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Little windows

On iPad little windows appear across the lower edge when i open safari or mail

want to get rid of them

iPad, iPadOS 16

Posted on Oct 12, 2023 8:29 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 12, 2023 8:33 AM

The tags appended to your post suggest that you iPad is running iPadOS16.


You have encountered the iPadOS “Shelf” - this being a feature of the iPadOS multitasking environment. 


iPadOS permits you to have multiple “instances” or Windows of the same App - each instance being self contained. The shelf, when triggered, shows a thumbnail of each running instance of an App.


For example, if you have three running instances of Safari, each with its own set of open tabs, you will see three thumbnails corresponding to each running instance of Safari - plus a button to open a new instance of Safari. Simply tapping a thumbnail will switch directly to that running instance of Safari. Each App - such as Mail, Safari, Notes, Calendar, etc. - has its own corresponding shelf.


Individual App windows can be closed directly from the Shelf; just swipe the unwanted thumbnail off the top of the screen. Note however, that Multitasking and associated Shelf functions cannot be disabled.


This article from Appleinsider has a useful explanation of this feature along with many of the updates to multitasking:

https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/08/12/how-to-master-multitasking-on-ipad-and-ipad-pro-in-ipados-15


The iPad User Guide is also a rich source of frequently overlooked information. The Guide is available both online using a web browser (such as Safari), or as an Apple Books download:

iPad User Guide - Apple Support

https://books.apple.com/book/id1567104892

3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 12, 2023 8:33 AM in response to Jasager

The tags appended to your post suggest that you iPad is running iPadOS16.


You have encountered the iPadOS “Shelf” - this being a feature of the iPadOS multitasking environment. 


iPadOS permits you to have multiple “instances” or Windows of the same App - each instance being self contained. The shelf, when triggered, shows a thumbnail of each running instance of an App.


For example, if you have three running instances of Safari, each with its own set of open tabs, you will see three thumbnails corresponding to each running instance of Safari - plus a button to open a new instance of Safari. Simply tapping a thumbnail will switch directly to that running instance of Safari. Each App - such as Mail, Safari, Notes, Calendar, etc. - has its own corresponding shelf.


Individual App windows can be closed directly from the Shelf; just swipe the unwanted thumbnail off the top of the screen. Note however, that Multitasking and associated Shelf functions cannot be disabled.


This article from Appleinsider has a useful explanation of this feature along with many of the updates to multitasking:

https://appleinsider.com/articles/21/08/12/how-to-master-multitasking-on-ipad-and-ipad-pro-in-ipados-15


The iPad User Guide is also a rich source of frequently overlooked information. The Guide is available both online using a web browser (such as Safari), or as an Apple Books download:

iPad User Guide - Apple Support

https://books.apple.com/book/id1567104892

Little windows

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