The Safari browser is optimized for Apple devices, which autokills the dormant and inactive processes.
If the browsing tab is not running, Safari will stop allocating the process thread, freeing up the memory space for the active tasks. You can set to stop the auto-close tab by setting it to the manual option.
In this guide, I have shared written instruction about:
Turn off the ‘Close Tab’ feature for Safari on iPhone
The Safari browser has a built-in tab management feature that automatically closes all the tabs after a specific period. It is mainly done to preserve the battery life and free up memory for other active tasks. However, we can disable this feature from settings. Here are the steps to do so:
- Launch the Phone Settings app on the iPhone.
- Scroll and select the Safari app from the settings list.
- Scroll to the Tabs section and choose to open the Close Tab option.
- Set the option to Manually from the list.
The auto-closing of the inactive tabs will be immediately disabled. The tabs will be closed only when you manually close them using the from the tabs menu.
You can read details about tab management in Safari on iPhone or iPad. If you’ve mistakenly closed a tab, you can quickly reopen the recent tab.
Open Safari with All Windows in Previous Sessions on Mac
When we close Safari on Mac, all the tabs are automatically terminated, and when relaunched, the homepage or startup page appears by default.
However, we can make a simple change to help relaunch the same tabs after reopening the browser. Here are the steps:
- Launch the Safari app on your Mac.
- Click on the Safari menu and select Settings from the drop-down.
It will open the Settings window. - Switch to the General tab in the Preferences window.
- Under Safari opens with settings, select All windows from the last session drop-down option.
- Relaunch the Safari Mac browser.
Next time when you launch the browser, all the tabs will automatically start loading.
Bottom Line
Even if the browser is forced to quit or abruptly closed due to any memory issue, it isn’t a cause of concern, as the browser shall automatically load those tabs the next time you launch the Safari browser.
The close tab feature within Safari is helpful for users who forget to close the inactive tabs. If you’re one of those people, set the preferred time to close tabs.
Lastly, if you've any thoughts or feedback, then feel free to drop in below comment box. You can also report the outdated information.
So I’ve checked and rechecked and my Tabs setting is on manual but Safari clears all tabs on my Start Page daily.
It’s only been happening since the last iOS update and not sure how to fix it.
This is really frustrating when you’ve been doing research and have to slog back through your search history to hope you find what you’d already accomplished.
I just turned my iPhone 8 plus on and I went to Safari only to see that all of my 340 something tabs had been closed automatically. I have the close tabs thing set to manually. So why did it close all of my tabs? Yes 340 is an extremely high number of tabs, but I think it shouldn’t matter how many tabs you have open. Safari shouldn’t automatically close them.
Why can’t it be easier to reopen tabs that Safari has closed? Wouldn’t it be great if there was a button in the Recently Closed Tabs thing that said “reopen all tabs”, and you press it and all of the tabs are reopened again. That was people wouldn’t have to scroll through the recently closed tabs to find the tabs that you want to reopen. Also a lot of my tabs aren’t shown in the recents closed tabs, despite being “recently closed”. Where do the tabs go when they are closed? Do they just disappear into thin air?
Thank you for any help I can get. I will send this to Apple to see what they can do. They won’t be able to do anything.
Hi Sam, looks like the iPhone has abruptly killed the Safari browser process which might lead to the closure of all the tabs (hence, it’s not appearing in recently closed tabs as well). The reason for this force killing might be the overutilization of the hardware resources. Apple’s iOS and any other OS try to limit the utilization of resource-hungry apps and programs to avoid the system breakdown.
If the recently closed tab does not have the records for tabs, you can check the Browser History. I understand it’s a tedious job, but we have no other option. As a workaround, I suggest to bookmarks the links as and when required to keep your links stored safely and avoid such mishaps.
Just started yesterday or day before
Tabs close on iPad
And it has gotten worse as they are open only as long as a few seconds
I did see a blue screen at one point
Tried the settings tab manual fix but it failed to correct
Is iPad fixable?
I am so pissed!
I set my devices to manual close however safari keeps closing them anyway!
When researching subjects I need to go back and forth between articles and tabs so I leave them open for a time.
To come back to work and find everything gone really creates frustration and a loss of valuable time.
Some subjects I research in private so those tabs are lost because history can’t pull them up.
Apple really pisses me off when they think we can’t decide what we want and need.
I wish they would fix needed stuff and STOP helping /fixing unnecessary things that we can decide.
Having the same issue for months now & it’s beyond frustrating! It will even close it when I just toggle to another app. And yet I have manually closed many tabs & they re-appear when I go back in. It’s driving me crazy!!
My settings show “all windows from last session” checkbox ticked but Apple Mac is still closing all windows on exit. Very annoying. I do not understand why Apple is lauded as such a superior technology as I find it extremely counterintuitive and complex to use. I have to google every problem and mostly the standard instructions for fixes don’t work as per the above. I wish I had stuck with Microsoft.
I lose them when I accidentally open another image or document or link in Safari on my iPad. The new window has no tabs and becomes the default with no tabs. When I close and reopen Safari all my tabs are gone no matter what…
This is also my issue. Auto close is set to manual but, for instance, if I accidentally open a safari page from email (I think with a long press perhaps, not a normal open), a minimized page opens in safari and loses all my other open tabs.
I have Big Sur on my Mac. I opened Preferences >General, but the options shown are different to the ones you show.
My iPadPro is set on Manual — after having it happen twice before. However, I just lost them all just the same. And the half dozen were viewed each day, too. No way to easily reconstruct. Why did this happen?
by any chance did you close these tabs on other connected devices like iPhone or Mac? The safari browser stays synced with all the connected devices and it’s possible to be autoclosed.
I have the same problem. Both my iPad Pro and iPhone are set to manual. I only have the problem on my iPad Pro.
My iPhone already was on manually but safari is still deleting my tabs after a week or so, not sure what’s going on but it is extremely annoying
This seems to be broken. Even a few others users have reported the same. You can file the issue with Apple Safari developers.
Mine is auto closing also really upsetting and mine is set to manual
Im at a loss as to what to do
Same here. It is extremely annoying.
Same here. I had it as manual and this morning all open tabs were gone unless I had them in a tab folder. Those are still there thank God! But I’m angry it automatically closed all the ones open not in a folder.
Same it literally happened to me just now
This happens to me too, but it happens when I switch tab groups. For ex. I have the general tab that you use when you use safari, and other tab groups for other things. When I go to one tab group back to the general, it’s all gone.
I read something saying it might be so it the cookies saved on the phone? Said to go to settings>Safari>advanced>Website data>delete and it fixed it for them.
Only issue is you’ll have to re-log in to any and all your accounts.
If this doesn’t work I’ll just use Google chrome from now on.
My phone is set fine as is my MacBook Pro but with them same settings activated on my iPad it is still shutting everything down I have open ! Does anyone have any more ideas! Too much to do to constantly go through and reopen every damn page!