While many web browsers are available for the macOS and iOS, many users are content with Apple’s default browser.
Being able to checkmark all the essential prerequisites and the fact that it is deeply integrated into the Apple ecosystem are two primary reasons why users generally don’t feel a need to switch.
However, despite its perks, it also has its fair share of issues. Among them, the redirect issue seems to be bugging quite a few users as of late.
When they click on a link, it sends them to another page of that site, which will send them back to the first link/page.
As a result, you will be stuck in an infinite redirection loop. In hindsight, there could be three plausible reasons for this error- Apple’s new Intelligent Tracking Prevention feature, corrupt website data, or how a website is designed.
There are chances that Safari is infected by malware, which results in this undefined behavior. Hence, we should consider removing the malware from Safari if that’s the case.
Let’s try and understand how they could lead to the redirection issue and, more importantly, how to deal with them effectively.
And by the end of this guide, you will be able to fix Safari’s too many redirects issues or at least identify the root cause.
Disable Safari Intelligent Tracking Prevention
Recently Apple rolled out the Intelligent Tracking Prevention feature to the Safari browser.
Using Machine Learning, it checks how a user interacts with a particular site and then deals with the trackers, ads, and third-party cookies accordingly. You can check ITP in action under Safari Privacy Reports feature. However, the ITP seems to conflict with the sites using an authentication service.
They are preventing the site from establishing a successful connection for the authentication procedure and are stuck within their environment. This, in turn, gives out the redirection error. So the fix for the same is pretty simple- disable the ITP.
Note: Keeping the ITP disabled is not recommended. If you love the privacy and want to keep your data safe, then enable the Intelligent Tracking Prevention immediately after you troubleshoot the redirect loop issue
Here are the steps to disable Safari Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) on Mac:
- Launch Apple Safari on a Mac computer.
- Click on the Safari menu from the menubar options.
- Choose the Preferences menu from the drop-down list.
It will open the Safari Preferences window. - Switch to the Privacy tab, and uncheck the Prevent cross-site tracking option.
That’s it. The Mac Safari’s ITP will be disabled and cross-site tracking will be enabled again. Similarly, we can also disable the ITP for iPhone or iPad Safari browsers.
Here are the steps to disable Safari ITP on iPhone or iPad:
- Launch the Phone Settings on your iPhone/iPad.
- Scroll and select the Safari app.
It will open the Safari Settings pages. - Turn off the Prevent Cross-Site Tracking option on the Safari Settings page.
Once you have disabled the Tracking option for your Safari browser, retry visiting the concerned site. Then verify whether the too many redirects issue in Safari has been fixed.
Delete Website’s Data
All the redirects you perform from one site to another are stored inside the cache and cookie data. If this data gets outdated or corrupted, the concerned sites are bound to have issues.
Therefore, you should consider deleting that site’s data so that it can generate a fresh one from scratch.
Here are the steps to delete the website data from Mac Computer:
- Launch the Safari browser on your Mac.
- Click on the Safari menu from the menubar, and select Preferences from the menu.
It will open the Safari Preferences window. - Switch to the Privacy tab, and hit on
button. - Head over to the Search field and type the name of the website URL address.
- Select the site from the search result, and hit the
button.
Safari will now delete the cache and cookies of that site. Now try accessing it and check whether Safari’s too many redirects issue has been fixed.
If you still face this issue, open the Manage Website Data window. Rather than deleting the data for a particular site, hit on
to delete all site data you have visited on Safari.While doing so will sign you out of all the sites, it might rectify the redirect issue as well, which will definitely be worth the effort.
You can also perform similar website data clean-up on Safari for iPhone or iPad devices.
Contact Website Admin
Sometimes, a backend issue might be with a site constantly sending you into a redirect loop. Or the website might have intentionally done so to lower its bounce rate and improve the search algorithm.
There’s not much you could do in such cases, whether it is deliberate or otherwise, apart from contacting the site’s owner.
Find that site’s Contact Us/About Us page and get in touch with them regarding this issue. They should then chalk out the best route forward to fix the issue as soon as possible.
You can use the domain lookup service to find and contact the website owner if the website is inaccessible.
Bottom Line: Safari Redirect Error
We round off the guide on how to fix the issue of Safari too many redirects occurred.
Being unable to access the desired site and instead being caught in a redirection loop is probably the most infuriating user experience. Fortunately, you now know three different methods to get out of it.
In my case, deleting that concerned site’s data (cache and cookies) did manage to rectify the underlying issue.
Do let us know which method spelled out success for you in troubleshooting and fixing the Safari redirect loop error.
Doesn’t work still
doesn’t help. Safari is a piece of crap