New Safari Tab Gestures in iOS 15 Explained

Apple’s iOS 15 update redesigned Safari by placing the address bar at the bottom of the screen, introducing several fluid gesture controls for managing tabs. These changes eliminated the need to rely solely on button taps, allowing users to switch between websites, open new pages, and access the tab overview with simple swipes. Here is a direct breakdown of the tab management gestures added to Safari in iOS 15.

Swipe Horizontally to Switch Tabs

With the address bar positioned at the bottom of the screen, you can switch between active tabs by swiping left or right directly across the address bar. Swiping from right to left moves to the next open tab, while swiping from left to right returns to the previous tab.

Swipe Left to Open a New Tab

When viewing the last tab in your open list, performing an additional swipe from right to left on the address bar automatically generates and opens a new, blank tab. This eliminates the need to open the tab switcher to launch a fresh page.

Swipe Up to Open the Tab Grid View

Swiping upward on the bottom address bar instantly reveals the tab overview grid. This gesture replaces the need to tap the overlapping squares icon, providing a quick way to view, close, or reorder all currently open tabs.

Pull Down to Refresh

While viewing any open tab, dragging down from the top of the webpage until a spinning indicator appears will refresh the page. This gesture brings Safari in line with standard iOS list-refresh behaviors and removes the need to tap the reload button in the address bar.

Long-Press for Fast Tab Options

Pressing and holding the tab overview button (the two overlapping squares) brings up a quick-action menu. From this menu, you can close the active tab, close all open tabs at once, open a new private tab, or move tabs into organized Tab Groups.