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The quickest way to close all open Safari tabs in iOS 7

Swiping away open tabs in Safari is a struggle. This tip makes it far too easy.

Jason Cipriani Contributing Writer, ZDNet
Jason Cipriani is based out of beautiful Colorado and has been covering mobile technology news and reviewing the latest gadgets for the last six years. His work can also be found on sister site CNET in the How To section, as well as across several more online publications.
Jason Cipriani

Jason Cipriani/CNET

When iOS 7 launched with a redesigned Safari tab interface, we showed you how to manage open tabs. But one thing we missed that should have been obvious was a workaround to closing every open tab at the same time. Have you ever tried swiping away 10 or 15 tabs? It's an exercise in frustration, to say the least.

Thanks to a tip posted on Mac OS X Hints, the process of closing all tabs can be done in just a few taps.

Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

Launch Safari and view your currently opened tabs. Instead of swiping each open tab away on your iPhone (or tapping on the X icon on the iPad), tap on the Private button at the bottom of your screen.

Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET

You'll immediately see a prompt asking if you want to keep the current tabs open, or close them before private browsing is enabled. Select Close All.

Tapping on Private again will disable private browsing and you'll have all tabs closed. Too obvious, and so simple.