Claude.ai Not Loading: How to Fix Blank Screen or Hangs

When you attempt to visit Claude.ai, encountering a blank screen, an infinite spinning circle, or an unresponsive interface can prevent you from accessing your chat history and running prompts. This behavior typically points to a mismatch between your browser's cached application assets and a newly deployed update on Claude's servers, or a blockage in the real-time WebSocket connection Claude uses to stream responses. Follow these structured troubleshooting steps to get the Claude web interface loading correctly.

1. Perform a Hard Refresh to Clear Corrupted Web Assets Anthropic frequently deploys updates to the Claude web interface. If your browser attempts to run older, cached JavaScript files alongside a newly updated backend, the application will crash silently, resulting in an unresponsive or completely blank page.

1. For Windows/Linux: Press Ctrl + Shift + R or hold Ctrl and click the browser's Reload icon.
2. For macOS: Press Cmd + Shift + R or hold Shift and click the Reload icon.
3. This bypasses the local browser cache and forces your browser to download the absolute latest frontend files directly from Claude's servers.

2. Clear Application Storage and Site Data If a hard refresh does not resolve the issue, residual local storage objects or expired cookies may be blocking the application state.

1. On Claude.ai, click the padlock icon on the left side of your browser's address bar.
2. Select Site settings or Cookies and site data.
3. Click Clear data or Manage cookies and site data and delete all stored entries for Claude.
4. Alternatively, if using Chrome or Edge: Press F12 to open Developer Tools, navigate to the Application tab, select Clear storage in the left menu, and click Clear site data.
5. Reload the page and log back in to your account.

3. Disable Extensions Blocking WebSockets and Telemetry Claude relies heavily on secure WebSockets (`wss://`) to stream real-time text output to your screen. Many privacy-focused web extensions, script blockers (like NoScript), or strict ad blockers (like uBlock Origin) mistake these streaming connections for tracking scripts and block them.

1. Open an Incognito or Private Browsing window. This runs the browser with all extensions disabled by default.
2. Navigate to claude.ai and attempt to log in.
3. If the interface loads and functions correctly in Incognito, an extension is causing the conflict.
4. Re-enable your extensions one by one in your standard browser window, reloading Claude after each one, to identify and isolate the exact extension causing the block. Add claude.ai and *.anthropic.com to that extension's whitelist or exception rules.

4. Investigate WebSocket and SSL Network Failures If the interface is partially loading but you cannot type or receive responses, your network might be blocking WebSocket traffic.

1. Open your browser's Developer Tools (F12) and switch to the Console tab.
2. Look for red error messages. If you see warnings like WebSocket connection to 'wss://...' failed, your local firewall, router, or ISP is blocking WebSocket handshakes.
3. Switch from your local network to a mobile hotspot to test if the restriction is network-level.
4. If you are on an enterprise network, contact your IT department to ensure outgoing ports 80, 443, and 8443 are completely open for WebSocket traffic to Anthropic's domains.

When to escalate If the web interface continues to show a blank screen across multiple devices, networks, and browsers, contact Claude Support. Send an email to `support@anthropic.com` or use the chat widget on the support portal. Be sure to include your web browser version, operating system, and a screenshot of any errors visible in the developer Console tab (`F12`), which will pinpoint exactly which file or connection is failing to execute.