13 years after Tweetie did it, Safari is getting 'Pull to Refresh' in iOS 15

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What you need to know

  • Safari will support Pull to Refresh in iOS 15.
  • iOS 15 will be available later this fall.

It's 13 years after Tweetie, a Twitter app for iPhone, brought us Pull to Refresh, and soon we'll be doing it in Safari, too. Apple will add the feature with the release of iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 later this year.

The feature's appearance comes as Apple continues to re-work the way Safari looks and behaves on its mobile devices. Part of that involves moving the nav bar to the bottom of the screen. That nav bar now floats, too, which meant Apple needed to move the reload button behind another screen tap that opens a menu. As a result, a quicker way to refresh was needed – and Pull to Refresh is it.

Apple announced iOS 15 during its WWDC opening keynote but didn't mention the Pull to Refresh addition. It isn't high on the list of changes that are coming as part of the release, but it is one that people will likely use a ton over the coming year.

Now, if you'll excuse me. I'm off to reminisce about Tweetie and the magic created by Loren Brichter.

There was a ton announced during WWDC, but despite rumors a new MacBook Pro wasn't it. We're expecting that to come later this year, but check out the best MacBook deals available today if you can't wait.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.