How to change Safari tabs back to stacked iOS 15

Unfortunately, 15.3.1 did not include a return to stacked tabs or an option to choose or revert to stacked tabs. This whole tab grid layout is INFURIATING… yet remains 😔🤬. I haven’t noticed anything equally perturbing in 15.3.1 — at least, not yet.

Best solution may be to try other browsers as there is no longer any advantage in safari. Edge seems load pages quite a bit faster and has other options.

There is no solution online , Apple dictates its own garden and do not care what do you want

100 % agree! It’s so dumb not to have this option. I’m less worried about where the browser bar is located, than finding a solution to this stupid gallery style tabs rather than the stacked view. For those of us with a lot of open tabs and little time we need speed and not leisurely star gazing our browser tabs.

Fix this Apple! Show us how PLEASE!

It’s driving me insane as well - seem so backward. I used to be able to scroll very quickly through the stack and had all my tabs nicely ordered. It now takes ages in this new imposed page view to find what I want. I cannot see how anyone at Apple can think this is a step forward. It’s just so I un- user friendly!!!! Really regretting updating my iOS now!

Hello, I agree, poor design. Any updates with helpful information to change it back? I’ve been looking everywhere to find the solution and all I keep finding is “choose the option ‘single tab’” which changes nothing on my phone.

The new layout for Safari open pages/tabs is absolutely NOT functional and it’s very disappointing to think how Apple wanted this as a feature! Safari has had the same function for open pages/tabs for as long as I can remember and it has always been very functional and aesthetically pleasing (just another part of its pure function) because it stacked the pages like a filing cabinet where you could very quickly see all titles/labels clearly (and imagery etc on page itself), scroll through very quickly, able to digest a lot of info at once, and take action with ease. Makes sense 100%, in real life filing cabinets and online in applications like Safari.

But now, the worst design… imagine in real world taking a lot of documents out of file and spreading them all out in front of you on the floor, laying flat side by side, and just keep them there, lots just spread out… All while you are standing trying to see what they say or file through etc?! Can you imagine if you had to do it that way everyday?! You wouldn’t, it doesn’t work and that’s why filing systems work. Well, that’s what the equivalent of this is like with the new Safari update and IT IS UNUSABLE.

The new layout makes it where you cannot see page titles and/or page content easily (even with great eyes) and you can’t thumb through them, only some can be on screen at a time… what’s the point of having it if you don’t have these essential features? That’s literally the entire job of the tabs! Don’t fix what’s not broken; classic and intuitive design stays because it’s been solved and it works hands down.

Apple support, can you please share with us how to get the stacked tab layout back? The “single tab” option does nothing for this. Please advise. Thanks so much!!!

This change is, as others are saying, very annoying. Please tell us how to get back to the stacked tabs we know and love!!

what was the point in making tabs so hard to work with? Help! Please fix it or at least respond to our concerns - and remember we are only trying to help Apple have the best possible product…

As numerous other users noticed, switching between single tab and “tab bar” changes nothing, and the new way safari shows tabs makes it impossible to see ANYTHING—the shrift is too small to distinguish which tab is what. I need to go manually through all the tabs one by one to find the tab I need, which consumes an immense amount of time!! This is insane DO REVERSE THAT FEATURE BACK AS IS WAS !!!!!!!!!!

Because Apple likes to get a rise out of people; it makes them feel powerful.

Clearly, this is a step in the wrong direction, and an example of Apple trying to copy Google, but Apple could have introduced Group Tabs with the stacked tabs. Instead they chose to tile their tabs, just like Google does. But we don’t like the tab files on Google either. Dumb Apple…

Chris,

I agree with all these folks that the new tab layout as tiles (similar to Google) is not as easy to see, read and navigate as the older tiled pages that could still be seen and read as swiped through. Now, it’s a game of memory as the tab tiles do not contain enough graphic information to make them discernible from one another.

This retards the users’ experience, forcing a time consuming gambit fumbling for a particular tab.

Also, the new tab group function is dumb, and bloats the interface.

I use bookmarks, and I close tabs when I’m through using them. I do not keep all my tabs open all the time, so maybe I’ll take some time and tab them together… WTF?

Excellent assessment - a staggeringly bad redesign which seriously hampers the tab accessibility. Any UX design engineer worth the money will immediately identify the multiple accessibility and usability issues here which makes the change itself appear gratuitous in the extreme. For starters, the text is the primary indicator of content not the image and both are now much smaller; the visual/spatial movement required is massively increased to flip through tabs which reduces efficiency especially if your vision is less acute; the text is underneath the thumbnail (seriously who thought that was clever?). The list goes on. Monumentally poor quality control at the UX design level for this which is such a key usability feature it has me reassessing Edge, Chrome and Firefox to replace Safari on the iPhone. Pay attention - give the option to revert and also assess how this retrograde UI change made it through the delivery process.

Curious to know how your effort at adaptation worked out for you. Are you happy (enough) with it?

As I've said a couple of times on this topic, I said "screw it" and switched my browser to Opera. No regrets.

As someone who has never contributed here and rarely visited, does Apple ever respond to these queries and suggestions?

my experience with Apple support this week is less efficient than talking to a wall, it was actually detrimental- I was advised by Support to update to ios15 to solve a storage issue and ended up losing 10+gig music and not resolving the storage issue.

The new iOS also changed Safari stacking tabs to a much less efficient system with no user alternatives to return to the stacked file system.

It appears other contributors have more eloquently expressed their dismay at this illogical “improvement”, so why doesn’t an Apple rep respond???

Such a mess, cannot stand the new “tab” layout, and I definitely want the “stacked” view back. After reading through this forum, I can see I’m not alone.

I have changed to Opera like others on here suggested. Opera is much better than having to waste my time with the new layout on Safari, but the old safari layout beats Opera any day. Please give us the option Apple!

If this doesn’t change, my whole household will switch to a different maker for our phone and tablet needs, and we’ve been loyal to Apple going back to iPhone 3. By the way Apple, that is 6 personal iPhones, 2 business phones, 6 personal iPads, and 2 business iPads. We all used to use Safari for everything, work research, school research, etc…but it’s next to impossible to figure out what tab is the one I’m looking for, and leads to an enormous amount of frustration, not to mention accidentally deleted tabs!

Wish I could unwind this update!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!