Apple made serious UI changes to its native Safari browser with the iOS 15 rollout. Safari received a whole new level of aesthetics and functionality. For example, the Tab Groups offer exclusive management for handling tabs. Now, you can change the Safari tab layout with the new iOS version.
On the other hand, the Landscape Tab Bar provides more reliability while switching between tabs, accessing website settings, triggering Reader mode, etc. How to change the Safari tab layout on an iPhone?
If you are still struggling with too many Safari tabs management, you might not have found the amazing Landscape Tab Bar yet. Let’s find out the Safari Landscape Tab Bar, how it works and how you can turn it on.
A Quick Intro to Safari Landscape Tab Bar
With the iOS 15 release, the iPhone’s Safari browser got a new makeover inspired by the macOS Safari tab bar. What is Landscape Tab Bar iPhone, by the way? The Landscape Tab Bar in Safari is a tab bar right below the address bar at the top of the iPhone screen.
Safari Landscape Tab Bar is a Mac-inspired functionality that allows you to swipe through every open tab or switch between them smoothly. That’s exactly how you operate and manage Safari tabs on a MacBook or Mac computer.
How does the Landscape Tab Bar help you? Well, you don’t have to tap the Tab icon whenever you need to switch tabs and interrupt your browsing while using your iPhone in landscape mode.
Moreover, the Landscape Tab Bar adds more fluidity in differentiation among open tabs. For example, any tab with the Landscape Tab Bar enabled will show you an icon but also the title of the website.
Apart from that, the feature highlights the currently active tab in a light grey shade. Therefore, browsing will feel more convenient with the Landscape Tab Bar feature on iOS 15’s interface. Since the feature is on board with iOS 15 and higher software versions, you can now use it if you appreciate it on your Mac device.
Process to Turn on the Landscape Tab Bar on iPhone
How to turn on the Landscape Tab Bar in Safari on an iPhone? For your information, the Landscape Tab Bar feature is not active by default. Instead, you have to enable the feature from Settings on your iPhone.
Here’s what you need to do:
- Launch Settings from your iPhone’s home screen. The Settings app resembles a grey gear icon.
- Keep scrolling down the Settings menu until you find out the Safari option. Tap on Safari.
- Now, go to the Tabs section under the Safari menu.
- Turn on the Landscape Tab Bar toggle.
Now, the Safari browser on your iOS 15 device will showcase a dedicated tab bar that lists all open tabs in landscape mode.
How to Use Landscape Tab Bar in Safari on iPhone
Undoubtedly, the Landscape Tab Bar setting is a convenient feature for iPhone users who have to do a lot of browsing. However, you can stay out of the Landscape Tab Bar feature by keeping it disabled. By the way, how can you use the Landscape Tab Bar in Safari on your iPhone?
We hope you have already turned on the Landscape Tab Bar feature using the Settings application. However, you may visit Safari and find the feature not working. Don’t be upset because you might not have turned off the Portrait Orientation Lock.
The Portrait Orientation Lock is a feature that prevents your iPhone’s screen from rotating to landscape from portrait whenever you rotate the device. In other words, Portrait Orientation Lock keeps the portrait mode intact even though you rotate your iPhone.
How to turn off the Portrait Orientation Lock on your iPhone? Launch your iPhone’s Control Centre by swiping down from the upper right corner of the home screen according to your iPhone model. Next, look out for the Portrait Orientation Lock, which looks like a lock icon with a circular arrow around it.
Tap on the icon to disable the Portrait Orientation Lock. Now, you can navigate to Safari and horizontally rotate your iPhone to enable the Landscape Tab Bar setting. The Landscape Tab Bar should have kicked in just below the address bar at the upper portion of the Safari window.
Excellent Features Offered by the Safari Landscape Tab Bar on iPhone
With the Landscape Tab Bar option enabled, Safari lets you see all the open tabs simultaneously. In addition, you can easily distinguish between different tabs using the following information:
- The website logo
- A segment of the website title
Furthermore, the active tab will appear grey and more highlighted than others. Switching between tabs has never been this fast before in Safari on iPhone. Besides this, you can also quit a tab by tapping on the Exit or X icon next to the corresponding tab within the Landscape Tab Bar.
On top of that, re-arranging Safari tabs couldn’t be any easier. Just like Mac, you can drag a tab wherever you want and drop it in a convenient position. Additionally, tap the Tab Overview icon to glimpse every open tab in a horizontally zoomed-out layout.
Apart from this, the rest of the Tab Bar functionality stays the same. For example, tap on the ‘AA’ icon to access the toolbar, website settings, desktop mode, toggle reader mode, etc.
Wrapping up…
The Landscape Tab Bar is available on iPhone models with iOS 15 or later versions, such as iOS 16 and iOS 17. If you can’t find the feature under the Settings app, then make sure that you update the operating system. However, your iPhone should support the iOS 15 update. On the other hand, you can stick to iOS 14 if you like to keep your Safari interactions minimal.
