something corrupting Safari cookies

[edjusted]

Something seems to be corrupting Safari cookies and causing random problems in random websites.

The symptoms basically involve websites and/or website elements not loading.

I know this is basic troubleshooting, but it's been happening a lot in the past couple of weeks.

I'm not sure when it happened, but I've seen it happen on both my computer (I have several content blockers installed, just for reference), and on my wife's computer (she has zero content blockers installed).

We're both on MacOS 13.4 but I believe this happened prior to the update. I've noticed it for maybe 2 weeks.
We're both on Safari 16.5.

Examples:
1. I try to access the nytimes.com website and the home page won't load at all.
I try an Incognito window and it works. And I try Safari Tech preview and it works.
I tried clearing cache. No luck. I finally cleared the cookies for it and it works.

2. My wife tried to load a Fixed Income screener in our brokerage account. The website itself loads fine, but the screener just keeps loading.
Tried clearing cache. No luck. There were no content blockers to disable.
We finally cleared the cookies and re-login and it loads immediately.

Besides these random problems, our computers have been running fine, and we haven't had to do any sort of force quits or anything that might cause corruptions. At least nothing I can think of.

FYI for anyone having "weird" problems.

 

[iStorm]

I occasionally have a similar problem, but don't think it's related to cookies. I could be browsing a site and then all of a sudden Safari won't load it anymore, as if I lost internet connection or something. I can get to other sites in the same tab, but the problematic site still just won't load when going back...even in a new tab or window. I end up having to quit and restart Safari and all is good again. In my case, I wonder if it could be related to iCloud Private Relay. It seems to have possibly started shortly after I turned that on if I'm remembering correctly. I haven't been too bothered yet to disable it for a while to see it makes any difference though.

 

[bogdanw]

Tried clearing cache. No luck. There were no content blockers to disable.

Disable iCloud Private Relay https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212614 and Hide IP address https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/privacy-sfri35610/mac

 

[edjusted]

I don't have iCloud Private Relay turned on.

For me, the problems started with Safari 16.5/MacOS 13.4.

Safari's been loading some websites really slowly, especially Google Sheets (but I've seen other people complain about Google Sheets/Safari and claim it's Google's fault).

There's a pretty noticeable difference in Safari performance between pre and post MacOS 13.4, at least for me. And I'm getting it on multiple Macs.