I have had this problem too. My work around is that I use history to find & restore most tabs (yes it’s tedious) then I make a ‘save all tabs’ bookmark. I try to remember to redo that occasionally As a backup & I name the folder with the date. If you tap & hold on the multi bookmark icon there is an option to open them all. It’s not perfect but it gets me back most of what I’ve Lost.
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iPhone Why do all safari tabs just sometimes disappear and are gone?
- Thread starter tivoboy
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Still happening on IOS14, not only on my iPad Pro 12,9 2nd gen but also on mother’s-in-law ipad 5th gen so she is loosing 20-30 tabs worth of recipes each time...
iPhone X with 300+ tabs open for 12+ months now as a test, rock steady, never lost a single tab...
Firefox now selected as the default browser, thank you Apple...
iPhone X with 300+ tabs open for 12+ months now as a test, rock steady, never lost a single tab...
Firefox now selected as the default browser, thank you Apple...
I was reading down the answers, a few weeks late for many, trying various things having frustratingly again found several tens of pages have disappeared when they were showing just a minute before. Thanks for the Show all windows tip someone gave but for me that’s only part A. Part B was to note the titles above the various windows displayed - one said that seven widows were included then opening that window, pressed and held the copy symbol (top right) and clicked merge all windows to find my lost windows appeared.
In passing, I think the maximum number of open windows allowed is 36.
In passing, I think the maximum number of open windows allowed is 36.
I have had many tabs spontaneously disappear over the past few versions of iOS. Not temporarily or invisible glitch but completely disappear with no way to get them back. For me this started back in iOS 11. Thankfully this does not occur anywhere near as much since updating to 13.
However, as well as spontaneously disappearing tabs for no apparent reason, I have found that shortly after merging all safari windows in iPadOS 13 that all the tabs from every window except the current one disappear - again with no way of getting them back.
So now I never use the merge all windows feature which is a big shame!
However, as well as spontaneously disappearing tabs for no apparent reason, I have found that shortly after merging all safari windows in iPadOS 13 that all the tabs from every window except the current one disappear - again with no way of getting them back.
So now I never use the merge all windows feature which is a big shame!
Looks like Apple is not going to fix this. What browser is the most compatible with Safari and will open web sites as desktop not Mobile and does not have this problem. I too have the disappearing tabs issue on my iPad Pro. Firefox? Chrome? Edge? ...
JESUS f...!..... I CAN’T believe this is STILL happening... I’ve been reading the posts Here and been SOOO careful when clsoing windows and swiping up when closing arbitrarily opened safari windows and yet, AND YET, now with more Thant 400+ open tabs that I’ve been KEEPING and READINg through having done NOTHING unusual, just opening a tab, opening a couple more, realizing that it was a NEW WINDOW, NOT HAVING CLOSED THAT WINDOW or ANY WINDOW at all, ALL WINDOWS and TABS from the last 3-4 months ARE GONE!!!!! Just GONE... this is so f...in ANNOYING APPLE!.. as if i didn’t have ENOUGH in my life to worry and think about now... WTF. Just FIX THIS S..T!
Apple, either create some way to create a snapshot or save tabs this ISNT add all to reading list (who even USES that!) or don’t call this a browser.
Apple, either create some way to create a snapshot or save tabs this ISNT add all to reading list (who even USES that!) or don’t call this a browser.
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Yes, very annoying. Keeps on happening so I decided to transition over to Firefox and hope it won’t happen. So far it has been smooth. I changed the default browser to Firefox, takes some getting used to the UI differences but at this point I have no choice.
It sure is incredibly frustrating! It is almost like Apple doesn’t even care and providing third party default apps is there ‘do nothing’ solution.
What ever you do... do NOT “merge all windows” as this always causes my tabs in all my windows except one to disappear. I know it isn’t the only cause of disappearing tabs, but it is the only one that I know has a particular trigger.
Really not satisfactory, but when I remember... I do a bookmark all tabs and add them to folders. Sometimes I do a quick screen recording if I can easily distinguish what tabs are open. It can be hard to believe Apple is the most valuable company in the world and yet they seem to make a habit of breaking apps which work and then seemingly not capable of acknowledging or fixing these major bugs.
I really hope this will be fixed before iPadOS 20 but I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if it isn’t.
Thanks, but I NEVER merge all windows and in ios safari there is really no place to bookmark all tabs? I really wish there was, but until apple adds that feature, we’re SOL
Actually you can bookmark all tabs in iOS and iPadOS.
Simply long press on the bookmark button and it gives you the option to add bookmark, add bookmarks for x tabs, add to reading list.
I know it is a partial work around to the problem, but it is definitely an option.
It doesn’t work right, for me anyway. Apple told me to report a bug, so I did, but it hasn’t been fixed. If you have a lot of open tabs it saves them, unnamed, into a folder called Saved Tabs, and you have to go find them all and name them individually.
Just found this thread after having at least 20 tabs wiped out for the nth time on my 2nd gen 12.9” iPad Pro running iOS 14.3. Finally got sick enough of this repetitive occurrence that I took the time to search - and found out that:
1). Others have been experiencing this issue, and
2). There is no fix other than switching to another browser (i.e. Firefox or Chrome)
I’ve just downloaded Firefox.
1). Others have been experiencing this issue, and
2). There is no fix other than switching to another browser (i.e. Firefox or Chrome)
I’ve just downloaded Firefox.
You can find them again by holding the ‘+’ and all the tabs are there, if you click on them they all open up as individual tabs. So they’re not lost completely...
I am afraid the problem is worse than reported on this thread. Safari can keep multiple sets of hidden tabs, and they cannot always be accessed by double-clicking the home button. I discovered this when I hit the limit of 500 tabs when my window only showed about 20. I found that I could switch to a different set of tabs by starting to type the site of one of the missing tabs; Safari will offer "Top Hits" and below this "Switch to Tab". Switch to the missing tab and now I have one of the missing sets of tabs. Currently on my iPad when I double-click the home button I can see three Safari windows, each with a different set of tabs. There must be more hidden if the total is near 500.
this does continue to be a problem, but with some of the added functionality in Safari I can manage it better.. saving all tabs as a bookmark folder works well, so I freqeunctly save a backup. Then, often what I do now is close ALL tabs, after saving a backup and purge Safari cached data.. reboot, and then go to the folder where I saved all the tabs and open ALL tabs Anew.. you’ll get a pop up that says, “are you sure you want to open all 398 tabs”.. but go ahead. I’ve tried this with up to about 425, but 453 has failed, so I don’t know where the limit is. It might also NOT be a tab limit but what is IN the tabs that somehow overwhelms RAM. Any, the availability of these functions makes it LESS annoying that yes it can still just crack the bed unexpectedly.
And it works in Private tabs as well, although whatever is saved is in the open in the bookmarks folder so user beware.
And it works in Private tabs as well, although whatever is saved is in the open in the bookmarks folder so user beware.
This seems to happen several times a year. To great frustration, when you,leave some tabs open for reference later on. I have lost all my tabs a few times with an OS update and then randomly for no apparent reason.
It just happened to my wife, after she tried to closed an accidental split screen. Closed Safari. All tabs gone.
Latest iOS 14.x
Shame on Apple for not fixing whatever bug(s) in this regard.
It just happened to my wife, after she tried to closed an accidental split screen. Closed Safari. All tabs gone.
Latest iOS 14.x
Shame on Apple for not fixing whatever bug(s) in this regard.
My wife had the same issue on her iPad running 14.4. All of her tabs disappeared after an accidental split screen session. After a lot tinkering here is what I learned:
Only one window would occupy the screen at once. No previous tabs were visible and they were not in the tab history. When I tried to open a new tab, the current tab would slide off the screen to the left and the new screen would open with no evidence of the previous screen showing on the open screen (aka, no tab). A quick check of the Safari settings showed that SHOW TABS BAR was selected as was CLOSE TABS MANUALLY. So I used my solution to every computer problem I ever have, I turned the iPad off for 3-4 minutes and restarted it. Still no tabs. So I checked the settings again only to learn the show tabs bar was now deselected. I turned it back on and was able to add tabs again. Not sure what happened to the previously open tabs but at least we can rebuild! I hope this works for others. Good luck.
Only one window would occupy the screen at once. No previous tabs were visible and they were not in the tab history. When I tried to open a new tab, the current tab would slide off the screen to the left and the new screen would open with no evidence of the previous screen showing on the open screen (aka, no tab). A quick check of the Safari settings showed that SHOW TABS BAR was selected as was CLOSE TABS MANUALLY. So I used my solution to every computer problem I ever have, I turned the iPad off for 3-4 minutes and restarted it. Still no tabs. So I checked the settings again only to learn the show tabs bar was now deselected. I turned it back on and was able to add tabs again. Not sure what happened to the previously open tabs but at least we can rebuild! I hope this works for others. Good luck.
I’ve been hit by this a few times more than I’d like. There’s an easy way to reproduce the bug:
- Have a few tabs open.
- Hold down on a link and tap on Open in New Window.
- Immediately close the new window (drag it off to the side).
- Force quit Safari.
- Reopen Safari... and all your tabs except the frontmost one are now gone.
I just stumbled upon a possible solution for when this happens. I held down the double sheet of paper icon in the top right corner of the safari screen. Several options appeared. One is to “merge all tabs” or merge all something. When I selected that option all 125 tabs reappeared. Now when I hold the icon down I don’t receive that option and can’t say for sure what it said other than ‘merge all.....” Up until now, once I lost all tabs they were gone forever. I hope this helps.
I may have solved my problem with Safari crashes on the iPad. I went to Settings -> Safari, then scrolled down to near the bottom and selected "Clear History and Website Data". Ever since I did this over a week ago, I haven't had a single Safari crash, where previously, it crashed every couple days. Cautiously optimistic here...
2021-05-02 update: Nope. Safari just crashed again and I lost all my tabs…again.
2021-05-02 update: Nope. Safari just crashed again and I lost all my tabs…again.
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Hi I usually suffered from this problem in the past multiple times. I had nearly maxed tabs, and then suddenly gone.
Normally all I had to do was close the Safari window and wait a minute or two. It normally worked in the past.
There was this one instance it didn't seem to work, as in the safari homepage twice in a row, but I just waited longer, and my tabs came back.
And now I'm facing a similar problem. I suffered a second blank page, and just like last time, I waited much longer, but my tabs are still gone. So I closed the window, and waited half an hour. Still no result.
Can someone here explain how I work these methods for any attempt at getting my tabs back?
Normally all I had to do was close the Safari window and wait a minute or two. It normally worked in the past.
There was this one instance it didn't seem to work, as in the safari homepage twice in a row, but I just waited longer, and my tabs came back.
And now I'm facing a similar problem. I suffered a second blank page, and just like last time, I waited much longer, but my tabs are still gone. So I closed the window, and waited half an hour. Still no result.
Can someone here explain how I work these methods for any attempt at getting my tabs back?