You can easily open the recently closed tab in the Safari browser. Tap and hold the Plus icon in the menu bar, Safari pops up the recently closed tabs where we can choose the required tab to reopen.
Alternatively, the browsing history menu can launch the previously closed tabs.
In this guide, I have shared written instruction about:
Reopen the Recently Closed Tabs
The Safari browser does not have direct options menus like a Chrome or Edge browser. Even the Recently Closed Tabs option is secretly hidden under the New Tab.
- Launch the Safari browser on your iPhone.
- Tap on the Tabs
at the bottom right. - Now, tap and hold the Plus
to pop up the recently closed tabs list.
- Select the preferred site from Recently Closed Tabs.
The recently closed tabs will be launched in the new tab. The New Tab icon is available in the right corner if you use the iPad. Just tap and hold the sign to pop up the closed tabs list.
Open the Recent Pages from History
History has all the browsing records that can be easily accessed.
- Launch the Safari browser app on iOS/iPadOS.
- Tap on the Book icon on the safari window.
- Select the History icon tab.
- Tap on the Link to reopen the recently closed tab.
It will reopen the closed websites in a new tab on the Safari browser, where you can continue the session you left.
Bottom Line
The Safari browser helps in relaunching the tabs that we have closed abruptly. However, the option is hidden in the new tab button.
However, this feature won’t work when using a private mode as browser needs to remember the last closed tab, and private browsing does not allow the saving of any activity.
Similarly, we can also open the recently closed tabs in the Safari on Mac. It can be done using the keyboard shortcut — + + .
Lastly, if you've any thoughts or feedback, then feel free to drop in below comment box. You can also report the outdated information.
Very disappointing. This is the second time the pages were all wiped clean. And, extremely frustrating as there is no way to receive the open tabs.
Hello Cam, you can check the browsing history page to identify the sites that were abruptly closed.
Safari is shit. On Chrome you can open all closed tabs at once in a new browser instance. Why bother with an inferior product and its deficiencies?
Hello, i accidentally closed all my 50+ on my chrome and i dont use safari and use only chrome so i am really helpless… my tabs are from years ago so searching it on my history will take too much time so can you please help me🙏
Hello, i didn’t use safari and i just use chrome…i accidentally closed all my 50+ tabs and searching it on my history will take too long. i use an ipad and i already searched it on goggle how to reopened it but its mainly safari
Can you please help🙏
This was a lifesaver! Closed a tab for a recipe I could not find again. My history was deleted so no help there. Holding down the + took me right back to the tab I needed. Thanks!
Glad it helped!
Some or most of this is incorrect, I keep loosing my tabs and try these so-called solutions and it works to a point. This last time I lost the all, the new tab thing kept some current ones and the history only went back so far. Neither kept some that were older, but still in the tabs. Still searching to find out how to retrieve or restore older ones. Although one I had just visited a few weeks ago was lost also, not understanding why it did not come up.
Hello Ken, there seems to be a bug in the Safari browser that causing the same issue with a lot of other users too. Please be patient or report to Apple engineers to fix this issue.
Worked for me, holding +
Thank you!
Your article is misleading. Just click and hold the + sign in the upper right corner to see the actual Recently Closed Tabs
Wow, thank you so much, Chandler. I wasn’t aware of this feature. I’m updating the article.
I just got an iPhone 12 Pro Max with iOS 14.4.2 and this tip (the + sign) no longer works. Tap & hold the + (plus sign) and all you get is a notice that you’re opening a new tab. It does work on my iPad, with iOS 14.4.2.
This is completely misleading. Restoring a tab from history isnt “restoring a closed tab” it’s revisiting a page from your recent history. If you closed a tab from a page you looked at over a month ago, it’s gonna gonna appear in your history. 🤦🏼♀️ So this “solution” is bullshit. Don’t mislead people just to draw them to your site. This isn’t a tutorial for restoring closed tabs.
Hi Alice, thanks for the feedback! Appreciate it. Unfortunately, the Safari browser on iPhone or iPad does not have the exclusive option to “Reopen Closed Tab”. However, with this article, I am trying to give a workaround. I know it’s not the perfect solution. But, at least you can reopen closed tabs from the History.
Perhaps, the Apple Safari may introduce the feature into its hand-held device (iPhone’s and iPad’s) when this page becomes more relevant. Till that time, I think this is probably the best workaround and solutions to reopen recently closed tabs. Hope this clarifies.
Hi Alice, apologies for the incomplete solution earlier. I’ve updated the post and now you will find it complete. The option to reopen the recently closed tab is hidden under the New Tab + icon. Thanks to Chandler who helped with this tip.