Why doesn't FamilySearch work well with Apple Safari and Mac Computers?
Every time I go into FamilySearch I run into a bug and I am told by the sweet people on the Support line that I need to "clear out my cache and cookies," reboot my computer or use Google Chrome. For example, today I tried to look at the Sources of my Grandmother and attach them to her, or to see if any other family members should be "tagged" in the source. I immediately ran into "There seems to be a Problem," page, "please try again." Nothing worked. I don't want to use Google Chrome as my browser because:
- Every week Safari gives me a notice that it blocked Google Chrome from tracking me 16, or 14 or a similar number EVERY WEEK
- I value security and Google Chrome gathers information about its users and sells that information—constantly
- Many, many ads on YouTube (which Google owns) are a total scam, and despite the fact that I have flagged a few of them, Google doesn't care and continues to let them advertise. Google is evil.
- Google made it impossible for temple workers to send out group emails for MONTHS a year or so ago. They are prejudiced against our church.
- A huge number of Americans and people worldwide use Apple computers and Safari due to privacy, as well as a better way to create presentations, video and sound recordings, etc
- I feel the Church has a bias against those using Mac computers and we (my husband and I) have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to the church in tithing.
Please please please hire some programmers and developers to make FamilySearch work with Mac Computers. I know it can be done.
Sincerely,
Answers
-
This is fundamentally about two things, I'd say:
a) The FS Mac user community is much smaller than the Windows one. Realistically, therefore, FS, like any other business with a customer facing website and limited resources, and especially one where the service is free of charge, is going to prioritise making the Windows user experience smooth.
b) Google services are free of charge (so automatically attractive to an enormous percentage of Internet users) and the product they are making their money from is us and our data. As in a) FS are going to prioritise the user experience on the browsers they see most used, viz. Chrome and probably Firefox.
I honestly cannot see any hidden agendas here, just normal Internet user behaviour and FS allocating its limited resources where they will have most impact.
I am not a Google fan either but I do use Chrome, a Google calendar, Google contacts and contact groups, a bit of Youtube, Google Analytics/Data Studio for the website I run, and a little Google Docs for specific limited purposes. In all these cases I have found it to be the best free tool for the job. I would not use any free tool for web hosting, for serious data storage, or for my main email account; I need and get accountability and proper support on those.
I do use Android on my 'phone, though still missing Windows Phone, a great operating system which could never get the market share that would make users (or, perhaps more to the point, app developers) take it seriously... so, another example of the quality of an offering making very little difference to its success or otherwise. (For the ancient techies amongst us, see also token ring.)
1 -
I almost exclusively use my Mac and Safari with Family Search. They work great together and I don't think I've cleared my cache and cookies for months, it may have been a year now. And it wasn't because of FamilySearch acting up.
The only time I jump over to Firefox or Chrome is to see if a bug that has shown up is in just one browser or all of them. I haven't run across a Safari-only bug for years. And the rare times I have, they have been fixed after I report them just as fast as any other bug.
So the first question for you, @Smith, Michelle Dea'n is what OS and Safari version are you using? As stated here: FamilySearch only supports the most recent and next most recent versions of any of them. For Macs this means that if you want everything to work right you need to be running macOS 14 (Sonoma) or 15 (Sequoia) and Safari 17 or 18.
If you are running anything older than these you are just going to run into more and more problems as FamilySearch updates require the latest web technologies and security protocols that just are not available in older systems.
If you are running a current configuration, then I would assume that you would find the same problems you are running into no matter which browser you would use. Also, those "something went wrong, please try again later messages" may well have nothing to do with your system at all but instead be a problem with your internet connection or be a temporary glitch in a FamilySearch server
2 -
I use Mac OS and IOS without problem. I find that it refreshes data in the background so I don't have to constantly update the current screen. I also use Chrome in the FamilySearch center and the Mac on the wifi with nothing but my own user-generated problems.
1
