Is Safari the most used browser on your iPhone and iPad? Then enable this hidden feature so that Safari works much better!
Hidden feature in Safari
Do you regularly use Safari on your iPhone and iPad? In that case you are probably missing a useful function in the browser. In Safari, your screen refresh rate is reduced by default if you have an iPhone or iPad with ProMotion support. Devices with ProMotion have a display with a refresh rate of 120Hz, while other devices have a refresh rate of 60Hz. For example, this technology makes animations and images look smoother on the iPhone 17 Pro than on the iPhone 17.
The screen of the iPhone 13 Pro and newer Pro models refreshes twice as fast as the display of regular models. The iPad Pro 2017 and newer iPad Pro models have the same ProMotion technology. Unfortunately, you don’t notice much of this in Safari, because the browser lowers the refresh rate to 60Hz by default. Do you want animations to run as well as possible in Safari? Then enable this hidden feature for Safari!
Adjust Safari to 120Hz
Do you have an iPhone 13 Pro or a newer Pro model? Or an iPad Pro 2017 or newer? You then have a device that has Apple’s ProMotion technology. The screen loads images every 8.3 milliseconds, so animations run smoothly. This is not the case by default with Safari, which can cause images to appear choppy and less smooth. This hidden feature prevents that in Safari:
- Open ‘Settings’ on your iPhone or iPad;
- Swipe down and tap ‘Apps’;
- Go to ‘Safari’;
- Scroll down and open ‘Advanced’;
- Tap ‘Function Markers’;
- Finally, disable ‘Prefer Page Rendering Updates near 60fps’.
Have you disabled the hidden feature in Safari? The refresh rate will then no longer be reduced in the browser. This means that on a device with support for ProMotion you also maintain a refresh rate of 120Hz in Safari. This difference is especially noticeable when animations appear on a website. These images are played much smoother on your iPhone and iPad at 120Hz. You won’t notice any difference when scrolling through web pages, this always happens at 120Hz in Safari.
More about Safari
Without the hidden feature, Safari is inferior to other browsers. For example, web browsers such as Chrome and Firefox do not reduce the refresh rate. In these applications you maintain 120Hz by default, so they display animations more smoothly than Safari. That difference is certainly noticeable if you use Safari in addition to other browsers such as Chrome and Firefox on your iPhone and iPad, in which case Safari may feel less smooth.
By adjusting the settings of Safari you can eliminate this difference. With Safari’s hidden feature disabled, the browser has the same refresh rate as Chrome and Firefox. Did you find this tip useful and do you want to know more about your iPhone and iPad? Then sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter so you always stay informed of the latest features!
Download the iPhoned app
