How do I remove this? (Resolved)

ardchoille · Sep 16, 2016

In Safari, when you tap the Tabs button, there is an area for iCloud Tabs at the bottom of the Tabs view. I have a entry there that is stuck and cannot be removed. I've tried swiping to no avail. Does anyone know how to remove it? I've tried a power cycle (reboot) and quitting Safari, but those actions don't help. I'm using an IPhone 6s with iOS 10.0.1.

See the attached screenshot.

KevinJS · Sep 16, 2016

Never seen that before. If no one else knows, I suggest asking @giradman on ipadforums. He's well up on the Mac.

KevinJS · Sep 16, 2016

In the meantime, have a look at Disk Utility on your Mac and see if it's open. I'm pretty sure that's where you create a bootable installer. Why it would migrate to iOS I have no idea but that's all I can think of.

ardchoille · Sep 16, 2016

KevinJS said:
Never seen that before. If no one else knows, I suggest asking @giradman on ipadforums. He's well up on the Mac.

It's not a Mac, this is on an iPhone 6s.. and the "create a bootable installer" was an open tab on my Mac. This is usually seen when you scroll up while on the Tabs view of Safari on iPhone. Those at the bottom are iCloud Tabs (tabs open in Safari on other devices), usually you can swipe left and remove them in iOS, but this one is stuck.

KevinJS · Sep 16, 2016

I know. But the installer is for OS X and therefore pertains to a Mac.

Maybe close down browsers on the Mac and clear website data?

KevinJS · Sep 16, 2016

You could also try turning Safari off in iCloud and reboot everything. That should get rid of the sticky tab.

KevinJS · Sep 16, 2016

Wait up! Is that a pinned tab on your Mac? That may make a difference. You are trying to close something you told to stay open.

ardchoille · Sep 16, 2016

KevinJS said:
Wait up! Is that a pinned tab on your Mac? That may make a difference. You are trying to close something you told to stay open.

Good point, I checked but there are no pinned tabs. I'm glad you were thinking about that, though.

I'm also seeing this stuck tab on my Mac. I recently re-installed OS X on my Mac, I'm wondering if iCloud now thinks I have two Macs and the stuck tab is on a Mac that I no longer have access to. I've tried all of your other suggestions but no joy. I've heard from someone else today that iCloud tabs disappear after a week, so I'll just let it go until then.

Well, if I have to be stuck with a tab somewhere, that is one of the more useful ones, lol.

KevinJS · Sep 16, 2016

True that. Would be useful to get to the bottom of it in case it happens to anyone else. Maybe if it disappears of its own accord you can let us know?

ardchoille · Sep 16, 2016

KevinJS said:
True that. Would be useful to get to the bottom of it in case it happens to anyone else. Maybe if it disappears of its own accord you can let us know?

Yes, I will definitely keep this thread updated in case anyone else has this issue.

But, for now, this is the view of iCloud Tabs on my only Mac. This makes me believe that iCloud now thinks I have two Macs, when I only have one:

scifan57 · Sep 16, 2016

Maybe iCloud is predicting a future in which you do have 2 Macs?

ardchoille · Sep 16, 2016

scifan57 said:
Maybe iCloud is predicting a future in which you do have 2 Macs?

Well, that's a heck of a feature! Maybe I should ask Siri?

I wish

ardchoille · Sep 19, 2016

For anyone experiencing this issue, here is what I've learned.

Those tabs we see in the tabs view on our devices are called iCloud Tabs. On June 11, 2012, Apple released a developer preview of Safari 6.0 with a feature called iCloud Tabs, which allows users to 'sync' their open tabs with any iOS or other OS X device running the latest software.

Normally, users can swipe to close iCloud tabs from other devices, but sometimes, as in the case that prompted this thread, these tabs get "stuck" and remain visible regardless of what the user tries to do. These tabs are usually cleared out after 30 days.. though some users have reported the reappearance of these tabs after years of not using this service - it's software, so it's not perfect.

What can the user do about them? Users can try swiping to close iCloud tabs from another device. If that doesn't work, try removing Safari from iCloud (on the originating device) and then reconnecting, but keep in mind that this action is not fool-proof. My best advice for stuck tabs is to simply ignore them, there is not much we can do so it's not worth stressing over - other iCloud Tabs will continue to function despite the stuck tab. We can only do our best and move on.