If you own an iOS device, chances are you are using the Safari browser to navigate the web. As the stock browser for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, Safari has been well optimized to provide the best browsing experience. However, with every new iOS version, Safari has gone through a lot of updates, which means you may have missed out on some new features and tricks that the browser currently offers. For this reason, we have put together some cool and useful Safari tips that you should know.
These tips were tested on an iPhone running iOS 9.2.1.
Safari Tips in iOS 9 For a Better Browsing Experience
View the Desktop Version of a Web Page
Sometimes the mobile optimized version of a web page may not provide you with the information you are looking for, while the desktop version offers a better view. If you find yourself on the mobile version of a website and want to switch over to the desktop version, simply tap and hold the Refresh icon in the Address Bar and select Request Desktop site from the menu that pops up at the bottom of the screen.
View Recently Closed Tabs
To view all of your recently closed tabs, tap the Tab icon (the last icon on the bottom menu). In the next screen, hold the + icon. This will bring up the Recently Closed Tabs list. Click on any link in the list and you’ll be right back where you left.
Access Your Passwords
If you’ve forgotten the passwords or usernames to any of your accounts that you saved in Safari, you can access them by going to Settings -> Safari -> Passwords and tapping on the name of the site that you want to access that data.
Enable ad-Blockers
If you don’t enjoy seeing ads on your mobile device, you can enable ad blockers on your browser. To do this, you need to first download and install an Ad-Blocker app of your choice, like Purify Blocker. Then go to go Settings -> Safari -> Content Blockers and enable the blocker you just installed.
Save Images
If you come across an image on a web page that you want to save, touch and hold the image and select save Image from the bottom menu. This won’t work if the image is embedded in the style sheet.
Private Browsing
The private browsing feature keeps any information that you view on the browser private and stops certain sites from tracking your behavior. In Private browsing mode, Safari won’t track the pages you visit, or keep record of your search history and any AutoFill data. To enable Private browsing open a new page or tap the Tab icon at the bottom of the screen. In the next screen, select Private in the bottom menu. In Private Browsing mode the Safari border will be gray.
Change Search Engine
To change the search engine in Safari go to Settings -> Safari and under Search you’ll see the default search engine is set to Google. You can tap on it to choose between Google, Yahoo, Bing, and DuckDuckGo.
Search Within a Web Page
The search bar in Safari lets you search for a web page as well as search within a page you are browsing. To do this simply type a few letters in the Search bar. You will see a list of the results auto-populated on the screen. At the bottom of this list, you can see the section called On This Page, which lists the search results within the web page. Click on the item to view its instance within the page.
Restrict Websites
Go to Settings -> General > Restrictions -> and Allowed Content and select which websites you want to prevent from showing up on your browser.
Smart Navigation
If you want to go forward or backward to switch between web pages, instead of tapping the back button in the bottom menu, you can slide your finger from right to left to go forward and left to right to go back between pages. Even better, touch and hold down on the back/forward arrow button and it will pull up the history list of pages you visited previously. Now you can go to the page you want.
Adjust Font Size
To adjust the font for your device go to Settings -> General -> Accessibility. If you want to view large text only when you are reading a webpage on Safari, tap the Reader icon on the top left of the screen. Then tap the Text icon on the right side of the screen. In the Text menu that pops up on the left side of the screen, tap the larger A to increase the size of the text.
Go to the Top
If you have scrolled down a page and want to go quickly back to the top of the web page, tap the title bar at the top of the screen. If the title bar is not visible tap twice.
Remove Reading Distractions
Banner ads, embedded videos and other distractions make reading difficult on a mobile device. If you want to remove all these distractions, you can switch to the Reader view. On the Search bar, in the left corner of the screen, tap the Reader icon to activate the view. One bummer is that not all pages have the ability to switch to the Reader view.
View Quick Actions Menu
If you have an iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, you can tap on the Safari icon to launch the Quick actions menu and access your Reading list, bookmarks, and private browsing tab.
Share Pages Using Airdrop
You can share a URL with people who have iOS devices and who are nearby using AirDrop. Tap on the Share sheet in the bottom menu and then tap AirDrop. Next, tap the Contact from the list to share the URL.
Print to PDF
You can save any web page to a PDF file and store it in iBooks to reference it later. To do this, tap the Share button and then tap Save PDF to iBooks.
Offline Reading
If you find a really good article you want to read later, you can add it to the Reading List in Safari. The best part is that this content is available even for offline reading. To add a page to the Reading List, tap the Share sheet icon in the toolbar and then tap Add to Reading List.
Add to Favorites
If you want to add pages to the Favorites List, tap the Share sheet icon in the toolbar, tap Add to Favorites and tap Save. You can access them later by tapping the Bookmarks icon and selecting Favorites. Favorites can also be shared across devices if you have iCloud enabled.
Peek Inside a Link
If you have the 3D Touch feature (iPhone 6s and 6s Plus) you can use Peek at a page or link without opening up the website. all you need to do is press the link to preview it. If you press deeper, you can pop into the webpage.
Enter Credit Card Details
If you shop using your iPhone or iPad, you can add your credit card information to Safari’s AutoFill feature to avoid manually filling it time and again. Go to Settings->Safari -> AutoFill -> Saved Credit Cards > Add Credit Card. You can now scan your card or type in the details.
Typing Extensions
Don’t like typing .com or .org extensions every time you enter the name of a website in the search bar? Next time, just type the website name, and on the keyboard, long press the period. This will bring up a short list of common domain extensions from which you can select the extension you want.
Reorder Tabs and Close Them
You can change the order of your open tabs by tapping the Tabs icon and holding and dragging a tab up or down the screen. If you want to close the tab, just tap on the X icon on the thumbnail or better yet, hold down the tab and flick it away to the left.
Access iCloud Tabs
If you have any open tabs on your Mac or other iOS device, you can access them on your iPhone via iCloud tabs. To access these tabs, scroll down beyond the usual tabs and click on the link you see at the bottom to open the webpage.
Do you know any cool iOS 9 Safari tips you’d like to share with us. Please comment below.
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