How to Disable Frequently Visited Sites in Safari on an iPhone

Whenever you create a new tab in the Safari Web browser on your iPhone, you are presented with a screen that contains icons for certain sites. The icons at the top of the screen are the Favorite bookmarks that are currently selected on your iPhone, while the icons at the bottom of the screen are your frequently visited sites.

Both of the icon sets being displayed in these sections are customizable, and you can even remove the frequently visited sites entirely if you wish. Our guide below will show you where to find the setting that controls whether or not those frequently visited sites are shown.

Stop Frequently Visited Sites from Appearing on New iPhone Safari Tabs

The steps below were performed on an iPhone 6 Plus, in iOS 9.3. Note that these steps were performed specifically in the default Safari Web browser, and may be different if you are using a different version of iOS, or if you are using a different browser, such as Chrome or Dolphin.

Step 1: Tap the Settings icon.

Step 2: Scroll down and select the Safari option.

Step 3: Rap the button to the right of Frequently Visited Sites to turn it off. You will know that you have disabled the feature when there is no green shading around the button. It is turned off in the picture below.

If you would like to keep the Frequently Visited Sites feature, but you want to remove one specific site that keeps appearing there, then you can open a new tab in Safari to display the screen where the frequently visited sites are shown, then you can tap and hold on the site you wish to delete, then select the Delete option.

You can click here to see more specific directions for removing individual frequently visited sites.

The functionality of the Safari browser on your device is pretty extensive, and many of the features and options available in the desktop version of the browser exist in the mobile version.