safari tabs won't close mac

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Safari tab closing problem

• Thread starter awshucks
• Start date Monday at 7:29 AM
• Tags macos safari
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• macOS Sonoma (14)

macrumors member

• Monday at 7:29 AM

macrumors newbie

• Monday at 8:30 PM

Multiple tabs are apparently somehow being selected without your being aware of it (should be more obvious if you have your tabs displayed in Safari's open sidebar). I wonder if one of your mouse shortcuts might be triggering the key combination (⌘ or shift + click) that selects multiple tabs. Or perhaps it's just a bug. Besides the workaround you mention, you could of course also just "X" out of any individual open tab.  

macrumors 6502

• Monday at 8:41 PM

awshucks said: Whenever I use Command W on my Mac mini M1 to close a tab on Safari, this shows up. It also does this when I use the shortcut on my MX Master 3 mouse thumb button to close a tab. However, if I click the scroll wheel on a tab it is not a problem; it only closes 1 tab. Any suggestions? View attachment 2391547 Click to expand...

4 Ways to Fix Safari Closing Tabs on Its Own

Parth Shah is an evergreen freelance writer covering how-tos, app guides, comparisons, listicles, and troubleshooting guides on Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, and smart TV platforms. He has over five years of experience and has covered 1,500+ articles on GuidingTech and Android Police. In his free time, you will see him binge-watching Netflix shows, reading books, and traveling.

Paurush dabbles around iOS and Mac while his close encounters are with Android and Windows. Before becoming a writer, he produced videos for brands like Mr. Phone and Digit. On weekends, he is a full-time cinephile trying to reduce his never-ending watchlist, often making it longer.

• Disable the auto-close tabs feature in Safari by opening Safari > Safari in the top-left corner > Settings > Tabs > Automatically close tabs > select Manually.
• Disable iCloud Syncing and clear website cache in Safari on your Mac.
• Disable Private Relay for your Mac by going to Settings > Profile icon > iCloud > Private Relay > disable the feature.

Basic Fixes

• Force quit and relaunch Safari : This helps in giving the app a fresh start if it has been running in the background for quite some time.
• Remove extensions : Faulty extensions that don’t receive updates can also cause such issues.
• Update Safari : Installing the latest version of the browser can surely help in fixing the issue.

Fix 1: Disable Auto-Close Tabs

There’s a feature in Safari that automatically closes tabs after a certain period of time. You need to disable that feature and allow only manually closing of tabs.

Step 1: Launch Safari on Mac. Click Safari at the top-left corner and then select Settings .

Step 2: Move to the Tabs menu. Expand the Automatically close tabs menu and then select Manually .

Restart Safari, and it shouldn’t auto-close tabs.

Fix 2: Disable iCloud Syncing in Safari

Sometimes when you open the same tab in Safari on a different Apple device, it possible that the tab can get closed on your Mac.

Step 1: Click the Apple logo in the Mac menu bar and then open System Settings .

Step 2: Select your account and then open iCloud .

Step 3: Select Show all under Apps Using iCloud .

Step 4: Disable the toggle beside Safari.

Fix 3: Disable Private Relay on Mac

Apple’s iCloud Private Relay is a privacy add-on to hide your IP address and browsing activity from advertisers and trackers. This can also lead to closing of tabs in Safari.

Step 1: Go to System Settings on Mac, select your profile and then open iCloud .

Step 2: Open Private Relay and then disable the option from the following menu.

Fix 4: Clear Website Data

Just as a troubleshooting process, you can clear the website cache in Safari and relaunch the web page again.

Step 1: Go to Safari settings on your Mac.

Step 2: Move to the Privacy tab and then click Manage Website Data .

Step 3: Remove all website cache and try again.

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Last updated on 28 May, 2024

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How to Close All the Tabs in Safari at Once

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Whether you use Safari on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or any combination of these devices, it's very likely you have a lot of tabs open in it right now. This is far from a call-out—I'm guilty of it myself. It feels great to close a bunch of them when you finish a project or finish reading everything, but it's annoying to close them one by one.

Thankfully, there are ways to quickly close all of your Safari tabs at once on an iPhone, iPad, or Mac. So, read on to see how you do it on each device!

How to Close All Safari Tabs on an iPhone or iPad

As you can see in our guide for using Safari on iPhone and iPad , Safari runs the same on both devices. So, you can follow the same steps for closing all of your Safari tabs on an iPhone or iPad.

These steps start with opening Safari on your device. Once Safari is open, find the Tabs icon in the bottom menu (it looks like two overlapping squares). If you don't see this bottom menu, scroll up on your screen to make it visible.

Long-press on the Tabs icon. A menu should appear, giving you options to open new tabs and close existing ones. Tap Close All [Number] Tabs to close all tabs you have open in Safari at once. It's that easy.

You can also close or delete all of your Safari tabs on an iPhone or iPad if you only tap the Tabs icon once. This shows all of the tabs you have open on your device, gives you an exact count of them, and lets you close them individually.

To close all of your Safari tabs at once from here, long-press on Done and select Close All [Number] Tabs . All of your Safari tabs will be deleted immediately.

How to Close All Your Safari Tabs on a Mac

There are many great ways to manage your tabs and bookmarks in Safari on a Mac , but sometimes you just need to close them all. Unlike on an iPhone and iPad, you can't close all the open Safari tabs at once on your Mac with a single click. It instead takes a menu selection and an additional click.

To find the appropriate menu, open Safari on your Mac. Then, Control -click (or right-click) on any tab in the Safari window. A menu will appear with options to pin, duplicate, and close tabs. Select the Close Other Tabs option. This will close all the tabs open in Safari, leaving only the one you opened the menu on.

You can now hit the Close (X) button in the window of your one open tab or press Cmd + W to close or delete the last tab. Either way, you'll have closed all open Safari tabs on your Mac pretty much all at once!

Close All Your Safari Tabs for Peace of Mind

It can be deeply satisfying to close all your open tabs in your Safari browser simultaneously. Your Mac, iPhone, and iPad can run a little quicker after, and your mind can feel a little less cluttered too.

Safari makes closing all of your tabs easy, no matter which Apple device you're using. Hopefully, the above steps illustrated that and helped you close all your tabs for a bit of digital decluttering and peace of mind.

How To Unfreeze Safari On Mac

Whenever a new version of macOS makes its way to market. Safari can be one of the applications for experiencing freezing issues. So that’s why we’ve put together a guide to answer  “why is safari frozen on my mac ?“ and how to fix it!

Safari could be frozen for a number of reasons on your Mac. This could include issues ranging from an unstable version of macOS to a glitchy browser extension or even a virus within your computer. 

Restarting Safari

Close tabs and/or other resource intensive applications, updating your software, wiping your history, cache and cookies data, disable/uninstall extensions, why is safari crashing on my mac, related posts, how to unfreeze safari on mac [step by step].

If Safari has crashed then sometimes a pretty simple restart can help fix the issue. However, if it’s frozen to the point where you can’t even close it, then you could force quit Safari.

Step 1: Press the Command-Option-Esc keys together

Step 2: Click on Safari and press the Force Quit Button

Step 3: Click on Force Quit when it prompts you to confirm your decision.

After this launch safari again and try and see if you can mimic the same behaviour that caused it to crash before. It could be that it was just a random crash and nothing to worry about. 

However, if the issue still persists even after a restart you could try restarting your mac to see if that resolves the issue. Also, be sure to check if you have Javascript enabled in Safari.

Step 1: Launch Safari browser

Step 2: Click on Safari in the top menu

Step 3: Click on Preferences 

Step 4: A new window with a layout like this will pop up

Step 5: Click on Security in the upper hand menu

Step 6: Make sure the “Enable Javascript” checkbox is checked

Sometimes too many tabs or another resource-intensive application could be the reason why Safari is crashing on your Mac. Your computer only has a finite amount of resources and it could be that too many tabs or other applications could be hogging it all. 

To view your current resource usage statistics you can use Activity Monitor to get an idea of whether or not this could be the issue at play.

Step 1: Click on the Finder application in the dock

Step 2: A new window will pop up

Step 3: Click on Applications in the left-hand side menu

Step 4: Type Activity Monitor in the search section

Step 5: Click on the Activity Monitor application that shows up

Step 6: A new window with your MacBooks resource utilization information will pop up. This section shows CPU utilization . 

Step 7: Click on Memory in the top menu

Step 8: Over here you can see the list of applications consuming memory in descending order

Step 9: If you find a process consuming an unnatural amount of memory, click on it and press the button with a cross symbol within it located near the top left side edge to quit the process

Step 10: Click Ok or Force Quit when prompted. 

Like this, you can observe unnecessary applications that might be running in the background that you could close in order to free up more resources for Safari. 

In case you find that Safari is consuming an alarming amount of resources even when you have a few lightweight tabs open. It could mean there could be a deeper issue within Safari itself.

Keeping your software updated is a crucial part of having a stable system. Outdated versions of software can have security flaws and bugs that can leave them susceptible to malicious attacks as well as issues in resource management. 

Make sure both macOS and Safari are updated to the latest version. We’ve detailed guides below on how to do that in case yours aren’t up to date.

Step 1: Click on the Apple logo

Step 2: Click on System Preferences

Step 3: A new window will pop up

Step 4: Click on Software Update

Step 5: Wait for macOS to check for any new updates

Step 6: If there is an update you will be prompted to download and install it, if not it’ll notify you that you’re already on the latest version.

Step 7: Click on Advanced

Step 8: Make sure the checkbox “ Check for updates ” is checked. 

Step 2: Click on App Store

Step 3: A new window with the Mac App store will pop up. 

Step 4: Click on Updates on the left hand side menu

Step 5: From here if there is an update available for Safari you can download and install it from here. 

Sometimes clearing your stored data in Safari can help get rid of the stutters and crashes. However be warned this will remove all your saved passwords and saved websites logins as well. So proceed at your own caution.

Step 3: Click on preferences 

Step 5: Click on Privacy in the upper hand menu

Step 6: Click on Manage Website Data

Step 7: Click on the Remove All button

Step 8: Click Remove Now when prompted

Step 9: Click on Advanced in the upper hand menu

Step 10: Make sure the option Show Develop menu in menu bar is checked

Step 11: Click on Develop in the Safari menu bar at the top

Step 12: Click on Empty Caches

Sometimes browser extensions can the reason your browser is facing the issues that it is. To find out which browser extension could be the potential culprit disable them one by one to see and check if your issues are resolved. To disable browser extensions. 

Step 3: Click on Preferences  

Step 4: Click on Extensions in the top menu

Step 5: From here you can disable extensions that you have installed (if any)

Before we move on to our solutions it is important to realize why Safari might be crashing on your Mac, so that if this issue arises in the future you are better equipped to deal with.

When a new version of Safari is released or a new version of macOS. Expect there to be stability issues. It can take a while to work out the kinks and bugs within the software, so freezes and crashes can occur.

Especially if you’re using beta software, as the versions released within beta are still being tested by the development team. So opt out of the beta program if the issues are too frequent in nature.

Browser extensions and old cache data within Safari could also be the reason why it keeps freezing or crashing. 

Sometimes extensions no longer remain compatible with a newer version of safari till their updated and cache data can cause safari to become slow and eventually freeze. 

Fixing Safari Unresponsive & Frozen On Mac

So after reading through our through and conclusive guide you should have all the information you need to figure out why why is safari frozen on my mac and how to fix it!

If you feel we missed out on anything be sure to leave that in the comments down below.

Hassaan has been passionate about technology for as long as he remembers, and aims to provide you with all the information you need to find the right laptop for you.

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How to Close All Tabs in Safari on the iPhone or iPad

Long-press the Tab icon or go to Settings > Safari to clear the history and force the tabs to close

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What to Know

• Press and hold the Tab button at the top right. Choose Close All [#] Tabs , and then tap it again to confirm.
• To close unresponsive tabs, go to Settings > Safari > Clear History and Website Data > Clear > Close Tabs .

This article explains how to close all your Safari tabs at once. These directions work for iOS 12 and up, including iPadOS.

How to Close All Tabs in the Safari Browser

Use the Tab menu to close all open tabs simultaneously.

Tap and hold the Tab button, which looks like two stacked squares.

Tap Close All [#] Tabs .

Tap the same button once more to confirm. This will close all tabs immediately.

The Tab menu is also how you launch a private browsing session .

How to Close All Tabs Without Opening Safari

Another way to close all tabs on iPhone or iPad is through the Settings app. This is helpful if you can't close the tabs within Safari, like if the browser won't open.

When you clear all tabs this way, you're also erasing the Safari cache , which includes your browsing history, cookies, and other browsing data. That means you'll need to log back into any websites that normally log in automatically when you visit them.

Open the Settings app and tap Safari .

Scroll down and choose Clear History and Website Data > Clear .

To close all tabs at the same time, choose Close Tabs .

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How-To Geek

How to automatically close safari tabs on iphone and ipad.

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If you frequently find yourself with dozens of forgotten open Safari tabs on your iPhone or iPad, then it can be annoying to sort through them or manually close them later . Luckily, Safari can automatically close tabs after a certain period of time. Here's how to set it up.

First, open Settings. Scroll down until you see "Safari" and tap it.

In Safari settings, swipe down until you see the "Tabs" section, then tap "Close Tabs."

One the "Close Tabs" screen, you have the option to set the lifespan of an open Safari browser tab. When set, Safari will close tabs that have not been viewed within the period of time you set, and the options are "Manually," "After One Day," "After One Week," or "After One Month." This setting applies to Private tabs as well.

Pick the option that suits you best and tap on it.

After that, leave Settings. It's handy to know that even after Safari automatically closes your older tabs, you can still find them in the hidden "Open Recently Closed Tabs" menu  in Safari for iPhone and iPad. You can access it by holding down the "+" (plus) button on the tab management screen in Safari.

As a potential downside, Safari (as of iOS and iPadOS 13) will also group recently closed Private Browsing tabs in the same "Recently Closed Tabs" area if they are closed automatically. If you want to fully conceal recent browsing activity, it may be best to manually close Private tabs yourself.

Related: How to Reopen Closed Tabs on an iPhone or iPad

• iPhone & iPad

iOS 11: Closing All Open Safari Tabs

On your iPhone and iPad, there’s a really quick way to close all of your existing Safari tabs, and it doesn’t involve swiping or tapping on each one you’ve got open. To do this, launch Safari first (of course), and then tap and hold on the Tabs icon, shown here:

Doing that will bring up a menu with a few options, one of which is “Close All [number of] Tabs”:

This is cool, and it’s much easier than the way things used to work . If you’d prefer, though, you can also close all existing tabs under iOS by clearing your history entirely with Settings > Safari > Clear History and Website Data …

…but that’s more of a nuke-it-from-orbit approach, as it’ll wipe out all of your browsing data along with closing the aforementioned tabs. So you won’t be able to go back and search your history to find that site that you visited just that one time. You know the one I mean.

I totally judge you for looking at that site.

One thought on “ iOS 11: Closing All Open Safari Tabs ”

Good tip, because sometimes I need to take out the trash even if some of the tabs are my usual places.

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Safari User Guide

• Get started
• Go to a website
• Bookmark web pages to revisit
• See your favourite websites
• Use tabs for web pages
• Import bookmarks and passwords
• Pay with Apple Pay
• Autofill credit card info
• View links from friends
• Keep a Reading List
• Hide ads when reading
• Translate a web page
• Download items from the web
• Add passes to Wallet
• Save part or all of a web page
• Print or create a PDF of a web page
• Interact with text in a picture
• Change your home page
• Customise a start page
• Create a profile
• Block pop-ups
• Make Safari your default web browser
• Hide your email address
• Manage cookies
• Clear your browsing history
• Browse privately
• Prevent cross-site tracking
• See who tried to track you
• Change Safari settings
• Keyboard and other shortcuts

Close tabs in Safari on Mac

When you’re surfing the web or researching a subject, you can avoid cluttering your window with multiple tabs.

Open Safari for me

Close all other tabs: Control-click the tab you want to keep open, then choose Close Other Tabs.

Close all tabs to the right: Control-click a tab, then choose Close Tabs to the Right.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Can’t close tabs on Safari on my iPhone

I saw 100s of questions but nothing that helped my specific issue.

i am unable to close tabs on safari on my iPhone. Physically, yes I can click the x or swipe to close out a tab. But as soon as I close out of safari and go back in the next time, all the tabs I closed came back. And if I open a new tab it just adds to the open tab count. Even if I have it set to clear my tabs automatically, still they all remain. The weird part is, if I use one of the open tabs to search for a different web page, when I close it out and it comes back, it will come back to the original web page it was on (I hope that makes sense)

any suggestions on how I can get my tabs to clear on my iPhone safari? I have an iPhone 11 and I’m running iOS 15.0.2

thanks in advance

iPhone 11, iOS 15

Posted on Nov 24, 2021 11:04 AM

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Nov 24, 2021 2:34 PM in response to Cat_Tobin613

Hi Cat_Tobin613 ,

Not sure what you mean by " swipe to close " as I don't see that behavior. Regardless, I presume that you are navigating to the screen as shown below. Once you arrive here, you click on the " X " to close the tab, and it does not actually do so?