Firefox Often Freezing Up When Downloading an Attachment on my MACBOOK Pro
Friday February 6, 2026
Been using Firefox since 2014 and as my primary browser for personal research, etc. and Google's Chrome about half the time for company-related work. It's been my favorite browser. I'm using the current updated Firefox 147.0.3 (aarch64) and and Apple's O/S macOS Sequoia Version 15.7.3.
However, for at least 8 months or more now, Firefox has become completely unreliable for downloading files to save on my virtual drive in my MacBook Pro M3 Max because it often if not always freezes up in the process. I have to curse again (!) then Force Quit, reboot, and everything instantly comes back up on the monitor as if nothing happened, only of course I did not accomplish the task of downloading and saving the file I needed to handle.
I have discovered by talking to folks and by researching Firefox's support information library that I'm "not alone". Not by far. This problem IS a Firefox issue. I've tried to follow Firefox's several different solutions to overcome whatever the root cause of the problem is, but without success. The TIME required to really go through this problem-solving process is a killer. And, yea, since I'm physically practically in OPEN AI's backyard, I have consulted CHAT GPT and it also confirmed this issue between Firefox and Apple's O'S macOS Sequoia Version 15.7.3 and practically gave me a Masters thesis about. Who has time for this? Why can't Firefox solve this problem to make this easy for us?
S0 now, before I update my O/S to macOS Tahoe 26.3, does anyone know if between Apple and Firefox this problem has been solved? For 10 years it was never a problem. What the heck happened? Firefox is no longer my primary browser, for I never know for sure whether or not I'll need to download and save to my Mac's virtual drive a file.
Thanks for any constructive comments anyone may make! And Happy Friday. ~ GPB