Safari is the default web browser of Apple devices. Every now and then Mac users face problems with the Safari browser due to technical reason or malware attack which force them to look for methods for reinstalling Safari on Mac. But the problem is, Safari is not like any other third-party browser which you can uninstall from the Control Panel easily. Due to its security protocol, Apple won’t allow their users to uninstall the Safari browser in a straight forward way.
That’s why in this article, we will discuss how to reinstall Safari on Mac. So, go through the rest of the article carefully to resolve the issue in your Mac.
General Requirements for Reloading Safari on Mac
Now, before starting the reinstallation process, you have to check the following aspects:
- Make sure that your Machine is connected to the internet and the connection is stable.
- Please make sure to check that you are running macOS or OS X El Capitan, although the steps highlighted in this article should work for prior OS X versions as well.
- A startup disk that’s extremely low on disk space (12GB or less) leads to slowdowns or lagging issue. So, check if it has enough space to perform the action or not. If you don’t have enough space, then try to create some by deleting unnecessary files and folders.
- Disconnect all the USB devices from your Mac to avoid any kind of further issues.
Step by Step Guide for Reinstalling Safari on Mac
As we mention above, uninstalling Safari completely from Mac takes more than your usual way of uninstalling a program. To remove Safari, you either have to reinstall the Operating System or use a third party app to complete the uninstallation process. Otherwise, trying to move Safari to trash can pop-up the following notification:
“Safari can’t be modified or deleted because it’s required by OS X”
If you don’t want to use a third-party application or reinstall Operating System to solve the issue, then you have to go through a roundabout way to uninstall Safari. This method is a little bit complicated and has a slight risk of damaging your system. So, we will recommend going through the below step carefully to avoid any kind of further issue:
Step 1:
At first, turn on your Mac device and then select the Applications tab. Now, from the application list, locate and right-click on the Safari icon to select Show Package Contents. Once you press the option, a new folder called Contents will open. Select the Resourced file from the drop-down menu along with all the package contents, such as info.plist file and delete them to uninstall Safari.
After deleting the package contents, you also need to delete other supporting configuration and preferences file. These are:
~/Library/Logs/
~/Library/Cookies/Cookies.binarycookies
~/Library/Safari
~/Desktop/Safari
~/Library/Preferences/Apple/Safari
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.LSSharedFileList.plist
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.RSS.plist
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.plist
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.WebFoundation.plist
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.WebKit.PluginHost.plist
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.WebKit.PluginProcess.plist
~/Library/PubSub/Database
~/Library/Saved Application State/com.apple.Safari.savedState
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.internetconfigpriv.plist
~/Library/Application Support/CrashReporter/
Step 2:
Now, after deleting the configuration and preference file, you have to clear Safari browser’s caches and cookies by going through the following guide.
Delete Caches.db
To delete Caches.db, at first, close all windows and quit all applications of your Mac device. Now, press the Choice key and then click on the Go menu from the Finder menu bar. Next, select Library from the dropdown menu and then open the Caches folder. From Caches folder, locate and select Caches.db from the list. Now, right-click on the Caches.db file and select Move To Trash.
Remove Empty Caches Folder
To select and remove Empty Caches folder, open the Safari browser in the same way you have done in Stap 1 but this time select Preference following by Advanced option. Next checkmark the crate for “Show Develop menu in menu bar” and open the Create menu option from the Safari menu bar. Now, simply snap Develop option to select Empty Caches from the dropdown menu and remove all the files in it.
After deleting the following application, simply restart your device to remove Safari application completely from your Mac.
Step 3:
Now, after completing the removal of the Safari, the only thing is left is to install the new Safari installation file from Apple’s official website to complete the process of reinstalling Safari on Mac. So, follow the below guide to complete installation of Safari:
- At first, visit the official website of Apple by typing www.apple.com/Safari/ in the search bar of any browser from your device.
- Now, from the window, select the latest or your preferred version of Safari application.
- After that, choose your computer’s Operating System and then press the Download Now button.
- After downloading the installer, run it in your Mac device and then drag the application in the dock
- Now, simply open the programme to check if everything is working correctly or not.
If the current version of Safari not working properly in your Mac, then you can repeat the whole process to download another version of Safari in your Mac.
Alternative Way to Uninstall Safari Web Browser
If you have in-depth knowledge in the technical field, then you can also use the Terminal to delete Safari browser from Mac. But, if you don’t have a brief idea about the Terminal function, then avoid this method. A single mistake in the Terminal command line can totally damage your Computer. For precaution, you can also create a backup before starting the method.
- At first, close all the running App and then Launch the Terminal from the /Applications/Utilities/.
- In the command line window, type cd /Applications/ command and hit the Enter button in order to change the current working directory (CWD) to the Applications directory.
- Now that you are in the Applications folder, you can start deleting apps without any interruption or warning notification from the system
- Next Type sudo rm -rf Safari.app/ to permanently delete Safari and all of its program files (temporary files and settings are not included)
Wrapping it Up
We hope this article is able to solve your query related to reinstalling Safari on Mac. We tried our best to make the procedure as simple as possible. But if you fail to perform reloading Safari on Mac by following the above guide, then without a second thought contact an expert for better guidance.
