Safari desktop mode iOS 15

How to use the redesigned Safari browser in iOS 15

Safari has had a visual overhaul in iOS 15 - here's how to use it

By Lewis Painter, Senior Staff Writer| 20 Sep 2021

iOS 15 offers a number of changes to the iPhone experience. Among the more radical is the redesign of Safari and, in particular, moving the address bar from the top of the page to the bottom. But while thats the most immediately noticeable change, Safari has had a number of tweaks in iOS 15, and it might take a little bit of getting used to.

So, if youve downloaded iOS 15 and want to find out how to get the most out of the redesigned mobile Safari browser, keep on reading.

The redesigned navigation bar

Likely the very first change youll notice when you open Safari in iOS 15 for the first time, Apple has moved the address bar from the top to the bottom of the screen.

In fact, its no longer just the address bar, with the upgraded "tab bar" offering multiple features and functions to speed up the mobile browsing experience.

Sat at the bottom of the display, the tab bar shows the site alongside the Backwards, Forwards, Share, Bookmark and Tab buttons more on the latter a little later.

Tapping on the URL will bring the address bar back to the top of the page, allowing full access to your keyboard to type the URL or search term youd like to lookup. Its also where youll be able to access your favourites, frequently visited sites and links shared with you in the Messages app.

The latter is a new addition to the Safari experience, saving you the effort of scrolling through long message threads to find a website you were sent a week prior.

As the page loads and you begin scrolling, the tab bar will slide down to the bottom of the screen for a full-screen browsing experience. You can simply tap it or scroll upwards to make it reappear, and if it becomes annoying, you can disable the function by going to Settings > Safari and toggling Auto-minimise Tab Bar off.

There's a reload button on the tab bar, but you can also reload simply by scrolling to the top of the page and pulling it down. Its not a new idea, with the functionality used by plenty of apps including the competing Chrome browser for iOS, but its nice to see it finally implemented in Apples first-party browser.

New tab functionality

Tabs have also been redesigned in iOS 15, offering a more fluid experience than what has been available on iPhone up until now.

The easiest way to switch between recently opened tabs in iOS 15 is to simply swipe left or right on the Tab bar it works in a similar way to quickly switching apps by swiping the Home bar, but the close proximity to the Home tab means it can take a little bit of getting used to.

Thats ideal if youve got a handful of tabs open, but what if youre a passionate Safari power user with 25+ tabs open at any one time? Thats where the Tab menu comes into play.

The tab menu, accessible by tapping the Tab button on the tab bar, has a familiar look and layout albeit much cleaner. Youve got an overview of each currently open tab, with an X in the top-right allowing you to quickly close any old tabs.

You can press and hold a specific tab to access advanced options like arranging tabs by title or by website, or even closing every other tab aside from the one youve selected. You can also scroll to the very top of the page to access the Search function, allowing you to search for a specific site among your open tabs.

But what about private tabs? Theyre still around, but you need to access them in a slightly different way. Tap the arrow next to X tabs (with X representing the number of tabs you currently have open) on the Tab bar and tap Private.

Your public tabs will disappear, replaced by private browsing tabs that wont save your browsing history perfect for searching for surprise birthday gifts and other bits.

Tab groups

While technically a part of the new tab functionality, we think tab groups are important enough to get their own section in our explainer. Why? It could potentially change the Safari experience for power users, but its also very easy to miss.

When in the Tab menu, tap the arrow on the Tab bar to access Tab Groups. From here, you have the option of either saving all currently open tabs as a new Tab Group, or you can create a Tab Group from scratch and manually select which open tabs to add.

No matter what you decide, youll have to create a name for your Tab Group choose something thatll represent your collection, as itll make it easier to select from a list of groups later on.

From that point on, youll be able to switch between different Tab Groups from the tab menu. To add tabs to a specific group, long-press the tab and tap Move to Tab Group.

What does this mean? It essentially means that you can set up a tab group for your favourite news sites, another for that woodworking project youve been looking into and another with all your favourite online storefronts rather than having a huge sprawling list of unorganised tabs. It could be a real boon for power users.

For more help, take a look at our top iOS 15 tips and tricks.

Related content

• Latest iOS 15 news
• How to downgrade from iOS 15
• Latest iPhone 13 news
• Which iPhone should I buy?