The iOS 13 update brought many new features to Safari, the iPhone web browser.
The move to iOS 13 is an opportunity for iPhones to benefit from many new features. In addition to the appearance of a dark theme, a new smart charging system or the QuickPath keyboard, which allows you to quickly enter text by sliding your finger on the keyboard, iOS 13 inaugurates several features on Safari, the browser web of iPhone.
1. Quickly change a site’s preferences
Safari version iOS 13 greatly simplifies access to preferences when you visit a website. If it was previously necessary to go through the share sheet, or go to Settings to modify certain Safari preferences, it is now possible to quickly access certain elements.
Now all you have to do is press the aA icon to the left of the URL in the address bar to deploy a preferences panel.
The first to be proposed allows you to modify the zoom level in a page. Press the small A to decrease the zoom and the large A to increase it. Safari automatically indicates the zoom level applied.
The second option offered, Show reader, allows you, when you are on a web page that is a little too crowded, to use reader mode. The content (text and image) is then reformatted within a white page (or black if you are using the dark theme of iOS 13) for better readability.
When activated, reader mode lets you choose the background color, size and type of font used. You must then press Hide Reader to exit.
To maximize the display space of a page, Safari now offers to Hide the toolbar during navigation. You have to touch it again to make it reappear.
Whereas previously you had to look for it at the bottom of the Safari share sheet, the option to display the Desktop version of a site is now more easily accessible.
On sites configured to display a mobile version by default, tapping this option will allow you to display the website in its desktop version. Likewise, to switch back to the mobile version of a site, choose the Mobile version option.
Safari’s preferences panel also lets you manage your content blockers without you having to explore iOS settings, handy when the blocker you’re using doesn’t display a site’s content properly.
Finally, Safari can now save your preferences for the sites you visit regularly.
In Website settings, you can define whether you prefer to see the desktop version, whether you want to automatically use the reader and whether or not the blocker should be enabled by default.
You can also manage all the permissions given to a site in the use of certain iPhone functions directly from this pane.
2. Share content more easily
The sharing options on iOS have seen their interface completely reworked. This is also the case on Safari which automatically displays recent contacts with whom you have exchanged messages or emails. Access to the button to copy the URL of a site is also simplified.
Safari in its iOS 13 version also allows you to select upstream the sharing format to use.
By tapping on Options displayed at the top of the share sheet, you can now choose the share format to use. By default, Safari will share the site URL. But you can also choose to generate a PDF of the page, a PDF of the reader, or an archive of the web page.
3. Use the download manager
The appearance of a real download manager in iOS was long overdue. When you download a file in Safari, a button to access the downloads manager appears to the right of the URL. All the downloads of your session are grouped there.
A tap on the magnifying glass icon opens the Downloads directory found in Files, the iOS file manager. Importantly, Files now knows how to unzip compressed files.
If the default Downloads backup directory does not suit you, iOS 13 allows you to change it. To do this, open Settings, enter without Safari then, in Downloads, select the recording directory.
It is also from this menu that you can manage the deletion of the list of downloads made in Safari.
4. Program the automatic closing of the tabs
If you’re one of those people who open tabs but never close them, iOS 13 could help you break this bad habit. Safari is now able to automatically close open tabs after a set amount of time.
To find this setting, open Settings and go to Safari. In the section dedicated to Tabs, enter the Close Tabs menu and choose the length of time after which you want the tabs to be closed.
5. Choose the size of the uploaded images
When you need to upload one or more images to a website, Safari now offers you the option of selecting the size of the image to send. After selecting the images to send, tap Choose image size at the bottom of the screen.
By default, iOS sends your images in full size, but it is also possible to send them in Large, Medium or Small size.