iOS 13 Can Auto-Close Safari Tabs for You Based on When You Last Viewed Them

Monday June 10, 2019 4:31 AM PDT by Tim Hardwick
In iOS 13, Apple has added new functionality in Safari that should enable iPhone and iPad users to better manage their open tabs.

Because of the way Safari for iOS displays tabs in a vertical array, the amount of open tabs in the browser can often get out of hand, and sometimes number in the tens or even hundreds.


However in iOS 13, Safari will offer to automatically close tabs that have not been viewed recently after one day, one week, or one month. The new Safari function can be changed later in the Settings app.


Apple unveiled iOS 13 last week at WWDC. The newest version of the operating system for iPhone (and the iPad, though the iPad version has been renamed to iPadOS) introduces a long list of new features and some changes that are quite exciting. Be sure to check out the video above for more.

(Thanks, Chris!)

Related Roundups: iOS 13, iPadOS
33 comments


Top Rated Comments

(View all)
Avatar
madsci954
10 weeks ago
I’m I the only one who opens at most 2, rarely 3, tabs in a browser, then closes them when I’m done?
Rating: 14 Votes
Avatar
I7guy
10 weeks ago
I went to use my wife’s xr and she had 300+ tabs open. I looked at her like ??? She said, what’s wrong with that?

So when iOS 13 comes around I’m setting this option on her phone.
Rating: 10 Votes
Avatar
dz5b609
10 weeks ago

I’m I the only one who opens at most 2, rarely 3, tabs in a browser, then closes them when I’m done?


I think a lot of people (including myself) are using tabs as reminders for stuff.
Rating: 6 Votes
Avatar
Spartan Weaver
10 weeks ago
Woo hoo I'm popular! :P thanks Macrumors.
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
xraydoc
10 weeks ago
A necessary feature for my wife. It’s insane how many tabs she has open... and isn’t aware of them at all.
[doublepost=1560197849][/doublepost]

I went to use my wife’s xr and she had 300+ tabs open. I looked at her like ??? She said, what’s wrong with that?

We must be married to the same woman.
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
TheSkywalker77
10 weeks ago

I went to use my wife’s xr and she had 300+ tabs open. I looked at her like ??? She said, what’s wrong with that?

So when iOS 13 comes around I’m setting this option on her phone.

That's the best response I've heard.
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
Grey Area
10 weeks ago

I went to use my wife’s xr and she had 300+ tabs open. I looked at her like ??? She said, what’s wrong with that?


I just counted (and closed) the tabs on my SE: there were 506 of them. :) And yes, what is the problem with that? I do not think they are doing much in the background, they sure aren’t updating themselves.

To be honest, I have never really thought of them as tabs, given that they neither look nor behave like desktop browser tabs. Rather, to me they were something like a browser history.

I’m not even sure why there would be so many open ones otherwise, it is not like I create them by explicitly opening links in a new tab.
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
macduke
10 weeks ago

I’m I the only one who opens at most 2, rarely 3, tabs in a browser, then closes them when I’m done?

Every few weeks I have to hold it down and click on the "Close 500 tabs" button. That is the limit. I am a tab whore.
[doublepost=1560184983][/doublepost]


How could one find a previously open tab within 300? Safari became a digital garbage can. lol.

If you tap to go to the top of your tabs, and then pull down, there is a search bar.
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
gigapocket1
10 weeks ago
I feel like 3 days would’ve been perfect
Rating: 2 Votes
Avatar
JosephAW
10 weeks ago
They need a setting to close all tabs when terminating safari.
Rating: 2 Votes
[ Read All Comments ]