“Close All Other Tabs” is a completely idiotic non-feature

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Brave’s absolutely idiotic feature to “Close All Other Tabs" on iOS just once again made me lose 30-some precious tabs, and is seriously making me reconsider using the app at all.

My wife asked me a question while I was in the tab selection screen, I inadvertently held a tab long enough to accidentally press this insane “feature,” and by the time I looked back a second later, all but one tab had been deleted.

I cannot fathom a single scenario in which I would want to close all but one tab. Especially when the option to close all tabs is readily presented elsewhere.

What really adds insult to injury is the fact that none of these recently closed tabs are shown in the recently closed tabs list. What on earth is the logic behind this lack of a feature?!

An obvious accident waiting to happen with zero recourse to undo an extremely foreseeable occurrence.

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@cjshadle I understand frustration in what happened, but can you clarify a bit. As you can see below, the button is mixed in with some things. But then in screenshot below, even if you accidentally hit it, there’s a confirmation prompt as well. This would mean you had to accidentally hit two different buttons/prompts.

Unless you have opted to enable Shred, it should also be showing in the recently closed. I tested a few different times and they all displayed. If you haven’t set to automatically shred, them not appearing in the recently closed does seem to be a bug. I’d be curious if you can replicate it or if this might be a one time issue?

It also would be helpful if you could provide some details on which version of iOS you’re using and the specific version of Brave installed.

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Thanks so much for your reply!

Happy to clarify further.

I really don’t think there was a secondary prompt, and I am understandably reticent to recreate the process again—having managed to recover many of the tabs by combing back through history. (Why they wouldn’t be listed in Recently Closed Tabs is crazy, unless they’re somehow treated as shredded. I haven’t enabled anything regarding Shred either.)

Also, and importantly, the command was executed via this tab view page:

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Even though there’s a plainly accessible shred option at this screen, when a tab is held, these options are again presented:

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Again I must reiterate, I can conjure no possible scenario in which I would find it helpful to “close all other tabs.” The reason I have open tabs is because I have found something I want to save, and not to be closed en masse, on a whim, or by a single errant thumb.

The Shred all function exists, and presumably works quite well. This Shred-1 function seems so utterly superfluous, and to place it so casually among other low-stakes options seems inconsistent at the most charitable.

I’m using the most current iOS update, 26.3, But this also happened a few months ago while using 25.something.

Brave version is
Version 1.86 (144)
Device iPhone13,3 (iOS 26.3)
BraveCore 1.86.144 (144.0.7559.97)

  • whatever the equivalent would have been a few months ago.

Thanks again for your time and consideration.

Not that anyone’s asking for it, but if I had my design druthers there would be an option in settings to turn off the “Close All Other Tabs” as an option. Or to simply remove the extraneous feature—a boy can dream. At bare minimum, the closed tabs should be recorded in recently closed tabs.

All the best,

CS

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Thanks for sharing. The method used for closing the tabs isn’t one I generally use and hadn’t thought of, so I completely missed the mark there. I’m not sure if you’re aware of what I had been showing you, but if you press and hold down the tab switcher icon (the box with numbers), it presents the options like I mentioned earlier.

Now, in terms of your situation, I seem to have just replicated it. I’ll be looking to see if there are any open Github issues. If not, I’ll create one and try to get the dev team to not only find out why it doesn’t show in the recently closed when closing from there, but also to try to urge them to add a confirmation window like I displayed via the other method.

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Opened a Github issue, which I’ll link below.

cc: @Mattches

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To be clear, I NEVER use this method to close tabs, which is why an inadvertent closing of all-but-one tabs without any warning, history, or trace is such a pernicious action to be so easily available.

I use the tab view to have a look at the list of tabs, or to reorder them, often dragging a tab nearer the top of the list to save for later, or indefinitely if it’s something great or especially interesting.

To my immense chagrin, the act of reordering a tab from this view triggers the pop up menu which offers me the extreme “feature” of closing all of my tabs.

Thanks again for your consideration

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I honestly have many uses for such an option. I understand your frustration, but there are users who do find uses.

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I could find uses if a gun were to my head and I were forced to give answers.

I would love to hear the best use cases for Close All Other Tabs, which warrant its existence above and beyond the just-as-accessible Shred all function?

What is the possible benefit of not even keeping a record of these…recently closed tabs…in…Recently Closed Tabs?

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@cjshadle

Perplexity.ai

Brave added “Close All Other Tabs” on iOS mainly as a user‑requested convenience feature to manage many open tabs quickly and cleanly, especially on small touch screens.

Where the feature comes from

  • It started as an enhancement request asking for a “Close other tabs” option in the iOS tab menu.
  • The request referenced users who wanted a way to close all non‑active tabs in one step, instead of manually closing them one by one.
  • ‘https://github.com/brave/brave-browser/issues/37069’

Why it exists (likely design reasons)

  • Bulk cleanup for tab hoarders: When you have dozens of tabs open, it’s much faster to say “keep this one, close the rest” than to swipe or tap each tab individually.
  • Better for touch ergonomics: On phones, repeatedly hitting tiny close buttons can be tedious and error‑prone; a long‑press menu action is more reliable.
  • Consistency with desktop/other browsers: Many desktop browsers (and some mobile ones) offer a similar “Close other tabs” action, so this brings iOS closer to what users already expect.
  • More precise than “Close all tabs”: Instead of nuking every tab, you can keep your current context and still clear out all the surrounding clutter.

So the feature is essentially about giving iOS users a quick, touch‑friendly way to declutter their tab list while keeping the page they care about open.

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Cool story. Totally superfluous given the existence of the Shred feature, no?

There is already a very easy feature to close all tabs.

Also, it doesn’t simply close inactive tabs, it closes all of them. All but one.

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@cjshadle it’s just contrasting views and some wanting to try to share their opinions or trying to provide additional feedback on things.

Your frustration and preference is duly noted. I’m sure those from Brave see it and will weigh it based on their own preferences and the totality of user feedback. I created the issue as I did and urged the extra confirmation dialog as I at least was able to see this as something of a middle ground for people who feel like you. This at least helps to prevent accidental dismissal. And the hope is that they also make sure each closed tab is always stored in the recently closed tabs section.

For context, I use this feature fairly often. For example, when researching an issue reported here on Brave Community, I will search for similar reports and open each relevant result in its own tab. I review them, gather links, copy any needed details, and compile everything into a GitHub issue.

Once the report is submitted, I use Close All Other Tabs to clear out the reference tabs and return to a clean workspace.

Some people prefer to keep many tabs open at once. I prefer to keep only what I am actively working on and bookmark anything I may need later. Different workflows lead to strong opinions, and that is normal. The key is finding solutions that respect those differences while minimizing unintended consequences.

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I wholeheartedly agree with the original poster!

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Thank you my good sir!

(I would like to close all other comments.)