My iPad software is up to date (iPadOS 13.3), and all my Safari tabs have suddenly disappeared today! I have never had this problem before, nor have I done anything different whilst using Safari. I normally use Private browsing mode. It is as though there has been a total reset of Safari. (I have also restarted my iPad since discovering this problem.) Can anyone explain what has happened? And how I can restore all my tabs? Thanks.
iPad Air 2, iOS 13
Did you look to see if you have more than one instance of Safari running? As outlined therein, this is a frequent area of confusion; seemingly lost tabs are often found “intact” within another Safari Window.
The list of Recently Closed windows does not persist indefinitely. If the window was closed yesterday, then it’s likely gone for good. If so, you should still be able to recover tabs from your Safari History.
This help article might be helpful to you in understanding possible causes and solutions:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250002077
Please let us know if this helps you.
Sorry - if you’ve followed my linked-guide on this subject, then you’ve already explored all the available options and known workarounds. If you have been using Safari (or any browser) in “Private” mode, then no history will be saved for anything accessed in this mode.
If you can offer any constructive feedback on the guide (which took considerable time to create), on its own page, assuming that it was liked/helpful or otherwise - it would be most appreciated. Any feedback received will help me to make it better still.
Hi again. I haven’t checked everything exhaustively yet, but will try and look later.
I have to say that I find all this extremely frustrating, as I am not a computer numpty! I have a degree in Computer Science and have worked in software development all my working life so am not easily beaten by technical problems! The fact that I seemingly was, unwittingly, able to destroy all this information is rather worrying - I had always thought that Apple software was extremely robust. Nobody dies as a result of losing all this information, but it is extremely annoying given that many of the tabs were created as aide memoires - and I have still no idea what I did to suddenly generate a 2nd version of Safari!
Thanks, but even following the instructions about finding and recovering lost Safari windows did not help - there were no “recently closed” windows to recover.
Having read the article, I do now remember that I suddenly had a split Safari screen appear yesterday, and somehow managed to get rid of it! I suspect that might now have something to do with it, but, even following the instructions in the article, the old Safari window does not seem to manifest itself. Is there anything else I can do?
Hi. Yes, I did look for other Safari windows but it only brought up today’s new “empty” Safari windows.
I did close the Safari window yesterday (I rarely leave the window open), but the tabs are not in my Safari history. Looks like they’ve all gone... unless there’s something else I can try?
Thanks.
Hi. I certainly appreciate the frustration that you have experienced - I’ve been there - hence my efforts to try to document the known common causes and remedies for many of these situations. In writing the guide, I hope to have documented both “features” and pitfalls of iPadOS Safari that I and others have encountered - sometimes more than once!
The real problem, for many (if we are honest about this) is that iOS used to be a rather simple affair - without the more complex features of other platforms. Safari, Mail and other native Apps were really simple - with a very simple and intuitive UI. However, with the increasing power and shear untapped capabilities of iPad, with iPadOS, Apple have finally given us something significantly more complex. Attempting this within a “touch” UI is a challenge - and some of the necessary changes can catch us out. We, the end-user, can and do make errors; if there’s a tripwire, we’ll find it sooner or later!
Having spent considerable time with iPadOS, I now believe it to be a long-awaited improvement that genuinely makes the environment so much more useful - with great flexibility. It takes a little more time to learn (and reading the User Guide is, I suggest, absolutely essential) - and sharing the known pitfalls and knowledge amongst the community can only help to make it even better.
Anyhow, I hope the linked guide proves to be useful. If you have the time, any feedback would be appreciated.
-LP
Safari tabs on iPad totally disappeared
