Seven Safari Tips and Tricks for iPhone and iPad

Safari on iOS has a surprising number of hidden tricks, letting you manipulate tabs, conduct page-specific searches, and more, and not all of these features are immediately obvious due to the gestures involved.

We've rounded up some useful must-know Safari tips that you might not be aware of or may have forgotten, so make sure to check out our video because we bet there's something here that's going to be new to you.

Safari Tips and Tricks

  • Close All Tabs - Have hundreds of tabs open in Safari on your iPhone? You can close them all at once. Just long press right on the "Done" button in the tab view (which you can get to by pressing the little icon that looks like two squares) and you'll see an option to close all tabs.
  • Open Recently Closed Tabs - Accidentally closed a tab you didn't want to close? In the tab view, long press on the "+" button and it will bring up a list of tabs that you've closed recently so you can open it right back up.
  • Search Your Open Tabs - With tons of tabs, you might need to do some hunting around to find the specific tab you're looking for, but luckily, a built-in tab search feature makes this easier. Just scroll to the top of your tabs view (or tap the top of the screen to jump to the top) and you'll see a search bar for searching tabs.
  • Close Filtered Tabs - If you want to close some of your tabs while leaving the rest open, the search feature doubles as a filter. After doing a search in your tabs, long press on the "Cancel" button next to the search interface and you'll see an option to close only the tabs that match your search.
  • Find Text on Page - You know how you can use the Command + F feature on a Mac to find something specific on a page? There's a find feature in iOS too. With a website open, type in a search phrase in the search bar at the top and then scroll down to "On This Page" to search for that term on the website. Alternatively, you can open up the Share Sheet and locate the "Find on Page" button.
  • Close Tabs on Other Devices - If you have multiple devices and use iCloud along with the feature that syncs Safari information, you can close tabs on your Mac or your iPad right from your ‌iPhone‌. To do it, open up the tab view (again, the little icon with two squares), scroll all the way to the bottom of your open tabs, and then you'll see an interface that lists open tabs on other devices.
  • Handoff Websites - If you're looking at a website on your ‌iPhone‌ and then want to open it up on your Mac, you can use Handoff, which is available on most modern Mac machines and iPhones. On the Mac, you'll see a little Safari icon on your dock with a small ‌iPhone‌ icon, just click on that and whatever you're looking at on your ‌iPhone‌ can be opened up right on your Mac. You can also open websites from device to device using the same cloud tab interface used for closing tabs on other devices.

Have other useful Safari tips that we didn't share here? Let us know in the comments and we may include them in a future tips and tricks video.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Friday July 4, 2025 1:05 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are just over two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:Apple logo repositioned: Apple's logo may have a lower position on the back of the iPhone 17 Pro models, compared to previous...
iphone 16 pro models 1

Here's How the iPhone 17 Pro Max Will Compare to the iPhone 17 Pro

Saturday July 5, 2025 1:00 pm PDT by
Apple should unveil the iPhone 17 series in September, and there might be one bigger difference between the Pro and Pro Max models this year. As always, the Pro Max model will be larger than the Pro model:iPhone 17 Pro: 6.3-inch display iPhone 17 Pro Max: 6.9-inch displayGiven the Pro Max is physically larger than the Pro, it has more internal space, allowing for a larger battery and...
iPhone Car Key Kia

Here's Which Vehicles Offer iPhone Car Keys

Sunday July 6, 2025 3:03 pm PDT by
In 2020, Apple added a digital car key feature to its Wallet app, allowing users to lock, unlock, and start a compatible vehicle with an iPhone or Apple Watch. The feature is currently offered by select automakers, including Audi, BMW, Hyundai, Kia, Genesis, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and a handful of others, and it is set to expand further. Apple has a web page with a list of vehicle models that ...
imac video apple feature

Apple Launching These 15+ Products Later This Year

Sunday July 6, 2025 8:05 am PDT by
The calendar has turned to July, meaning that 2025 is now more than half over. And while the summer months are often quiet for Apple, the company still has more than a dozen products coming later this year, according to rumors. Below, we have outlined at least 15 new Apple products that are expected to launch later this year, along with key rumored features for each. iPhone 17 Series iPho...
iOS 26 Feature

Everything New in iOS 26 Beta 3

Monday July 7, 2025 1:20 pm PDT by
Apple is continuing to refine and update iOS 26, and beta three features smaller changes than we saw in beta 2, plus further tweaks to the Liquid Glass design. Apple is gearing up for the next phase of beta testing, and the company has promised that a public beta is set to come out in July. Transparency In some apps like Apple Music, Podcasts, and the App Store, Apple has toned down the...
iphone 17 pro render majin bu

New iPhone 17 Pro Renders Highlight Apple Logo and MagSafe Design Changes

Sunday July 6, 2025 8:43 pm PDT by
New renders today provide the best look yet relocated Apple logo and redesigned MagSafe magnet array of the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max. Image via Majin Bu. Several of the design changes coming to the iPhone 17 Pro model have been rumored for some time, such as the elongated camera bump that spans the full width of the device, with the LiDAR Scanner and flash moving to the right side. ...
Prime Day 25 Feature Warm Triad

The Best Early Prime Day Deals on Apple Products

Saturday July 5, 2025 7:22 am PDT by
Amazon is soon to be back with its annual summertime Prime Day event, lasting for four days from July 8-11, the longest Prime Day yet. As it does every year, Prime Day offers shoppers a huge selection of deals across Amazon's storefront, and there are already many deals you can get on sale ahead of the event. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a ...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro to Reverse iPhone X Design Decision

Monday July 7, 2025 9:46 am PDT by
Since the iPhone X in 2017, all of Apple's highest-end iPhone models have featured either stainless steel or titanium frames, but it has now been rumored that this design decision will be coming to an end with the iPhone 17 Pro models later this year. In a post on Chinese social media platform Weibo today, the account Instant Digital said that the iPhone 17 Pro models will have an aluminum...
airpods pro 2

AirPods Pro 3 to Help Maintain Apple's Place in Earbud Market Amid Increasing Low-Cost Competition

Thursday July 3, 2025 7:25 am PDT by
Apple's position as the dominant force in the global true wireless stereo (TWS) earbud market is expected to continue through 2025, according to Counterpoint Research. The forecast outlines a 3% year-over-year increase in global TWS unit shipments for 2025, signaling a transition from rapid growth to a more mature phase for the category. While Apple is set to remain the leading brand by...

Top Rated Comments

danielbraun Avatar
80 months ago
Another cool trick is: when on a webpage, long-click the refresh button and select "Request Desktop Site" to view the non-mobile version of the site.
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
WannaGoMac Avatar
80 months ago
I miss the days when the interface didn’t have all these features hidden.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
shieldcy Avatar
80 months ago
Here’s a very useful tip I recently discovered...

In iOS - Safari: By tapping two fingers on a link, it will open it in a new tab.
It’s like the “open in new tab” functionality on the mac.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
realtuner Avatar
80 months ago
I like when I click on a link that opens a new tab, clicking the back button on that page closes the tab and returns me to the tab I clicked the link from.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
waquzy Avatar
80 months ago
Thank you so much, even after many years of Safari usage, I didn't know most of these. :)
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
djcerla Avatar
80 months ago
I miss the days when the interface didn’t have all these features hidden.
That’s because it didn’t have all these features.

Funny how Mac power users who use daily the epitome of hidden features that are keyboard shortcuts then complain about equally hidden features aimed at iOS power users.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)