iOS 15: All the new features in Safari

In iOS 15, several areas have been revised and expanded with useful functions. As a result, Safari has undergone a major update. We summarize all the new features below.

Apple has repeatedly tested the Safari app during the beta phase revised and optimized based on user feedback. Several design changes were also made. Safari originally received a new design in iOS 15, which included, among other things, floating tabs. To be precise, the address bar and tabs were moved to the bottom of the iPhone display. This design change is now optional. This means you can define your own tab view in the Safari section of the Settings app. The "Tab Bar" option moves the address bar to the bottom of the Safari interface, which is in line with the new design but may not appeal to every user. At the bottom of the Safari interface there is a separate control bar and above it an integrated tab bar and address bar. You can swipe left and right to switch between tabs or tap the bar to start a search or enter a new URL.

The dedicated control bar was added in a later iOS 15 beta and provides access to the forward/backward, sharing, bookmarks, and tabs functions. You can access the website settings by tapping the "Aa" icon or reload a page by tapping the reload button. When you scroll through a website, the entire tab bar folds down so you can see more of the site. Of course, you can bring it back up with a tap. If you choose "Single Tab" instead of "Tab Bar," the address bar and tabs remain at the top of the Safari window, just as they do in iOS 14. The design of the "Single Tab" option is unchanged from iOS 14, with the same control bar at the bottom of the interface. You can't swipe through tabs with the Single Tab interface and must use the tab switcher instead.

Website tinting in Safari

The "Allow Website Tinting" feature, available in the Settings app, adjusts Safari's collapsed address bar to the website's colors to better blend with the background. However, this only applies when you're scrolling through a website with the address bar expanded. In both Single Tab and Tab Bar modes, the interface takes on the website's colors at the top and bottom, with the color scheme extending to the iPhone's status icons.

tab bar in landscape mode

Thanks to the new landscape tab bar setting, when you use your iPhone in landscape mode with Safari, you'll see a Mac-style tab bar that shows all your open tabs and lets you swipe through them.

Drag to refresh

If you under In iOS 15, if you swipe down on a website, the page will refresh immediately. So you no longer have to tap the reload icon.

tab groups

In iOS 15, tabs can be saved in tab groups. This allows you to keep a series of tabs you have open without having to keep them active. Grouping also allows for much better organization. Since the groups can be individually titled, the whole thing is much clearer. For example, you could set a tab group as "Work" and open tabs within it that contain your work. You could do the same with your vacation planning, for example.

Create tab groups in iOS 15 – here's how

To create a tab group, simply open all the websites you want to include, tap the Tabs button with the down arrow, and then tap "New Tab Group from XY Tabs." You can also use this option to create a new, empty tab group to which tabs can be added later. Long-press an open tab (or the main address bar if you have Single Tab View enabled) to add it to a tab group. To load a tab group, tap the Tabs button, then tap the group name in the list. All your tab groups are synced across devices, so you can access them on iPhones and iPads running iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, and Macs running macOS Monterey.

tab overview grid

In iOS 14, all your open tabs are displayed in a card-like interface that you can swipe through. But in iOS 15, open tabs are displayed in a grid view. You can tap the tab button (two overlapping squares) to open the grid window, which shows all your open tabs. Tapping the "X" in the corner of a tab closes it.

Customizable homepage

Apple has also added much more customization options to Safari in iOS 15. This allows you to personalize your home page much more. This feature was already available on macOS, but now it's also available on iOS devices. To customize your home page, open a new, empty tab, scroll to the bottom, and tap the "Edit" button. You can choose whether to display favorites, frequently visited pages, content shared with you, information about the Privacy Report, Siri suggestions, your reading list, and iCloud tabs on your home page. There's also an option to make your home page look the same across all devices and a switch that lets you upload your chosen wallpaper.

Improvements to intelligent tracking prevention

With updates to Smart Tracking Prevention, the feature that blocks websites from tracking your web activity, trackers can now no longer access your IP address to build a profile of you.

HTTPS upgrade

On iOS 15, Safari automatically refreshes websites known to support HTTPS instead of HTTP, which is insecure.

iCloud Private Relay

iCloud Private Relay is a privacy feature that ensures all your Safari traffic is encrypted. As we have already explained, iCloud Private Relay protects your IP address and separates it from the websites you visit by using two separate internet relays. The feature sends all web traffic to a server managed by Apple, where information such as the IP address is stripped. Once the information is removed, the traffic (your DNS request) is sent to a second server operated by a third-party company, where it is assigned a temporary IP address. Only then is the traffic forwarded to its destination.

No more tracking

Through a two-step process involving both an Apple server and a third-party server, iCloud Private Relay prevents anyone, including Apple, from determining a user's identity and linking it to the website the user is visiting. With this system, Apple knows your IP address and the third-party provider knows the website you're visiting. Because the information isn't linked, neither Apple nor the partner company has a complete picture of your browsing behavior, including your location and more. Normally, websites have access to this data and can use it in combination with cookies to build a profile of your preferences. But iCloud Private Relay prevents exactly that.

web extensions

On iOS 15, Safari supports web extensions that can be downloaded and installed from the App Store. Available extensions include content blockers, VPNs, and more.

Live-Text

With iOS 15, iPhones and iPads can use a new Live Text feature to detect text in any image, even images you find in Safari. Any Safari image containing text can be selected, copied, pasted, and translated. To use Live Text in Safari, long-press any image, then tap "Show Text." From there, you can select and interact with the text just like any other text on an iPhone.

Shared with you

The new "Shared with You" option, visible on the Safari home screen, summarizes all the links you've received in the Messages app and other apps, such as social networks, that support the "Shared with You" feature. This new section is designed to ensure you don't miss any links that have been sent to you. It also shows you who sent each link. If you want to learn more about iOS 15, check out our comprehensive summaries listed below—enjoy! (Photo by Brandon Romanchuk / Bigstockphoto)