How to use iCloud Tabs in Safari now Apple has changed it
Apple Tabs, a whole new way to confuse yourself
Apple has changed one of its most useful features on iPhones and iPads with the new version of Safari, making iCloud Tabs less useful, discoverable, and effective. Here is how t get the best out of what is left.
What are iCloud Tabs?
iCloud Tabs is a useful feature that lets you find all the Safari windows you currently have open across all the Macs, iPhones and iPads you own that are logged into the same Apple ID.
I use this a lot while researching topics across my devices. I find it invaluable.
Until now, all the information has been shown on one page in Safari.
What has changed?
When Apple introduced iOS 14 and Safari it introduced a new Start page in Safari.
That’s the page which opens when you launch a new browser window, and contains Favorites, Frequently Visited sites, Privacy report, Siri Suggestions, Reading List and iCloud Tabs.
iCloud Tabs gained a new layout that required we use a drop down menu to find other Apple devices and which pages you have open in Safari on them.
However, at that time it was still possible to access the old iCloud Tabs menu – which listed all your other devices and all their open pages in one page – by tapping the conjoined squares icon to the top right of Safari. Now, sadly, that view has gone.
Apple Tabs, a solution to a problem I didn’t have
How to use iCloud Tabs on iPhones and iPads
Here is how to make the best of what’s left of iCloud Tabs on iPhones and iPads.
Move into position:
Open a new window in Safari and you’ll be on the Start Page, which probably highlights your most frequently visited sites at the top with your iCloud Tabs at the bottom. Safari on iOS 15/iPadOS 15 now lets you reorder this by flicking to the bottom of the page and tapping Edit. Now you can drag iCloud Tabs from its default position at the bottom of the Start page to the top of the list, or wherever makes sense for you. You can also disable and sections you don’t use.
Choose your device:
Now you’ve put iCloud Tabs at the top of your start page it’s faster to get to. To navigate open pages across all your devices you’ll have to open a new start page as you did before and then choose the device in the drop down ‘From [device]’ list.
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It’s far more laborious than before, but by slotting these at the top of the Start page I guess that saves one tap to lower the page.
You can add a shortcut in Safari on Mac
If you use iCloud Tabs with Safari on a Mac you do get to make one change that makes iCloud Tabs work better. This is a toolbar icon you can add which shows all the tabs you have open on all your devices in a dropdown menu.
To add this, open View>Customize Toolbar, and drag the iCloud Tabs icon to where you want it to be on your toolbar. Click Done to save this.
Now you’ll be able to see all your current tabs in a drop down menu, but I still found the earlier on page version a lot easier to handle.
Why is Apple doing this?
Apple really seems wedded to the idea of Safari tabs and Tab Groups. Apple says Tab Groups “allow you to easily save your tabs and organize them in a way that works best for you. Switch between your groups from Tab Overview.” Tab Groups sync across devices, so you can continue your project from anywhere, at least in theory. The problem with them is that conceptually they really are quite unwieldy and they functionally replace Bookmarks, which most of us have used since we started browsing the internet. Here’s how to use them:
- Create a Tab Group
You can create a tab group by tapping the conjoined squares to invoke the New Empty Tab Group command. Give your tab group a name.
- Populate a Tab Group
Now when browsing the web you can add tabs to specific tab groups by long pressing the tab (why) and then adding Move to Tab Group and choosing a group, or choosing and tapping a Tab Group name if it appears. That item will be added to that group. It’s just like using Bookmarks. Except you don’t use the Share button, which still has an Add Bookmark but does not have an Add to Tab Group button (at least on my current machine). Which makes no sense at all.
Let me know when they get this feature right.
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