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Disappearing Safari Tabs on iPhone or iPad? How to Find Them

Every so often, a seemingly small bug in Apple's operating systems survives the company's annual OS launches and continues to cause users huge frustration from one software update to the next.

While there isn't an accepted solution to the problem of disappearing tabs, there are cases where it might seem that your tabs are gone, when in fact they are just hidden from view. Here are some ways that you may be able to get them back or stop them from disappearing in the first place.

Reveal Hidden Tabs

On iPadOS, for example, if you press and hold the Show Tab Overview button (four squares in a quadrant) in the top-right corner of the Safari window, this will reveal a dropdown menu that includes an option to Merge All Windows .

Reveal the Shelf

Another action worth trying on iPadOS is pressing and holding the Safari icon in the Dock or on the Home Screen and selecting Show All Windows from the popup menu that appears.

Recently Closed Tabs

If you have an inkling that some of the tabs you're missing have been inadvertently closed, you can always use the Recently Closed Tabs option to re-open them. All you have to do is open up the tab view in Safari and long press on the "+" icon to get a look at all of the tabs that you've recently closed.

Turn Off Auto-Close Tabs

If you still haven't been able to find some of your tabs, make sure that Safari isn't closing them after a certain duration on your behalf: Open Settings , tap through to Safari -> Close Tabs and ensure that Manually is selected.

Bookmark All Open Tabs

If the above suggestions haven't worked for you, there is a workaround: Consider bookmarking your open tabs after each browsing session. This might sound like more hassle than it's worth, but since iOS 13 Apple has included a one-tap option to just that.

A popup menu will appear at the on the screen from which you can select Add Bookmarks for X Tabs , the X being the number of tabs open.

Once you've tapped this option, you'll be asked to save the tabs in a new bookmarks folder (remember to give it a recognizable name). Alternately, you can choose a location from the existing folder list in which to save the tabs.

To access your bookmarks in Safari at any time, simply tap the Bookmarks icon in the main browsing interface or the sidebar to reveal all of your saved favorites and folders. Press and hold on the folder of bookmarks and select Open in New Tabs , or alternatively, Open in Tab Group if you want them grouped.

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Safari Tabs Disappeared on iPhone? How to Get Them Back!

What to know.

• You can re-open recently closed tabs in Safari by tapping and holding the plus icon.
• Lastly, check if your missing tab is hidden in another tab group or within a separate Safari profile.
• If your Safari tabs disappeared on iPad, you can try merging windows or revealing the iPad shelf.

Why do your tabs keep closing on iPhone or iPad? Maybe you wanted to retrieve a few interesting recipes you saw online, but now the tabs for those recipes are nowhere to be seen in Safari. But don't panic! We'll show you how to retrieve those lost tabs on your iPhone or iPad.

• iPad-Specific Fixes
• Re-Opening Closed Tabs
• Frequently Asked Questions

Why Do My Tabs Disappear in Safari on iPad?

Safari closing tabs on its own seems to happen somewhat frequently to iPad users. We'll start with some iPad-specific fixes for how to get tabs back. Has your Safari app completely disappeared from your Home Screen? Find out how to get Safari back on your iPhone or iPad . For more iPhone and iPad troubleshooting pointers, be sure to sign up for our free Tip of the Day newsletter.

How to Get Tabs Back on iPad

If you're browsing the web on an iPad and you have multiple Safari windows open, then you may not be able to see all your tabs. These steps will allow all your open tabs to appear in the current window. This potentially includes some tabs that weren’t visible in the Tab Overview screen. For a more in-depth tutorial, check out our article on re-opening closed tabs in Safari .

Reveal the Shelf on iPad

This method will show any open windows directly above the Dock. As a result, you will be able to switch between windows and potentially reveal any Safari tabs that disappeared on your iPad.

How to Open a Closed Tab on iPhone & iPad

The purpose of this method is to find and reopen tabs you may have accidentally closed. This works on both iPhone and iPad (although the placement of the buttons in the below screenshots will look different depending on your device).

Disable Auto-Close Tabs

Another cause of Safari tabs disappearing is a setting that automatically closes open Safari tabs after a set amount of time. This can prevent the problem of too many open tabs but can also lead to tabs you still want open getting closed. Here's how to solve this issue on your iPhone or iPad.

Bookmark Open Tabs

Once a tab is bookmarked, you will always be able to find it, even if it's closed or your browser history is closed

Check Tab Groups & Safari Profiles

In Safari, you can create tab groups to separate all of your different tabs into specific groups. For example, if you have several recipe tabs open, you could place these tabs into a group called "Dinners." Additionally, iOS 17 and newer include a feature called Safari Profiles, allowing you to separate your browsing sessions into different profiles.

If you are still having trouble opening closed tabs or locating a missing tab, it may, unfortunately, be lost forever. Next, find out the best ways to manage your Safari tabs .

Why do my tabs keep closing on iPhone? You might have your Safari tabs set to automatically close. You can change this by going into Settings, tapping Safari, and then selecting Close Tabs. Check out the above section on how to set your Safari tabs to manually close  for more information.

How to close all tabs in Safari? You can close all your open tabs at once. If you've become too overwhelmed by all your open tabs, simply tap and hold the tabs button, then select Close All Tabs. Check out this tip on how to close all tabs at once  for a more detailed view.

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Here are some quick fixes:

• You can disable auto-close Safari tabs on iPhone by going to Settings > Safari > Close tabs > Manually .
• Ensure that all tabs are visible by using either  Show All Windows  or  Merge all Windows option in Safari on iPad.
• To access the closed tabs, tap and hold the  Plus button  and select the tab you want to open.

I think we can all agree that the disappearing Safari tabs on iPhone and iPad are frustrating. Especially if you were doing something and paused it to resume later, only to discover Safari has automatically deleted all those tabs.

If you tend to keep multiple web pages open on your browser to access them later, losing them would be the last thing you want to happen. So why does Safari tabs keep disappearing on iPhone and iPad? There are multiple reasons for it, and I have gone through them to find the right fixes for you. Read along!

How do you fix disappearing Safari tabs on iPhone and iPad

1. disable auto-close safari tabs.

Auto-close is a feature in iOS and iPadOS, where you can make Safari close all the tabs after a particular period, such as a day, week, or month. If it’s turned on, the time to worry thinking why your safari tabs keep disappearing has come to an end, as you are going to find the fix here:

• Open Settings → tap Safari .
• Scroll to the Tabs section and tap Close Tabs .

That’s it! Now Safari won’t be closing tabs automatically, and you can have peace of mind.

2. Show all Safari windows on iPad

Despite turning off the auto-close tabs on your iPad, if you still cannot access all the Safari tabs, it might be because you are using multiple Safari windows on your iPad. So, let’s see how to switch between multiple Safari windows and find the disappeared tabs:

• Press and hold the Safari icon on the dock.

Now, you can see all the Safari windows that you have opened. Check if you can see the tab you are looking for in these windows. If you want to merge all these windows, I have mentioned the steps for that in the next part.

3. Merge all windows on iPad

Since managing all the Safari windows is a difficult task, the best way is to merge them all. All you have to do is:

• Open Safari .

As you can see, all the tabs present in multiple Safari windows will be combined and will be shown under a single window. Now, you can jump between tabs without fear of losing any tab unexpectedly until you close them.

4. Access the recently closed Safari tabs

If you closed a Safari tab mistakenly, it’s very easy to revive them. All you have to do is:

• Tap and hold the  + icon  in Safari for iPad at the top right. On iPhone, tap the tabs button → long-press the  + icon .

Other than that, you can also open the closed tabs on Safari from the browser history section. I have mentioned that in the next method.

5. Check the browser history

• Open Safari on your iPad or iPhone
• Tap the book icon at the top left.

6. Bookmark the tabs on Safari  

If Safari keeps closing the tabs on your iPhone or iPad, it could be some bugs in iOS. It would be better to stick with a workaround until a fix is released. The best one is to bookmark all the tabs that you are using. But wait! Before you think about the tedious process, I can assure you it’s very simple. Just follow these steps.

• Open Safari → tap the tabs icon.
• Tap and hold one tab .
• Now, tap Add Bookmarks for X Tabs .
• Give a name to the folder.

• Name the folder and select a location .
• Next, tap Save .

You can access these bookmarks from the location you have saved. If Safari removes your tabs, you can load them by selecting  tap and hold that folder  →  Open in New Tabs or Tab Group .

7. Check internet connection

All the methods you have performed will be useless if you haven’t connected to the internet. Connect your  iPhone or iPad to the internet  and see if you face any issues. Safari is an internet browser; hence, it needs a proper internet connection to use its features.

8. Enable background App refresh 

Maybe it’s because Safari is not allowed to run in the background, causing the app not to behave properly and thus, miss some tabs. You can enable  Background App Refresh to let Safari run in the background. All you have to do is:

• Open Settings and tap General .

• Now, tap Background App Refresh again.

9. Update software to the latest version

Safari cannot be updated individually since it’s a system app, and the only way to update is by updating your iOS or iPadOS version. You can check for the latest software updates on iPhone or iPad by going to  Settings → General → Software Update .

10. Restore tabs through other Apple devices

Since you cannot access Safari tabs on iPhone and iPad, let’s look at a way to restore Safari tabs . But for this method, you should have already enabled the  Sync  option on your Apple ID and should be logged in with it on another iPhone or iPad. After that:

• Open Safari and select the Tabs icon on the other iPhone or iPad.
• Scroll down, and you’ll see tabs opened on other devices.

11. Hard reset your iPhone

If you cannot fix the issue of tab disappearing on Safari, the last resort is to reset your iPhone or iPad , as it may fix the software bugs causing the issue. But before that, perform a quick  restart  or a  force reset  as some issues will be easily fixed.

No, updating your iPhone won’t delete tabs of the Safari browser. You can ensure by turning off the auto-close tabs option from  Settings → Safari → Close tabs → Manually .

The Safari bookmarks might get deleted if you have turned off the sync between devices, and thus, you won’t be able to access bookmarks saved on other devices.

That’s it!

I can understand how frustrated you will feel when tabs disappear on Safari. With this guide, I hope you were able to fix the issue once and for all. Also, do you prefer Safari over  other alternatives ? Let me know in the comments below.

Want more Safari tips, tricks, and fixes? Here are some handpicked ones:

• 24 Best Safari extensions for iPhone and iPad
• How to change Safari background on Mac
• How to translate web pages in Safari on iPhone and iPad
• Safari tips and tricks for iPhone

Anoop loves to find solutions for all your doubts on Tech. When he's not on his quest, you can find him on Twitter talking about what's in his mind.

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iOS 15: How to get the iPhone's old Safari layout back

Safari's new design in iOS 15 isn't for everyone. 

Apple released iOS 15 near the end of September, and the company is currently readying the next update, iOS 15.2, for release likely sometime this week. For some, there's still an annoying change in the iPhone's web browser, Safari. After updating to iOS 15 you may have noticed that the address bar is not located at the bottom of the screen. 

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The change is a jolt to your muscle memory. I know I found myself constantly reaching to the top of the iPhone's screen for the address bar, but eventually, I grew to enjoy the new layout.

It only takes a couple of seconds to make the switch. I suggest giving the new Safari a chance for a day or two before going back to the old design -- I've been using it since June and don't think I could go back to the old Safari. Nonetheless, here are the steps should you need them. 

Also: iOS 15 destroyed your iPhone's battery life? Don't panic!

How to go back to the old Safari design

There are two ways to go about reverting Safari to its previous look. One is done directly in Safari; the other requires you to open the Settings app. They both do the same thing, so it's really up to you how you go about making the chance. 

The first method requires you to go to  Settings , then find and select  Safari . Scroll down until you see get to the  Tabs  section. There you'll find two thumbnails of the iPhone.  Tab Bar , which is the new design, is on the left.  Single Tab , or the old design, is on the right. Select  Single Tab . 

The second method, which is much easier and quicker, is all done directly in Safari itself, but it's a little hidden. 

You can move Safari's address bar back to the top of the screen with ease. 

In Safari, tap on the  aA  icon that should be on the left side of the address bar. A menu will show up, and at the top of it will be the  Show Top Address Bar option . Select it. (You can also use the same steps to reverse the change, as shown in the screenshots above.)

The new Safari isn't the only new feature in iOS 15. I have a few of them here that you need to know about , as well as some great hidden features I've found so far . 

If you're going back to the old-look Safari as soon as possible, let us know why in the comments.

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Disappearing Safari Tabs on iPhone/iPad: 7 Fixes to Try!

7 Ways to Fix the Disappearing Safari Tabs on iPhone or iPad (2022)

1. show all safari windows (ipad only).

• To ensure that this isn’t the issue in your case, simply press and hold the Safari icon on the home screen, or in the Dock. You will see an option to ‘Show All Windows’
• Tap on the option and iPadOS will reveal all open Safari windows for you.
• You can then switch between these windows and see if your disappeared Safari tabs are open in any other window.

2. Merge All Windows to Reveal Hidden Safari Tabs (iPad only)

• Touch and hold the Show Tab Overview (that looks like four squares in a quadrant) icon and hit Merge All Windows .
• Now, all of your open tabs will show up in the current window, including the ones that might not be visible in the Tab Overview screen.

3. Access the Recently Closed Safari Tabs (iPhone and iPad)

• Just open the tab view in Safari and then long-press the “+” button . This will open up a list of the recently closed tabs in Safari.

• You can scroll through this list and tap on any tabs you want to re-open.

This is a great way to reopen closed Safari tabs in situations where you’ve accidentally closed a tab (or a group of tabs ) on your browser by mistake.

4. Bookmark All Open Safari Tabs (iPhone and iPad)

Bookmark all open safari tabs on iphone.

• Ensure that there are a few tabs open in Safari. Now, choose one of the tabs and then long-press the Bookmark icon .
• Next, choose Add Bookmarks for X Tabs in the popup.

• Next up, give a suitable name to your tabs folder and save it to the desired folder.

Bookmark All Open Safari Tabs on iPad

• Long-press the address bar in Safari and choose Add Bookmarks for X Tabs .
• Then, enter a suitable name and save it to a preferred location.

5. Disable Auto-Close Safari Tabs (iPhone and iPad)

• Go to the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad and then choose Safari .

• Under the Tabs section, tap Close Tabs and then select Manually .

6. Hard Reset Your iPhone or iPad

Since hard reset (also known as force restart) is well-known for fixing common iOS issues , it would be worth giving this troubleshooter a chance as well. Don’t worry, it won’t delete any media or data.

Hard Reset iPhone 8 or Later and iPad Without Home Button

• Press and quickly release the volume up button. Then, press and quickly release the volume down button.
• Now, hold down the side/top button until you see the Apple logo on the screen.

Hard Reset iPhone 7 and 7 Plus

• Press and hold the volume down button and then the side button simultaneously until the Apple logo appears on the screen.

Hard Reset iPhone 6s Or Earlier or iPad With Home Button

• Press and hold the home button and side/top button at once until the screen goes black and the Apple logo appears on the screen.

7. Update Your iPhone or iPad

• Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad and choose General.

• Now, tap Software Update and then download and install the latest version of iOS/iPadOS as usual.

Disappearing Safari Tabs on iPhone and iPad Fixed!

Rajesh Mishra

An old school bibliophile who turned a tech nerd out of obsession. When he is not digging into hacks and tracking down stories that are breaking the internet, you may find him reciting poems.

Oh my you are a Godsend. My 8 yr old grandson had played around with my phone and afterwards all my open windows in safari were closing every day!! Grrrr so #5 was the fix!! Thanks!!

didn’t work 🙁 I’ve lost 25 tabs!

I have a ton of tab groups on my iMac, but despite trying all these tips they are still not showing on my iPhone. But if I create a new tab group on my iPhone, it is available on my MacBook…

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How to fix Safari tabs disappearing on iPad and iPhone

While using Safari, have you noticed that some of your open tabs are missing and you can’t seem to find them? The tabs are most likely still open, you just have to look for them in the right places. Let’s show you how.

1. See all your open windows in Safari on iPad

Unlike iPhone, but like Mac, Safari on iPad lets you open more than one window.

You might not see a Safari tab that’s open in a different window in case you have multiple active windows that you opened and forgot. Secondly, clicking some website links can force a new browser window.

In these situations, you might miss seeing a specific tab if it isn’t on your current Safari window but on a different one.

Here’s how to quickly see all open Safari windows on iPad:

• Go to your iPad Home Screen or pull up the Dock.
• Press and hold the Safari app icon.
• Tap Show All Windows .

Now, tap one of the windows that has the Safari tab you thought had disappeared.

2. Merge all Safari windows on iPad to get back hidden tabs

With Safari open on Mac, when you click Windows from the top menu bar, you see an option called Merge All Windows. Clicking this instantly brings all the tabs of different windows in a single window.

The same handy functionality is in Safari for iPad.

Here’s how to see your hidden Safari tabs on iPad by merging all active windows into one:

• Inside Safari, press and hold the button made up of four tiny squares.
• Tap Merge All Windows .

Now, Safari will bring all the tabs of different windows to a single place. From here, you can easily find the Safari tabs that you thought were missing or hidden from plain sight.

3. Reopen your recently closed Safari tabs on iPad and iPhone

Sometimes, it’s likely that you accidentally closed a Safari tab or closed one intentionally and then forgot about it.

You can easily open such recently closed Safari tabs by following these steps:

• Inside Safari, tap the tab button (made of two overlapping squares).
• Press and hold the plus button (+) to see Recently Closed Tabs.
• Tap the desired website to reopen it.

For more: How to quickly reopen recently closed tabs in Safari on iPhone or iPad

4. Stop Safari from automatically closing open tabs

With iOS 13 and later, Safari can automatically close open tabs after one day, one week, or a month. In case you or someone with access to your iPhone or iPad enabled this option, you might be opening a tab, and the next day it closes, making you wonder, “Where has my Safari tab gone!”

To fix this, follow these steps to prevent the auto-close of Safari tabs:

• Open Settings on your iPhone or iPad.
• Tap Safari .
• Select  Close Tabs .
• Choose  Manually .

From now, open Safari tabs won’t disappear, and you can access them as long as you don’t close them manually.

Fixed: Safari tabs hiding or missing on iPhone or iPad

This is how you can fix the issue of Safari tabs hiding or disappearing from plain sight on your iPhone or iPad. Besides this, if you continue to face such inconveniences, make sure you inculcate the habit of restarting your iPhone at least once every three days.

Finally, if you’re on an old version of iOS or iPadOS, go to Settings > General > Software Update and install the newest available version of the operating system for your device. Usually, such bugs are fixed by Apple via software updates, ensuring an improved experience.

Safari tips for you:

• 11 tips to customize and personalize Safari on iPhone and iPad
• How to allow pop-ups in Safari on iPhone, iPad, and Mac
• How to stop name, address, email, and payment autofill suggestions in Safari

Disappearing Safari Tabs Fix

Martina Nikolova

Table of Contents

Disappearing Safari tabs on iPhone/iPad

Disappearing Safari tabs on iPhone/iPad is a bug in iOS and iPadOS that causes one or more tabs opened in Safari to seemingly go away. If Safari tabs are disappearing on your iPhone/iPad there are a couple of easy fixes you can try.

Although every year Apple operating systems receive a major release and there are also many smaller updates throughout the year, some bugs seem to be more persistent than others and manage to remain in the specific operating system across multiple OS releases. Case in point, the disappearing Safari tabs on iPhone and iPad is a strange bug that has been around since iOS 13 and still seems to frustrate users to this day.

Though this isn’t a very commonly-encountered bug, when it takes place, it can be quite irritating, especially if it’s not a one-time occurrence but keeps happening again and again. The cause of this issue remains unknown and, though there are things you can do to mitigate it (we’ll tell you about them in a bit), there’s currently no permanent fix for this bug. Until Apple releases a patch that resolves this issue, you’d need to make do with the alternative fixes we’ll show you on this page.

Here, we should note that the problem with disappearing tabs could refer to two separate occurrences – one, in which your tab(s) get closed entirely, and another, in which the tab or tabs remain open but are hidden. It is unclear whether these two separate issues are related, but the fixes we’ve prepared for you should help resolve both of them.

Why do my Safari tabs keep disappearing?

It is currently not known what causes Safari tabs to keep disappearing, but in most cases, it’s likely a bug in iOS/iPadOS. The other possible cause for Safari tabs to keep disappearing is if the browser is set to automatically close inactive tabs.

There is a function that Safari has that, when enabled, will cause the browser to automatically close tabs that you haven’t viewed recently. You can even choose between three-time period options to determine how long time would need to pass before the inactive tabs get closed. However, this is only one possible reason for the tabs to close/get hidden. If this function of your Safari browser isn’t enabled, the likely cause for the tabs’ disappearance is probably a bug in iOS or iPadOS that Apple needs to address in its future patches for the respective operating system. 

Disappearing Safari tabs fix

The Disappearing Safari tabs fix methods include merging all Safari windows on iPad, revealing the Safari windows shelf, and searching through the recently closed tab’s history. Other potential fixes for disappearing Safari tabs are to disable the Auto-close tabs Safari function or to bookmark everything.

As already mentioned, the fixes suggested here aren’t a permanent solution to the problem. The developers at Apple are the only ones who can release a patch that would resolve this bug. Until then, you can hopefully circumvent the problem with either of the next temporary solutions/workarounds.

Merge All Windows (iPadOS only)

This should help you reveal any tabs that have become hidden but are still open. It won’t return any tabs that have already been closed.

• Open the Safari browser on your iPad and press and hold the button with four squares in the top-right.

• Look through all the tabs that are in the current Safari window and see if you can find the one you need.

Reveal the Safari windows shelf (iPadOS only)

This is another potential fix for revealing hidden tabs but not for restoring ones that have been closed.

• Press and hold your finger on the Safari icon in the Dock or the Home Screen .
• Select Show All Windows from the menu that should appear shortly.
• Look through the shelf of open windows, switch between them, and see if you can find the needed tab. In some cases, doing this should reveal any tabs that have become hidden.

Search in the Recently Closed Tabs history

This fix is used to restore tabs that have been closed.

Disable the Auto-close tabs feature

As we mentioned in the article above, if this feature in your Safari browser is enabled, tabs you don’t visit will get closed after a while. If you don’t want this to keep happening in the future, you should check the settings of Safari and make sure that this function isn’t enabled.

• Go to the Settings app and tap on Safari.

Bookmark the tabs you don’t want to lose

If nothing else you’ve tried has helped thus far, you can always resort to simply bookmarking everything you want to visit at a later time. Admittedly, it’s a rather clunky workaround, but one that can still let you quickly access content that you’d like to revisit. Here’s how to quickly bookmark stuff in Safari:

• Once you open the browser, open the site/page that you may want to visit later.

• If you want to save all currently open tabs as bookmarks, select instead the Add Bookmarks for * number of open tabs * .
• To access the bookmarks you’ve saved, tap the Bookmark button and then select the saved page that you want to open again.

Martina likes to get into nitty-gritty of tomorrow’s tech, from product design across to security based solutions. A long time mac user and developer, she has the expertise and strives to give new insight

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How to use the new Safari tab bar in iOS 15 — if you want to

The new tab bar takes some getting used to, but it is useful

It's not as if the redesigned tab bar in Safari for iOS 15 has some enormously better capabilities on any one website than it did before. It does have a new way of moving between sites, but really what it has is a different approach, an unfamiliar design.

Apple wants tabs to get out of your way and that's laudable. It's more than laudable that Apple has brought the new Tab Groups feature to iOS 15, it's brilliant - and it's different. Everybody either loves Tab Groups or simply has no reason to even know they're there.

Whereas no one can use Safari without using tabs, so a major redesign is a very big and very unavoidable deal. Or it was until Apple introduced the option to go back to the old design .

How to switch between the old and new tab designs

On your iPhone, go to Settings , then scroll down to Safari . There's a straightforward toggle, showing one icon for Tab Bar , one for Single Tab .

Tap the one you want, and you're set. Just don't change it too quickly, give the new tab bar a chance.

How to use the new tab bar in iOS 15

When you open Safari, the page that you see first is whatever site you were last reading — and there's now a floating bar at the bottom. That bar contains the address of the site, plus a Share button and one to do with rearranging tabs.

How to go to a new site

• If the bar disappears, tap and pull on the site to scroll — and bring the bar back up
• Tap on the address of the current site
• When it highlights, tap the small delete button to the left
• Start typing a new address in there — or a new search term — and press Go

That all sounds clear, sensible, and easy, and it is. Except for how the tab bar is at the bottom of the page and you probably have very, very many years of experience of reaching for the top of the screen instead.

It will take you time to unlearn that, but there is an advantage to the new tab bar. You may even like it for this, it's a revised way of moving between tabs.

How to move between tabs on the tab bar

• Bring up the tab bar
• Press on it, then swipe to one side or the other
• You're immediately taken to the next tab, assuming you have more than one open.

You do have more than one tab open, you do have very many more. We're not judging.

And so this swiping is a lot faster than before. Previously you would have to tap the tab button, find what you want from the thumbnail images, and then tap to go into the tab you were after.

Yet you can still do that. Bring up that tab bar, tap on the tabs button at far right, and you get a view of all your tabs. Rather than the old Rolodex-style of thumbnails where you had to move forwards and backwards to see you what you want, it's now a Photos-style grid.

From that grid, you can tap to go into any tab. You can also tap on the small delete button to get rid of the tab completely.

What you can't do, unfortunately, is drag the tabs around to arrange them. You can press and hold on any one tab and get a menu that gives some sorting options, but they're limited.

Your choices are to Arrange Tabs by Title , or to Arrange Tabs by Website .

Except, if that seems a bit constrained, something else the new design brings is the ability to organize tabs more. This is crossing into the Tab Groups feature, but as you press and hold on any tab's thumbnail, you do get two particularly key options.

If you have six tabs open, pressing and holding on one gets you a menu that offers to let you move all of those tabs to an existing group. And you also get the option to move them all to a brand new group.

What you can't do is pick a few of the tabs and move those, it's all or nothing. Or at least it is at present. Maybe we already know something that'll be in iOS 16.

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How to manage Safari tabs in iOS 15

Apple has revamped its Safari browser for iOS 15 , released on September 20. One of the most controversial new features of the new mobile browser version is a tab/address bar now located at the bottom of the screen, which appears when you browse web pages. While the bottom bar is the default layout, the final version of iOS 15 lets you reposition it back to the top of the screen, if you choose. Regardless of where the address bar is located, you will still handle tabs the same way.

New tab bar

Creating tab groups, bottom line.

Mobile Safari has adopted the style of the Safari Start Page, derived from the current MacOS 11 (Big Sur), letting you create tab groups that are accessible across all your Apple devices to make browsing a more seamless experience. The new iOS 15 Safari has a lot more functionality than the previous version, is even more connected across devices, offers more screen space dedicated to browsing, and supports browser extensions. It also relies on a series of nested menus and will take some getting used to.

Mobile Safari’s redesigned Start Page can display your Bookmarks, Favorites, Frequently Visited sites, Siri Suggestions, iCloud Tabs, Reading List, and Privacy Report. To see that, you will first need to go to Settings > Your Name > iCloud > Safari and toggle the control to On (the green position). The Edit button lets you customize which items appear on your Start Page and lets you add custom wallpaper or use another background from your Photos. If you sync the Start Page in iCloud, it will appear with the same content on all your devices. To get complete cross-device functionality, you must also have MacOS 12 (Monterey) — still in beta — installed on your computer. However, you can still do plenty with the final release of iOS 15 and MacOS 11 Big Sur, from which this example is derived.

A new tab bar sits at the bottom of the Start Page where Apple has consolidated multiple controls that are expedited by a long press or an icon tap. Tapping the tab bar URL moves it toward the middle of the screen, letting you search for a site or enter a web address. When you hit Go , the page loads and the tab bar sits back down at the bottom of the screen, providing an unobstructed view of the page. If the presence of the tab bar is too distracting on your small screen, you can swipe down to minimize it, but it automatically minimizes anyway as you scroll down a page, and all you have to do to reveal it again is tap.

Once you get the hang of the tab bar, there’s plenty more you can do with it. First, you can use the tabs icon at the bottom far right to access a tab switcher interface. From there, swiping across the bar between open tabs either to the left or right cycles through your open tabs. A long press on the tab bar brings up an action menu with options like Copy, Paste and Search, Voice Search, and Move to Tab Groups .

Tapping the Share icon gives you the share menu, but directly below it are numerous commands such as Add Bookmark, Add to Favorites, Add to Reading List , and more. The Edit Actions command at the bottom of the page menu lets you rearrange which controls you want to see at the top of the screen for ease of use.

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In iOS 15, tabs are easy to find because they appear as vertically scrolling thumbnail previews. Tab groups let you save tabs and organize them according to classifications, topics, and categories to save you the trouble of swiping through many tabs to find a specific site.

After launching mobile Safari, tap on the Tabs icon. Then, tap the tabs arrow in the tab bar to access the menu to creates a new empty tab group, a new group with the tabs you currently have open, or a private tab group. If all your open tabs already are in one category, you can also choose New Tab Group from X Tabs,  name the tab group, and click OK . The tab group offers naming suggestions that are fairly sophisticated conceptual interpretations of the tabbed site content. If you have already named a tab group, you will see it listed in this menu and you can tap to switch between it and any other existing tabs. Independent open tabs are listed according to their number. The plus (+) icon in the Tab Switcher Bar opens a new tab. A tap-and-hold brings up your recently closed tabs.

A long press on a tab in the Tab Switcher offers additional commands like Close Other Tabs , Move to Tab Group , Arrange Tabs by Title , and Arrange Tabs by Website . A tab bar at the bottom of the screen lets you access tabs with your thumb. Users can also swipe between tabs, or swipe up for the grid view. Once you see all of your open tabs, choose which one you want to move to another group and long-press until you see a menu appear. On the menu, select Move to Tab Group and tap the group you created.

The new tab interface in Safari for iOS 15 has a slew of options to help you visually connect with websites for work and entertainment. It can get kind of dense, and will take some getting used to. But not only will you have more flexibility, but you can also move the address bar back up to the top if you really don’t like it at the bottom.

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Trending tags, how to fix disappearing safari tabs on iphone.

Are you facing the issue of disappearing Safari tabs on iPhone?

For our own ease, we often keep our tabs open in browsers to quickly go back to them when needed. Unfortunate for Apple users, Safari is not the best option for that. Somehow, a few bugs always manage to survive through the iOS updates, and the one causing disappearing Safari tabs on iPhone is one such example.

The error has been there since iOS 13, negatively impacting the user experience. However, its official fix is yet to be found. Multiple user reports exist on the internet, stating that their tabs vanish out of the blue and that they’re unable to recover them. 

If the same happened to you, you might have found your way in here looking for its solution. Lucky for you, we’ve got what you need. Below we’ll be covering a few workarounds and fixes to the issue of disappearing Safari tabs on iPhone.

So without any delay, let’s dive straight in!

1. Ensure that Your iPhone is Connected to A Stable Internet Connection. 

One of the main reasons your Safari tabs may be disappearing is an unstable network connection. When your internet connection is poor, the tabs you open may not be able to load properly, which may result in them disappearing the next time you try to access them. 

If that is the case, you may want to ensure that you have a strong internet connection so that the same thing doesn’t happen again. To do so, switch to Mobile Data if you’re using Wi-Fi or vice versa. 

Here’s how to do it:

• First, launch the Settings app on your iPhone’s home screen. 
• Next, select Wi-Fi .

• Then, turn the toggle off for Wi-Fi .

• Now, go back and tap on Cellular .
• Turn on the toggle for Cellular Data . 

If a stable internet connection is still leading to your tabs disappearing on Safari, move to the next method to find out how to solve this problem.

2. Enable Background App Refresh for Safari. 

If Safari is not loading your content regularly, it may also result in disappearing Safari tabs on iPhone. To prevent it from happening again, one of the methods is to enable Background App Refresh for Safari. 

Background App Refresh is a great feature for iPhone and Android users. It allows the apps on your device to update with new content while running in the background. This way, all of the tabs you opened previously in Safari will be available for you to access later.

Here’s what you need to do:

• To start, open the Settings app on your device.
• After that, head to General .

• Next, tap on Background App Refresh .

• Now, ensure that Wi-Fi & Cellular Data is selected.

3. Open Recently Closed Tabs.

One way to restore the disappeared Safari tabs on iPhone is by going to the recently closed tab. From there, you can look for the tabs that you visited earlier and restore them to your Safari. 

To do so, follow the steps below:

• Begin by opening the Safari app on your iPhone. 
• Now, tap on the Book icon located at the bottom bar of your screen.

• Next, select the Clock icon to open Safari history. Simply select what you wish to reopen. 

• If you want to reopen more than one tab, tap on the Tabs icon at the bottom. 
• In the new tab, perform the steps mentioned above to access other recently deleted tabs.

4. Restore the Tabs Through Other Apple Devices. 

If you can’t restore your Safari tabs on your iPhone from the recently closed tabs, there’s still a way to reopen all your disappeared tabs on another Apple Device. 

Apple allows its users to sync Safari across all other Apple devices. So, one way to go about the disappearing Safari tabs on iPhone problem is by restoring the Safari tabs from another Apple device. Keep in mind that this method will only work if your iCloud is enabled across all devices.

Follow the steps given below to restore your iPhone tabs on an iPad:

• Start by launching the Safari app from your iPad.
• Next, select the Tabs icon present at the top-right corner of your screen.

• Now, scroll down and locate the tabs mentioned for other Apple devices. 
• Tap on any of the websites present under your iPhone’s opened tabs to open them in a new tab. 

If you own a Mac and wish to reopen iPhone’s tabs, here’s what you should do:

• Firstly, open the Safari app from your Mac’s home screen. 
• Open Tabs by tapping on the Tabs icon located at the top-right corner. 
• Next, scroll down to view the tabs for other Apple devices.
• Simply tap on any webpage to open it as a new tab.

5. Turn off Close Tabs Automatically.

Safari automatically closes your opened tabs after a specific period if you have particular settings saved. This may be another reason if your tabs seem to disappear after a certain duration. To make sure it doesn’t happen again, set the Close Tabs for Safari to Manually, and you’re set to go. 

Follow the steps below to do it:

• Launch Settings from the home screen of your Apple device.
• Next, scroll down and find Safari and then tap on it.

• Select the Close Tabs option present under the Tabs section. 

• If the checkmark appears next to any other option other than Manually, change it so that Manually is selected. 

If your tabs still disappear even after performing this method, head to the next one to figure out a workaround for this issue.

6. Bookmark the Open Tabs.

If Safari tabs are still disappearing even after following all the methods mentioned in this guide, your last resort is to bookmark every tab you open. This way, even if your tabs disappear, you will still have a way to reopen the important web pages. 

Moreover, iOS 13 gives you a quick way to bookmark the tabs. You may bookmark one tab at a time or all the opened tabs with a single tap. Similarly, you can reopen all the tabs at once. 

If you want to bookmark a single tab, here’s all that you need to do:

• Firstly, head to the Safari app from your iPhone.
• Next, open the tab that you wish to bookmark and long-press the Book icon located at the bottom. 
• Now, select Add Bookmark .

• After that, tap on Save from the top-right corner to bookmark it. 

If you wish to bookmark all the opened tabs at once, follow these steps:

• Launch Safari . 
• Select and hold the Book icon until a few options appear. 
• Now, tap on Add Bookmark for X Tabs. 

• Next, type in the name and select a location for your bookmark folder. 
• Afterwards, tap on Save . 

• Now, you may easily access the Bookmarked tabs by simply tapping on the Book icon . Simply tap on the folder’s name, and all your tabs will open at once. 

This concludes our guide on how to fix disappearing Safari tabs on iPhone. If you have more questions, don’t forget to utilize the comments section below. We will try our best to assist you further. 

If this guide helped you, please share it. 🙂

Aimen Choudhry is an architecture student who has always been fascinated by science. She now finds her therapy researching and writing about the latest technology and the issues that come alongside. Otherwise, you’ll find her playing video games, listening to music, or watching fantasy/sci-fi movies.

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How to Restore Accidentally Closed Safari Tabs on iPhone

• If you’ve accidentally closed Safari tabs on an iPhone, you can easily recover them by using the Recently Closed Tabs list.
• Another alternative method is to restore deleted Safari tabs by accessing the History tab.
• And, finally the Shake to Undo feature also allows you to recover recently closed Safari tabs on iPhone.

Did you accidentally close all tabs open in Safari on your iPhone? If you did, you’re not alone. Several people, including myself, have encountered this issue at least once. However, it is nothing to worry about as you can easily recover any deleted Safari tab. Read along to learn how to Restore accidentally closed Safari tabs on iPhone. 

How To Recover Deleted Safari Tabs on iPhone

Since Safari is the primary web browser for most of us, we have multiple tabs open within the browser. Some of us leave these tabs open as we need to revisit them later. Now, if you accidentally delete or close all of these tabs in Safari, do not panic. Recovering accidentally closed Safari tabs isn’t all that difficult. 

Many people accidentally close tabs and you can find several posts regarding this issue on Apple’s Discussion Community page . Therefore, to solve this issue, we’ve put together some of the best troubleshooting methods to help you recover deleted Safari tabs on your iPhone.

1. Restore Accidentally Closed Tabs from Recently Closed Tabs List in Safari 

The Safari browser on iPhone has a Recently Closed Tabs list hidden in plain sight within the browser. Not many people are aware of this feature and hence panic when they accidentally close multiple Safari tabs on their iPhones. However, we will help you navigate to the Recently Closed Tabs list and reopen all the tabs you accidentally closed on Safari. 

Time needed:  1 minute

Steps to reopen websites from the Recently Closed Tabs list in Safari on iPhone. 

Once the tab opens, you can continue browsing. If you want to reopen several tabs that you accidentally closed, you will have to repeat this step multiple times. 

2. Restore Deleted Safari Tabs From Safari History

Another simple method to recover accidentally closed tabs is to restore them from History. Like most browsers, Safari also stores your browsing history in the History tab. However, note that if you accidentally closed tabs in the Private Browsing Mode, then they cannot be restored.

This is because Apple does not store browsing history for any activity in the Private Browsing Mode on iPhone. If they did, the Private Browsing Mode wouldn’t be that private. But if you’re on Mac, there’s a workaround that allows you to view Private Mode browsing history .

With that said, here’s how to recover deleted Safari tabs from Safari History on your iPhone. 

• Open the Safari browser on your iPhone. 
• Tap the Bookmarks icon located below the address bar. 
• Here, tap the History tab (clock icon). 
• Next, tap the page you want to reopen.
• Alternatively, you can also tap and hold and then select the Open in New Tab or Open in New Tab Group option if you do not want to load the link on the current tab. 

3. Shake Your iPhone To Undo Changes and Recover Accidentally Closed Tabs in Safari 

Have you ever tried the Shake to Undo feature on your iPhone? Chances are, you have used this feature to correct typing errors. However, the Shake to Undo feature offers a lot more and can help you undo several accidental changes, including the ability to restore recently closed tabs in Safari on iPhone. 

Apart from reopening accidentally closed tabs, the Shake to Undo feature also works in other apps and services. Here are a few examples of using your iPhone’s Shake to Undo feature.

• Creating, editing, renaming, or deleting files or folders in the Files app. 
• Creating, editing, or deleting events in the Calendar app.
• Editing or deleting images or videos in the Photos app.
• Rearranging apps and widgets on the Home Screen.

We understand that this feature might be helpful you right now. Because a few minutes must’ve passed since you accidentally closed these tabs. Regardless, it might come in handy in the near future. Therefore, here’s how to use the Shake to Undo feature to restore accidentally closed tabs in Safari on iPhone. 

• The moment you accidentally close Safari tabs, quickly shake your iPhone . We suggest using the hammering motion as that is what seems to work for us. 
• The iPhone will display an Undo Close Tab pop-up. Tap the Undo button. 
• The closed tab will be restored and you can continue browsing. 

If the Shake to Undo feature is not working on your iPhone, you might have accidentally disabled it. Here’s how to enable the Shake to Undo feature on iPhone. 

• Open the Settings app and tap the Accessibility option. 
• Select the Touch option located under the Physical and Motor menu. 
• On the next screen, enable the Shake to Undo toggle. 

Prevent Accidentally Closing Safari Tabs 

Why do you have multiple tabs open in Safari? Mostly, it might be because you visit those sites often and do not want to search for them every single time. However, navigating through hundreds of tabs to revisit a website isn’t very easy. While doing so, you might accidentally close all of the open tabs too. 

Therefore, in order to prevent accidentally closing Safari tabs on iPhone, we suggest bookmarking tabs you visit frequently. This will streamline the entire process of navigating websites you visit often and in turn save time. Here’s how to bookmark tabs in Safari on your iPhone. 

• Head to the website you want to bookmark.
• Now, tap and hold on the Bookmark icon below the address bar. 

• On the next screen, you can edit the Name and the Link of the website . 
• If you want to change the location of the Bookmark, tap the option below Location and select the Bookmark Folder of your choice. 

Conclusion 

We hope you were able to restore all the accidentally closed Safari tabs on your iPhone. I can completely relate to your pain of losing all the open tabs. It has happened to me in the past too. If you have any other doubts or are aware of other methods that can help restore accidentally deleted tabs in Safari, please let us know in the comments below. 

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Safari tabs on iPad totally disappeared

My iPad software is up to date (iPadOS 13.3), and all my Safari tabs have suddenly disappeared today! I have never had this problem before, nor have I done anything different whilst using Safari. I normally use Private browsing mode. It is as though there has been a total reset of Safari. (I have also restarted my iPad since discovering this problem.) Can anyone explain what has happened? And how I can restore all my tabs? Thanks.

iPad Air 2, iOS 13

Posted on Jan 22, 2020 6:31 AM

Posted on Jan 22, 2020 9:43 AM

Hi again. I haven’t checked everything exhaustively yet, but will try and look later.

I have to say that I find all this extremely frustrating, as I am not a computer numpty! I have a degree in Computer Science and have worked in software development all my working life so am not easily beaten by technical problems! The fact that I seemingly was, unwittingly, able to destroy all this information is rather worrying - I had always thought that Apple software was extremely robust. Nobody dies as a result of losing all this information, but it is extremely annoying given that many of the tabs were created as aide memoires - and I have still no idea what I did to suddenly generate a 2nd version of Safari!

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Jan 22, 2020 9:43 AM in response to LotusPilot

Jan 22, 2020 10:05 AM in response to IzzzyWizzzy

Hi. I certainly appreciate the frustration that you have experienced - I’ve been there - hence my efforts to try to document the known common causes and remedies for many of these situations. In writing the guide, I hope to have documented both “features” and pitfalls of iPadOS Safari that I and others have encountered - sometimes more than once!

The real problem, for many (if we are honest about this) is that iOS used to be a rather simple affair - without the more complex features of other platforms. Safari, Mail and other native Apps were really simple - with a very simple and intuitive UI. However, with the increasing power and shear untapped capabilities of iPad, with iPadOS, Apple have finally given us something significantly more complex. Attempting this within a “touch” UI is a challenge - and some of the necessary changes can catch us out. We, the end-user, can and do make errors; if there’s a tripwire, we’ll find it sooner or later!

Having spent considerable time with iPadOS, I now believe it to be a long-awaited improvement that genuinely makes the environment so much more useful - with great flexibility. It takes a little more time to learn (and reading the User Guide is, I suggest, absolutely essential) - and sharing the known pitfalls and knowledge amongst the community can only help to make it even better.

Anyhow, I hope the linked guide proves to be useful. If you have the time, any feedback would be appreciated.

Jan 22, 2020 7:19 AM in response to LotusPilot

Thanks, but even following the instructions about finding and recovering lost Safari windows did not help - there were no “recently closed” windows to recover.

Having read the article, I do now remember that I suddenly had a split Safari screen appear yesterday, and somehow managed to get rid of it! I suspect that might now have something to do with it, but, even following the instructions in the article, the old Safari window does not seem to manifest itself. Is there anything else I can do?

Jan 22, 2020 7:31 AM in response to IzzzyWizzzy

Did you look to see if you have more than one instance of Safari running? As outlined therein, this is a frequent area of confusion; seemingly lost tabs are often found “intact” within another Safari Window.

The list of Recently Closed windows does not persist indefinitely. If the window was closed yesterday, then it’s likely gone for good. If so, you should still be able to recover tabs from your Safari History.

Jan 22, 2020 9:10 AM in response to LotusPilot

Hi. Yes, I did look for other Safari windows but it only brought up today’s new “empty” Safari windows.

I did close the Safari window yesterday (I rarely leave the window open), but the tabs are not in my Safari history. Looks like they’ve all gone... unless there’s something else I can try?

Jan 22, 2020 9:31 AM in response to IzzzyWizzzy

Sorry - if you’ve followed my linked-guide on this subject, then you’ve already explored all the available options and known workarounds. If you have been using Safari (or any browser) in “Private” mode, then no history will be saved for anything accessed in this mode.

If you can offer any constructive feedback on the guide (which took considerable time to create), on its own page, assuming that it was liked/helpful or otherwise - it would be most appreciated. Any feedback received will help me to make it better still.

Jan 22, 2020 6:40 AM in response to IzzzyWizzzy

This help article might be helpful to you in understanding possible causes and solutions:

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250002077

Please let us know if this helps you.