iPadOS 15 Safari Sidebar and Bookmarks

[Don MC]

There’s already a button to close/open the SideBar.

No there isn't. Check my screencap.
The button only appears if I back up all the way to the root. That may involve up to seven taps in my case. Then, when I open the sidebar again, I have to navigate all the way back in order to tap my next bookmark.
If there was a button (and even if it did reset my position), then it would at least spare me the hassle to go back all the way to the root just to close the damn thing.

 

[Tr55]

If there was a button (and even if it did reset my position), then it would at least spare me the hassle to go back all the way to the root just to close the damn thing.

Exactly, it‘s a welcome improvement, saves many clicks.

It’s enough for me to stop going to Firefox or Chrome which also have significant shortcomings on the iPad. It makes Safari Sidebar sufferable, not anywhere near perfect but not the complete showstopper it was before.

We can only hope Apple come to their senses And make further changes. It’s very unlikely they will create an option to change sidebar behaviour in Settings because that would be too “complicated” and cause some “confusion” to Apple users.

 

[Jroswald]

I think the best workaround is for Apple to fix it. There’s no reason why a) the sidebar doesn’t automatically close when you tap a bookmark, or b) reopen in the same place it was last closed, or c) have a visible button to close it manually from inside a bookmarks folder. It should also open automatically when a new tab is requested if this is how the user last had it configured.

I get that the sidebar now has new functionality but there’s no reason to break the old functionality that has been working for years. An operation that once required two taps now requires seven. There is no excuse for this. It’s the worst example of screwing up a UI I have ever seen. I have submitted feedback but I’m not confident Apple will do anything about this issue. It must be intentional.

I discovered a relatively easy work-around for the sidebar issue taking up 1/3rd of the screen in landscape mode. In Safari settings I have ‘favorites’ set to newspapers, my most frequently used favorites. You can list anything you prefer in favorites. When in the Safari app, simply tap the ‘+’ in the upper right corner. It will show your list of favorites as icons in the order they appear in your bookmarks. Simply tap on the icon you want to open and it will automatically open in full screen view in landscape mode. So basically two taps; the ‘+’ sign and then choose which favorites you want to open. Try this out and see if it helps. I have been very frustrated with the bookmarks sidebar taking up 1/3rd of the screen as well. This solved the issue for me. Cheers

 

[Don MC]

I installed the public 15.1 Beta and I can confirm the Sidebar button is there. And it does remember where I was before closing the Bookmarks Sidebar when I reopen it.
It does NOT however automatically close the sidebar when tapping a bookmark or somewhere outside the Bookmarks Sidebar.

But it's still a step in the right direction.

 

[gank41]

I installed the public 15.1 Beta and I can confirm the Sidebar button is there. And it does remember where I was before closing the Bookmarks Sidebar when I reopen it.
It does NOT however automatically close the sidebar when tapping a bookmark or somewhere outside the Bookmarks Sidebar.

But it's still a step in the right direction.

And I don’t think it will ever close now after selecting a link from the SideBar. The whole reason for my frustration is that they changed the SideBar behavior to now run up to the top as opposed to staying in line on the page, only running up to the Favorites Bar. How it’s been for YEARS is that you could enable the SideBar on the Start Page and it would then only stay enabled on the Start Page. So you can then select whatever link and it wouldn’t be there when you get to your page. Now you have to manually turn it off to get your page space back, and then turn it back on again on the Start Page. And then when you turn it back on again, it loses your place and puts you back at the root/top level again.

If it’s now remembering your place when you reopen the SideBar, that’s a big improvement or fixed bug. Either way that’s better.

 

[gank41]

They’ve essentially changed the default behavior of “the SideBar” so that it’s the same behavior for every app that utilizes it. And to ME that’s the bad decision. Some apps utilize things in different ways other apps do. To just assume workflows are the same in all apps is pretty short sided.

 

[gank41]

No there isn't. Check my screencap.
The button only appears if I back up all the way to the root. That may involve up to seven taps in my case. Then, when I open the sidebar again, I have to navigate all the way back in order to tap my next bookmark.
If there was a button (and even if it did reset my position), then it would at least spare me the hassle to go back all the way to the root just to close the damn thing.



View attachment 1860714

Sorry for the misunderstanding. But yes, this is what I’m getting at. You have to back all the way out from where you’re at in order to close the SideBar, ensuring you can’t leave it at a specific state and come back to it. I might need to do a search in my history and then need to reference that same search again. In Safari 14 and earlier, you can perform a search, select your link, open the Start Page again and continue where you left off from your same search. All the while the SideBar disappears when visiting said link, only returning again when you go back to the Start Page again.

 

[Don MC]

It does now indeed remember where I was and even though it's still worse than it was on iPadOS 14, it's a huge improvement over 15.0.1.
I am staying on this Beta for now. At least it is somewhat usable now, as opposed to completely SNAFU'd before.

 

[phoenix_bladen]

It does now indeed remember where I was and even though it's still worse than it was on iPadOS 14, it's a huge improvement over 15.0.1.
I am staying on this Beta for now. At least it is somewhat usable now, as opposed to completely SNAFU'd before.

Thanks I literally updated to 15.1 beta 3 just for this feature alone! It was bugging me for the last few weeks !

 

[mnott]

Confirmed here. Upgraded to 15.1b3 just for this, and the button is back.

 

[bydandie]

Aye, works well in the RC 8)

 

[GDF]

Now they just need to make it disappear. Geez - how long does Apple take to fix this stuff. It is just common sense.

 

[gank41]

Now they just need to make it disappear. Geez - how long does Apple take to fix this stuff. It is just common sense.

Unfortunately, since they changed the SideBar to now run all the way to the top of the app, "keeping in line with HIG throughout Big Sur" (and Monterey), it's now just embedded on the page full time. As opposed to in Safari 14 where you could leave the SideBar open on the Start Page and then navigate away and since it was embedded in the frame itself, it would "close", but then go back to it again when you open the Start Page. Now it's all or nothing. A pretty glaring oversight, if you ask me.

 

[tim0409]

I’ve just installed 15.1 beta and the bookmark bar still reverts to the “just opened” state when I go back to it, which is annoying as it’s at least three clicks to open my most commonly used bookmark folder.

 

[Jim Lahey]

My experience in 15.1 (gold) is that they have had a passing attempt to fix this but obviously a bookmarks bar is too complicated for a two trillion dollar tech company to use in a web browser. Laughable.

 

[phoenix_bladen]

It still sometimes doesn’t remember where you are at for the bookmark. Seems to timeout after a few minutes.

anyone experience this and did anyone figure out when and how it gets reset ?

 

[gank41]

It still sometimes doesn’t remember where you are at for the bookmark. Seems to timeout after a few minutes.

anyone experience this and did anyone figure out when and how it gets reset ?

Every time I reopen Safari it’s reset back to the root level.

 

[Jim Lahey]

It still sometimes doesn’t remember where you are at for the bookmark. Seems to timeout after a few minutes.

anyone experience this and did anyone figure out when and how it gets reset ?

Same. Total mess of a browser. Ruined. I know it’s a first world problem but I can’t overstate how annoying this sidebar now is. A fresh new layer of friction for the user. They must have broken it on purpose so they can fix it later and call it a feature. Ridiculous.

 

[GDF]

I can’t believe Apple has not returned to the previous bookmarks by now. I have submitted multiple requests. I can’t believe they are not getting bombarded.

 

[w5jck]

Every time I reopen Safari it’s reset back to the root level.

I finally installed iPadOS 15.1 on my iPad mini 5 and am testing it out before I re-install it on my iPad Air 2020. I installed 15.0 on my iPad Air 2020 but quickly downgraded to 14.8 because of the Home screen widgets and Safari browser sidebar. I've been testing it out this morning on my mini 5 and so far the sidebar has retained the last position every time, including after I close then reopen Safari. I wouldn't be surprised if it acts differently on different devices though. But knock on wood, on my mini 5 it hasn't reset to root yet. Hopefully it won't start doing that like the 15.0 version did. It does look like they went back to the older style of tabs too.

 

[Jim Lahey]

I finally installed iPadOS 15.1 on my iPad mini 5 and am testing it out before I re-install it on my iPad Air 2020. I installed 15.0 on my iPad Air 2020 but quickly downgraded to 14.8 because of the Home screen widgets and Safari browser sidebar. I've been testing it out this morning on my mini 5 and so far the sidebar has retained the last position every time, including after I close then reopen Safari. I wouldn't be surprised if it acts differently on different devices though. But knock on wood, on my mini 5 it hasn't reset to root yet. Hopefully it won't start doing that like the 15.0 version did. It does look like they went back to the older style of tabs too.

My sidebar randomly resets back to root. But what’s far more annoying is that it still doesn’t auto-open on new tab, and still doesn’t auto-close on tapping a bookmark. Added taps everywhere. If I could downgrade back to 14.8 I would. Should never have upgraded. Terrible design.

 

[w5jck]

My sidebar randomly resets back to root. But what’s far more annoying is that it still doesn’t auto-open on new tab, and still doesn’t auto-close on tapping a bookmark. Added taps everywhere. If I could downgrade back to 14.8 I would. Should never have upgraded. Terrible design.

I understand. I counted the taps necessary to block the caller of a SPAM text message and place that number in a contact I labelled “Ignore”. It took 9 taps to do what should only take 2 at most. This was on iOS 15.1 on my iPhone XR. This is a typical thing for Apple the last few years. They are always adding more, and definitely unnecessary, steps. Jobs’ KISS philosophy is dead and buried along with him I’m afraid.

I mostly use my iPad mini 5 for ebook reading, so I don’t mind using it to test iPadOS 15.x. I’m still upset with a lot of the changes, including the stupid new widget mess with the Home screens. Total garbage at the moment. A lot of wasted space and a poorly thought out widget system. I’m leaving iPadOS 14.8.1 on my iPad Air 2020 until they clean up 15.x quite a bit, and that might never happen. I use my iPad Air 2020 way too much to put up with the crap they call Safari and a Home screen in 15.x.

 

[Jim Lahey]

I should probably start another thread for this question but I figure respondents in this topic will be hyper-aware of this issue and be more likely to know the answer.

Q. Is anyone able to tell me if Safari 15 in macOS Monterey 12.0.1 has this same broken sidebar? If so then I will not be upgrading any time soon. Or ever. I can't be doing with having my Mac browsing also ruined.

 

[phoenix_bladen]

Anyone know if beta 15.2 made this sidebar any better ?

 

[GDF]

Anyone know if beta 15.2 made this sidebar any better ?

Nope - the same. Obvious Apple will not do anything about it. Such a bad move Apple.