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myrtlebee

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jul 9, 2011
2,677
2,242
Maryland
Is there any way to open a new tab (when pressing the + icon in the toolbar) with a blank page instead of one with a page with all of my favorites and frequently visited since they show anyway when I click on the address bar? Tried searching the forums and came up with nothing.
 
Safari Preferences/General tab
Then, from "New tabs open with:" change to Blank Page.

(oops! OS X Safari, not iOS Safari. Thanks for reminding me of my poor mental state :D )
 
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It's definitely possible in iOS because I've managed to get mine into that state, but I couldn't tell you how :)
 
It's definitely possible in iOS because I've managed to get mine into that state, but I couldn't tell you how :)
I believe if you don't have any favorites saved then it will load as a blank page.
 
I believe if you don't have any favorites saved then it will load as a blank page.
I want to keep my favorites, just not on new tabs. It's both redundant and a privacy concern for me. For example, if I have a new tab open and my iPad propped up on my desk during a lecture, I'd rathe other students not see my frequently visited sites and favorites.

It's definitely possible in iOS because I've managed to get mine into that state, but I couldn't tell you how :)
Do you have any favorites saved?
 
I want to keep my favorites, just not on new tabs. It's both redundant and a privacy concern for me. For example, if I have a new tab open and my iPad propped up on my desk during a lecture, I'd rathe other students not see my frequently visited sites and favorites.
I understand what you mean. I was just saying that that seemed to be the only way to get rid of that unfortunately. Perhaps you can put your favorites as just general bookmarks so that they can be accessible that way and not show up on every new tab along with frequent sites and anything else?
 
I understand what you mean. I was just saying that that seemed to be the only way to get rid of that unfortunately. Perhaps you can put your favorites as just general bookmarks so that they can be accessible that way and not show up on every new tab along with frequent sites and anything else?
I didn't realize you could do that and just figured out how. Thanks. I wonder though if it will also get rid of frequently visited sites. I would prefer if I could figure out the other way though to just open a blank tab and still keep favorites when tapping the address bar.
 
Can’t be done. Only workaround is to create an empty bookmark folder and use that one as your new favourites in Safari settings. However, this also means that you won’t see your favourites anymore when you close all tabs. You would need to open the favourites folder manually from the bookmark view every time.

You could also just move your ‘personal’ favourites into a separate folder within the favourites folder and leave the ‘less personal’ ones in the main view. That way you can still access all of them fairly easily. In iOS 9 you can also disable the frequently viewed websites entirely.
 
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You can open the 'New tab' in 'private' mode, then it doesn't show favorites. When you want favorites to show up, switch to regular mode.


I didn't realize you could do that and just figured out how. Thanks. I wonder though if it will also get rid of frequently visited sites. I would prefer if I could figure out the other way though to just open a blank tab and still keep favorites when tapping the address bar.
 
You can open the 'New tab' in 'private' mode, then it doesn't show favorites. When you want favorites to show up, switch to regular mode.

Doesn’t work on my device, they are always shown.
 
Can’t be done. Only workaround is to create an empty bookmark folder and use that one as your new favourites in Safari settings. However, this also means that you won’t see your favourites anymore when you close all tabs. You would need to open the favourites folder manually from the bookmark view every time.

You could also just move your ‘personal’ favourites into a separate folder within the favourites folder and leave the ‘less personal’ ones in the main view. That way you can still access all of them fairly easily. In iOS 9 you can also disable the frequently viewed websites entirely.

I think this is definitely the best option. Thank you. Happy to hear iOS 9 is giving the option to do away with the frequently visted sites "feature."
 
It looks like I don't; I have Bookmarks, but my Favourites folder is empty. Do Favourites show up somewhere other than the "blank page" too?
Yes they show up when you press on the url bar and also when you press the bookmarks icon
 
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