According to statistics, most iPhone users prefer Safari over competitors like Google Chrome. That’s no surprise as Safari is developed by Apple and it comes pre-installed with iOS, iPadOS, and MacOS. With iOS 14, Safari got some really cool features like Translating and Privacy features like Tracking Report. However, there are some long-press hidden features in Safari that some users don’t know whether even they exists. Although these features are simple, they helped me to improve my daily experience with Safari.
1. Close All Tabs Once
Have you ever encountered in the hassle of closing dozens of tabs one by one? Here is what you have missed. By long pressing on the tab switcher, which is located in the bottom-right corner of the browser, you get 4 options.
- Close All Tabs
- Close this Tab
- New Private Tab
- New Tab
In case you want to close all tabs, you can tap Close All Tabs. Moreover, you can close the tab your are viewing or add a Tab/Private Tab. This is by far the most useful feature for me.
2. Quickly Add Bookmarks in Safari
Bookmarks help us when we have a website that we often visit. For example Google.
PRO TIP: Don’t forget to bookmark TheProMax.com
To add a Bookmark in Safari, tap on share icon and tap “Add Bookmark”. But this way is bothering.
Here is the new way,
- Long Press on Bookmark icon
- Tap on “Add Bookmark”
- Fill the Title field
- Tap on “Save”
That’s it!
In addition to adding a bookmark, you can also add the url to reading list. Even more you can add bookmarks for all the tabs once.
If you are an iPhone user, iOS 14.4 is now available: What’s new? is worth reading.
3. Go to previously visited pages
Although back swipe is the best way to go back to previous page, Safari offers a dedicated back button, which is located in the left bottom corner. What if you want to view all the pages you visited? Here comes the long press gesture again. Long press on the back button to view all the pages you visited in current tab.
Likewise, long pressing the forward button list out forward pages.
4. Recently Closed Tabs
Here comes another useful thing!
- Tap Tabs icon
- Long press on plus icon
This lists out the tabs you have closed recently. This is grateful if you also close important tabs by mistake all the time like me.
5. Safari can now Translate
Event though this is neither a long-press function nor a hidden feature, I thought this worth mentioning. With iOS 14, Safari has the ability translate web pages to your language. Yay! That really a great feature. But keep in mind that this is still in beta stage and all languages are not supported yet! Therefore it might not work perfectly.
