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Safari tab images/titles going blank, first time seeing this bug

M

mitchryan912

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 28, 2013
23
6
Madison, WI
It looks like this was an issue in Safafi 18.4 (LINK), but this is the first time I've ever seen this, after upgrading from macOS 13.7 --> 15.3.2 --> 15.4. It's always the 1 or 2 tabs next to the pinned tabs that do this.

Image 4-2-25 at 10.11 AM.jpg


I do have a LOT of tabs open, but that's not unusual for me. Oh, it looks like Safari 18.4 is also what's in macOS 15.4.
 
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It appears to be a thing where once a tab gets to a certain size (from opening X number of tabs), those on the far left go blank.

It’s dependent on if the bookmarks on the left are showing or not. I can open 10 tabs before it goes blank with the bookmarks browser open, or 12 with it open.

I suspect that if my Safari window was narrower than the width of my 16” screen, it would be less. That also explains why I’m not seeing this on my Mac Studio, as I have 27” Thunderbolt Displays connected to it.
 
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Yup, ditto here... WTF? Hopefully a solution somewhere... Don't make me switch to another browser like I used to have to do many years ago...
 
mitchryan912 said:
It appears to be a thing where once a tab gets to a certain size (from opening X number of tabs), those on the far left go blank.

It’s dependent on if the bookmarks on the left are showing or not. I can open 10 tabs before it goes blank with the bookmarks browser open, or 12 with it open.

I suspect that if my Safari window was narrower than the width of my 16” screen, it would be less. That also explains why I’m not seeing this on my Mac Studio, as I have 27” Thunderbolt Displays connected to it.
Click to expand...
FWIW, I'm seeing it on my Mac Studio with 2 27" inch displays. Doesn't matter how wide I make the safari windows, the bug remains. Note that in my original thread https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/safari-18-4-macos-14-7-4-tab-issue.2454053/ that this bug is only affecting one of my user accounts on my Mac. I have 100s of tabs open in both accounts. Only some windows have this bug, but the bug only affects one user even though the other user has a ton of tabs open too. This happened when I did the 14.7.4 [from 14.7.3] update as well as the safari 18.4 update. I did them at the same time, so I am unsure which one triggers the bug. But it does not just affect macOS 15.x
 
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For me, hovering over the tab does show the preview below the tab [screenshot of the page], but it does not put the label on the tab at all. One has to click to the blank tab to see the label.
 
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I first saw this in the 15.5 Beta with Safari 18.5 for a single time. But heard about it being in the 15.4 betas the whole time for some. I never saw it the whole 15.4 time myself with every single beta and RC installed.
 
Last edited:
Adora said:
I first saw this in the 15.5 Beta with Safari 18.5 for a single time. But heard about it being in the 15.4 betas the whole time for some. I never saw it the whole 15.4 time myself with every single beta and RC installed.
Click to expand...
FWIW, I'm on 14.7.4. I upgraded from 14.7.3 and Safari 18.5 in the same go, so I don't know if it was the OS or the Safari update, but I am still on macOS 14 and am affected by the bug. So I've assumed it is an 18.5 issue.
 
My solution (I have 50+ tabs in each of 4 windows):

1. Quit Safari
2. Hold down Shift and launch Safari (safe mode)
3. Click menu item under History → Reopen All Windows from Last Session

So far so good.
 
h3nrch said:
My solution (I have 50+ tabs in each of 4 windows):

1. Quit Safari
2. Hold down Shift and launch Safari (safe mode)
3. Click menu item under History → Reopen All Windows from Last Session

So far so good.
Click to expand...
It didn't work for me, the bug started with os 15.4 and Safari 18.4, same on different machines with the same configuration while other colleagues do not have the same issue.
 
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plttvmt said:
It didn't work for me, the bug started with os 15.4 and Safari 18.4, same on different machines with the same configuration while other colleagues do not have the same issue.
Click to expand...

I jumped the gun. As soon as I start interacting with the tabs the problem re-appeared. Until they fix this, I'll use verticals tabs from the window's tab group in the sidebar.
 
plttvmt said:
It didn't work for me, the bug started with os 15.4 and Safari 18.4, same on different machines with the same configuration while other colleagues do not have the same issue.
Click to expand...
I have two main user accounts on my Mac Studio and am logged in to both of them at all times [and switch back and forth as needed]. One of my account does not have this issue at all; the other does. Both accounts, when Safari is open, have tons of windows and tabs open.
 
Same issue here. Two computers. Both Apple Silicon Macs (M1 and M4).
Anyone tracked down a commonality?

Was hoping/expecting a fix in 15.4.1 update, but alas - Apple gonna Apple.
 
How many of you have pinned tabs? I have at least 4 on each machine, and I am wondering if when the tabs get so small, that it makes the tabs look like pinned tabs? It's definitely an issue with width, as it does it with X number of tabs on my MBP, but it takes a lot more on a wider screen of a Mac Studio connected to a Thunderbolt Display.
 
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mitchryan912 said:
How many of you have pinned tabs? I have at least 4 on each machine, and I am wondering if when the tabs get so small, that it makes the tabs look like pinned tabs? It's definitely an issue with width, as it does it with X number of tabs on my MBP, but it takes a lot more on a wider screen of a Mac Studio connected to a Thunderbolt Display.
Click to expand...
I have pinned tabs - sometimes - at least with the prior version of Safari, I would have to open a new window [which opens to a blank page] to get the pinned tabs to appear on all my currently open Safari windows.

My one account has 4 tabs pinned, and my other account has 8 tabs pinned. I use 2 screens with my M2 Max Mac Studio
 
False alarm. Not fixed. I am very confused about the 14.7.5 and 18.4 updates I applied today as I had already done them on March 25th. But after updating those as requested by macOS, the Safari tab issue fixed itself for a bit. 3 reboots later and it is back to where it was before [the system update did break Hazel very badly for me, causing a full work stoppage so now I am trying to figure out how to roll back the OS to whatever build of 14.7.5 I installed on march 25th].
 
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