There’s a bizarre bug that’s affecting some iPhone and iPad users, preventing them from searching for certain words and characters using Safari. It’s unclear what exactly is causing this problem, but many iOS 16 users have taken to Twitter to voice their complaints and share screen recordings showing the exact problems.
Update: Apple has implemented a server-side fix for this bug.
Safari on iPhone crashing after typing
The bug was first pointed out by users on Twitter. The issue is that when you start typing certain letters into the address bar in Safari, the Safari app will immediately crash. This means you can’t complete your search or complete the process of typing in the URL of the website you’re attempting to visit. It seems to affect all versions of iOS 16. Interestingly, it doesn’t seem to affect iPhone users in certain countries.
This is likely due to some sort of text rendering bug affecting the suggested results that appear in Safari when you start typing. The first reports of the problem started surfacing overnight into Monday morning, indicating that it’s a server-side bug of some sort. This means Apple should be able to fix it without releasing a dedicated software update.
The workaround for now is to visit the Google website in Safari, then complete your search there. You can also disable Siri Suggestions.
