How to go back on iPhone

Whether you’re new to iPhone or have had one for a while and are looking for ways to more smoothly go back to previous screens and content, follow along for several ways to go back on iPhone.

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Especially if you’re coming to iPhone from Android where you may have been accustomed to a dedicated back button, iOS on iPhone may feel tricky to know how to go back. Let’s go over a few different options and what to look out for.

How to go back on iPhone

Swipe to go back

1. On most any screen (first and third-party apps) in iOS you can swipe from left to right to go back
2. Try it out in a variety of apps to make it a habit and speed up your UI efficiency

Tap the blue back arrows (chevrons)

1. The standard option, but not as fluid or convenient is to look out for the blue back arrows with text
2. Typically, you can tap any text that is blue that appears with a left facing arrow

Check out the image below for a better idea:

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If you’d like back buttons (and any button) to be a bit more obvious throughout iOS on your iPhone, you can turn on Button Shapes. Follow the image below to try that out.

Lastly, Apple has a status bar back button for easy navigation built into iOS that appears when you open links or apps from within another app.

You’ll see these appear in the top left corner of your iPhone, like shown below.

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When browsing the web in Safari, don’t forget that if you don’t see any buttons on screen, you can always swipe to go back a page, or tap near the bottom or top of your screen to show navigation, share, bookmark buttons and the url bar.

For more help getting the most out of your Apple devices, check out our how to guide as well as the following articles:

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