How to close Safari windows on iPad iOS 15

When you tap the Safari browser, a row of mini opened windows saying “Start Screen” appear at the bottom of the screen below. Tapping the screen or “edit” will remove them. How do you permanently delete them so they do not keep reappearing? If you press and hold the Safari app, an option for “Show All Windows” will appear and makes all these opened windows larger squares that fill the screen. However, there is no option to delete them. Usually opened windows have an “X” so you can close them out but the ones saying “Start Screen” do not. The “Edit” option is only for customizing the Safari browser, and the other options on the top left and right of the screen will not delete them either. I noticed this problem with opened windows on my email and notes app. It is really annoying! It would be great to hear from Apple Support so this issue can be fixed in a future iOS update. There needs to be an easily accessible DELETE option to close out these mini opened windows!

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Posted on Jan 8, 2022 5:49 AM

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LotusPilot

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Posted on May 11, 2022 7:07 AM

Having updated to iPadOS15, you have now encountered the “Shelf” - this being a new feature of the now revised iPadOS multitasking environment.

iPadOS permits you to have multiple “instances” of the same App - each instance being self contained. The shelf, when triggered, shows a thumbnail of each running instance of an App.

For example, if you have three running instances of Safari, each with its own set of open tabs, you will see three thumbnails corresponding to each running instance of Safari - plus a button to open a new instance of Safari. Simply tapping a thumbnail will switch directly to that running instance of Safari. Each App - such as Mail, Safari, Notes, Calendar, etc. - has its own corresponding shelf.

Individual open instances of an App can be closed directly from the Shelf; just swipe the unwanted thumbnail off the top of the screen. Note, however, that Multitasking and associated Shelf functions cannot be disabled.

This article from Appleinsider has a useful explanation of this new feature along with many of the updates to multitasking:

https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/08/12/how-to-master-multitasking-on-ipad-and-ipad-pro-in-ipados-15

The iPad User Guide is also a rich source of frequently overlooked information. The Guide is available both online using a web browser (such as Safari), or as an Apple Books download:

iPad User Guide - Apple Support

https://books.apple.com/book/id1567104892

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How to close Safari windows on iPad iOS 15

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