Reopen Recently Closed Tabs in Safari on iPhone & iPad

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.

The reopening closed tab is a life savior, especially when you have accidentally closed the browser or a tab. Apple Safari officially does support the recently closed tab option within the browser, and we can also use the History tab.

The feature is hidden under the New Tab icon within the Safari browser. You need to tap on hold to view the recently closed sites. [shout out to Chandler for this tip!] I use this often since I am generally paranoid and act very impulsively when I’m under stress. I often close tabs without realizing it. The open, recently closed tabs come to my rescue at times like these.

Apart from the recently closed sites, we can use the History tab. The history tab has all the records of the recent to past pages that you’ve visited. You only need to visit the History tab and select the URL to reopen.

Please note that this won’t work if you’re in private browsing since there is no history of records within the private browsing. Even if you clear the browsing data, the recently closed tabs won’t appear in the Safari browser.

Open 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. Here are the steps to open recently closed tabs:

1. Launch the Safari browser on your iPhone.
2. Tap on the Tabs  at the bottom right.
3. Now, tap and hold the Plus to pop up the recently closed tabs list.
   
4. 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 from History

We can quickly reopen the recently closed tabs within the Safari browser from the History tab. 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.
   

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 feature to reopen the recently closed tabs in Safari is helpful and a true work savior. It helps in relaunching the tabs that we have closed abruptly.

However, as mentioned, this feature won’t work when using a private mode as Safari 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 macOS computer. It can be done using the keyboard shortcut — ⌘ + Shift + t.

Let us know how valuable the reopening recently closed tabs safari feature is. Do you find this a useful option?

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 You can also report the outdated information.