6 Best Ways to Customize Safari Start Page on iPhone

With iOS 15, Safari brings interface changes and features. It may seem bloated to some. Also, the same experience translates to Safari on iPhone, and you can tweak it to your liking. Here are the six best ways to customize Safari on iPhone.

iOS now offers users the ability to change the default browser on iPhone. If you’ve already switched from Safari to Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge due to the lack of customization options, it’s time to give Apple’s browser another try in iOS 15.

1. Change Address Bar Position

iOS 15 introduced a controversial change to the tab bar location. Apple moved it to the bottom for better accessibility on big screens. And you can continue to reach the top of the browser. Fortunately, you can move the address bar to the top on iPhone. Here’s how to change the address bar location in Safari on iPhone.

Stage 1: Open the Settings app on iPhone.

Step 2: Scroll down to Safari.

Stage 3: Select Single Tab from the Tabs menu and go back to the address bar at the top.

2. Apply Background Wallpaper

With macOS Big Sur, Apple added the ability to apply wallpapers to Safari on Mac. The company has also released the same trick for iPhone users with iOS 15. Follow the steps below to add a background wallpaper to Safari on iPhone.

Stage 1: Open Safari start page on iPhone

Step 2: Scroll down and select the Edit button.

Stage 3: Enable the Background Image toggle from the Customize Start Page menu.

Step 4: Choose one of Apple’s built-in wallpapers or tap the + icon and import one from phone storage.

If you’re not a fan of a new color change in Safari, you can always disable the Background Image toggle from the Safari Edit menu.

3. Enable Shared With You

With iOS 15, Apple shared with you Function that allows users to check shared web links, photos, Apple Music recommendations, shared Apple TV links, iMessage conversations from one place.

You can control all shared web links from iMessage to Safari in a single Shared With You area. You need to enable the toggle and then you will see all the shared web addresses with contact names in the Safari browser.

Stage 1: On iPhone, open the Safari browser and go to the Edit button.

Step 2: Enable the Shared With You toggle.

Stage 3: You’ll see Shared With You on the Safari home page.

Tap on the little contact name and it will take you to the iMessage conversation.

4. Change Search Engine

By default, Apple uses Google as the default search engine for Safari. If you are not comfortable with Google collecting all the data, you can change the default search from Google to Bing, Yahoo or DuckDuckGo. Here’s how.

Stage 1: Open the Settings app and go to the Safari menu.

Step 2: Select Search Engine.

Stage 3: Change your preferred search engine and you are ready.

If you notice that the new search engine has lower results, you can always Google it from the same menu.

5. Enable iCloud Tabs

This is useful for those who switch between iPhone, iPad, and Mac to browse sites in Safari. As the name suggests, iCloud tabs syncs opened tabs across all your Apple hardware.

For example, you can open multiple tabs in Safari on Mac and access them from the iCloud Tabs menu in Safari on iPhone.

Stage 1: Open Safari on iPhone and go to the Edit menu.

Step 2: Enable iCloud Tabs from the Customize Start Page menu.

Back on the Safari start page, you will see tabs from other devices appearing on the home screen.

6. Enable Privacy Report

With iOS 14, Apple released a privacy report to check how many trackers Safari blocked in the last month or so. You can check the privacy report in detail directly from the Safari start page on iPhone.

Open Safari on iPhone and go to the Edit menu at the bottom. Enable Privacy Report and check the report in detail to see which websites are blocked by Safari browser during browsing activity.

From the same Layout menu, you can always use drag and drop and change the position of the tabs in the Safari browser.

Personalize the Safari Experience on iPhone

It’s good to see that Apple offers a variety of customization options to make the Safari browser all your own. As for us, most GT members use the bottom address bar and enable Privacy Report and iCloud tabs in Safari browser. We are not fans of Apple’s default wallpapers.