How to reopen closed tabs in Safari on Mac, iPhone and iPad

Updated 18 October 2026

On a Mac, press Shift+Cmd+T to reopen the last tab you closed in Safari. If the last thing you closed was a window, the same keys bring the window back. On iPhone, tap the Tabs button, then touch and hold the New Tab button; on iPad, touch and hold the New Tab button at the top right. Then pick from the list of recently closed tabs.

On a Mac

Apple lists Shift+Cmd+T for reopening both the last tab and the last window you closed. The History menu has the same commands by name, plus a list:

• History > Reopen Last Closed Tab or Reopen Last Closed Window.
• History > Recently Closed lists tabs and windows you closed recently. Choose one to reopen it.
• History > Reopen All Windows from Last Session brings back the windows from your previous session, for example after Safari quit or the Mac restarted.

The start page can show them too. Choose Bookmarks > Show Start Page, click Edit in the bottom-right corner and select Recently Closed Tabs, which lists the tabs you recently closed in the current Tab Group.

Pages from days or months ago

Choose History > Show All History and type in the search field at the top right. Apple says a Mac can keep your browsing history for as long as a year, and Remove history items in Safari > Settings > General sets how long. With Safari turned on in iCloud, your other Apple devices share the same history.

Tabs that closed on their own

If tabs disappear after a day, a week or a month, open Safari > Settings > Tabs. Automatically close tabs closes them on that schedule; choose Manually to keep tabs open until you close them. For windows that didn’t come back after a restart, set Safari opens with in General settings to your last session; how to save all tabs in Safari has the steps.

On iPhone

1. Tap the Tabs button. In the Compact layout on iOS 26, tap the More button, then All Tabs.
2. Touch and hold the New Tab button.
3. Choose a tab from the list of recently closed tabs.

To keep that list on your start page, tap the Tabs button, then the Add button, scroll to the bottom, tap Edit and turn on Recently Closed Tabs. For older pages, tap the History button on the start page. In a tab that’s still open, touch and hold the Back button to see the pages you visited in it.

On iPad

Touch and hold the New Tab button at the top right and choose from the list of recently closed tabs. The start page has the same Recently Closed Tabs option: open a new tab, scroll to the bottom and tap Edit. Your history is in the sidebar: tap the Show Sidebar button, then History.

A tab still open on another device

With Safari turned on in iCloud on both devices, you can pick up a tab that’s open somewhere else. On a Mac, click the device below iCloud Tabs in the sidebar. On iPhone, open a new tab and scroll to the bottom of the start page (iCloud Tabs must be on in its Edit options). On iPad, tap the Show Sidebar button, then iCloud Tabs. Private tabs never appear in these lists.

Private Browsing tabs

History can’t bring these back: Apple says pages you visit in a private window on a Mac aren’t saved, and private tabs on iPhone and iPad don’t appear in History. First check that they’re really closed. On iPhone and iPad, leaving Private Browsing keeps its sites open and locks it. To go back on iPhone, tap the Tabs button and swipe right on the tab bar; on iPad, tap the Show Sidebar button, then Private. If you use a passcode, Safari may ask for it, or for Face ID or Touch ID, first.

Next time, save them first

The recently closed lists only cover what you closed lately. For tabs you want next week, keep them in a Tab Group (Safari Tab Groups). Have a list of links from somewhere else? Our open multiple URLs tool opens them all in new tabs, in Safari or any browser.