# iPhone (IOS 9.2) - open new tab in background in Safari? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 21, 2016, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-ios-9-2-open-new-tab-in-background-in-safari/743775 "2016-01-21T13:34:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TwoCarrotSnowman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twocarrotsnowman/32/15879_2.png) [@TwoCarrotSnowman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoCarrotSnowman)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-ios-9-2-open-new-tab-in-background-in-safari/743775/1 "2016-01-21T13:34:19Z")
Hi all, I’m using an iPhone 6, running IOS 9.2. When I’m browsing a page like a news site or a forum, with a number of links or stories or threads on one page, my default behaviour is to work my way through the page opening any interesting-looking links in a new tab as I go. Then I start reading the tabs one at a time. I’ve done this as long as tabbed browsing has been a thing, and it’s pretty ingrained by now. Safari on the iPhone is interrupting this workflow pretty badly. Pressing and holding a link, and selecting “open in new tab” does so, but also _switches to the new tab as well_, removing focus from the page I was viewing. This is annoying. It sounds trivial, but when I’m opening lots of new tabs, the constant tab-switching becomes a real flow killer. I’ve been through the settings for Safari and Googled a bit, but I haven’t seen any option to configure Safari to open new tabs “quietly” in the background. Am I missing something, or is there a setting I’ve missed? I’m pretty sure that Safari on my iPad doesn’t do this - it opens the tab in the background without interrupting me. (I’m not sure what version of IOS the iPad is running as I don’t have it to hand). If it’s not possible to open tabs in the background on iPhone, does anyone have recommendations for alternative browsers on IOS that can? Thanks, Rich ---
**Author:** ![pidgeon92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/50afbb/32.png) [@pidgeon92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pidgeon92)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-ios-9-2-open-new-tab-in-background-in-safari/743775/2 "2016-01-21T14:33:11Z")
From your home screen: Settings -\> Safari -\> Under _ **General** _ change “Open Links” from “in New Tab” to “in Background.” ---
**Author:** ![TwoCarrotSnowman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twocarrotsnowman/32/15879_2.png) [@TwoCarrotSnowman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwoCarrotSnowman)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-ios-9-2-open-new-tab-in-background-in-safari/743775/3 "2016-01-21T15:58:22Z")
> [@pidgeon92](#): > > From your home screen: > Settings -\> > Safari -\> > > Under _ **General** _ change “Open Links” from “in New Tab” to “in Background.” Thank you! Worked a charm. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iphone-ios-9-2-open-new-tab-in-background-in-safari/743775/4 "2016-01-22T00:00:24Z")
With the OP answered, I’ll ask a follow-up. Is there any way to force Safari to actually load the background page? When I switch to a background tab, the page starts loading right then. Part of the point of opening things in background tabs is so that I don’t have to suffer the loading of every. single. page. (This is a more general caching gripe, as it happens when navigating back to a previous page in the same tab.)