If you are like most iPhone users, Safari is likely your gateway to the web. It is fast, battery-efficient, and comes pre-installed on your device. However, despite using it every single day, many people treat Safari just like a basic window to the internet, missing out on a suite of powerful features designed to make life easier.
Apple has packed its browser with tools that can help you organize your digital life, protect your privacy, and read articles without headache-inducing distractions. Whether you are planning a holiday, shopping for gifts, or just doom-scrolling the news, a few simple tweaks can transform your experience.
Let’s dive into the essential tips and tricks that will help you stop browsing like a novice and start surfing smarter.
1. Tame the Tab Chaos with Tab Groups
We have all been there: you open Safari to look up a recipe, then check your email, then click a link to a news story, and suddenly you have 47 tabs open. It becomes impossible to find what you were originally looking for. For years, the solution was to relentlessly close tabs or just live in the mess. Enter Tab Groups.
Tab Groups allow you to organize your open windows into dedicated categories. Imagine you are planning a vacation. You can have one group dedicated solely to "Italy Trip" containing your flight options, hotel bookings, and restaurant reviews. You can switch away from that group to your "Work" group or your generic "Browsing" group instantly, hiding the vacation clutter until you are ready to look at it again.
Here is how to set up your first Tab Group:
- Open Safari and tap the Tabs icon (the two overlapping squares in the bottom right corner).
- Tap the middle button at the bottom of the screen where it says "Start Page" or "X Tabs."
- Select New Empty Tab Group from the menu.
- Name your group (e.g., "Shopping," "Recipes," or "News") and tap Save.
Once created, you can easily toggle between your groups. It is like having a separate browser for every aspect of your life.
Pro Tip: If you are a digital hoarder who forgets to close tabs, let Safari do the cleaning for you. Go to Settings > Safari > Close Tabs and change it from "Manually" to "After one month." Your phone will quietly tidy up old pages you haven't looked at in weeks.
2. Customize Your Interface for One-Handed Use
When Apple moved the address bar (the place where you type URLs) to the bottom of the screen in iOS 15, it caused quite a stir. Some loved it; others hated it. However, there is a very practical reason for the change: thumb reach.
With screens getting larger (looking at you, iPhone Pro Max users), reaching the top of the display to type a search query requires two hands or some dangerous finger gymnastics. Having the bar at the bottom allows you to navigate, type, and switch tabs using just your thumb.
However, Safari is all about choice. If you prefer the classic look, you can easily switch it back, or you can lean into the customization even further by changing your Start Page background.
To customize your Start Page:
- Open a new tab to view the Start Page.
- Scroll all the way to the bottom and tap Edit.
- Here, you can toggle on/off sections like Favorites, Privacy Report, and Reading List.
- Turn on Background Image to choose a preset wallpaper or select a photo from your own camera roll.
Now, every time you open a new tab, you are greeted by a photo of your dog or a beautiful landscape rather than a stark grey background.
3. Cut the Clutter with Reader Mode
The modern web is noisy. You click on an article to read about a new movie, and suddenly the text is jumping around because an ad is loading, a video is auto-playing in the corner, and a newsletter popup is blocking the second paragraph. It is exhausting.
Safari’s Reader View is arguably its most underrated feature. It strips away ads, navigation bars, and distracting videos, leaving you with clean, legible text and relevant images. It turns a chaotic webpage into something resembling a clean eBook.
Using it is incredibly simple:
- Visit a webpage that contains an article or news story.
- Look at the address bar (bottom or top) and tap the "aA" icon.
- Select Show Reader from the menu.
Once you are in Reader View, you can tap the "aA" icon again to change the font, make the text larger, or switch the background color to black (perfect for reading in bed without waking your partner).
Quick Shortcut: You don't even need to open the menu. You can simply long-press the "aA" icon to instantly toggle Reader View on and off. It is a game-changer for quick reading.
4. Master Privacy and "Hide My Email"
Apple has staked its reputation on privacy, and Safari is the frontline of that defense. You may have noticed a shield icon on your start page; this is your Privacy Report. It shows you exactly which cross-site trackers Safari has blocked from following you around the internet.
While the Privacy Report works automatically, there is another feature that requires a bit of interaction but offers massive benefits: Hide My Email. This is available if you subscribe to iCloud+ (which most people do for storage).
We have all abandoned a shopping cart or a newsletter sign-up because we didn't want to give out our real email address and get spammed forever. Safari integrates directly with iCloud to solve this.
When you tap on an email field in a sign-up form within Safari:
- Look for the "Hide My Email" option in the suggestion bar above your keyboard.
- Select it, and Apple will instantly generate a random, unique email address (like pizza.fanatic.0z@icloud.com).
- Safari autofills this fake address. Any email sent to it is forwarded to your real inbox.
If that company starts spamming you, you can simply go into your iCloud settings and delete that specific random email address. The spam stops instantly, and your real email remains safe.
5. Speed Up with Gestures and Search
Finally, let’s talk about speed. If you are still tapping buttons for every action, you are moving too slowly. Safari supports a variety of gestures that make navigation feel fluid and fast.
The Swipe Switch: If you are using the bottom tab bar design, you can place your thumb on the address bar and swipe left or right. This instantly switches between your open tabs. It is much faster than opening the grid view to select a different page.
Find on Page: On a desktop computer, everyone knows "Control+F" (or Command+F) helps you find a specific word in a long document. Many users think this is impossible on an iPhone, but it is actually built right in.
- Tap the address bar.
- Type the word you are looking for (e.g., "return policy").
- Do not hit "Go." Instead, scroll to the very bottom of the search suggestions list.
- Tap the option under "On This Page." Safari will highlight the text and let you jump through every instance of that word.
Link Previews: Not sure where a link goes? Long-press (tap and hold) on any hyperlink. A small window will pop up showing you a preview of the page without actually taking you there. This is great for checking if a link is relevant before you commit to leaving your current page.
Start Surfing Smarter Today
Safari is capable of much more than just loading Google results. By organizing your tabs, customizing your layout to fit your hand, and utilizing privacy tools, you can turn your web browsing from a mundane utility into a tailored, efficient experience.
You don't need to memorize all these tips at once. Try setting up a Tab Group today, or force yourself to use Reader Mode the next time you open a news article. Once these small habits stick, you’ll wonder how you ever browsed without them.