iPad OS 13.1.2 - Safari tabs not reopening after crash

Hi, try swiping up from bottom of screen to open the app switcher to view your open apps. Then go through them and look for other Safari windows. Each one will say how many tabs it has open. Your lost Safari tabs are most likely in another window and when you’re opening the app you’re accessing a new window.

it’s painful to start with but when you’re used to it it’s quite useful.

I had this happen the other day too!! However, I discovered something very interesting today.

It seems that Safari on my iPad now has multiple WINDOWS as well as multiple tabs. After Safari crashed and I reopened it, it seemed like I had lost my tabs. However, Safari had just opened a new window!! My tabs were still there, just in another window.

However, this is the frustrating thing: the only place I’ve been able to change between windows is when I split the screen between another app and Safari. For instance, if I’m running YouTube, then I slide up from the bottom of the screen, hold down the Safari icon, and then drag it up to split the screen. On the Safari side, I now can see my multiple windows, each with multiple tabs! Once I select one though, I can’t find a way to go between them without going through this process again. So... still a problem.

I’ll also report the issue to Apple, but thought you might try this to find your missing tabs!

Same problem, using IPad Air 3rd Gen, just been onto Apple Support. To do with the latest update... Apparently I was opening a NEW Safari page, hence no previous tabs. Double clicking on the Home button brought up previous Safari pages with my tabs still on it. Still not clear why it gives me a new safari page in the 1st place but at least I can recover them now!

Hi, please read my reply to post below. Safari is fine, no need to change. This is not a bug but a change. Safari on iPadOS can have multiple windows, so the lost tabs aren’t actually lost, just in another window. Check in app switcher. Read my other post for more.

Well, as research is clearly an important task for you - and you seemingly associate a single “project” with an open window (instance) of Safari - try out this simple workflow...

Save Session

When you are taking a break from your session, you can easily save your all the open tabs for this session in a single step. To do so, touch-and-hold the book icon to the left of the address bar, and 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 not only saves all your open tabs, but also saves the entire history of each tab as well!

Restore Session

To restore a saved session, with a Safari window open (any window will do), open a new window; 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 (and associated tab histories) 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.

I use this simple mechanism all the time - to manage individual (open) browsing sessions between, work, research and domestic - easily switching between them as needed. This process also protects you from the frustrations of an accidentally closed Safari window (or multiple windows).

I hope you find these tips helpful - particularly in light of your described usage.

I had a similar experience as 23/11 Chappnet. Holding the "+" button on the top tight in the safari window offers you the option to re-open recently closed tabs. I started opening recently closed tabs this way and it turned out that some tabs had been hidden behind (merged) behind other tabs. So opening one "recently closed tab" effectively opened more r.c.t.'s.

Still a lot useful history lost.....

If you have iPadOS 13.1.2 installed (this version has many serious bugs) - you need to update it to the current version 13.2.2.

Hello,

Try resetting iPad's settings in Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings. Be certain you do not select Erase All Content and Settings as this will erase all of your information. It is a good idea to perform a backup of your iPad prior to resetting its settings.

I found a setting in iOS and iPadOS that resolved the issue for me!

Open Settings

Scoll down to Safari

Scoll down to the Tabs section

Select the Close Tabs option

Ensure that Manually is selected

I don’t remember what my devices were set to after upgrading to iOS/iPadOS 13.0, but changing Close Tabs to Manually prevents Safari from automatically closing tabs that haven’t been used for a while.

Please let me know if this resolves the issue for you too!

-JeffH

Not sure that this directly answers your question (Re crashes) but I think it addresses many of the responses...

iPadOS can have multiple instances of safari open at once. If you swipe up to open task switcher you may see more than one safari window. Each one has its own set of open tabs (so they haven’t disappeared, just in another window!)

So, once we know this we can use it to better organise, eg, use one for study or work and the other for play!

But mine are closing despite set to “manually”, that is why I am using an alternate browser now, at least till Apple fixes the bug.