safari search tips

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14 safari tips and tricks you absolutely need to know.

Unlock the full potential of Safari with these must-know tips.

It might come as quite a surprise to learn that Apple's Safari browser is more than 20 years old. It first made an appearance as the default browser on Mac back in January 2003 and it was intended to be a faster browser for the Mac than the other popular browsers at the time, like Internet Explorer and Netscape. In the two decades that followed, Safari has seen some big changes. It was one of the first apps to appear on the original iPhone, and then made its way to the iPad too when the first model appeared in 2010.

Today, Safari is still an excellent browser for Mac, iPhone , and iPad, and there are a lot of features that you may be totally unaware of. Here are some of the best Safari tips and tricks you should take advantage of.

Safari tips and tricks on Mac

Thanks to the power of iCloud , you can sync your browsing across all your Apple devices, from your iPhone to your Mac. If you set up tab groups on your iPhone or iPad, you can see those same groups on your Mac, and vice versa. However, each version of the browser has its own unique tricks, many of which are definitely worth knowing.

Turn any website into an app

A new feature in the latest version of Safari, is that it's now possible to take any website and turn it into an app that will appear in your dock. A Safari web app is a little different from a standard page in Safari, as it doesn't store any history, cookies, or other website data. It's also more streamlined, with just three buttons: back, forward, and share. If there's a streaming site you use that doesn't have its own app, for example, you can make one with just a few clicks.

• Open the website that you want turn into a web app.
• Click the Share icon in the top-right of the Safari window.
• Select Add to Dock .
• The web page is now turned into a web app that will appear in the dock of your Mac.

Use profiles to keep your browsing separated

Another new feature in the latest version of Safari is the ability to create different profiles. These profiles allow you to save completely different sets of Safari preferences. Your browsing history, bookmarks, cookies, and website data will only be saved within your profile so sites you visit in your Work profile for example, won't appear in the history for your Personal profile.

• Open Safari .
• Click the Safari menu in the menu bar.
• Select Settings .
• Click the Profiles tab.
• Click Start Using Profiles .
• Set up your first profile .
• You can add more at any time by clicking the + (plus) button in the Profiles tab.
• To switch between profiles, right-click the Safari icon in the dock and select the profile you want to use.

Create tab groups to make tabs easier to find

If you don't want to use profiles, you can use tab groups to keep your browsing more organised. Tab groups allow you to group collections of tabs together. When you open the group, you'll just see the tabs saved within that group. You can create as many different tab groups as you wish, and they will sync across your Apple devices.

• Open Safari and click the Show Sidebar icon at the top-left of the screen.
• Click the New Tab Group icon in the top-right corner of the sidebar.
• To create a new empty tab group, select New Empty Tab Group .
• To add the currently open tabs to a new group, select New Tab Group with X Tabs .
• You can add further tabs to tab groups by dragging them into the appropriate group in the sidebar.

Use picture-in-picture for better multitasking

If you're watching a video on a website, you might want to be able to keep browsing as you do so. Using the picture-in-picture feature in Safari allows you to break out the video from the webpage, so that you can keep watching it and carry on browsing, even in other tabs or apps.

• Open a webpage with a video you want to watch and start the video playing.
• Right-click the Speaker icon at the right-hand end of the URL bar.
• Select Open Picture in Picture .
• The video will pop out in a separate window.
• You can now carry on browsing, with the video still visible.

Quickly get back to search results using SnapBack

Have you ever fallen down a browsing rabbit hole? You do a web search, click one of the results, find an interesting link on that page and click it. Then you find an even more interesting link on that page. Before you know it, you're ten pages from where you first started.

Now you want to get back to your original search results. That's going to involve a lot of clicking the back button, right? Well, not if you use the clever SnapBack feature. It will take you right back to those search results, skipping all the pages in between.

• Do a web search in Safari.
• Follow some links within the same tab.
• Click the History menu.
• Select Search Results SnapBack .
• You'll be taken back to the original page of search results.

Quickly close multiple tabs

If you find that you've got too many tabs open, you may not like the thought of having to close each one manually. The good news is that you don't have to. You can quickly close multiple tabs in Safari in just a couple of clicks.

• Right-click a tab that you want to keep open.
• To close every other tab except the current one, select Close Other Tabs .
• To close all the tabs to the right of the current one, select Close Tabs to the Right .

Safari tips and tricks on iPad

Safari on the iPad also has some tricks of its own, some of which won't work on Mac or iPhone. Most of the tricks from the section below on iPhone tips and tricks will also work on iPad, however.

Use tabs in Split View

Split View is a useful iPad feature for working with multiple apps at once. It works by splitting the screen into two sections, with a different app running in each. However, it's also possible to use Split View for two different Safari tabs.

• Open the first page you want to use in Split View.
• Tap the Three Dots at the very top of the screen.
• Tap the Split View icon.
• Tap the Safari icon to open another Safari window.
• You can now navigate to the other web page you want to see in this new window.
• You can drag the central divider in either direction if you need one of the windows to be larger than the other.
• To return to the standard view, tap the Three Dots icon at the top of one of the windows and select the Full Screen icon.

Merge Safari windows back into tabs

If you've been working with multiple separate windows of Safari, rather than using tabs within the same window, it's possible to quickly merge all of your open Safari windows back into tabs.

• Tap and hold the Tab Overview icon in the top-right of one of your Safari windows.
• Select Merge All Windows .
• All open Safari windows will be collected together as tabs within a single window.

Bookmark multiple tabs at once

If you've got multiple tabs open, and you want to save all of them so that you can access them later, you might go through each one in turn and save it as a bookmark. However, there's a much quicker way which allows you to bookmark all of your currently open tabs.

• Open the tabs that you want to bookmark.
• Tap and hold the Bookmarks icon.
• To add a single bookmark, select Add Bookmark .
• To bookmark all of the currently open tabs, select Add Bookmarks for X Tabs .

Sort your tabs by title or website

The extra real estate on the iPad allows you to view a lot of tabs at once. However, finding the right tab can still be tricky if you have a lot of them open. It's possible to sort your tabs by title or by website to make it easier to find the one you want.

• Tap the Tab Overview icon in the top-right of the window.
• When the tabs appear, tap and hold one of them.
• Tap Arrange Tabs By .
• Select Arrange Tabs By Title or Arrange Tabs By Website .

Safari tips and tricks on iPhone

Mobile browsing is the common way that people access the internet these days, so knowing some useful iPhone Safari tricks can help.

Quickly scroll back to the top of the page

You've been engrossed in an interesting article and have scrolled a long way through as you read. You now want to go back to the top of the page so you can access the menu. That means a lot of scrolling to get back to the top, or you can simply tap somewhere around the top of your iPhone screen like the clock or the battery icon . This will automatically scroll the current web page back to the top.

Close all tabs at once

Do you find your iPhone gets filled with hundreds of tabs when you're browsing? If so, you might be too daunted to even think about closing them all. Thankfully, there is a quick way to close all of your tabs at once.

• Tap and hold the Tab Overview icon in the bottom-right of the screen.
• Select Close All X Tabs .
• All of your open tabs will close.

Set your tabs to close automatically

If even this seems like too much effort, you can get Safari to automatically close your tabs for you. You can have this happen every day, every week, or every month.

• Open the Settings app.
• Scroll down and select Safari .
• Under the Tabs section, tap Close Tabs .
• Select After One Day , After One Week , or After One Month to have Safari automatically close your tabs for you.
• If you don't want Safari to close your tabs, select Manually instead.

Open a new tab with a gesture

Why do two taps when a single gesture will do the job? If you want to open a new Safari tab, you can tap the Tab Overview icon and then tap the + (plus) icon to make a new tab appear. If you're a true Safari legend, however, then instead, you'll just swipe left on the URL bar of the current tab, and a new one will open like magic. Swiping right will take you to your previous tabs , too.

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Safari is getting better with each iOS update. And with iOS 17, Apple has again focused on smooth user experience and strong privacy. You will have a new Profiles option, better search results, enhanced Private Browsing, Autofill verification codes, sharing Safari passwords, etc., and other useful tools.

So, without further ado, let’s jump into the best Safari tips and tricks for iPhone. 

1. Create Safari profiles

Safari Profiles are a new way to organize your browsing activity with convenience. I have created different Profiles on Safari separate browsing environments for different purposes, such as work, college, and personal. Each profile has its own set of extensions, Tab Groups, bookmarks, and history.

So, this Safari browser feature can boost your speed and performance as you don’t need to switch between work and personal accounts each time. Sounds cool, right? Go through our detailed guide to create Safari profiles in iOS 17.

2. Quick search results

To save your time, Safari shows quick search results using Smart Search field with iOS 17. It is faster and more responsive than before and shows more relevant and understandable search recommendations.

For example, I wanted to keep up with the ongoing NBA match, so I searched for NBA live scores. Safari displayed a scorecard instantly; thus, I didn’t even have to do a search and visit any website. If you search for “cake,” it will show you the nearest bakery with the option to call and map directions.   

If you are not getting the Quick search results, check your Safari settings:

• Open Settings → Safari .

3. Advanced Private Browsing

Locking Private tabs feature is my best iOS 17 Safari tips and tricks for iPhone. Private Browsing prevents trackers on sites and deletes your browsing history.

Safari will lock your private tabs when you are not using them. So, you can move around keeping those tabs open. If anyone tries to access it, they must enter your passcode. Also, now Private Browsing removes the trackers from the URLs you visit. Therefore, tracking and identifying your device is quite impossible now.

You can also opt for this advanced tracking protection in all your daily browsing. For that,

• Go to Settings → Safari → Advanced .
• Tap Advanced Tracking and Fingerprinting Protection .

4. Autofill verification codes 

Another efficient hidden tricks inside Apple’s Safari browser on iOS 17. Now, Safari will get your verification codes from Mail. Such a relief as it was never fun to get verification codes by email.  

You don’t have to close Safari anymore to search the verification code email and return. The verification codes will be readily accessed on the keyboard, and you may automatically fill them in. 

5. Sharing passwords with Family Passwords

Taking the security and convenience to the next level, Apple has introduced an essential Safari feature for your iPhone – Family Password sharing. You can create a group of trusted contacts and share your iCloud Keychains passwords. The group members can access your passwords, add theirs and edit them.  

Also, you can remove any contact from the group or modify the password. Therefore, you don’t need to share the passwords verbally or AirDrop them. Learn this interesting feature from our guide on how to use Family Passwords in iOS 17 on iPhone . 

6. Listen to a web page

Don’t want to read through long articles and blogs? Now you can listen to web pages that have Reader support.

• Open a website in Safari. 
• Tap AA icon on address bar. 

7. Share Tab Group to collaborate

Tab groups brings so much convenience to organize browsing activities. Now you can also share a tab group with your friends and collogues to keep up your research.

• From the current web page, tap the  tabs  icon.
• Then, on the top right, hit the  share icon .  If it isn’t visible, go to the top of the tabs. 

For the time being, you can only invite people using the Messages app. 

8. Change the background of your Tab Group

iOS 16 allows you to  customize the start page  of your Tabs Group so you can change the layout of Safari. Similar to adding Favourites to the start page, you may also set a custom background using this iPhone Safari trick. 

• Go to the start page and tap  Edit  by scrolling down. 
• Now toggle on  Background Image  if it’s disabled and choose a wallpaper. 

9. Check recently closed tabs for each Tab Group

• From the existing Tab Group , go to the start page of Safari.
• Scroll down and choose  Edit .

10. Add Tab Groups or Safari profiles to your Focus mode

Focus mode  is more upgraded and enhanced in iOS 17. It has added a new feature called Filters. Using it, you can limit and restrict other tabs and only see a certain group of Safari tabs. You may also opt for your personalized Safari Profile in Focus mode.

• Open  Settings  → Tap  Focus .
• Now choose a Focus mode. Here, I have chosen  Do Not Disturb .

• After that, select  Safari  from the  App Filters.

• It will show the list of your Tab Groups.  Select  the one you want to use during Focus mode. 

Along with these settings, you can also pin tabs in Tab Groups and add Favorites to each Tab Group’s start page. Refer to  our complete guide on Tab groups to learn about more such hacks.

11. Find on Page feature

Safari’s Find on Page function comes in handy whenever you need to search a website.

• Open a webpage and  long press  on a word or select a phrase.

12. Image translation for websites

Translating images in Safari is not new, but the results weren’t always correct. But Apple has fixed the issue with  Live Text . 

• Long-press on the image  you want to translate.  

13. New language support for Safari webpage translation

Besides image translation, you may  translate a webpage in Safari . The iOS 16 update has added new language support for Safari translation. So, you can now translate websites with Arabic, Dutch, Indonesian, Korean, Polish, Thai, Turkish, and Vietnamese text. 

14. Passkeys for enhanced security 

Passkeys on iOS 16  will take the role of standard passwords when logging into your accounts across websites or apps. Therefore, you will be safeguarded against data breaches, phishing scams, and password-cracking attempts. 

With Passkeys, you will authenticate using Touch ID or Face ID instead of manually typing a password when creating or logging in to an account. As a result, it will create unique public and private keys linked to your biometric authentication. 

Your iCloud Keychain will save the private key while the public key is kept on the website’s servers. The best part is no one, even Apple, cannot see the private key. However, it will sync to all your other iCloud devices, making it simple for you to log in from any location and device.

15. Easily copy subjects from images

The new  Visual Look Up  feature is also accessible in the Safari app. So, you can drag objects directly out of any photos on the website. Just long-press on it and tap  Copy Subject . So, you may duplicate any internet picture and erase its background. Besides, paste the cutout, save it, or drop it anywhere on your iPhone.

16. Edit suggested strong passwords

As you already know, Safari  generates strong passwords  while creating an account on a website. But some websites have certain criteria for creating a password. Don’t worry! I have some tips and tricks to solve this issue. Apple now allows the creation of strong passwords as required.

• When you start creating an account on any website, you will see a pop-up window. Then tap  Other Options . 

17. Get push notifications from websites

Finally, this Mac feature is on your iPhone. Whenever you visit a website, it will ask you if you want to receive push notifications from that website. You must add that website to your Home Screen and use it as a web app. Go through our detailed guide on how to use web apps on iPhone .

18. Safari extensions synchronization

Suppose you have added a Grammarly extension to Safari. But when using Safari on Mac, you need to install the extension again. The good news is that Apple now supports Safari extension synchronization across all your devices. 

• Open  Settings.  Go to  Safari → Extensions .

Additionally, here you can see all your installed  extensions on your iPhone . Besides, the  On Other Devices  section lists extensions that aren’t on your device. So, you can simply download them as you must have the apps for those extensions on your iPhone.

19. Sync website settings on all your Apple devices

Like extension synchronization, you can sync your  website settings  across devices. Therefore you only need to configure your choices like Page Zoom, Request Desktop Site, Reader, Content Blockers, Camera, Microphone, and Location once. 

• Go to  Settings → Safari.

20. New Shortcuts actions 

Apple has added new Shortcut actions to Safari. See the list below:

• Find Bookmarks
• Open Bookmark
• Set Safari Focus Filter
• Find Reading List Items
• Open Reading List Item
• Create Tab Group
• Find Tab Groups
• Open Tab Group
• Create New Private Tab
• Create New Tab

21. Skip CAPTCHAs when browsing

• Open  Settings  → tap your  name (Apple ID) .
• From the next window, choose  Password & Security .

22. Haptic touch (Safari app icon )

It’s pretty good, and I kind of like this neat implementation. So, give it a shot to get into the action faster. (Punch line)

23. Take a sneak peek

Next in line is the option to take a page’s preview and get multiple useful options without leaving that page.

Just touch and hold a URL to get a preview of a page. Then, you can swipe up to reveal options like Open In Background, Add to Reading List, Copy, and Share.

24. Paste and go & Paste and search

Likewise, you can use this same trick to search for anything faster. After copying any text, touch and hold the address bar. Then, hit Paste and Search. There you go! 

25. Easily type Top-Level domains

Next up, I’d like to show you a quick way to enter top-level domains in the search bar. Simply touch and hold the tiny “.” period button in the bottom row of the keyboard and then choose from several top-level domain extensions, such as .com, .net, and .org, based on your location.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, as the stock  QuickType keyboard  has many tricks up its sleeve.

To discover more about such cool keyboard tips, check out  our hands-on guide .

26. Jump back to the top of the page

While reading an article, you’ve scrolled all the way to the bottom. How would you quickly jump back to the top of the page? By scrolling up? That’s not productive at all.

The smarter way to get it done is by  double-tapping the status bar  at the top of the screen. It works reliably and makes web browsing a bit smooth sailing. Really.

27.   Set a reminder to look at a page at a specific time

Did you know that Siri could help you set a reminder to check out a webpage at a specific time?

Just invoke Siri and say something like,  ”Remind me to look at this page today at 9 P.M.”  Siri will confirm that it will do the assigned task.

Now, you will get a reminder at the set time to check out that article. Tap on it, and you will be taken to the Reminders app. Then, hit the Safari icon to visit that page. I often use this feature to catch up with my favorite articles at a convenient time. And I would recommend using it as well because it’s very user-friendly.

28. Quickly access forward/backward history

While browsing the web, you’ve gone several pages deep. Now, you might want to quickly access all the backward history. What will you normally do? Keep tapping on the backward button.

No, that’s not the better way to go about it. Simply  touch and hold the back button.  Now, you will see all of your backward histories. Similarly, you can  touch and hold the forward button  to view all of your forward histories. So, the next time you want to go back and forth while browsing the web, do not forget to use this nifty trick.

29. Play a video in the background

If you like listening to audio while browsing the web, this tip is for you.

Assuming a video is playing in Safari, press the Home button or swipe up from the Home bar. Now, the video will pause. Bring up the player menu and hit the play button. The video will start playing again in the background.

Keep in mind; YouTube doesn’t support this feature officially. However, if you’ve enabled the YouTube Picture-in-picture mode you can enjoy playing videos in the background.

30. Load the desktop site 

Not all sites are perfectly optimized for mobile devices. To be honest, I have come across many websites that look cramped on mobile devices. Thankfully, there is an option to  request the desktop version of a site.

To do it, simply tap the  AA   icon  on the address bar and choose  Request Desktop Site . 

Boom! Safari will instantly present you with the desktop version of the site. You can again revert back to the mobile site in the same way. 

31. Change the default Safari search engine

Google is set as the default search engine in Safari.

However, you can choose to change it as and when you want. To lean how it is done, you can refer to our article on  how to change Safari search engine on iPhone .

32. Rearrange tabs

Especially during extensive research, I like to keep tabs in the right order, making it a bit easier to access the specific ones. To rearrange tabs:

• Open  Safari  and hit the  tabs  icon. 
• Now, you will see all of your open tabs. Simply touch and hold a specific one and drag it at the top, bottom, or anywhere you want.

Use this simple gesture to keep all of your tabs perfectly organized.

33. Search specific tabs on Safari

The next tip that I’m gonna talk about is searching specific tabs. Save it for the time when you have several open tabs and want to quickly jump onto specific ones.

• Hit the tabs icon and then scroll up to reveal the  Search Tabs  bar. 

I don’t think most of you would be aware of this secret trick that lets you close all the searched tabs. Frankly speaking, I was unaware of this hack until I stumbled upon it a few days back.

Just touch and hold the  Cancel button,  and you will see an option to close all the tabs matching a site. Simply tap it, and all the tabs matching that particular site will be gone!

34. Close all tabs at once

Alternatively, you can also hit the  tabs  icon once. Then long press the  Done  button. Finally, tap  Close All Tabs,  and they will go away!

35. Reopen Recently Closed Tabs

At times after closing all the tabs, I realized I needed to check out some specific ones. And that’s the time this tip came onto the scene.

To  reopen recently closed tabs , hit the  tabs  icon and then touch and hold the  plus (+)  button. Now, you will see the list of all the tabs you had recently closed.

Next, select the one you want to use. Super handy, isn’t it?

36. Open Incognito tab

Safari comes with an  incognito mode  to let you search the web with more privacy. The best part about it is that when you enter this mode, the web browser doesn’t store any of your data.

• Long press the  tabs  icon. 

There’s another way to go incognito. From the Tabs View screen, tap on your Tabs Group name. Then select  Private  and confirm by tapping  Done . When you want to disable the private browsing mode, simply repeat the same steps I’ve just mentioned. And the general web browsing mode will be back.

37. Clear cookies and history

Moving on, make sure to  clear out cookies  and history from time to time to prevent the app from being cluttered. And it can also prevent others from guessing what sort of stuff you are browsing these days!

To clean it up, hop into the  Settings  app →  Safari . Then, scroll down and tap  Clear History and Website Data  twice.

38. Manage all of your saved passwords

Believe me,  managing passwords on iOS  has never been so painless and seamless.

To manage your passcodes:

• Open the  Settings  app and tap  Passwords .
• Next, you need to authenticate. Once it’s done, you will see all of your accounts. 
• Tap on the one you want to manage. At the top right, tap  Edit . 
• Next, make desired changes and tap on  Done  to confirm.

39. View saved passwords using Siri

Siri makes it incredibly easy to  view saved passwords . Say, I want to access the passwords of the Facebook account. I will invoke Siri and say something like, “Show my Facebook passwords.” 

Now, I need to authenticate my device. Once done, I will access the Facebook account and the saved password. Told you, it’s super handy.

40. Autofill Passwords

Every time you want to log in to any website account, you don’t need to enter the password manually. To take advantage of this feature, ensure that  Autofill Passwords  switch is ON inside the  Passwords  setting.

Going forward, the first time you log in to an account, you will get the option to save it to the iCloud Keychain. So, when you enter your login credentials, the keyboard will automatically pop up the password for your saved account. Tap on it, and all the details will be instantly filled in.

41. Quickly enter Verification Codes

The latest version of iOS has made entering verification codes very simple, thanks to the  Two-Factor Authentication .

All you’ve got to do is just hit the text field and tap on the incoming verification code to autofill the confirmation box. That’s really very user-friendly.

42. Change default Password AutoFill provider

Though Apple’s iCloud Keychain works smoothly, using third-party apps is great. To  change the default password AutoFill  provider, ensure that you’ve already installed your favorite password manager and, ideally, set it up. 

• Launch the  Settings  app on your iPhone, and tap  Passwords . 
• Now authenticate and select  Password Options .
• Next, you will see the compatible third-party password managers installed on your device under  Allow Filling From . Choose your preferred option and follow the instruction to authenticate it, and you are done!

43. Convert a webpage into a PDF

While browsing the web, whenever I stumble upon an article, I like to save it to my special collection. That’s when the option to  convert a webpage into PDF  comes into the picture.

Let’s say I want to convert a webpage into a PDF.

• Tap the  Share  button and choose  Print  in the share sheet. 

Also, you can annotate the file using the Markup tool and save it to the Files app. That’s a pretty intuitive iOS feature.

44. Quickly add any article to your reading list

If you are a voracious reader, this tip is for you. The next time you want to save an article to read later:

• Touch and hold the  book icon .
• Choose  Add to Reading List  in the menu.

In case you wish to save it for offline reading, tap  Save Automatically .

45. Make the most of Reader Mode

Last but not least, Safari comes with a useful Reader Mode to enhance the reading experience.

• Tap the  AA icon  on the address bar. 
• Next, select  Website Settings  from the context menu. 

Therefore, whenever you are browsing through that website, it will eliminate all the unnecessary stuff to make it easier for you to read the article. That’s not all; you can tap on the text button and choose from several fonts and themes to further boost your reading experience.

Stay tuned in for more such handy tips…

So, that’s how you can get the most out of Safari on your iOS device. These tips can surely cut the lag and speed up your web browsing. Have I missed out on some cool tricks? If yes, don’t go away before you spill some beans about them down below.

Explore more…

• How to change Safari search engine on iPhone, iPad and Mac 
• How to clear Safari cache, history and cookies on iPhone or iPad
• 15 Ways to Fix Safari not working on iPhone

Ava is a die-hard Apple aficionado and seasoned writer with a knack for breaking down complex tech concepts into easily digestible content. Having honed her writing and editing skills over 3 years at renowned media houses like TechBurner, Ava crafts informative and engaging articles including troubleshooting guides, product reviews, editorials at iGeeksBlog. When not typing, you can find her exploring the latest Apple releases or pondering the future of tech innovation.

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How to Use Safari Browser

Apple's Safari browser is the pre-loaded default on all of the company's desktop and mobile devices, making it the most important application on MacBooks, iPads and iPhones. Safari offers great performance and ease of use, whether you're reading Web pages on a 5-inch handset or a 15-inch laptop.

However, you can also dig deeper behind the scenes to enable new features and change settings to fit your needs. Our list of Safari tips and tricks will teach you how to block cookies, pin tabs, show a full URL while you browse and much more.

Check out the tutorials below to make the most Safari on both OS X and iOS .

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9 advanced tips and tricks for Safari

Make the most out of Apple's browser

Safari is packed with features that make your experience of browsing the web much better. From the Smart Search Field to Safari Reader to private browsing mode, everything is geared towards making your browsing faster and more enjoyable.

In the following nine expert tips you'll discover exactly how to search smarter, read text on pages easily, sync tabs across devices, manage your privacy and security and more.

1. Spotlight suggestions

When you click the search field and type, Safari gets suggestions from your chosen search engine. It also lists matches from your favourites and bookmarks, plus Spotlight suggestions – news stories, Wikipedia articles, maps and contact details relevant to your keywords.

It all adds up to a speedier search experience.

2. Quick Website Search

When you use a site's built-in search, Safari learns how the address of its search page is constructed. Next time, type the site's address followed by keywords in the Smart Search Field to get a shortcut that immediately submits your keywords and goes directly to search results.

3. Read pages easily

When you visit a page with lots of body text, a paragraph-like icon appears at the left of the search field. Click it for Safari Reader, which strips away extraneous content for a cleaner view of the body and images.

Adjust the text size using the A characters at the top left.

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4. iCloud Tabs

Click the Show All Tabs button in the toolbar, and look below the graphical previews of tabs open on your Mac. Here you'll find lists of tabs left open on your other Macs and iOS devices signed into the same iCloud account.

5. Private browsing

To create a window in which visited pages, searches and form data are not saved, go to File > New Private Window. Such windows are distinguished from normal ones by a dark search field.

They remain separate if you choose Window > Merge All Windows.

6. Privacy options

In Safari's preferences, click Privacy. The first set of options determines whether sites save cookies – often used by advertisers, but also for other purposes.

At the bottom, you can ask not to be tracked, but sites aren't actually obliged to honour this.

7. Cover your tracks

You can quickly cover your browsing tracks from the last hour, today, or today and yesterday by choosing History > Clear History and Website Data… and the relevant entry.

8. Manage website data

Also in Privacy preferences, click Details under 'Remove All Website Data…' to review what sites have saved on your Mac: cookies, plug-ins and other local data may be used for legitimate functionality, but you can come here and delete data for a site you no longer trust.

9. Manage plug-ins

Safari uses clever techniques to stop plug-ins sucking up resources and battery power. You can check plug-ins and manage each one's availability, to sites you've already visited and any others you may visit in future, at the foot of Safari > Preferences > Security.

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How-To Geek

12 awesome safari features you should be using on iphone.

Safari is your iPhone's default web browser, and it's full of features and tricks you might not know about.

Quick Links

Icloud private relay, safari extensions, advanced privacy features, reader mode, the "website settings" menu, reading list, tab groups (and shortcuts), private browsing (and shortcuts), "add to home screen" web apps, autofill and apple pay, and lastly... duckduckgo, more safari tips.

Apple's mobile browser is packed with features. They make it easier to track and read online content, protect your privacy, and keep things organized. Here's a list of the best features that all iPhone owners need to know about.

Apple launched the iCloud Private Relay beta in 2021, as a way of anonymizing web traffic in the Safari browser. You can use iCloud Private Relay if you pay for any tier of iCloud (known as an iCloud+ subscription ) or use Apple One .

Private Relay isn't a VPN, and you can't use both a VPN and iCloud Private Relay at the same time. The service works by sending web requests over two hops: the first (operated by Apple) can see your IP address but encrypts your request and DNS records, while the second (operated by a third party) assigns a random IP address and decrypts your web request.

The idea is that neither Apple nor the third party can connect the dots and know who is visiting a specific website. The service has had its hiccups with unclear error messages , unscheduled downtime , and some carriers taking a dislike to the service . But it works as advertised most of the time, so it's worth turning on if you're concerned about privacy.

Enable iCloud Private Relay (or turn it off) by launching the Settings app and tapping on your name at the top of the screen. From here navigate to iCloud > iCloud Private Relay and enable the service.

Related: How to Use iCloud+ Private Relay

Safari gained the ability to use extensions with the arrival of iOS 15. This allows you to vastly expand the capabilities of Apple's browser with third-party add-ons, though you'll need to go through Apple's channels to do so.

You'll find Safari extensions in the App Store. Launch the App Store app then tap on "Apps" at the bottom of the screen. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and find the "Safari Extensions" category under Top Categories (tap "See All" if it's not visible). From here you can install extensions just as you would any other app.

Many apps are bundled with Safari extensions (just like Apple Watch apps and Home screen widgets ). You can enable or disable these under Settings > Safari > Extensions. This includes content blockers (for blocking online advertisements and trackers) plus regular extensions that expand on the browser's core functionality.

We've put together a list of our favorite Safari for iPhone and iPad extensions , which allow you to do things like enable picture-in-picture video anywhere, disable Google AMP webpages , and bring dark mode to websites that don't explicitly support it.

Safari has a few privacy settings that you may have already enabled, but it's worth checking they're on if you're concerned about online privacy. Head to Settings > Safari and scroll down to the "Privacy & Security" section.

You can enable "Prevent Cross-Site Tracking" to block advertisers and their cookies from tracking you across the web. This, in theory, prevents advertisers from building up a profile of you based on the websites you visit. Safari was the first mainstream browser to block third-party cookies by default.

You can also enable " Hide IP Address " if you're using iCloud Private Relay to prevent both trackers and websites from seeing this information. This feature attempts to foil advertisers' attempts to profile you based on your IP.

You can also disable "Privacy Preserving Ad Measurement" (which is on by default) to further limit tracking. While the feature may sound like something you should leave on, it's a way of sharing information with advertisers about your interactions in a "private" way.

Related: How to Optimize Safari for Maximum Privacy

You can enable Reader mode on most websites by tapping and holding the "AA" button to the left of a website URL in Safari's Address bar. You can also tap this button and then choose "Show Reader" if you'd rather do it in two taps. When you do this, Safari will strip out everything except the content on the webpage and present it to you in a customizable format.

This is great for several reasons. To start with, it eliminates irritating advertisements (including ones that refresh while you're trying to read, shifting the content up and down the page). It also strips out formatting or website styles that may make it harder to read, like odd font choices and distracting colors.

You can customize Reader by tapping on the "AA" icon in the URL bar and choosing a font, background color, and text size using the small and large "A" buttons. To exit Reader, choose "Hide Reader" from this menu or long-press the "AA" button again. By choosing a dark background you can read websites in the dark without being blinded, a must-have for late-night long reads in bed.

It's an accessibility feature as much as it is a convenience, and Safari will remember your Reader settings until the next time you use it.

If you tap on the "AA" button in the website URL bar (while visiting a website) you will see a "Website Settings" option. Tap on it and you can force Reader every time using the "Use Reader Automatically" or always request the desktop version of a website using the "Request Desktop Website" toggle.

These are useful if you always find yourself using Reader (to get around annoying adverts) or avoiding a particular mobile website due to its limited functionality. Reader should only kick in on pages that make sense, so for example a website's home page which has no content beyond headlines should function as normal while tapping through to an article will trigger Reader mode for you.

You can also preempt any Camera, Microphone, and Location access prompts by always allowing or outright denying a particular website access to these permissions. Safari will remember your settings for each website. To make changes to these settings, head to Settings > Safari and scroll down to the "Settings for Websites" section.

Related: How to Check Which Websites Can Access Your Location in Safari

Sometimes you might visit a website or be sent a link to an interesting article that you simply don't have time to read right now. It might even be a product website you want to explore, or a video hosted somewhere online. This is where Reading List comes in, allowing you to save websites for later.

You can access the "Add to Reading List" option via the long-press menus that pop up when you hold your finger down on a link. This could be in Safari on a webpage, in a Messages window, and via the Share sheet in apps like Twitter. You can also use the Share button in Safari to access this option while the web page is open.

You'll find all of these links accessible within Safari by tapping on the "Bookmarks" button in the bar at the bottom of the screen, then tapping on the Reading List tab (it looks like a pair of glasses). If you have a Mac or an iPad, your Reading List will sync between devices.

Keeping tabs organized can be a real drag if you aren't using Safari's grouping features. This allows you to create labeled groups for tabs so you can recall and dismiss browsing sessions on demand.

To set up your groups, launch Safari then tap on the tab view button in the bottom-right corner of the screen to display all of your tabs. From here, tap on the label at the bottom of the screen, it will say something like "10 Tabs" (depending on how many you have open).

Now you can create a new empty tab group, or create a new tab group with all open tabs. Your main browsing session can be found at the top of this list, just above the "Private" label. Add a tab to a group by long-pressing the tab view button in the bottom-right corner of Safari. You can also move tabs en-masse to a new or existing tab group .

Private browsing has many uses, the most obvious being not leaving a trail of websites you've visited in your history, cookies, or website data. But the feature is also useful for starting new sessions with websites that may have profiled you, like when you're limited to five free articles on a news website and you've reached your limit.

You can access a private browsing session under the tab view button in the bottom-right corner of Safari. You can also quickly switch to and from your "Private" session by long-pressing this button. From your home screen, tap and hold Safari then choose "New Private Tab" to jump straight to a new tab in your "Private" session.

Related: How to Use Safari Private Browsing on an iPhone or iPad

Do you use any websites like a web app? Some services, like Xbox Cloud Gaming, must be launched in a browser window and Safari's "Add to Home" option provides the most elegant method of doing so. Many websites function as if they were standalone apps, occupying a slot in the iPhone multitasker and lacking Safari's UI.

Others operate as simple bookmarks you can launch from your home screen , which might not be to everyone's taste but can be handy nonetheless.

Related: How to Add a Website to Your iPhone or iPad Home Screen

You can speed up your checkout process by configuring your AutoFill settings under Settings > Safari > AutoFill. Here you can nominate your personal Contact entry in your address book to pull in information like your address and other contact details, making it easier to complete purchases.

You can also use this menu to save your credit card information via the "Saved Credit Cards" option . Here you can add a new card, as well as get rid of any old ones that may have expired or been canceled.

Finally, there's Apple Pay which will appear on supported websites . This allows you to check out in record time, letting you nominate a delivery address, shipping option, and contact details all from one tidy pop-up window. Head to Settings > Wallet & Apple Pay to add your card and get started.

Related: How to View Saved Credit Card Numbers in Safari on iPhone and iPad

Being able to change your default search engine might not seem like a knockout feature, but there are all sorts of reasons to switch to DuckDuckGo . Not only does the search engine respect your privacy far more than Google, but it also lets you use "bangs" to limit your search to certain services (or even jump straight to Google if you need it).

You can change your iPhone's default search engine to DuckDuckGo under Settings > Safari > Search Engine.

Safari is packed full of features that can make your life easier. With an iPhone or iPad running a modern version of Safari you can  download files , force your browser to ignore apps , store and access passwords , and block pop-up windows .

To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories .

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The Safari Settings You Should Tweak Right Now

Your browser is your window onto the world, the app you rely on most during the day. You want to wring every last drop of usefulness out of it. It definitely pays to know all of the features and tricks your daily browser is capable of. For iOS users, that means mastering Safari: how to stay safe online, how to get stuff done faster, and more.

For a smoother online experience, take a few minutes to run through these Safari tweaks to make your life online a little smoother.

Safari is very concerned about the strength of your passwords—perhaps even more so than you are. To see whether you're using any weak passwords, or duplicating passwords across accounts, open the Safari menu and choose Preferences then Passwords . A yellow exclamation mark indicates a potential problem with one of your listed passwords.

You'll often want to carry on watching a video while doing something else, and Safari can help—with a video playing, click and hold the audio icon in the address bar, then choose Enter Picture in Picture . The pop-out video player can be repositioned and resized as needed, but keep the original tab open in the background while you work on other tasks.

Websites want a lot these days: access to your webcam, your mic, your location , and more. To check what a site does and does not have access to, click Safari then Settings for This Website . You can revoke any permissions you've previously given, stop content from auto-playing, and limit the number of pop-up windows that the website can show.

It's taken a long time for Safari to support favicons (the little icons that represent websites), so you might as well take advantage; they also help you identify open tabs more easily as well. From the Safari menu, choose Preferences then Tabs , and then tick the checkbox labeled Show website icons in tabs to apply the change to the browser.

Having access to your recent browsing history can be useful for retracing your online steps, but you don't need it to follow you around for years. Open Safari then Preferences , switch to the General tab, then open Remove history items —you can delete browsing logs automatically after a day, week, fortnight, month, or year.

By default Safari just shows the domain name of the site you're visiting in the address bar, but this can make it tricky to work out exactly where you are on the web. To see the full URL instead, you need to open up the Safari menu, then the Preferences dialog, then switch to the Advanced tab—make sure the Show full website address box is ticked.

No productivity hack is ever going to beat an intuitive keyboard shortcut or two. You'll find a full list for Safari here and here , but some of our favorites include Space (and Shift+Space ) to scroll, Cmd+W to close a tab, Ctrl+Tab (and Shift+Ctrl+Tab ) to scroll through open tabs, and Cmd+L to jump straight to the Safari address bar at the top.

Safari, like every other Apple app, can be fully controlled with your voice in macOS Catalina. To enable the feature, open the Apple menu then choose System Preferences , Accessibility , Voice Control , and Enable Voice Control . It lets you speak out numbers for menus and links, zoom in and out, and much more—there's a full list of commands here .

Safari has an entire Develop menu that's not displayed by default but which is very handy for power users. To show it, open the Safari menu then choose Preferences , then Advanced , then tick the box marked Show Develop menu in menu bar. The new menu then appears, enabling you to access options such as disabling images or extensions.

Clearing out a browser's cache can often improve performance in the long term, even if it takes a short-term hit while local files are refreshed and reset. To do this in Safari, you first need to enable the Develop menu (see the step above), then you can open it and choose Empty Caches . This wipes all of Safari's temporary files and data off the local disk.

Safari has borrowed a very useful feature from Windows: the ability to "snap" open tabs to the left or right of the screen, so you can compare two side-by-side. Open up the Window menu, then choose Tile Window to Left of Screen or Tile Window to Right of Screen to do just that—your other windows are then automatically docked on the opposite side.

Apple devices all play wonderfully well together, as long as you're signed in on the same Apple ID, and jumping between open tabs on different devices is a breeze. To do this on Safari on macOS, you need to click on the Show tab overview button in the top right corner; you'll then see Safari tabs from your other devices listed lower down.

Who has time to read everything during the working day? No one! So make use of Safari's built-in Reading List tool. Use the Plus button on the left side of the address bar to add articles to the Reading List, then click the Show sidebar button (or View and Show Reading List Sidebar ) to bring up the list of all the posts you've saved during the day.

Safari gives you more control than you might have realized over the buttons and options that appear on the toolbar—having the tools you use most often in easy reach can make a big difference to your online productivity. To make changes, select View then Customize Toolbar , then just drag and drop the icons you need most often into the toolbar.

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Safari User Guide

• Get started
• Go to a website
• Bookmark webpages to revisit
• See your favorite websites
• Use tabs for webpages
• Import bookmarks and passwords
• Pay with Apple Pay
• Autofill credit card info
• View links from friends
• Keep a Reading List
• Hide ads when reading
• Translate a webpage
• Download items from the web
• Add passes to Wallet
• Save part or all of a webpage
• Print or create a PDF of a webpage
• Interact with text in a picture
• Change your homepage
• Customize a start page
• Create a profile
• Block pop-ups
• Make Safari your default web browser
• Hide your email address
• Manage cookies
• Clear your browsing history
• Browse privately
• Prevent cross-site tracking
• See who tried to track you
• Change Safari settings
• Keyboard and other shortcuts

Customize searching in Safari on Mac

Searching the web is a powerful way to find information, and in Safari you can choose which search engine you wish to use.

Open Safari for me

Choose a search engine

When you search, you also give information about yourself to the search engine. For example, if you enter “Golden Retriever” in the Smart Search field, the search engine learns that you’re interested in information about Golden Retriever dogs, even if you don’t press Return to submit the search terms. Search engines have different policies for what they do with search data they collect from you.

Prevent search engine suggestions

Deselect “Include search engine suggestions.”

Safari stops sending the search engine your partial search terms as you type them, and the search engine doesn’t send Safari search suggestions to show in the results list below the search and address field.

Prevent searching within a site from the Smart Search field

Click Search, then deselect Enable Quick Website Search.

Stop getting Safari Suggestions from Music, Maps, and more

Deselect “Include Safari Suggestions.”

Safari stops using Safari Suggestions .

Stop preloading the top search hit

Deselect “Preload Top Hit in the background.”

While you’re typing in the Smart Search field, Safari no longer starts to load a webpage it determines to be the top hit based on your bookmarks and browsing history.

Stop showing icons for your favorite websites below the Smart Search field

Deselect “Show Favorites.”

Tips to search in Safari on Mac like a pro

Discover some handy tips for using Safari Search on your Mac and find answers more efficiently with just a few clicks.

The search feature in Safari is a lot smarter than most people probably realize. It’s not called the Smart Search Field for nothing. Without going to Google or another search engine, you can start typing in things like flight numbers or local weather to receive related suggestions.

In addition, you can search an existing webpage, repeat a search, or search a site you’ve visited before. To help, we’ve assembled some tips for using search in Safari.

Perform a quick Safari search

As we mentioned above, you can perform searches that offer up fast results using the Smart Search Field.

You can see quick details for movies, TV shows, songs, artists, and much more. To check flight status, just enter the flight number.

To get your weather conditions, start typing in the word “weather.”

Before you head to a specific search engine, try entering your keyword or phrase into the Smart Search Field because you might find exactly what you want without that extra step.

Note: You can also enter the flight number or ‘weather’ in Mac’s Spotlight Search to know their status.

Customize your search options

You’ll notice handy suggestions when you enter a term into the Smart Search Field. But, if you want to remove specific types of suggestions , you can disable those options in Safari settings.

Open Safari and click Safari > Settings or Preferences from the menu bar. Click the Search tab. You’ll see four checkboxes in the Smart Search Field section that you can uncheck if you like.

Include Safari Suggestions: As you type in the Smart Search Field, Safari will offer suggestions from the App Store, Music, nearby locations, and the internet.

Enable Quick Website Search: For sites you search often, searches are recorded so you can speed up additional searches later. Click Manage Websites to add or remove sites from the list.

Preload Top Hit in the background: View the Top Hits for your search based on your bookmarks and browsing history.

Show Favorites: Display your Safari Favorites below the Smart Search Field when you click inside of it.

You also have the option to Include search engine suggestions below the Search engine field. So, if you use Google, for example, you’ll see Google Suggestions when using the Smart Search Field.

Search the current webpage

If you’re looking for a particular word or topic on a page you’re viewing, you can do a search for it.

Use the keyboard shortcut Command + F . You’ll see a search bar appear at the top of the page. Enter your keyword or phrase, and you’ll see how many times it appears on the page. You can use the arrows to move to each instance found or skim the page to see the keyword highlighted in every spot.

Just click Done in the search bar to close it when you finish.

Search a previous website

To search a website that you’ve visited before using a particular keyword or phrase, just enter the site and then the keyword.

For example, you can enter “idownloadblog mac” to search iDB for Mac-related items.

Repeat a recent search

You can easily go back to a recent search you performed in Safari. Delete any text in the Smart Search Field and then click the magnifying glass . You’ll see recent search appear below the field that you can select again.

Also, you can click History > Search Results SnapBack from the menu bar to go to your last search .

Switch tabs with a search

If you have several tabs open in Safari, you can also switch to one easily using the search feature. Enter a keyword in the Smart Search Field, and you’ll see open tabs pertaining to it. Just click to switch.

Change the search engine

To change the default search engine you use, click Safari > Settings or Preferences from the menu bar. Click the Search tab and make a selection from the Search engine drop-down list.

You can also use a different search engine by clicking the magnifying glass in the Smart Search Field. You’ll see that you can pick from Google, Yahoo, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Ecosia.

When you’re looking for something on the web, you want your search to be simple. And hopefully it will be even easier now with these Safari search tips.

Check out next: How to customize Safari settings on Mac

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iOS 15 Safari Guide: Tabs, Extensions, Search Bar, and Other Changes

Apple's Safari app has undergone a number of changes during the iOS 15 beta testing process. Apple started out with a radical new design that moved the address bar from the top of the app's interface and introduced a floating tab bar, but after a multitude of complaints, there were several redesigns that culminated in an option to undo the iOS 15 design entirely.

Design Changes

Safari started out with a new floating tab design that moved the address bar and tabs to the bottom of the iPhone interface, but now the design change is optional.

You can get to webpage settings by tapping on the Aa, or reload a page by tapping on the reload button. With this Tab Bar interface, when you scroll through a webpage, the entire Tab Bar collapses down so you can see more of the website. You can bring it back up with a tap.

If you choose "Single Tab" instead of "Tab Bar," the address bar and tabs will remain at the top of the Safari window, which is how iOS 14 works. The design of the Single Tab option is unchanged from iOS 14, with the same control bar available at the bottom of the interface. You can't swipe through tabs using the Single Tab interface and will instead need to use the Tab Switcher.

You can swap between the bottom Tab Bar and the Single Tab interface by tapping on the "Aa" button that's next to any URL.

• How to Move iOS 15 Safari's Address Search Bar Back to Top

Website Tinting

Available in the Settings app, Allow Website Tinting matches the collapsed Safari address bar interface to the website's colors to make it blend in better with the background.

• How to Turn Off Website Tinting in Safari

Landscape Tab Bar

With the new Landscape Tab Bar setting, when you use your ‌iPhone‌ in landscape mode with Safari, you'll see a Mac-style tab bar that shows all of your open tabs, and you can swipe through them.

Pull to Refresh

A downward swipe on any webpage in iOS 15 will refresh the page, and this is an alternative to having to tap on the reload icon.

• iOS 15: How to Quickly Refresh a Webpage in Safari

Tabs in iOS 15 can be saved into Tab Groups, which offers a way to preserve a set of tabs you have open without having to have those tabs active.

To make a Tab Group, just open up all of the websites that you want to include, tap on the Tabs button with the down arrow, and then tap New Tab Group from [#] Tabs. You can also use this option to create a New Empty Tab Group that tabs can be added to later. Long press on any open tab (or the main address bar if you have the single tab view enabled) to add it to a Tab Group.

To load up a Tab Group, tap on the Tabs button and then tap on the name of the group in the list. All of your Tab Groups sync across your devices so you can access them on iPhones and iPads running iOS and iPadOS 15 as well as on Macs running macOS Monterey.

• iOS 15: How to Use Tab Groups in Safari

Tab Overview Grid

In iOS 14, all of your open tabs are displayed in a card-like interface that you can swipe through, but in iOS 15, open tabs are displayed in a grid view.

Customizable Start Page

Safari is more customizable in iOS 15, and you can edit what's available on your start page. This is a feature that has been available on macOS, but is now also available on iOS devices.

You can choose to have the start page show Favorites, Frequently Visited sites, Shared With You content, Privacy Report info, Siri Suggestions, Reading List, and iCloud Tabs.

There's an option to use the same Start Page appearance across all devices, and a toggle to upload the background image of your choice.

• iOS 15: How to Customize Your Safari Start Page

Intelligent Tracking Prevention Improvements

With updates to Intelligent Tracking Prevention, the feature that keeps websites from tracking your web activity, trackers are now blocked from accessing your IP address to build a profile on you.

• iOS 15: How to Hide Your IP Address From Trackers in Safari

HTTPS Upgrade

Safari in iOS 15 automatically upgrades sites that are known to support HTTPS from HTTP, which is insecure.

iCloud Private Relay

‌iCloud‌ Private Relay is a privacy feature that makes sure all of your Safari traffic is encrypted.

As explained in our privacy guide , ‌iCloud‌ Private Relay protects your IP address and de-links it from the websites that you visit by utilizing two separate internet relays.

By having a two-step process that involves both an Apple server and a third-party server, ‌‌iCloud‌‌ Private Relay prevents anyone, including Apple, from determining a user's identity and linking it to the website the user is visiting.

With this system, Apple knows your IP address and the third-party partner knows the site you're visiting, and because the information is de-linked, neither Apple nor the partner company has a complete picture of the site you're visiting and your location, and neither does the website you're browsing. Normally websites have access to this data and combined with cookies, can use it to build a profile of your preferences.

Web Extensions

Safari in iOS 15 supports web extensions, with web extensions able to be downloaded and installed through the App Store . Available extensions include content blockers, VPNs, and more.

• iOS 15: How to Download and Install Safari Web Extensions

With iOS 15, iPhones and iPads are able to use a new Live Text feature to detect text in any image, and this includes images that you find in Safari.

• How to Copy and Paste Text From Photos
• How to Translate Text in Photos

Shared With You

Shared With You, a new option available on the Safari start page, aggregates all of the links that you've been sent in the Messages app and other social networking apps that support the Shared With You feature.

Guide Feedback

Have questions about the new Safari changes in iOS 15, know of a feature we left out, or want to offer feedback on this guide? Send us an email here .

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When to expect the next iphone se to launch, top rated comments.

The landscape view in MacRumors looks amazing! Safari looks so modern now. Just brilliant!

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Level up your browsing with these five Safari tips

By David Nield

Posted on Dec 18, 2021 7:00 PM EST

5 minute read

Safari keeps improving. TheRegisti / Unsplash

This story has been updated. It was first published on November 18, 2019.

Safari just keeps getting better: The default browser for Apple’s operating systems adds new features every year, so you could be missing out on some cool functionality if you’re not up to speed with everything it can do. See how many of these power user tips make a difference to your productivity in Apple’s web browser.

Check for weak passwords

Safari is concerned about your password security. It will warn you if it detects that you’re using the same password again and again, or if it thinks your credentials are too short or too simple.

To run a password audit, launch the browser, open the Safari menu, and choose Preferences . Switch to the Passwords tab to view a list of all the login details Safari has saved for you. You’ll see yellow exclamation marks next to all the passwords the program isn’t particularly happy with.

[Related: How to choose safe passwords—and remember them, too ]

Click on any of the individual list entries to get more details. If the browser has identified a reused password, you’ll see the various sites where you’ve signed in with it. Where applicable, you’ll also get a link to the relevant site so you can change your login details straight away.

If you’re struggling to come up with unique, strong passwords, Safari can suggest them for you. Just click on the key icon that appears next to the password field whenever you’re signing up for a new service, and choose Suggest New Password .

Switch to mobile (and back)

You may want to carry your desktop browsing session over to an iPhone or an iPad as you leave the house, for example, or slump onto the sofa. Safari makes it easy for you as long as you’re signed in to the same Apple ID on all your devices.

On your Mac, open the Apple menu, then System Preferences . Under General , make sure the Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices box at the bottom of the dialog window is checked. On iOS and iPadOS, go to Settings, then General and AirPlay & Handoff to enable the feature.

With those options enabled, any webpage open on your Mac in Safari will also appear at the bottom of the app switcher screen on your iPad or iPhone (swipe up from the bottom of the screen or double-tap the Home button to see it). Any pages open on your mobile devices, on the other hand, will appear as an icon in your Mac’s Dock.

What’s more, if you’re using iCloud across all your devices, the tab overview screen will display all the tabs you have open on your various computers, tablets, and phones. To find it on an iPhone, for example, tap the tab overview button in Safari (the four squares in the top right), scroll down, and you’ll see a list of web pages open in Safari on your Mac.

Rearrange your tabs

You may have more tabs open than you really should, but Safari can help you get them into some kind of order. Open up the Window menu, choose Arrange Tabs By , and you’ll be able to pick from Title or Website .

The first option arranges your tabs in alphabetical order based on the title of the page, while the second arranges them in alphabetical order based on the name of the website.

Sorting by website is probably the most useful of the two, especially if you’ve got a pile of tabs open and want to keep pages of a particular type (like Twitter profiles or Google search results) together in the stack.

Another way to get a handle on all the tabs you’ve got open is to go to View , then Show Tab Overview (or click the button showing four squares on the right-hand end of the toolbar). There you’ll see all your tabs laid out as thumbnails, making them a little bit easier to navigate around. Click on any tab to jump to it.

Customize the Safari toolbar

You might have left Safari exactly as it was when you first bought your Mac—and there’s nothing wrong with that—but you can seriously boost your productivity on the web by bringing the tools you use most often closer to hand.

Specifically, you can tweak the Safari toolbar so the options you need most are within easy reach. Right-click on a blank area of the toolbar and choose Customize Toolbar to get started.

It’s then just a question of dragging icons to and from the toolbar, and also along the toolbar to reposition them. You’ve got icons for sharing pages, accessing tabs synced to iCloud, showing or hiding the sidebar, zooming in and out of webpages, and more.

The default icon set is at the bottom—drag it up to the top to put Safari back the way it was when macOS was first installed. When you’ve got the browser toolbar looking the way you want, click Done to confirm.

Clean up your history

Online privacy is something you should always keep in mind, and it’s something Safari is quite good at. Case in point: The way it automatically deletes records of sites you’ve visited and files you’ve downloaded after a certain amount of time has passed.

To take advantage of the feature, open the Safari menu, then choose Preferences . If you switch to the General tab, you’ll see a Remove history items menu. Entries can be wiped from the record after a day, a week, a fortnight, a month, or a year—your choice. Alternatively, you can leave them all in place and delete them manually when necessary.

[Related: How to clear your web history in any browser ]

Further down, there’s a Remove download list items option that works in the same way. It doesn’t delete the downloaded files, though, just Safari’s records of you having downloaded them. The options here are after one day, when you quit Safari, when the file is downloaded, or manually.

To clear your browsing history manually, open up the History menu in Safari, then choose the Clear History option. Safari’s records can be wiped for the last hour, the last day, the last couple of days, or completely.

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Safari: A Beginner’s Guide for iPhone or iPad Users

Safari can be intimidating to learn when you first start using it, but this guide will help you get used to it.

On Apple devices, the default web browser is called Safari. It shares a lot of similar features to other common browsers, like Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. But if you’re new to using Safari, you may feel a little lost because the interface is slightly different to the others.

So, here’s a beginner’s guide on how to use the Safari app to browse the web on your iPhone or iPad.

How to Search for Content in the Safari App

As with all web browsers, you’ll need to first enable your iPhone’s mobile data or connect to a Wi-Fi network to access the internet.

Then, to search in Safari, simply type a term, phrase, or URL into the Smart Search bar at the bottom of the screen and tap Go on your keyboard. The Smart Search bar is a combination of the address bar and search bar. As you type, you’ll see search suggestions based on your keyword as well as results from your bookmarks and browsing history.

How to Navigate a Webpage in Safari

Once you obtain your search results, you tap on a link you’re interested in. Now let’s look at how you can navigate the webpage once it’s loaded.

How to Jump Back to the Top of Webpage

After swiping to scroll down a long article, you may want to go back up to access the website’s menu. To instantly jump back to the top of the webpage, just tap the topmost edge of your screen.

How to Go Backward (or Forward) a Webpage

After tapping on a link, perhaps the webpage isn’t quite something you’re looking for. To go back to your search results, swipe from left to right from the edge of your screen.

To go forward on a webpage, swipe from right to left instead.

Related: Essential Safari iOS Tips & Tricks for iPhone Users

How to Reveal the Safari Address Bar

Your Safari address bar is automatically hidden away when you’re scrolling down a webpage. To bring it back, tap the bottom edge of the screen that shows the website’s main URL.

How to Work With Multiple Tabs in the Safari App

Having multiple tabs opened in Safari can help you to compare information between webpages and search for new content without having to close your current webpage. Here’s how to work with multiple tabs in Safari on your iPhone or iPad.

How to Open a New Tab

To open a new tab, select the Tabs icon in the bottom-right corner, which looks like two overlapping squares. Then tap the Plus (+) to open a new tab.

How to Switch Between Tabs

Again, hit the Tabs icon. You’ll see a gallery of all your opened tabs in Safari. Select a tab to visit the webpage you want.

Since the release of iOS 15, Apple introduced a new feature in Safari: tab groups. Many of us are probably guilty of having way too many opened tabs. Therefore, organizing tabs into groups makes them more manageable. Learn more about how to use tab groups in Safari on your iPhone .

How to Open a Link in a New Background Tab

When you read long articles, you’ll likely come across a link or two within the content that sparks your interest. To avoid disrupting your reading process, you can make Safari open the link in the background, in a new tab. To do so:

• Go to the Settings app.
• Select Safari .
• Scroll down and tap Open Links .
• Choose In Background .

Next time you want to open a link, long-press it. Then, select Open in Background . When you want to visit that link, select Tabs to view all your opened tabs and choose the loaded webpage.

Saving and Sharing Webpages in Safari

The internet gives you access to a whole new world of information. Save a webpage to refer to it later, or share it with your family and friends.

How to Bookmark a Safari Webpage

To bookmark a webpage to read later, tap the Share icon in the middle of the bottom of the screen (it looks like an arrow coming out of a square) and select Add Bookmark . Type in a bookmark name.

To access your bookmarked webpage later, tap the Bookmark icon (an opened book) and browse through your bookmarks, reading list, and history to find what you’re looking for.

Besides the bookmark option, you’ll also notice that you can add a webpage to your favorites or reading list. Marking a webpage as a favorite will make it show up on your Safari home page. It’s useful if you visit the website often.

To learn more about reading lists, you can visit our guide on the differences between a bookmark and a reading list .

How to Share a Link From the Safari App

Stumble upon an interesting DIY project? A promising recipe you’d like to share with your family? You don’t have to bookmark and remind yourself to show the webpage to them later. You can share the link directly from the Safari app.

Tap the Share icon. You can then select the receiver’s name from the horizontal list of recent contacts, or choose your preferred communication app to send the Safari link to them.

Erasing Your Digital Footprint in Safari

If you’re an aspiring crime writer, having a friend notice your crime-filled search history when they peer over your shoulder is inevitably awkward. Hence, there are some things we’d prefer to keep private and erase all traces of once we exit a web browser.

Safari has a few features to help you with this.

How to Close a Tab

If you don’t close your tabs, old webpages will just auto-load again the moment you head into Safari. Having too many opened tabs affects your browsing speed as well.

Closing a tab is simple. You just need to tap the Tabs icon and then tap the Close (x) button in the corner of the tab.

How to Browse Privately in Safari

Similar to Google Chrome’s Incognito Mode, Safari has a feature called Private Browsing Mode. Your autofill information and browser history won’t be saved when you use this function. Here’s how to use it:

• First, tap the Tabs icon.
• Select the center Tabs button with an arrow next to it.
• Choose Private .
• To open a new private tab, tap the Plus (+) button.

Whenever you’re in doubt about whether you’re in Private Browsing Mode, just check the Smart Search Bar. It will be dark grey instead of white when you’re browsing privately.

How to Clear Your Safari Browsing History

If you forgot to use Private Browsing while searching for confidential information, don’t worry. You can still clear your history in Safari. Just follow these steps:

• Tap the Bookmarks icon.
• Select History (the clock icon).
• Tap Clear .
• Choose the time length from which you want Safari to clear your history.

Use the Safari App to Surf the Internet on Your iPhone

The Safari app has all the features you need for a seamless browsing experience. Once you’re familiar with these basic functions, you can check out and download Safari extensions from the App Store to enjoy more helpful features while surfing the internet on your iPhone or iPad.

13 Tips For Getting the Most From the Safari Sidebar

Check out 13 Tips For Getting the Most From the Safari Sidebar at YouTube for closed captioning and more options.

Comments: 2 Responses to “13 Tips For Getting the Most From the Safari Sidebar”

I have to say that I've never gotten offline reading in Safari to work.

I still don’t understand why you can easily edit the Reading List on the iPhone and iPad but not on the Mac. If you want to remove items from the reading list on the Mac you only have the options of removing them on at a time with the context menu or clearing out all of them. This is much better on the other devices and I hope they add the edit feature future versions.

Leave a New Comment Related to "13 Tips For Getting the Most From the Safari Sidebar"

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6 Tips to Improve Your Safari Experience on iPhone

A ccessing the internet on an iPhone is made simple by Safari, Apple's native web browser; it does a great job of getting you started, but there are several other features that you can leverage to enhance your user experience.

Below, we'll list some valuable tips you can use to get the most out of Safari on your iPhone. So, let's get started.

1. Modify the Start Page

The start page is the first element you usually run into when launching Safari—it's the default screen if you've not used the browser before or didn't leave any tabs open after your last session. And the first step you can take in improving your Safari experience is to customize it.

Customizing the start page involves changing the background image and choosing the sections (listed below) you want the app to show. We've added descriptions to help you understand a little more about each section.

• Favorites : This section will show all your favorite websites and bookmarks which have been added to the Favorites section on your iPhone.
• Frequently Visited : This is a collection of searches and websites you've frequented in recent months. The information is said to be a mix from all your Apple devices if you've enabled iCloud.
• Shared with You : It works by finding links, images, music, and more, sent within the Messages app, and brings them up in relevant applications. For example, if someone texted you a link via iMessage, you'll find it in this section of the start page.
• Privacy Report : This section surfaces information on the trackers used by websites you've visited in the last 30 days and showcases when your iPhone—and other Apple devices—prevented them from profiling you.
• Siri Suggestions : You can find website suggestions based on your recent browsing history, bookmarks, and open tabs within this section if you choose to use them.
• Reading List : You can find the three latest additions to your Reading List in this section, with a Show All button available in case you want to view the other articles you've added to your read later list.
• iCloud Tabs : This feature showcases up to four most recent tabs open on each Apple device you own with iCloud enabled for Safari.

To begin customizing your Safari's start page, follow the steps listed below:

• Scroll down to the bottom of the Safari start page and tap Edit.
• Now, enable the desired sections using the toggles or reorder them by pressing (and dragging) the three horizontal lines.

If you want to experience Apple's Continuity feature , toggle on Use Start Page on All Devices at the top of the edit menu. This will ensure your start page is in sync across all devices connected to your iCloud account.

2. Create Tab Groups in Safari

The next step in improving Safari on iPhone is to create and use Tab Groups . The feature lets you bring order and control to tabs by allowing you to group similar ones—or those you often use together—into folders. Ideally, you can use the feature to separate search results and websites related to work from those you open during casual browsing.

To create a Tab Group, follow the steps listed below:

• View all your tabs by tapping the Tab button in the bottom-right corner.
• Now, tap the text box at the bottom of the screen—it mentions the number of tabs open.
• In the menu that appears, tap New Empty Tab Group or the second option, New Tab Group with X Tabs .
• Name the Tab Group according to your liking and hit Save .

The X in the second option will vary based on the number of tabs open when creating a Tab Group.

3. Use Safari Extensions

Like Chrome, you can install Safari extensions to improve your browsing experience. For those unaware, these are applications built for web browsers that bring additional functionality and make your life easier.

For example, you can install applications that scour the web for coupon codes and bring them up when you're making a purchase or add ones that help edit written content to ensure you aren't making silly errors.

Adding extensions to Safari on an iPhone is a bit different compared to installing and removing extensions in Safari on a Mac . To do this, follow the steps listed below:

• Go to Settings > Safari on your iOS device.
• On the next screen, find Extensions under the General subsection and tap on it.
• You'll now see a list of extensions available. In case you see no options, tap More Extensions to visit the Safari Extensions store.

You may sometimes see options without having installed an extension before; these are present due to an application—that offers Safari extensions—installed on your iPhone from before.

Once you've installed an extension, activate it in Settings using the same steps above and then do the following:

• Open Safari and tap the AA button in the address bar.
• Now, tap Manage Extensions and select the extension you want to activate.

4. Choose Websites to Automatically Use Reader

Reader in Safari is a nifty add-on that lets you read content from a website with minimal distractions and no ads. It makes the experience quite simple and offers options like changing the page color, font, and font size.

Activating Reader is quite simple; tap the AA button in the address bar when you're on a supported webpage and choose Show Reader . However, if you frequently visit a specific website, you can configure Safari to load all its webpages in Reader. Here's what you need to do:

• Open the desired website and tap the AA button.
• In the context menu that appears, tap Website Settings .
• Now, toggle on Use Reader Automatically . Each supported webpage will now open in Reader, making it easier to read the content.

5. Set Tabs to Open in Background

Despite it being easy to access AI tools like ChatGPT on mobile for learning about things, if you prefer getting deep into the weeds when doing research, you may want to view many of the following webpages in new tabs.

By default, opening a new tab via a hyperlink will leave the old tab behind and move you to the new tab. While this behavior is fine, it can feel like a chore if you'd like to open multiple results from a search page.

Fortunately, you can change this behavior. Here's what you need to do:

• Open the Settings app, and scroll down to the Safari option.
• On this page, under the Tabs subsection, tap on Open Links .
• Now, choose In Background .

6. Configure Safari to Automatically Close Tabs

Lastly, while the ability to open many tabs in Safari is a boon, knowing ways to organize your browser and keeping it clutter-free can help you focus better and increase productivity. And keeping only a few tabs open can be a part of this regime.

Safari on iPhone also helps with this, with the ability to automatically close tabs after a set period of time; we've detailed the steps to activate the feature below:

• On this page, under the Tabs subsection, tap on Close Tabs .
• Now, choose from the available options: After One Day , After One Week , or After One Month .

Become a Safari Power User With These Changes

Each customization method listed above will help improve your Safari experience, be it with a new background image that makes the app feel more personal or a setting that keeps it clutter-free.

Overall, Safari is an excellent browser that can be made even better for power users with a few changes. And some of Apple's exclusive features make a strong case for the app, especially if you're a Mac user.

How to reverse image search: Use Google Lens to find related photos, more information

With high-quality photography at our fingertips, it's hard to imagine that early cameras were the size of an entire room . The first camera was invented in 1816 , and the first photo was taken in 1826. Now, over two centuries later, billions of photos are only a Google search away.

In part, we have Jennifer Lopez to thank. According to Google, Search team creators were inspired to create Google Images after Lopez wore a jungle print dress designed by Donatella Versace in February 2000. At the time, a Google search would only yield links, but many were looking specifically for photos. Google creators decided they needed a way for users to search directly for images.

How to reverse image search on Google

Reverse image search can help you find more context for an image. By placing a photo or a link to an image in the search bar, you can discover websites that use the image, related images and other information. Here's how to use Google’s reverse image search feature on your computer:

• Go to images.google.com.
• Click the camera button in the search bar.
• Upload an image by dragging it into the upload box or clicking the “upload a file” button, which opens your computer’s library. Alternatively, paste a link to an image you found online below the upload box.

How to reverse image search on your phone

You'll need to download the Google app to do this. Here's how to use the reverse image function on your phone:

• Open the Google app on your Android or Apple device.
• Tap on the camera icon in the Google search bar.
• Allow access to your camera and photo gallery. If you have denied the Google app access to your camera or photo gallery in the past, manually give the app permission in settings.
• Select a file from your device or snap a picture in the Google app.

How to search for an image on Google

Use one of these two methods to search for an image on Google:

• Use the search bar to enter your query — and click on “Images” after you have entered your search
• Go to images.google.com, which will take you directly to a collection of images after entering your query

How to use Google Lens

You can use Google Lens’ image recognition software on any image to find related images and other information.

On Google Images, click the Google Lens button in the top right corner of a selected photo – it's shaped like a camera with rounded edges and a dot in the right-hand corner. This will uncover a slew of related images. You can also search with Google Lens in the Google app using your phone's camera or photo gallery.

Google Lens may recognize multiple photos. In this case, you can click or tap to select the item in the image that interests you most.

More Google tips: How to insert a text box in Google Docs

Just Curious for more? We've got you covered

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WEATHER ALERT

4 warnings and an advisory in effect for 12 regions in the area

Useful tips on how to sort through storm debris during cleanup.

Brittany Taylor , Senior Digital Content Producer

HOUSTON – The Houston OEM has provided several useful tips on how to separate debris after a severe weather event.

Many residents in the Houston area and Harris County are left to clean up debris after a storm struck the area on Thursday. While many are trying to figure out what to do next, the Houston OEM recommends separating debris into six categories and where to place debris for pick up.

Here’s what you should and should not do while sorting through debris:

• Debris should be placed curbside, without blocking the roadway or storm debris.
• Any debris placed from the sidewalk toward your property will not be picked up.
• Placing debris near or on trees, poles, or other structures makes removal difficult. This includes fire hydrants and meters.
• If you don’t have a sidewalk, ditch, or utility line in front of your home, place debris at the edge of your property before the curb.

Here are the six categories to separate your debris:

• Normal household trash: Will not be picked up with debris as part of this program. Residents should continue to follow normal garbage removal schedule.
• Vegetable debris: Leaves (do not place in bags), logs, plants and tree branches, etc.
• Construction and demolition debris: Building materials, carpet, drywall, furniture, lumber, mattresses, pluming, etc.
• Appliances and white goods: Air conditioners, dishwashers, freezers, refrigerators, stoves, washers, dryers, water heaters, etc.
• Electronics: Computers, radios, stereos, televisions, other devices with a cord.
• Household hazardous waste: Cleaning supplies, batteries, lawn chemicals, oils, oil-based paints and stains, pesticides, etc.

🚨Here’s some helpful tips on how to separate the debris after the storm‼️ pic.twitter.com/baDHjMmHef — Houston OEM (@HoustonOEM) January 25, 2023

Copyright 2023 by KPRC Click2Houston - All rights reserved.

About the Author

Brittany taylor.

Award-winning journalist, mother, YouTuber, social media guru, millennial, mentor, storyteller, University of Houston alumna and Houston-native.

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A 79-year-old who started running in her 40s has done 28 triathlons. She has 4 tips for young people wanting to be as fit as her.

• Cherie Gruenfeld, 79, is a 28-time Ironman triathlete.
• She shared her tips for people who want to be as fit as she is at 79.
• These include incorporating strength training and making sure to rest.

At 79, Cherie Gruenfeld has done 28 triathlons. But she didn't even start running until her 40s .

Gruenfeld was inspired to start running after watching the 1986 Boston Marathon, at the age of 41.

She completed her first 26.2-mile run that year, and soon moved on to triathlons, competing in the 1992 Ironman Triathlon , which consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a 26.2-mile run.

Through school, college, and a successful career in management at a tech company, the idea of being an athlete never crossed Gruenfeld's mind. But as soon as she started running , she discovered a love and talent for long-distance sports that seemed to build exponentially. In 31 years, Gruenfeld has completed the Ironman 28 times, even continuing to train through treatment for cancer.

"You can do things that were thought impossible for 80-year-olds ," she told BI, by "staying healthy and strong and having a commitment to living every day to the fullest."

Being fit is great for your health — one 2019 study suggested that highly active people aged between 40 and 79 years old were 42% less likely to die prematurely. But you don't have to already be active, because getting fit is beneficial at any age. The same study also suggested that people who were inactive at the beginning of the study, but who increased the amount of exercise they did over time, decreased their likelihood of dying from any cause by 24%.

Gruenfeld shared her tips for people wanting to be as fit as her at 79.

Get and stay strong

Gruenfeld said that she has found strength training helpful for her fitness, to maintain muscle as she has aged.

As you age, you naturally lose muscle — 5% to 10% of muscle mass per decade after the age of 50, according to a 2022 review of studies, which can make you less mobile and more prone to falls.

To maintain her muscle, Gruenfeld lifts heavy weights, to "really stress those muscles."

Related stories

BI has previously covered getting started with weightlifting , as well as how to build strength by doing the bare minimum.

Add activities you enjoy

You don't have to only do strength training to get fit. Gruenfeld recommends adding "biking or hiking or running or swimming or golf or whatever physical activity you enjoy and fits into your lifestyle."

Gruenfeld's exercise regimen is already varied since her training consists of running, swimming, and cycling for the triathlon, and she also works with a personal trainer for strength training.

Varying what you do to keep fit is great to keep yourself motivated, and is also beneficial for health — BI previously reported on one 2022 study that found that doing cardio as well as weightlifting was linked to a 41% lower risk of mortality.

Make sure to rest

Gruenfeld rarely has a day without exercise, but she says she knows it's important to take a rest from intense workouts.

The body actually needs recovery time to build muscle, and rest days reduce the likelihood of injury, according to UCLA Health. It's best to do active recovery, where you rest from intense workouts but still incorporate some light movement into your day.

Sometimes, Gruenfeld will do something active, but gentler than her regular workouts.

"Go out for an easy walk or an easy swim, just anything that's not really stressing the body but still keeps you moving," Gruenfeld said.

Be vigilant about what you're eating

"My best tip for nutrition is just simply to be vigilant about what you're putting into your mouth," Gruenfeld said.

She eats a balanced diet that contains a mix of fruit and vegetables, whole grains, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts, with limited sodium and sugar. When she's training, she prioritizes carbohydrates before a workout to fuel her body, and protein afterward to build and maintain muscle.

Being conscientious about what you're putting in your body is important for fitness. BI's nutrition reporters love the 80/20 rule — where you eat healthily 80% of the time, and are flexible for the other 20% — because it's a great way to fuel your body for exercise while maintaining balance and a healthy attitude toward food.

Watch: How actors transform their bodies for superhero roles

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