Learn how to turn off the Safari website tinting feature on iPhone, iPad, and Mac to prevent the top of the browser from matching the website’s header color.
When Safari website tinting is enabled (which is by default), the status bar of your iPhone or iPad will be tinted temporarily to match the dominant color in the header of the website you’re currently viewing. If you’re on a Mac, it colors the entire top part of the browser (not the menu bar).
The website tinting feature blurs the boundary between Safari and the system status bar, which is a dedicated area at the top of the display where iOS shows you things such as the current time, signal strength, and battery.
People who dislike this feature argue that a website has no business spilling its colors into the iOS status bar, as doing so can be distracting, especially when flipping between open tabs. Thankfully, Apple provides a quick switch to toggle website tinting at will.
Note that not all websites support status bar tinting.
Turn off Safari website tinting on iPhone or iPad
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
- Scroll down and tap Apps > Safari.
- Turn off Allow Website Tinting.
From now on, Safari won’t match the system status bar color to the current website’s header color.
Stop Safari on Mac from changing the top color
The top part of Safari on Mac changes its color based on the website. Earlier, it only worked with the Compact tab layout, but now (like in macOS Tahoe) it also works with the Separate tabs style.
- Open Safari on your Mac and click Safari > Settings from the top menu bar.
- Go to the Tabs section.
- Uncheck “Show color in tab bar.”
If your Mac is not on a recent version of macOS, follow these steps instead:
- Open Safari and click Safari > Settings from the top menu bar.
- Click Tabs and Compact should be selected next to Tab Layout.
- Next, go to the Advanced tab and uncheck the box for Show color in compact tab bar.
Safari will no longer change its top color depending on which website you’re currently viewing. Use iDownloadBlog.com in Dark Mode or visit Squarespace.com to test this effect.
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