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Reopen Recently Closed Tabs in Safari on iPhone & iPad

Need to reopen a recently closed tab in Safari on your iPhone and iPad? Find out how to quickly restore tabs you've closed in Safari on your iOS device.

We can easily open the recently closed tab on Safari browser for iPhone and iPad.

When we 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, we have shared the steps to reopen the recently closed tabs in Apple Safari on iPhone and iPad.

Reopening the Recently Closed Tabs in Safari on iPhone

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. Here are the steps to open recently closed tabs:

  1. Launch the Safari browser on your iPhone.
  2. Tap on the Tabs multi tab icon at the bottom right.
  3. Now, tap and hold the Plus plus add icon to pop up the recently closed tabs list.
    Recently Closed Tabs in Apple Safari iPhone
  4. Select the preferred site from Recently Closed Tabs.

The recently closed tabs will be launched in the new tab. The New Tab plus add icon 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.

Opening the Recent Pages from History in Safari on iPhone

History has all the browsing records that can be easily accessed. Here are the steps to reopen the closed tabs:

  1. Launch the Safari browser app on iOS/iPadOS.
  2. Tap on the Book icon on the safari window.
  3. Select the History icon tab.
  4. Tap on the Link to reopen the recently closed tab.
    Browser History for Reopen Closed Tabs in Safari iOS

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 + Shift + t.

Lastly, if you've any thoughts or feedback, then feel free to drop in below comment box. You can also report the outdated information.

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Kushal Azza

Kushal Azza

Kushal Azza is a Google Certified IT Professional, Digital Content Creator, and Go-To Digital Marketer with Engineering Degree. He has over a decade of experience solving tech problems, troubleshooting, and innovating digital solutions. Follow him on Twitter and LinkedIn.

3 comments and feedback

  1. 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.

  2. 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?

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