PSA: Safari tab bar can be changed!!

[jeremyw013]

because i already know there will be thousands of people who complain endlessly about the new safari tab bar, which is also literally the initial design from ios 15 before they changed it… YOU CAN CHANGE THE TAB BAR. compact, bottom, and top.

 

[FSMBP]

Good to know! I like consistency, so the top is best.

Thanks!

 

[Maclver]

Now just need to figure out how to hide “Recently Saved” when first opening bookmarks.

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

Its gone completely on iPadOS and macOS

 

[wolfboy]

Can you post a screenshot of what Safari looks like with the bottom bar in ios26?

 

[HouseLannister]

Can you post a screenshot of what Safari looks like with the bottom bar in ios26?

 

[jeremyw013]

Can you post a screenshot of what Safari looks like with the bottom bar in ios26?

 

[tomtad]

You can also now swipe to switch tabs and create a new tab with the top address bar option

 

[internet rabbit]

i'm actually a bigger fan of the bottom bar than what they changed it to in 26b1 so good looking out. better for single hand use

 

[ProbablyDylan]

View attachment 2518516

Why on earth didn't they ship it like this?? This looks so much more usable!!

 

[ProbablyDylan]

Actually you know what - the split arrangement looks even better. Gets rid of the ugly gradient / shadow from the bottom.

 

[wolfboy]

Thanks! That looks so much better with the bottom bar. Will be switching over to that immediately once it’s out.

 

[ianrip]

I understand the bottom feature for iPhone, but for iPad every other app has functions at the top, so safari for iPad needs to be top

 

[bbfc]

Actually you know what - the split arrangement looks even better. Gets rid of the ugly gradient / shadow from the bottom.

View attachment 2518669

They may change it. Wouldn’t be the first time.

 

[voodoo709]

I hate that I can no longer see if there is a tab to the left or right anymore.



You can see in these two images on iOS 18 swiping right will take you to the next tab in the top image, the bottom image shows there is no tab to the right and if you swipe right a new tab will be created.

iOS 26 on the other hand has no indication, if I swipe right I could be moving to the next tab or a new tab could be created, there is no way to know before swiping.

 

[tomtad]

I hate that I can no longer see if there is a tab to the left or right anymore.



You can see in these two images on iOS 18 swiping right will take you to the next tab in the top image, the bottom image shows there is no tab to the right and if you swipe right a new tab will be created.

View attachment 2526796





iOS 26 on the other hand has no indication, if I swipe right I could be moving to the next tab or a new tab could be created, there is no way to know before swiping.

View attachment 2526797

Agree, it also feels unnecessarily tight with the address/tab bar squeezed in the middle which for many sites doesn't even fit the name, there's loads of empty space to the left of the back button and right of the more button which is just empty.

I think they'd be better having just a single address/tab bar at the bottom which incorporates the back and more buttons within it. You can then have other tabs highlighted at the sides of the screen to the left and right like it is currently, and have more room for the website address.

 

[!!!]

Agree, it also feels unnecessarily tight with the address/tab bar squeezed in the middle which for many sites doesn't even fit the name, there's loads of empty space to the left of the back button and right of the more button which is just empty.

I think they'd be better having just a single address/tab bar at the bottom which incorporates the back and more buttons within it. You can then have other tabs highlighted at the sides of the screen to the left and right like it is currently, and have more room for the website address.

A lot of Liquid Glass elements (aside from the texture) boil down to just making every UI element simultaneously take up more space while also having less room for content. It's such an unfortunate "trend" with recent UI where designers believe they must make as much of our screens as useless as possible.

 

[one more]

Deleted.

 

[lsquare]

Its gone completely on iPadOS and macOS

What?!

 

[lsquare]

A lot of Liquid Glass elements (aside from the texture) boil down to just making every UI element simultaneously take up more space while also having less room for content. It's such an unfortunate "trend" with recent UI where designers believe they must make as much of our screens as useless as possible.

I've been more disappointed with Liquid Glass than happy. The UI still very much feels like a work in progress. To think that a full release is less than two months from release is unbelievable. In terms of UI, I still prefer iOS 18, but I want the internal improvements of iOS 26.

 

[rstark18]

I set mine to bottom, but it stay set to compact. Same if I set it to top.
It’s stuck as compact.
b3 is my first load of the beta cycle.
I’ve done a hard boot but nothing changes. Anyone else?

 

[HouseLannister]

I set mine to bottom, but it stay set to compact. Same if I set it to top.
It’s stuck as compact.
b3 is my first load of the beta cycle.
I’ve done a hard boot but nothing changes. Anyone else?

Weird. Just to try something new: Try turning off iCloud sync for Safari and then restart the phone.