Browse privately in Safari on iPhone (2024)

You can use PrivateBrowsing to open private tabs that don’t appear in History on iPhone or in the list of tabs on your other devices. Tabs in PrivateBrowsing aren’t shared with your other Apple devices, even if you’re signed in with the same Apple ID.

If you have a passcode set on your iPhone, PrivateBrowsing locks when it’s not in use. PrivateBrowsing may not lock immediately.

1. Open the Safari app on your iPhone.

2. Tap .

   See Also

   Looking after your beacon - Beacons

3. Swipe right on the tab bar at the bottom of the screen until PrivateBrowsing opens, then tap Unlock.

   To exit PrivateBrowsing, tap , then swipe left to open a TabGroup from the menu at the bottom of your screen. The websites you have open in PrivateBrowsing stay open, and PrivateBrowsing locks.

To prevent PrivateBrowsing from locking, go to Settings > Safari, then turn off Require Passcode to Unlock PrivateBrowsing, Require Face ID to Unlock PrivateBrowsing (supported models), or Require Touch ID to Unlock PrivateBrowsing (supported models).

Note: Any Safari extensions you have installed that have access to browsing data are automatically turned off in PrivateBrowsing. To turn on an extension in PrivateBrowsing, see Use extensions.