iOS 15 landed two weeks ago and it packs a punch with a wide array of features and improvements. As promised, I upgraded my iPhone 12 mini within 24 hours of release and instantly started to discover its niceties.

I begin this discussion with Safari, one of the core iPhone apps, which has received its first major facelift in years. I’m generally impressed by how much more efficient my Safari experience has become in this new version.

Browsing At Your Fingertips

One of the best parts of Safari in iOS 15 is that entering URLs and search queries is immediately at my fingertips, now that the Search Bar is at the bottom of the screen, conveniently under my thumbs.

As a result, upon opening Safari, I can instantly tap and enter text without having to reach for the top of the screen. I can’t imagine the boon this is for users of larger devices.

And when you’re there, the new tab screen (by tapping the +) offers a plethora of browsing improvements, including access to links shared with you through other apps like Messages, selections from your Reading List, tabs open on other devices like your Mac, and a privacy report that reveals blocked website trackers.

Tap Edit at the bottom to customize what appears on this Start Page and to decide whether these preferences should sync across your devices.

Swipe to Switch Tabs

If you have an iPhone without a Home button, did you know you can swipe right or left on the bar at the bottom of the screen to switch among recently used apps? This functionality has now come to Safari.

Swipe horizontally on the address bar to switch among open browser tabs. Or, if you’re on the last tab, the next swipe left leads to a new empty tab.

More Tabbed Goodness

Tapping the tab button on the right side of the toolbar no longer reveals a seemingly endless list of website thumbnails with an inconveniently small area for switching among or closing them.

Now, each appears as a separate tile with a clear close button. And tapping the total number of tabs, shown at the bottom, reveals the ability to switch to Private mode as well as to create tab groups.

Finally, a long press on the ＋ button shows a list of recently closed tabs. And you can still search all your tabs. from the field at the top. (Remember, you can tap the status bar at the top of the screen to jump to the top of any list or page.)

This barely scratches the surface of what you might discover in Safari, but I hope it gives you a place to start your exploration. Other notable improvements include the Bookmarks pane not taking up the whole screen, support for browser extensions which sync from Safari on your Mac, and a cleaner Search view when entering a query and preparing to visit a site.

What are you liking or disliking about the new Safari? What else have you discovered in iOS 15 that you hope to hear about next?