How to Close All of Your Safari Tabs at Once on iPhone or iPad - MacRumors
Skip to Content

How to Close All of Your Safari Tabs at Once on iPhone or iPad

by

There are some iOS gestures and tricks that have been around forever, but remain relatively hidden because they're hard to find unless you know about them.

Closing all of the tabs in your Safari browser on an iOS device is one such trick -- it's simple if you know how to do it, but it's a gesture you might not know exists.


Here's how to do it:

  1. Open up Safari.
  2. Long press on the "Tabs" icon denoted by two squares. On iPhones, it's at the bottom of the browser in portrait mode or at the top in landscape mode. On the iPad, it's at the top.
  3. Select Close All Tabs.

Alternatively, you can single tap on the Tabs icon to bring up the browser window view, and then long press on "Done" to bring up the same "Close All Tabs" interface.

That's all there is to it. Safari will let you know how many tabs are currently open, and it will close each and every one after the Close All Tabs option is tapped.

Because it's so easy to open a new tab when browsing without meaning to on an iOS device, the Close All Tabs option is super handy for getting rid of all those open browser windows in one quick go.

Top Rated Comments

112 months ago
Well you learn something new everyday!
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
112 months ago
Are there really MacRumors readers that don’t know this?
Yes, I am a regular here and didn’t know it. There are a lot of shortcuts in iOS, macOS, and other software programs that most people do not know.

MacRumor readers may be well informed but there still much that they (we) do not know.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
112 months ago
Thanks for sharing the shortcut. It will be real helpful to me in the future. Especially when I am cleaning up my wife’s iPhone. She usually has 20 to 30 tabs open.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Lopezzi Avatar
112 months ago
Thanks for sharing the shortcut. It will be real helpful to me in the future. Especially when I am cleaning up my wife’s iPhone. She usually has 20 to 30 tabs open.
My wife is notorious for having lots of tabs open. I asked her to perform the steps and then tell me what the top option says. She gets back to me, "It says Close All 117 tabs". :eek: Hahaha.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
artfossil Avatar
112 months ago
Are there really MacRumors readers that don’t know this?
Some of us (raises hand) are lazy/distracted/forgetful and appreciate getting useful information—even if we’re supposed to know it (and maybe did at one time).
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
smirking Avatar
108 months ago
I wish I knew this last week. I had to close two years worth of tabs on my dad's phone when I helped him with a tech problem.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone 18 Pro Deep Red Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching in Two Months With These 12 New Features

Friday July 24, 2026 7:26 pm PDT by
It is now late July, and that means the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are less than two months away. The devices are expected to look similar to the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, but there will still be many year-over-year changes, with rumored features including a smaller Dynamic Island, 5G via satellite, and more. Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro...
Apple Intelligence Comes Under Fire Feature

Apple Will 'Watch Everything Burn' When AI Bubble Bursts - Ed Zitron

Monday July 27, 2026 7:11 am PDT by
Memory prices have doubled, Macs and iPads have gone up, and iPhones are expected to follow. Ed Zitron – who writes the Where's Your Ed At newsletter, hosts the Better Offline podcast, and has been described by Politico as the AI boom's most "acerbic gadfly" – has spent years arguing the buildout driving those costs will never pay for itself. We asked him what happens to Apple if he's...
iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max Feature

'Apple Upgrade' Program Launching on Tuesday

Sunday July 26, 2026 8:20 am PDT by
Update — July 28: Apple Upgrade has officially launched. In his newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reiterated that a new "Apple Upgrade" program is set to launch in the U.S. on Tuesday, July 28. Apple will stop accepting iPhone Upgrade Program sign-ups on the same day, but he said customers who are already enrolled will be able to remain in the program "for the time being." ...