How to Use iCloud Tabs in Safari to Sync Across Your Apple Devices

Remember life before browser tabs? Tabs revolutionized how we browse the web, and with iCloud Tabs, Apple takes it one step further. This feature lets you seamlessly share your open Safari tabs across your Mac, iPhone, and iPad. It’s a game-changer for productivity and convenience—but Apple doesn’t exactly make it easy to find or enable.

iCloud Tabs are not the same as Safari’s Tab Groups. While Tab Groups sync automatically if you use them on multiple Apple devices, iCloud Tabs require a bit of extra setup and navigation. Here’s a complete guide to enabling and using iCloud Tabs to make your browsing experience even better.

What Are iCloud Tabs?

iCloud Tabs let you access open tabs from Safari across all your Apple devices signed into the same iCloud account. For instance, if you’re reading an article on your Mac but need to switch to your iPhone, you can pick up right where you left off.

Unlike Tab Groups, which organize tabs into custom collections, iCloud Tabs automatically sync your currently open tabs. Once enabled, this feature ensures your browsing sessions are always available across devices.

However, while iCloud Tabs are powerful, the feature is somewhat hidden. Below, we’ll walk you through how to enable it and how to access your synced tabs.

Enabling iCloud Tabs on Your Apple Devices

To use iCloud Tabs, you need to ensure the feature is enabled on all your devices. Here’s how to set it up on both Mac and iOS devices.

Enabling iCloud Tabs on a Mac

1. Open System Settings.
2. Click on your name at the top of the sidebar.
3. Select iCloud.
4. In the Saved to iCloud section, click See All.
5. Ensure the toggle next to Safari is turned on.

By enabling iCloud for Safari, your open tabs will sync across all Apple devices using the same iCloud account.

Enabling iCloud Tabs on an iPhone or iPad

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap your name at the top of the menu.
3. Select iCloud.
4. In the Saved to iCloud section, tap See All.
5. Make sure the toggle next to Safari is turned on.

Once enabled, iCloud Tabs will begin syncing Safari tabs across all devices. Note that it might take a few minutes for tabs to appear on other devices after you enable this feature.

How to View iCloud Tabs on Your Devices

Once iCloud Tabs are enabled, you can access them whenever you need to switch between devices. The process for viewing these tabs varies slightly on Mac and iOS.

Viewing iCloud Tabs on an iPhone or iPad

1. Open the Safari app.
2. Swipe up or down to reveal the Safari controls, if hidden.
3. Tap the icon with two overlapping squares in the bottom-right corner to open the tab view.
4. Tap the + icon in the lower-left corner to open a new tab.
5. Scroll down past Favorites, Suggestions, Reading List, and Recently Closed Tabs to find iCloud Tabs.
6. Swipe left or right to browse through the tabs and tap on the one you want to open.

This allows you to access the tabs that are open on your other Apple devices, making it easy to continue your browsing session.

Viewing iCloud Tabs on a Mac

1. Open Safari.
2. Click on the sidebar icon (a square with dots on the left) in the top-left corner of the Safari toolbar to open the navigation pane.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the sidebar and click on iCloud Tabs.

Here, you’ll see a list of tabs open on your other devices. Simply click on the tab you want to open it on your Mac.

Troubleshooting iCloud Tabs

If you don’t see your tabs syncing across devices, here are a few things to check:

• Newly Enabled Feature: If you just turned on iCloud Tabs, it might take a few minutes to sync.
• iCloud Storage Issues: If your iCloud storage is full, syncing may fail. Check your iCloud storage in Settings (iPhone/iPad) or System Settings (Mac), and free up space if needed.
• Network Connectivity: Ensure all devices are connected to the internet, as iCloud Tabs requires an active internet connection to sync.

The Convenience of iCloud Tabs

iCloud Tabs is one of those features that feels small but significantly improves your workflow. Whether you’re working across devices or just browsing casually, the ability to pick up where you left off is invaluable. Although Apple could make the feature more obvious, once you know where to find it, it’s simple to use.

No more emailing links to yourself or retracing your steps to find that important webpage you left open on another device. With iCloud Tabs, your Apple devices work together seamlessly to keep your browsing experience smooth and efficient.What did we do before tabs? And now you can automatically share them across your devices. Having Safari be able to open the same tabs on all your Apple devices is hugely convenient, yet Apple hides the feature away. Here’s how to find and make use of it.
This is specifically about what are called iCloud tabs — and they are not the same as Tab Groups. If you use Tab Groups in Safari on one Apple device, the feature is on with the same tabs on all your devices.
In theory, iCloud tabs is always on too, but you have to dig further to find it, and you have to make sure that it is enabled.

Turning on iCloud Tabs

To take advantage of this Safari tab synchronization, you’ll first need to check that the feature is turned on. It’s quick and simple to do, but does vary fractionally depending on whether you’re using a Mac or an iPhone, or iPad.
Enabling iCloud Tabs on your Mac is as simple as ticking one box.To enable iCloud Tabs on a Mac:

• Open System Settings.
• Click on your name.
• Click iCloud.
• In the box that says “Saved to iCloud,” click See All.
• Be sure the box next to Safari is toggled on.

Enabling iCloud Tabs on your iPhone or iPad is largely the same process.To enable iCloud Tabs on an iPad or an iPhone:

• Open the Settings app.
• Click on your name.
• Click iCloud.
• In the box that says “Saved to iCloud,” click See All.
• Be sure the box next to Safari is toggled on.

With iCloud Tabs enabled on all of your Apple devices, your tabs are being shared across your Mac, iPhone, and iPad — but you may not see them. You have to take specific steps to see these shared tabs and while it’s not difficult, it’s enough of a chore that you can tend to not bother.

How to view iCloud Tabs

It’s worth looking for the shared tabs. Especially if you’ve ever come away from your Mac and realised precisely the page you needed was on that and not your iPhone.
On the iPhone or iPad:

• Open Safari
• Swipe up and down so that the controls appear
• Tap on the icon of two overlapping squares at bottom left
• Now tap the + sign that appears at bottom left
• Scroll down below Favorites, Suggestions, Reading List, and Recently Closed Tabs, to reach iCloud Tabs
• Scroll to the side to see more tabs and tap on the one you want

You have to click on the show tabs icon, then on the + sign before you can see the list on iOSOn the Mac, open Safari. Then click on the icon for navigation pane (a square with dots down the left) which is at top left. At the very bottom of the screen, there will now be an iCloud Tabs button.
It’s possible that nothing will appear, in which case it’s likely that you’ve only just turned on the feature and it will take a time to work. It’s also possible that you’re so low on iCloud space that it will never work, but in that case you should be getting iCloud warning notifications and emails about the space you’ve used up.
Most of the time, though, you will open iCloud Tabs and see the same tabs you have on your other devices.
It could be more straightforward to find, but it is simple enough when you’ve been shown. And the convenience of never having to go back to another device to check a page address is tremendous.