Apple Reverses iOS 15 Safari Changes With New Toggle for Top Address Bar

[ipedro]

No courage. While it needed some refinements over the beta period, the floating bar was fantastic. It had gotten intelligent enough to get out of the way when appropriate and came with great gestures to navigate through tabs quickly.

I liked when Apple had the balls to stick to their guns. Users eventually got used to changes and far more often than not, grew to appreciate them. Sticking in the past because of public pressure is a Microsoft thing.

 

[DNichter]

Top address bar just makes too much sense. So much more room to breathe for all other icons. I get the point of the bottom, but the UI was bad.

 

[rafark]

its nice to have options, but if they make bottom default, and have a toggle to change it in settings, almost every iOS user is just going to use it at the bottom.

And what’s the problem with this?

 

[GregJohn]

I didn’t mind the floating bar… would like if apple gave us 3 options and added back an improved floating bar… I like it at the bottom but not how it looks now

 

[ikir]

Now they just need to get rid of the Touch Bar. 👍🏻

Using a lot Affinity Photo and Final Cut the days, I will miss Touch Bar, it is very handy in seam apps.

 

[thalegold]

THANK YOU! I hated the address bar at the bottom. Absolutely hated it.

 

[techno-Zen]

Thank GOD - the iOS 15 weird google tab bar thing just hasn't clicked for me.

 

[jjpiv]

I really love what Apple is doing with developing and refining the Safari UI and UX. I always loathed having to enter a separate view to navigate between tabs. However, I can appreciate there are people who prefer the original design. I'm sure someone will say how Android has had this available for years, but for anyone invested in the use of iOS, it's a big win.

 

[jk1221]

Out of all of the things I'd like to do with on the iPhone with one hand, tapping a browser address bar to search/type in a url isn't really near the top of the list. If they want to focus on one-handed use, they need to start with making the Home Screen align from the bottom of the screen instead of the top. I'm glad they've added the option to return the address bar to the top here.

Let's start small and fix the HORRID control center swipe down. Or just merge the damn thing into notifications ad a swipe right instead of the camera being there.

I've been doing it since iPhone 10 and don't get it right near every time still.

It is way too finicky.

 

[ipedro]

Because it overlays some items on a website that you can't access, especially if the website wasn't coded well.

That was fixed two betas ago. The bar got really good at moving out of the way of underlying site UI and overall just staying docked to the bottom after no longer being needed. There was also always a gesture to flick it out of the way, though that was no longer needed because it did so automatically.

 

[jjpiv]

Thank GOD - the iOS 15 weird google tab bar thing just hasn't clicked for me.

Options are good. I'm glad you and I can both have our cake the way we want it. ☺️

 

[jk1221]

i dont see why having it on the bottom benefits you. someone please explain. At the top it disappears as you scroll, now its just in the way. I hope the option is there to keep it at the top if you want

Just to clarify when it is at the bottom in Beta 5, it still does disappear the same now when scrolling.

I fully do agree it is still odd there and now a huge bar (double bar) with the URL and navigation/bookmarks now together (rather than 1 top and 1 bottom). It just looks visually "off" to me.

 

[Jett0516]

Apple need to add this to the iPad also. Much needed.

 

[kalafalas]

The new bottom tab design is perfect I’m so happy!

 

[bgraham]

This looks hideous... I want the bottom bar back! It was so elegant and intuitive once you actually got the hang of it

 

[WaffleBoi_15]

Honest question: who wanted the top search bar to come back? It’s barely reachable on bigger phones, you can’t swipe between tabs, and you can’t swipe up to access the tab overview. We’ve all had over 2 months to get used to it being at the bottom (hell I got used to it within like the first week), and now they give us the option to bring it back to the top. I’m having a hard time understanding why people wanted this.

Also even the new one on the bottom looks like an awkward middle ground between the iOS 14 one and the beta 5 one and it takes up too much space. I appreciate that they give us options but I’d rather have the option to bring back the beta 5 design over the iOS 14 design.

 

[Khedron]

I’m so glad. It drove me nuts. Click it and it moves away. So frustrating.

Don’t even try to use a site like YouTube that also has a dynamic bottom bar. The two of them dancing around while taking up a quarter of your screen was like a drug-fuelled nightmare.

 

[jjpiv]

i dont see why having it on the bottom benefits you. someone please explain. At the top it disappears as you scroll, now its just in the way. I hope the option is there to keep it at the top if you want

Reachability and ease of switching tabs without leaving the page UI.

 

[dugbug]

Next up is to make macos safari return to using actual tabs for the ... tabs.

 

[Ronal]

I remember seeeing a Google article saying they tried this before and reverted back because people were complaining. This is the same situation even after a few years, but it seems like people are more open to changes now than before p. I guess it takes more time

 

[jonplackett]

Definitely and improvement - but can they also properly report the window.innerHeight as the height of the visible area?

You currently have to do weird javascript hacks to stop things getting hidden behind the bottom buttons, and it's going to be even worse with an extra url bar in the way.

 

[markfc]

My 90yo father will appreciate it. Thanks Apple for making my life easier!

Why’s he on a beta??!?

 

[bushman4]

• Moving the address bar to the bottom: smart
• Offering people a choice of top or bottom: smarter
• Trying to cram every control into a single address bar with tiny touch targets: really dumb

Glad to see Apple reverse course on that last design blunder.

Put well! 2 thumbs up 👍 👍

 

[maxfromdenmark]

Praise be! 👏🏻

 

[anshuvorty]

So, basically, we have come full circle? I'm sure when iOS 16 releases next fall, this toggle will disappear, and we will be back to where we were in iOS 14...