iPadOS - Safari - Lost Windows, Lost Tabs, Recovery
iPadOS - Safari - Lost Windows, Lost Tabs, Recovery
“All my open tabs have been deleted”
“I lost all Safari tabs after updating to iPadOS 13. How can I restore them”
“How do I rearrange my Safari tabs without losing them”
“I accidentally closed all my Safari tabs. Can they be recovered”
“What is Open in Background / what happened to Open in New Tab”
Do these questions (or something very like them) sound familiar to you? Are you frustrated with seemingly random disappearance of your Safari window or it’s tabs? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you have likely encountered some “unexpected issues” resulting from new functionality within iPadOS. You might, perhaps, encounter difficulties after upgrading your device from a previous version of iOS - or when attempting to manipulate tabs within Safari.
This Community User Tip will attempt to explain and explore what is likely to be happening when the unexpected occurs. It is hoped that this information will assist Users (both new and veteran) to better understand and enjoy some of the enhanced functionality that Safari now brings to the party. It should be noted that this is not intended to be an exhaustive list of perceived Safari problems - but it does describe and address frequently occurring issues often seen within these community pages - and potential recovery mechanisms for when something “unexpected” should occur with your iPad.
This article is intended to identify and/or demonstrate areas of potential mis-operation, by the User, in this “new world” of iPadOS functionality. Many “issues” can, in fact, be attributed to user-error or misdirected input - perhaps resulting from use of gestures and operations utilised with earlier versions of iOS.
We must sometimes, of ourselves, recognise the need to acquire or renew our knowledge - of which it is hoped this document will assist. Please note, no criticism of the User is implied or should otherwise be inferred.
IPadOS/iOS 13 & Safari
With the introduction of iPadOS/iOS 13, Apple now significantly differentiates between System Software installed on iPad (now called iPadOS) and iPhone (iOS) - at last recognising that whilst the two related device types have much in-common, the iPad is capable of so much more. The iPad, with its significantly larger screen and greater capabilities, now has additional features - such as an enhanced User Interface (UI) and native App enhancements that specifically take advantage of iPad’s more flexible hardware and display. iPad and iPhone are different - as are now the UI and some of its revised/enhanced gestures.
One App that has been significantly enhanced in iPadOS is Safari - this being the system’s native web browser. For those familiar with Safari from the days of iOS, its implementation between iPad and iPhone was almost indistinguishable between devices. What you learnt on one device was [almost] a universal constant. With the introduction of iPadOS, those days are now past and Safari itself is altogether a different animal.
Before continuing, it is worth noting that a very comprehensive iPad User Guide for iPadOS is available within the Apple Books App. Simply search for “iPad User Guide” - or “Apple” to find all the official User Guides. An online version of the iPad User Guide is also available - but this is slightly less comprehensive than the full downloadable version. Here is a link to both:
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/ipad/ipadf3dbb83f/ipados
If you’re in a hurry to find a solution to a Safari problem, perhaps return later to the User Guide, but full review of the User Guide chapters entitled Basics, App Basics and Safari are highly recommended. At the end of this document you’ll also find some Apple Videos that provide great insight into the new multitasking features of iPadOS.
I can’t stress this enough, no amount of “assumed understanding” will replace basic knowledge of how Apple intend the revised UI to function - as implemented within iPadOS. Remember, iPadOS is different in many ways from previous versions of iOS. Other than to clarify or expand upon documented functionality, no attempt will be made here to needlessly repeat information already contained with the iPad User Guide; this discussion paper will largely confine itself to, and focus upon, the possible causes of difficulties, likely recovery methods and undocumented features.
So, to business... and the things you perhaps need to know (and understand) that are either not in the User Guide or would benefit from greater explanation.
An Overview
Why do Safari Windows and open tabs seeming have a mind of their own? Simple - they don’t - unless you are misfortunate enough to suffer a [now vanishingly] rare occurrence of Safari actually crashing its session. In the rare circumstance of a software crash, Safari will lose its current state - and has no opportunity to save anything before being re-initialised.
Since release of iPadOS 13.3, for “modern” devices (by which I mean current and recent preceding generations of iPad) with adequate system resources (3GB+ RAM), Safari is very stable; an actual software crash is now rarely seen. Older devices (with only the minimum iPadOS supported 2GB RAM configuration) are somewhat more performance constrained, but should otherwise be stable; issues with these devices generally manifest in slow(er) response to user input.
Whilst we can’t prevent an unexpected crash event, there are mitigations that can (a) reduce the impact of a crash, or (b) if we provide inappropriate user input, that causes a session/tab/window to be closed/lost, to recover from it. Possible mitigations will be discussed later.
Memory management processes (triggered when switching between Apps - or when leaving Safari “idle” for some time) may result in a process or tab-reload when later returning to the Safari App. This might, for example, cause a previously “logged-in” web session to expire an authentication-token and request re-authentication of the session (an inconvenience that we hope might be fixed, by Apple, in a future release). This is entirely beyond our control - and we can do nothing about.
So, what is the likely source of difficulties that cause a Safari Window to seemingly vanish - or tabs, that were previously open, to disappear?
Multitasking
iPadOS has a greatly enhanced multi-tasking environment - that now supports multiple “instances” of App’s, such as Safari, each instance running in its own “space” (in iPadOS parlance) within the System. Add to this an ability of iPadOS to run any of the running Safari “instances” in Split or Slide-Over Screen modes, provides further complexity to the mix.
This very complexity gives multiple opportunities for an active Safari Window and its associated tabs to seemingly go AWOL. In most cases - when “things disappear” - nothing has been lost; they have simply been moved to someplace else [accidentally or deliberately] by user input.
There are many ways to deliberately/intentionally trigger the opening of an additional Safari instance - most of which are described in detail within the iPad User Guide for iPadOS. There are also ways to trigger a new instance of Safari when least expected.
How to rearrange tabs without losing them
Rearranging tabs within Safari is possible and relatively straightforward, but beware - this is one area in which open tabs, or an entire Safari window, can go missing in a variety of ways.
From previous experience with earlier versions of iOS, you would likely believe that reordering tabs is a simple task; you just touch the tab that you wish to move, pause, then slide to a new position on the tab bar. Nope, not in iPadOS. If you now touch-and-hold a tab (i.e., a long touch), a pop-up Action Menu appears, and... oops, if you are not careful, everything but one tab vanishes!
Somehow, in this scenario, you managed to “touch” the action entitled Close Other Tabs (very helpfully highlighted, as a warning, in red text). Safari obeys your command - and immediately closes all but the tab originally selected to be moved. Don’t panic. This is a surprisingly easy error* to make - especially when using multi-finger gestures - but is recoverable.
* The Author has experienced this phenomena on multiple occasions, unexpectedly closing many open tabs. Given the apparent ease in making this error (and its potential impact), it is hoped that Apple might consider refinement of the Action Menu - requiring that actions highlighted in red text must be confirmed prior to execution. Such action-confirmation could, helpfully, be enabled from iPad Settings.
Whilst on the subject of “long-touches” and Action Menus, beware also of the View Open Tabs icon (overlapping squares) at top-right of the Safari page. A long-touch here invokes another Action Menu, the first two items in the list are again highlighted with red text as a warning; the first item will close all your open tabs! Alas, we digress...
To recover your deleted/accidentally closed tabs, touch-and-hold (i.e., long touch) the “+” icon at top right - and the list of Recently Closed Tabs will appear. Starting at the top of the list, touch the link; the selected item will be restored to the current Safari window/instance in its own tab. Now repeat - for each missing tab. It shouldn’t take too long to work through the list (unless you have hundreds of open tabs - which is asking for trouble - call it penance). Restoring Recently Closed Tabs, using this method, also restores the associated tab history.
A possible mitigation strategy to avoid loss of tabs en-masse, should you decide to plan ahead, will be described later.
As a point of interest, it is worth mentioning that iPadOS Safari has a hard-limit of 500 tabs - totalled across all open Safari instances (spaces). When attempting to open another tab, you’ll be prompted to close tabs - with action options all highlighted in red text; we’ve already learned the significance (and danger) of actions labelled with red text!
So, we’ve discovered how to not move tabs within the active Safari window, but we have also usefully discovered an Action Menu that provides some additional options for organising our tabs. You can read about these in the User Guide, or experiment with them (carefully) now that you know they’re there.
Having learned what not to do, how do you move a tab within a Safari window? To move a tab, touch the open tab that you want to move - and the instant that the tab “pops”, immediately drag the tab downwards to detach it from the tab bar; if the Action Menu appears, you paused a fraction too long before pulling downwards; just let-go - and tap safely elsewhere to dismiss the Action Menu.
Once the tab is detached from the tab-bar, you can drag it to an alternate position - then release - but beware of dragging to either extremity of the tab bar...
Dragging a tab to either extreme edge of the screen will either open a Slide-over or Split-view Safari Window - as you choose - both available views being within the currently visible Safari instance (remember, there may be multiple instances of Safari).
Note: If you really need to drag an existing tab to one or other end of the tab-bar - and find that you can’t - instead drop short of the end. Now drag the current end-tab inside the the one just dropped. Done.
It is also worth noting that with “multi-touch” you can manipulate multiple tabs...
Multi-touch and Safari tabs
Whilst the tab is detached from the tab bar, as described above, you’ll notice that the tab has a green “+” badge together with an associated number; the number indicates the number of tabs being moved/manipulated by this action.
Whilst you maintain the original touch-gesture with your finger, you can use another finger to tap/add additional tabs from the tab bar to the selection; the green badge will increment the number for each additional selected tab, indicating the number of tabs within the stack. Once selected, you can drag the stack to a new location on the tab bar.
Open new Safari tabs
Recent updates to iPadOS have also introduced dynamic Action Menus.
This change to the UI has caused some users to complain of having lost the Open New Tab option from the Action Menu (Open New Tab being an action - and label - with which they have become familiar), to be unexpectedly replaced with Open in Background.
iPadOS Safari Action Menus are now dynamic - in that the available Action Menu items/labels change to reflect Safari’s settings and available task(s). Other than improving and logically extending Safari’s UI and functionality, nothing has otherwise changed; the option that you were previously accustomed to seeing is still there.
The Open in Background “action” is correctly labelled for the current (default) setting; when selected from the menu, a New Tab is opened as a “background” process - whilst the existing open tab retains selected for input (focus).
The key Safari setting, that controls this behaviour, is here:
Settings > Safari > Open New Tabs in Background > ON
If changed to OFF, Safari’s behaviour and associated Action Menu item will reflect this change to settings. The Action Menu will now offer Open in New Tab. When selected, a New Tab will be opened as a “foreground” process - and your active tab (focus) will immediately change to the New Tab.
Within the Action Menu, Open in New Window is a further option - which opens a new tab in a new Safari instance (space) - and instantly changes the current focus to the new instance/tab.
Slide-over & Split-view - Pitfalls
To hide a Slide-over view, you simply slide the view off the right-edge of the screen; it can simply be retrieved by sliding it back from the edge.
You can easily switch between Slide-over and Split-view - these views being interchangeable. To change views, pull downwards from the top edge of the respective view using the grey grab-bar; when the window changes to a Safari icon, either pull to the edge of the screen and release to see a Split-view, or simply lift your finger and revert to Slide-over.
A Split-view can also re-proportioned 75/25, 50/50 or 25/75% - keeping both on screen - simply by dragging the central divider left or right as needed.
To remove a Slide-over view entirely, you must first convert it to a Split-view. From Split-view, using the grab-bar that appears on the central divider, expand the view that you wish to keep - dragging the divider fully over the view that you wish to remove from view.
A Slide-over view can also be easily converted back to a full screen simply by dragging the top-drag bar, of the Split-view window, to the top centre of the screen. Similarly, a Slide-over view can be simply converted to Split-view by dragging the top-drag bar to either screen edge.
Contrary to possible expectation, removing a Slide-over or Split-view from the visible Safari window does not close the view. Whilst entirely removing either of these views from the current Safari instance, the removed slide-over or Split-view instead creates an additional instance of Safari - containing the previously removed view with all its associated tabs. You may think they’re gone, but they’re not - unless deliberately force-closed.
Different iPad models have differing capabilities in context of Slide-over and Split-view - as determined by their hardware configuration. Some models, such as iPad Pro, can have multiple instances of Safari open at one time, concurrent with Split and Slide-over views, whilst simultaneously displaying a picture-in-picture video feed.
It is very easy, when managing all these windows in a touch interface environment, to cause something unexpected to happen. In most cases, nothing should be lost - but for windows to seemingly disappear. When this occurs, it is inevitable that the most important Safari window, with your most critical tabs appear to go missing. Again, don’t panic...
Find and recover a missing Safari window
If you accidentally close a Safari window, or if your Safari window seemingly disappears, you can restore it together with all its open tabs.
In iPadOS, you can now have multiple App instances (spaces) of the same App - including Safari. Many new [and not so new] Users who have not learned about the new features of iPadOS are unknowingly opening multiple instances of Safari - or inadvertently closing (or simply hiding) an existing instance together with its open tabs.
If this happens to you, with Safari open and on-screen, swipe-up from the bottom edge of the screen just enough to reveal the Dock. Don’t use the flick gesture as this will return you to the last used home screen; similarly, don’t swipe upward to the centre of the screen and pause - as this will invoke the task switcher.
With both the Safari window and dock visible, simply tap the Safari icon (this triggers the new Exposé feature of iPadOS). You will be presented with a screen containing a preview of all the currently open Safari windows (instances). Additionally, if any Safari windows have been recently closed, in the top right corner will be a “Reopen Closed Window(s)” button.
With this screen visible, touch any of the open Safari instances to return to it, together with all its associated open tabs. You can freely switch between all the open Safari instances at will; each instance is fully independent of others, together with their own set of open tabs. If you really want to close a Safari instance and its associated open tabs (yes, really close them), simply swipe it off the top of the screen from here.
If you need to recover a recently “closed” Safari instance, whether intentionally closed or “by accident”, just select the Reopen Closed Window(s) button. Your recently (!) closed Safari windows will be restored.
It’s worth mentioning that all your currently open Safari instances can also be seen in the Task Switcher screen - together with all your other open Apps. You’ll recall that the gestures to invoke the Task Switcher are to swipe upwards from the bottom edge to the centre of the screen, pause, then release - or, from any home page, use a four-finger upward swipe. For iPads with a physical Home button, you can also double tap this button to summon the Task Switcher screen.
Your most recently opened Safari instance will always be towards the right of the Task Switcher screen.
All your open Safari instances can also be found from any Home Screen (where the Dock is always visible); simply touch-and-hold the Safari icon in the Dock - and an action menu will appear. Select Show All Windows.
After updating my iPad, all my Safari tabs vanished. Launching Safari didn’t restore my open tabs.
If you update iPadOS or force-restart your iPad, it may seem that Safari and its open tabs have been lost. In all likelihood, all is well...
Allow you iPad to fully restart, then launch Safari. As before, with Safari running, expose the Dock and touch the Safari icon. All your previously running Safari instances, with associated tabs, should be there. If you have a lot of open tabs, it may take some seconds for them all to reload; be patient!
Mitigations
Stuff happens; sometimes things do go wrong - and when they do, it’s always an inconvenience.
Safari Windows and Tabs may be open for “home”, “work”, “research” or a multitude of other things. The browser may have been open for days (if not weeks or months), collecting open tabs that you eventually plan to return to. Then something bad happens... a simple slip of a finger, a moment of inattention, or a rare “crash” comes to visit your iPad.
So how should I reduce inconvenience of loosing a collection of open Safari instances and their associated tabs?
First, in addition to the possibility of loosing a substantial number of open tabs for pages that you’ve not otherwise bookmarked, it is wise to recognise that it always unwise to rely upon “cached” page data within your browser to preserve website data; source pages may be modified or removed from a website. Upon reloading the page, previously cached data can be irretrievably lost. Similarly, web browsers do occasionally “have their moments” resulting in loss of all open sessions and tabs - regardless of the operating system.
For iPadOS, the “Bookmark Open Tabs” feature is a very useful backup tool - in that you have the ability to rapidly save all open tabs within a Safari window (instance) to a backup folder, the name of which can be chosen during the save operation. This is a great tool for saving an on-line research session - keeping all tabs/sites of interest together for later recall. It should be noted that this will save the associated URL, not the cached content.
Whilst this is just one of iPadOS/iOS13.x great new features, the save mechanism remains a manual process that must be completed prior to closure/termination (planned or otherwise) of a Safari instance. Of course, the last-closed instance can always be reopened together with its associated tabs - unless a crash or critical failure were to occur.
Whilst the process to bulk-save open tabs is a manual process, it is ripe for automation using the native Apple Shortcuts App!
Here is a simple workflow to save all open tabs within a single Safari window:
Save Session
From an open Safari window, touch-and-hold the book icon to the left of the address bar; from the menu that appears, choose the second option - Add Bookmarks for n Tabs (where n = the number of open tabs in this Safari window/instance); a New Folder dialogue will appear - give it a suitable name - and Save.
Close your window if you wish - or just treat this as saving where you are so far. Saving the state of the window saves all your open tabs.
Restore Session
To restore a saved session, with a Safari window open (any window will do - but a new Safari instance is recommended), open a new window from the “+” icon; a page will appear with all your saved Favourites shown as individual icons. You will notice that your page of favourites includes one or more grouped sets of thumbnail icons (i.e., folders), one or more of which will have the folder name that you chose in the step above.
Touch-and-hold the folder icon that corresponds with the session that you wish to restore - the folder will expand and show an Actions Menu; choose the second option Open in New Tabs.
Now, all the tabs will open in the new Safari Window - just as they were when you saved them. The new Safari window, with restored tabs, can be manipulated just like any other Safari window within iPadOS.
You can have as many saved sessions/folders as you like - all with unique names. So you could, for example, save your research project at various stages or times - ready for immediate recall at will. This save/restore process is very powerful - and is completely independent of the other mechanisms within Safari to restore closed windows or individual tabs. The saved sessions will persist and be synchronised with iCloud, like any other saved Favourite, until such time as you delete them.
Likewise, how do I keep an important webpage or article? With a little forward planning, the inconvenience of loosing an important page can be greatly limited. Remember, material on a webpage can be altered or removed at the will of the page owner. If it’s important to you, and copyright allows, keep a local copy!
The recommended approach to reducing impact of unplanned events is to “save” valued webpage content as a web-archive (different Operating Systems and browsers offer this function in differing ways). iPadOS/iOS presents this feature by way of its Reading List (touch-and-hold the book icon to the left of the address bar, then touch Add to Reading List). Alternatively, you can save an entire webpage as a PDF file using the native Markup function. These features are described within the User Guide.
Post Script
Now that you’ve gotten this far - and hopefully resolved any difficulties you might have - it is perhaps worth repeating an essential earlier point; review of the User Guide chapters entitled Basics, App Basics and Safari are highly recommended... no amount of “assumed knowledge” will replace basic knowledge of how Apple intend the revised UI to function.
Here are a pair of external links, to Apple videos, that readers may also find helpful in understanding two key features of iPadOS. These may add useful context to information contained within this article:
How to Use Slide Over:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITzy5J3j5Is
How to Multitask with Split View:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSBZKr5kXYM
I sincerely hope you have found this article to be helpful - as, in finding it, you have likely already suffered some frustration or unexpected difficulties. You may wish to bookmark it, and return at a later date, as this document may be expanded and enhanced over time - providing new insight, solutions and additional tips.
LP
Published 17 January 2020
1st Revision (cleanup) 18 February 2020
2nd Revision (with new content) 21 February 2020
3rd Revision (updated with additional content) 13 July 2020
4th Revision (additional content and cleanup) 11 August 2020
All applicable rights reserved.