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Deed Holsing
Deed Holsing

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Next.js app on Vercel crashes on iPhone 12/13/14 but works on iPhone 15/16

#nextjs #react #vercel #ios

I'm facing a strange issue where my Next.js application hosted on Vercel crashes on iPhones 12, 13, and 14, but works perfectly on iPhones 15 and 16.

✅ Setup:

📦 My package.json (partial):

"dependencies": {
  "@lordicon/react": "^1.11.0",
  "framer-motion": "^12.16.0",
  "lottie-react": "^2.4.1",
  "lottie-web": "^5.13.0",
  "next": "15.3.2",
  "react": "^19.0.0",
  "react-dom": "^19.0.0"
},
"scripts": {
  "dev": "next dev --turbopack",
  "build": "next build",
  "start": "next start"
}
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🔍 Behavior:

  • The site loads normally on desktop Chrome, Safari, Android phones, and newer iPhones (15/16).
  • On iPhone 12/13/14 (tested with Safari), the page crashes or becomes unresponsive.
  • I haven't applied any specific polyfills or browser compatibility flags yet.
  • No custom server or middleware — just a regular Vercel deploy.

❓Questions:

  • Why would this crash only on older iPhones?
  • Could framer-motion or lottie-web animations cause Safari (WebKit) crashes?
  • Do I need to add browser compatibility settings for iOS 15/16?
  • Are there known issues with React 19 or Next.js 15 on older Safari engines?

Any guidance or shared experiences would really help. Let me know if I should share a link or debug logs.

Top comments (1)

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icyjoseph profile image
Joseph •

The first suspect ought to be JavaScript features that got released post version 15.

A usual suspect, lately, has static initialization blocks but that was introduced in 16 IIRC.

Are you able to capture error stacks? You can connect your phone to a Mac and open remote dev tools there.