Safari: Open a Tab From Another Device

I often use my iPhone to look things up on the web while I’m out and about. If I want to pick up where I left off later using my iPad, I don’t have to remember how to get back to that page. There is a very simple way to jump right to it.

Setting Up

This feature should already be set up if you’re using iCloud. But to check, go to Settings and tap your name at the top of the list, then tap iCloud:

In the iCloud list, make sure Safari is turned on. If it’s not, just tap the switch:

You will want to check this on all your other devices.

View a Page

Safari keeps track of which pages you currently have open and allows your other devices to to open those as well. For example, let’s say you’re looking for restaurants on your iPhone and have tapped through many articles to arrive at the one you want to read about:

Open It On Another Device

Now let’s say you’d like to view that same page on your iPad. Open Safari on your iPad and tap the Tabs button in the upper right corner:

You’ll see your open tabs at the top, and at the bottom you’ll see a list of tabs that are open on your other devices:

If the list of tabs is long, you can scroll up to see more.

To open one of those pages on your iPad, just tap it:

… and you’re taken to the same place on your iPad!

You can do the same thing on the iPhone or the Mac. Just go to the list of tabs in Safari and you’ll see the list from your other devices.

Close It On Another Device

If you decide you don’t want one of those tabs open on your other device, you can close it from this same screen. Just swipe left on the tab and tap Close:

Pick Up Where You Left Off

This feature makes it easy to pick up where you left off using another device. I use it all the time because it’s so much easier than trying to remember the steps I took to get deep into a particular web site. I hope you find it helpful, too.