

 

[dklj]

Update:

Safari v14 now performing like the predecessor v13.1.2. Set up a new temporary account in my MBP. Safari v14 worked satisfactorily. Observed all of the safari related folders and files in the temp user/library folder and copied same to to my main user public folder. Logged into my main account. Opened the ~/Library/Container Folder and trashed all Safari related sub folders. Logged out and back in. Earlier problem webpages now perform well. No need to transplant the earlier copied folders and files. Safari v14 seems to faster overall as well.

 

[Taz Mangus]

Update:

Safari v14 now performing like the predecessor v13.1.2. Set up a new temporary account in my MBP. Safari v14 worked satisfactorily. Observed all of the safari related folders and files in the temp user/library folder and copied same to to my main user public folder. Logged into my main account. Opened the ~/Library/Container Folder and trashed all Safari related sub folders. Logged out and back in. Earlier problem webpages now perform well. No need to transplant the earlier copied folders and files. Safari v14 seems to faster overall as well.

Thank you for the update. Good to know.

 

[maneta]

Update:

Safari v14 now performing like the predecessor v13.1.2. Set up a new temporary account in my MBP. Safari v14 worked satisfactorily. Observed all of the safari related folders and files in the temp user/library folder and copied same to to my main user public folder. Logged into my main account. Opened the ~/Library/Container Folder and trashed all Safari related sub folders. Logged out and back in. Earlier problem webpages now perform well. No need to transplant the earlier copied folders and files. Safari v14 seems to faster overall as well.

Delete everything that had to do with safari. Still laggy on a few webpages especially on the new facebook layout, even with no extensions.
hmmm...maybe it has something to do with "stop plugin to save power" from safari ? because the option is gone since safari 14. Maybe it's on by default on this version, and this may cause the laggy scrolling. Or a hardware acceleration thing ?
Chrome works flawless and fast, but i love safari tho'...

 

[gtg465x]

To me, it seems the issue is that Safari used to let you scroll diagonally when you were zoomed in, but now it only lets you scroll perfectly horizontally or vertically. If I zoom in on a page and then drag two fingers diagonally, the page will move like this:

       ______|
      |
      |
______|

instead of like this:

        /
      /
    /
  /
/

And if my fingers aren't moving either perfectly horizontally or perfectly vertically, sometimes it won't even register the scrolling at all, and these changes lead to a very frustrating and choppy scrolling experience when zoomed in.

 

[coldwaves]

Update:

Safari v14 now performing like the predecessor v13.1.2. Set up a new temporary account in my MBP. Safari v14 worked satisfactorily. Observed all of the safari related folders and files in the temp user/library folder and copied same to to my main user public folder. Logged into my main account. Opened the ~/Library/Container Folder and trashed all Safari related sub folders. Logged out and back in. Earlier problem webpages now perform well. No need to transplant the earlier copied folders and files. Safari v14 seems to faster overall as well.

Thanks for sharing. I encountered the same scrolling issues. Sites like Twitter or the Facebook new layout is not scrolling smoothly. I tried what you described here but that did not appear to solve the issue. Not sure what causes this.

 

[maneta]

Thanks for sharing. I encountered the same scrolling issues. Sites like Twitter or the Facebook new layout is not scrolling smoothly. I tried what you described here but that did not appear to solve the issue. Not sure what causes this.

It's mostly a safari "under the hood" issue...just an update will resolve this. I have the same issue for a few updates now, also on STP. I'm mad that from a year now, Chrome is very smooth as safari was before the updates, and now Safari acts like Chrome back in the days.

 

[coldwaves]

It's mostly a safari "under the hood" issue...just an update will resolve this. I have the same issue for a few updates now, also on STP. I'm mad that from a year now, Chrome is very smooth as safari was before the updates, and now Safari acts like Chrome back in the days.

Thank you for the insights. Big Sur is probably coming very soon. Not sure whether that will include a new version of Safari that resolve this issue.

 

[coldwaves]

There seems to be good improvements after the Big Sur and the Safari in it. The scrolling is much smoother than before the update on my laptop.