iOS 26 has a completely new liquid glass look for the iPhone, and you may have strong feelings on this subject. Safari has undergone some of the most dramatic changes, and the result is quite … quite boring, that is to say.
One of the greatest things that I miss in Safari is the old full -size toolbar with the bookmarks and all the icons of the tabs. These user interface elements are present in each iOS version of Safari from the very first iPhone in 2007. Although I appreciate the additional screen space that I get with this new arrangement of the compact toolbar, I am not sure that this is worth the compromises.
Yes, I can always access my bookmarks and display all my tabs by pressing the three -point menu. But this additional step is super frustrating. I continue to automatically reach the lower right corner of the screen, only to remind me that the old buttons are no longer there. I have to unlearn the muscular memory that I have developed for many years.
After a few days, I started to warm up in the new Safari toolbar. Although I still miss the old version, I found some tips to help me sail more easily.
How to love your new Compact Safari toolbar
I keep too many tabs open in Safari, and I often find myself switching to each other. Instead of type (…)) The button then the All TABS icon, I can simply slide up from the compact toolbar.
After a few scales, this gesture becomes intuitive. It takes a little more effort than simply pressing the All Tab icon in the previous versions of Safari, but it is better than having to press twice.
To open a new tab, I was going to display all tabs and press the + icon in the lower left corner. But there is actually an easier way to do so in the compact arrangement: I can open a new tab by sliding just through the toolbar. If I want to return to my previous tab, I can slide left on the toolbar. This gesture gives me a quick shortcut for the bicycle between my most recent tabs.
Another missing element in the compact toolbar is the sharing icon. I can always find it by pressing the (…) Menu. But if all I want to do is copy the URL and paste it into a group text or email, there is a faster way: by pressing the address bar for a long time, I will see an option to copy the link.
The best part of these tips is that they also work for the old version of the Safari toolbar. And yes, you can return to the old version if you wish.
How to return to a lower or upper arrangement for the Safari toolbar
If you have tried the new Safari toolbar and you are not a fan, you don’t have to stick to it. Set in the settings > Applications > Safari. In the tab section, you will see three options for the arrangement of the toolbar: compact, bottom and top.
The lower and upper arrangements take up more space on your screen than compact (and slightly more space than their iOS 18 counterparts). But they offer a little welcome familiarity, especially if you always get used to iOS 26. With this iOS update presenting so many changes, it is a relief that certain things can come back to the way they were before.
