What is Safari on Mac?
By Junaid, maker of Taskglass · Last reviewed
Apple's web browser. Web pages themselves run in separate WebKit processes.
Safari is Apple's web browser. The Safari process runs the browser window, tabs bar and extensions, while each website runs in its own separate 'Web Content' process for security and stability. To find a heavy website, look at the Web Content processes, which are often labelled with the site's address.
- Category
- Apple app
- Made by
- Apple
- Safe to quit:
- Yes
Shown in Activity Monitor as Safari
Why is Safari using so much CPU or memory?
- Many tabs open, especially with video or complex web apps
- Safari extensions doing heavy work
- A single website misbehaving
What to do
- 1Close tabs you don't need; check which Web Content process is busiest
- 2Turn off extensions one at a time in Safari > Settings > Extensions
- 3Quit and reopen Safari
- 4Update macOS to get the latest Safari
Safe to quit? Yes.
Safe to quit; Safari can reopen your windows next time.
Typical usage
Rough ranges on Apple Silicon Macs. Yours will vary.
- CPU
- 0–5% when idle
- Memory
- 100 MB – 1 GB for the app itself; tabs add more
Related processes
- WebKit Web Content (Safari Web Content)Runs one or more web pages in a separate process for Safari and other apps that show web content.
- WebKit NetworkingHandles network traffic for Safari and other apps that use WebKit to show web content.
- WebKit GPU (Safari Graphics and Media)Handles graphics, video and audio for web pages in Safari and other WebKit apps.
Part of the Taskglass Process Library