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In the last few days, Safari suddenly started crashing on WSJ.com. Particularly when opening articles with lots of ads, the page reloads several times then crashes saying “a problem repeatedly occurred”.

On the Mac, it says that it is using a significant amount of memory, on the iPad it just says website crashed.

I can load the articles when I disable JavaScript in Settings, but that is not an ideal solution.

Website works fine on Chrome and Firefox on the Mac, but does not work on Safari on Mac, or on iPad or iPhone.

I already tried:

  • clearing cache, history, cookies

  • deleting website data

  • force restarting

  • incognito mode

  • both WiFi and cellular data

  • deleting all content and settings in the iPad, and setting up as new device (!)

  • family member’s iPad - same issue

Any tips? WSJ customer support thinks it’s a problem with my devices.

This started shortly after last iOS update.

OS versions:

  • iPad Air 3 - iOS 14.2
  • MacBook Air - macOS Catalina
  • iPhone SE - iOS 13.3.1
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  • Please specify the model of your Mac, iPhone, and iPad, as well as the version(s) of macOS and iOS.
    – DavidRecallsMonica
    Dec 7, 2020 at 14:42
  • Thanks, here they are: - iPad Air 3 - iOS 14.2 - Macbook air - macOS Catalina - iPhone SE - iOS 13.3.1
    – Elena
    Dec 7, 2020 at 15:03

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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WSJ website now behaves normal

WSJ must have updated their website. I can't reproduce the huge RAM usage on the website and have not done any Safari or macOS updates. Therefore it was not an issue with Safari but with the WSJ website itself.

This is not a very technical answer but WSJ customer support is sort of correct.

I just loaded WSJ website myself and after a few seconds the RAM usage was way too high: RAM usage after ~15 seconds

This will be too much for any iOS device and even for lower-speced Macs.

I can't tell you if the WSJ has made significant changes to their website the last days or if it is Apples fault. Either way I would - if its that important to you - write to both Apple and WSJ about this.

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  • Thanks, am trying that. Is there something that can block JavaScript just for the WSJ articles, I wonder...? That seems to be the issue. I need JS to log in I think, but then it seems to load ads or something that use too much memory. (sorry if this is a hopelessly non-technical question but I am not a tech person.) I’ve tried a few ad blockers but no difference so far.
    – Elena
    Dec 7, 2020 at 21:12
  • @Elena So the issue remained the same when using AdBlocker and without? Does this only happen on articles or also on other sections of the WSJ.com site?
    – Mendel
    Dec 8, 2020 at 15:20
  • @Mendel - yes it happened with and without ad blockers and in all sections, but more in articles with lots of ads.
    – Elena
    Dec 9, 2020 at 16:22
  • Meanwhile I talked to someone at the WSJ and he said they are aware of the issue and are working on a fix. But thank you to all for your help - I guess it was not only an issue for me!
    – Elena
    Dec 9, 2020 at 16:25
  • @Elena Is it still happening for you?
    – Mendel
    Dec 9, 2020 at 17:07

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