Oh my, yeah that sounds really annoying - you're focusing in one space in another app and suddenly swoosh you get pulled into a different one at random?
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Safari brings itself to the front
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I'm having the same problem. I'm on Ventura 13.2 and the active extensions I have are 1Password, AdGuard, Save to GoodLinks and Translate. It just happens randomly, Safari steals focus for no reason at all (no pages refreshing or anything). It's very annoying.
I've been noticing this for a while. In my case Safari doesn't usually steal focus, but I notice it will flash into the foreground for like a single "frame" and then go back to where it was... I did a previous test where I uninstalled 1Password completely from my system, extensions, everything, and just used it as a standalone extension Firefox, and would copy passwords into Safari when necessary. Still happened :/
Now I'm really starting to wonder about CursorSense. After wiping my Mac and reinstalling everything from scratch (for another issue), I ran for three days without any episodes of Safari stealing focus. I had been installing third-party stuff one at a time and then having a period of observation. Within a couple hours of reinstalling CursorSense, Safari stole focus. So I uninstalled CursorSense, and went five days without an episode. Today I reinstalled CursorSense, and within three hours Safari stole focus again.
I uninstalled CursorSense (again), and will wait a few days before trying it again.
I uninstalled CursorSense (again), and will wait a few days before trying it again.
I've been having this issue for a few months, probably at since I upgraded to Ventura. I notice it happening pretty consistently if ESPN.com is in an active tab -- suddenly Safari will swoop the front focus after the page auto-refreshes or loads some new assets. I'm pretty sure WashingtonPost.com is also guilty. I'm going to play around with some tweaks in the StopTheMadness extension and see if I can squash these sites.
I was also suspicious of ESPN for a long time, but I've had it happen even when an Apple support page was open; I've come to think it doesn't have a lot to do with what happens to be open in Safari. I've had no more occurrences since uninstalling CursorSense.
I'm experiencing this same thing for approx 6 months now, with Safari trying to steal focus and bringing itself to the front at random times. I only have the 1Password extension installed.
For me it's not just Safari and it's super erratic. I'm losing my mind with this! If I choose Chrome then my finders in the background pop up front. This is just one example. I use multiple screens and also have 1 Password. I feel like this just started sometime since January 2023 for me. I think it crept up on me though, and I think it's getting worse.
My belief is this is somehow triggered by web sites, but the posts above give lie to that. I still have this happen a lot, usually with some website that auto-refreshes (ESPN, etc).
I wondered if it's ads, but I block *most* of them. Still trying to figure this out.
I wondered if it's ads, but I block *most* of them. Still trying to figure this out.
at least for websites there is actually a programmatic way to put windows in the forground see:
developer.mozilla.org
and also blur which shifts focus away maybe in dime cases to a non browser window like finder
Window: focus() method - Web APIs | MDN
Makes a request to bring the window to the front. It may fail due to user settings and the window isn't guaranteed to be frontmost before this method returns.
and also blur which shifts focus away maybe in dime cases to a non browser window like finder
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Safari jumping to the front is actually worse for me now with Sonoma. If I walk away from my desk and return after the screen has locked, Safari is right at the front, rather than what I was working on.
If I open Chrome, Safari immediately jumps to the front of whatever is behind Chrome, but Chrome stays at the front. It's all very strange.
If I open Chrome, Safari immediately jumps to the front of whatever is behind Chrome, but Chrome stays at the front. It's all very strange.