There are some iOS gestures and tricks that have been around forever, but remain relatively hidden because they're hard to find unless you know about them.

Closing all of the tabs in your Safari browser on an iOS device is one such trick -- it's simple if you know how to do it, but it's a gesture you might not know exists.


Here's how to do it:

  1. Open up Safari.
  2. Long press on the "Tabs" icon denoted by two squares. On iPhones, it's at the bottom of the browser in portrait mode or at the top in landscape mode. On the iPad, it's at the top.
  3. Select Close All Tabs.

Alternatively, you can single tap on the Tabs icon to bring up the browser window view, and then long press on "Done" to bring up the same "Close All Tabs" interface.

That's all there is to it. Safari will let you know how many tabs are currently open, and it will close each and every one after the Close All Tabs option is tapped.

Because it's so easy to open a new tab when browsing without meaning to on an iOS device, the Close All Tabs option is super handy for getting rid of all those open browser windows in one quick go.

Top Rated Comments

bbfc Avatar
86 months ago
Well you learn something new everyday!
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
philipk Avatar
86 months ago
Are there really MacRumors readers that don’t know this?
Yes, I am a regular here and didn’t know it. There are a lot of shortcuts in iOS, macOS, and other software programs that most people do not know.

MacRumor readers may be well informed but there still much that they (we) do not know.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
philipk Avatar
86 months ago
Thanks for sharing the shortcut. It will be real helpful to me in the future. Especially when I am cleaning up my wife’s iPhone. She usually has 20 to 30 tabs open.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
artfossil Avatar
86 months ago
Are there really MacRumors readers that don’t know this?
Some of us (raises hand) are lazy/distracted/forgetful and appreciate getting useful information—even if we’re supposed to know it (and maybe did at one time).
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Lopezzi Avatar
86 months ago
Thanks for sharing the shortcut. It will be real helpful to me in the future. Especially when I am cleaning up my wife’s iPhone. She usually has 20 to 30 tabs open.
My wife is notorious for having lots of tabs open. I asked her to perform the steps and then tell me what the top option says. She gets back to me, "It says Close All 117 tabs". :eek: Hahaha.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
NMBob Avatar
86 months ago
Why doesn’t this use force touch? iOS has more and more UX inconsistencies.
Because my iPad Air on iOS10 doesn't have Force Touch. And, yes, there are a ton of inconsistencies in iOS. Feature bloat and mystery meat navigation abounds.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Vertical Camera Feature

iPhone SE 4 Rumored to Use Same Rear Chassis as iPhone 16

Friday July 19, 2024 7:16 am PDT by
Apple will adopt the same rear chassis manufacturing process for the iPhone SE 4 that it is using for the upcoming standard iPhone 16, claims a new rumor coming out of China. According to the Weibo-based leaker "Fixed Focus Digital," the backplate manufacturing process for the iPhone SE 4 is "exactly the same" as the standard model in Apple's upcoming iPhone 16 lineup, which is expected to...
iPhone 17 Plus Feature

iPhone 17 Lineup Specs Detail Display Upgrade and New High-End Model

Monday July 22, 2024 4:33 am PDT by
Key details about the overall specifications of the iPhone 17 lineup have been shared by the leaker known as "Ice Universe," clarifying several important aspects of next year's devices. Reports in recent months have converged in agreement that Apple will discontinue the "Plus" iPhone model in 2025 while introducing an all-new iPhone 17 "Slim" model as an even more high-end option sitting...
iPhone 16 Pro Sizes Feature

iPhone 16 Series Is Just Two Months Away: Everything We Know

Monday July 15, 2024 4:44 am PDT by
Apple typically releases its new iPhone series around mid-September, which means we are about two months out from the launch of the iPhone 16. Like the iPhone 15 series, this year's lineup is expected to stick with four models – iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max – although there are plenty of design differences and new features to take into account. To bring ...
Apple TV Plus Feature 2 Magenta and Blue

Apple TV+ Curbs Costs After Expensive Projects Fail to Capture Viewers

Monday July 22, 2024 5:11 am PDT by
Apple is scaling back its Hollywood spending after investing over $20 billion in original programming with limited success, Bloomberg reports. This shift comes after the streaming service, which launched in 2019, struggled to capture a significant share of the market, accounting for only 0.2% of TV viewership in the U.S., compared to Netflix's 8%. Despite heavy investment, critical acclaim,...
bsod

Microsoft Blames European Commission for Major Worldwide Outage

Monday July 22, 2024 11:55 am PDT by
Last Friday, a major CrowdStrike outage impacted PCs running Microsoft Windows, causing worldwide issues affecting airlines, retailers, banks, hospitals, rail networks, and more. Computers were stuck in continuous recovery loops, rendering them unusable. The failure was caused by an update to the CrowdStrike Falcon antivirus software that auto-installed on Windows 10 PCs, but Mac and Linux...