ipad air safari hide address bar

How-To Geek

How to hide the tab bar on safari for ipad (or show it).

Tired of seeing the tabs bar on Safari for iPad? If you're looking for a sleeker screen layout, here's how to turn it off.

By default, Safari for iPad shows a toolbar full of browser tabs when you have more than one tab open at a time. If you'd rather simplify the look of your screen, there's a way to hide your open tabs. Here's how to hide the tab bar---or how to get it back.

First, open Settings on your iPad by tapping the grey "gear" icon.

In Settings, scroll down through the sidebar and tap "Safari."

In Safari settings, swipe upward until you locate the "Tabs" section. Tap the switch beside "Show Tab Bar" to turn it off.

If you previously turned off the tab bar and want it back, tap the "Show Tab Bar" switch instead to turn it back on here.

After that, launch Safari. You'll notice that the tab toolbar is now hidden. (Or, if you've re-enabled it, it will appear once again.)

With the tab bar disabled, you can easily switch between open tabs by tapping the "tabs" button (which looks like two overlapping squares) in the toolbar. It works just like it does on iPhone.

If you change your mind and want to see the tab bar again, just revisit Settings > Safari and switch "Show Tab Bar" back on. Happy browsing!

Related: How to Close All Safari Tabs at Once on iPhone and iPad

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iOS 15: How to move the Safari address bar back to the top

In iOS 15 , iPadOS 15, and macOS Monterey, Apple has dramatically redesigned Safari for the first time in years. The iPhone gets the biggest changes, with a new tab bar at the bottom of the screen and a bunch of new gestures and touch targets. To say that the changes have been “controversial” would be an understatement, with our own Jason Snell calling it “a mess.”

But if you’re struggling to get used to the change, you don’t have to keep it. After criticism during the beta period, Apple has given users the option to go back to a single tab view with an address bar at the top of the screen, like it used to be! Here’s how:

• Open Settings
• Select Safari
• In the Tabs section change from Tab Bar to Single Tab

You can also change the bar at the top back to white, rather than matching the main color of the site, and opt to hide the tab bar when surfing in landscape view. We typically suggest users give interface changes a week or two to get used to them, as changing habits and muscle memory takes time. But if you’ve given the new Tab Bar on the bottom an honest shot and prefer Safari on iPhone to have the address bar at the top like, you know, every other web browser on earth, it’s very easy to change.

Author: Jason Cross , Senior Editor

I have written about technology for my entire professional life - over 25 years. I enjoy learning about how complicated technology works and explaining it in a way anyone can understand.

Recent stories by Jason Cross:

• How to leave an iMessage group text on iOS
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iPad User Guide

• iPad models compatible with iPadOS 17
• iPad mini (5th generation)
• iPad mini (6th generation)
• iPad (6th generation)
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Change the layout in Safari on iPad

Select either Separate Tab Bar or Compact Tab Bar.

You can move between layouts as much as you want without losing the tabs you have open.

Note: If you’re using the Compact Tab Bar layout, the menus and layout may look different from what’s described in this guide.

• iPhone 15 Pro Max

iOS 15: How to put the Safari address bar back to the top on your iPhone

Read in other languages:

On iOS 15, Apple has moved the address bar of its Safari app to the bottom of the screen of its iPhone and iPad. If you don't like this new design, you can easily put the address bar of your Safari browser back at the top of your iPhone screen.

The idea behind this choice by Apple is to make Safari's interface more ergonomic on iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 . The search bar has been lowered so you don't have to stretch your finger to reach the top of the screen. But after years of getting used to having the address bar at the top, this turnaround may be counterintuitive for some.

• Check out our selection of the best iPhones to choose in 2022 to use Safari with the bar up or down

So, to put the Safari application address bar back to the top of your iPhone screen, you need to:

• Go to Settings .
• Press  Safari .
• Among the two options - Tab bar or Single tab - choose  Single tab .

In any case, you can switch between the new and old systems as you like. And if you change your mind, want to switch back to the address bar at the top, you can make this change in a faster way, directly in Safari and without going through Settings:

• In the Safari  application.
• Press the aA button on the left of the address bar.
• In the contextual menu, press Show Top Adress Bar .

That's it for this quick tutorial to put the Safari app's address bar back to the top of the screen on your iPhone. Did you find it helpful? Do you want us to do more iOS 15 tutorials? Top or bottom search bar, which is more ergonomic for you?

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How to keep address bar in safari from hiding

• Thread starter ab2c4
• Start date Aug 2, 2023
• Sort by reaction score
• iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch
• iOS and iPadOS

macrumors 6502

• Aug 2, 2023

When using safari on my iPhone, as I scroll down the web page the address bar auto hides itself. I then have to scroll up just to show the address bar again and it’s very annoying. I have been looking through the settings in safari and the phone in general and can’t find the option to always show the address bar. Where is the setting located?  

macrumors 68020

There's no setting. You can tap anywhere in that bottom area and it will bring up the address bar so no need to scroll up.  

I appreciate it, thank you.  

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Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

ipad hide address bar safari

I have an iPad being used in a business. It stays open to a website in Safari. We have people who keep using it to check their Facebook page, etc. Is there a way for me to hide the address bar in Safari?

iPad, iOS 6.1.4

Posted on Aug 15, 2013 10:04 AM

Posted on Aug 15, 2013 10:07 AM

You can use Guided Access to disable that portion of the screen.

Settings > General > Accessibility > Guided Access

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5509

Also look you can consider restiction settings

Settings > General > Restrictions

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Aug 15, 2013 10:07 AM in response to davidqtn

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How to Show and Hide Favicons in Safari Favorites Bar

In Safari 17 and macOS Sonoma , Apple has introduced support for displaying favicons in the Favorites bar. Keep reading to learn why favicons can be useful, and how you can disable them if they aren't for you.

Favicons can usually be found next to anything in a browser's interface that identifies a website. This can include bookmarks, tabs, history results, and search bars.

In Safari 17, if you have the Favorites Bar enabled ( View -> Show Favorites Bar in Safari's menu bar) the favicon for each site will appear beside its title, allowing you to more easily spot it in the bar.

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Apple to unveil AI-enabled Safari browser alongside new operating systems

Safari getting new AI tools in iOS 18

The software — expected to debut as Safari 18 later in 2024 — is currently undergoing evaluation alongside internal builds of Apple's next-generation operating system updates, namely iOS 18 and macOS 15, according to people familiar with the matter. Should all of the new features make it to the release candidate stage, users will be treated to a new user interface (UI) for customizing popular page controls, a "Web eraser" feature, and AI-driven content summarization tools.

Intelligent Search - AI-enhanced browsing and text summarization

Engineers evaluating the latest builds of Safari 18 can find a toggle for the new page controls menu within the browser's address bar. The menu consolidates — and provides quick access to — old and new page control tools, among them being the browser's new "Intelligent Search" feature.

This feature is not automatically enabled in test builds of Safari 18 and instead requires manual activation from the page controls menu. Once enabled, it's believed the tool leverages Apple's on-device AI technology — specifically the Ajax language-learning model — to identify topics and key phrases within a webpage for which to base the summarization.

In selecting key phrases, Apple's LLM software identifies sentences that provide explanations or describe the structure of objects, depending on the text in question. Words repeated within a text and key sentences are recognized as text topics.

These early indications suggest Apple is striving to deliver text summarization alongside Safari 18 later this year, though the exact implementation of this feature remains fuzzy.

Apple's text summarization features could be a response to rival generative AI tools, such as OpenAI's ChatGPT. But Apple's on-device models and technologies like Private Relay could make the experience much more secure for users. Intelligent Search is also likely to be the same AI browser assistant that one X user hinted at a couple of weeks back.

Web Eraser for better content-blocking

Also accessible from the new page controls menu is a feature Apple is testing called "Web Eraser." As its name would imply, it's designed to allow users to remove, or erase, specific portions of web pages, according to people familiar with the feature.

The feature is expected to build upon existing privacy features within Safari and will allow users to erase unwanted content from any webpage of their choosing. Users will have the option to erase banner ads, images, text or even entire page sections, all with relative ease.

The erasure is said to be persistent, rather than limited to a browsing session. This means that Safari will remember the changes even after the original tab or window has been closed.

When visiting a web page with previously erased content, Safari will inform the user that the page has been modified to reflect their desired changes. The browser will also give the user the option to revert changes and restore the webpage to its initial, unaltered state.

As for where Apple got the inspiration for Web Eraser, the company could have Sherlocked the feature from the third-party app 1Blocker. The application features a similar way of erasing ads, where users would tap ads to make them disappear.

Updated UI will move key tools into one easy location

The new page controls menu referenced throughout this article will attempt to offer Safari 18 users quick and easy access to several options previously located across different menus and the Share Sheet. Running on pre-release versions of macOS 15, for instance, the menu also pulls in the "Aa" menu common on existing iPadOS versions of the browser. These include zoom options, webpage settings for privacy controls, content blocking options, extension shortcuts, and access to the new AI and erasure tools.

These various options existed previously on macOS, but were found by navigating through the Safari settings menu. Having all of these controls in one central location in the Address Bar will make these options more discoverable for end users. Other options like on-page text search and reader mode are also in this menu.

This all suggests Apple intends to unite the iPadOS and macOS Safari UI paradigms when it unveils its new OS releases during its Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

AI-enhanced Visual Lookup feature could be available in 2025

Simultaneously, Apple is also working on a much more powerful visual search feature scheduled for integration sometime in 2025 that will allow users to obtain information on consumer products when browsing through images. People familiar with the tool say it's similar to the Visual Lookup feature, through which Siri can identify plants, pets and landmarks from photos.

Visual Search could be implemented as a system-wide feature. So, instead of surfacing search results in the Photos app, the user may be able to use Visual Search directly in Safari by selecting an image.

Given development of this tool is in the earlier stages, it remains unclear how Apple will ultimately go about implementing it. It also remains to be seen whether or not the feature will make it through internal testing.

The iPhone maker has expressed significant interest in artificial intelligence and more recently published research related to on-device language learning models. This goes hand in hand with widespread rumors about several other AI-powered software features, many of which are expected to make their debut later this year with iOS 18.

Another big year for Safari

From its inception, Safari was always meant to rival existing web browsers.

Safari was originally added to macOS as a means of replacing Microsoft's Internet Explorer for Mac, which was the default browser. Over the years, the app made its way to the iPhone , and has since received various upgrades over the years.

More recent versions of Safari provide users with personalized web suggestions, and allow for greater privacy protection with features such as iCloud Private Relay.

This latest set of enhancements only serves to better position Safari against the competition, in an ever-increasing landscape of generative AI tools and third-party ad-blockers.

While Apple tests many such features during different development stages, it is important to remember that not all of them make it to release. Apple has been known to delay features or cancel them entirely, so there's always a chance we may not see these new Safari features after all.

Along with Safari 18 and its associated improvements, we should also see a revamped Calculator with Math Notes make its way to iPadOS 18. Freeform Scenes and Adaptive Voice Shortcuts are new OS features, which are also expected to debut later this year.

Apple is expected to introduce various AI-related enhancements as part of iOS 18 and macOS 15, both of which should be announced at the company's annual WWDC on June 10.

36 Comments

"As for where Apple got the inspiration for Web Eraser, the company could have Sherlocked the feature from the third-party app 1Blocker. The application features a similar way of erasing ads, where users would tap ads to make them disappear." They may also have been inspired by Simplified Page....

As long as I can turn it off/hide it they can knock themselves out. 

Will the web eraser feature remove pop up videos, such as the ones that appear on this site?

I use the 'Reader' function in Safari quite a bit, but sometimes it doesn't work very well. Seems like something that AI could help make better. 

Web ads suck but how else do you think your favorite websites will stay in business? Are you prepared to pay a subscription to every site? I doubt it…

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