Bookmarks disappearing on my iPhone 4S

March 9, 2013 6:14 AM

I have an iPhone 4S with a number of websites bookmarked on the browser (including AskMetafilter, of course!). Twice in the past week or so, my bookmarks have disappeared.

Closing the browser and reopening does not fix it. Rebooting the phone (by holding down power and home buttons at the same time) does not fix it. I am getting tired of losing my bookmarks. I've looked online for a solution but closing the browser and reopening seems to do the trick for most people. Any ideas?

posted by amro to technology (14 answers total)

I had the same thing happen to me on an iPhone 5. I thought it was an iCloud issue (my bookmarks are synced OTA). The only thing that worked for me was syncing with iTunes on my computer (over wifi, fortunately).
posted by supercres at 6:36 AM on March 9

This happens to me too, I just shut my phone off for 5 minutes then turn it back on. It's annoying.
posted by katypickle at 6:52 AM on March 9 [1 favorite]

When it happens to me (iPhone 4) I force-quit Safari and they come back.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:01 AM on March 9 [3 favorites]

Use another browser, like Chrome or Atomic?
posted by bcwinters at 7:25 AM on March 9

Good. Not just me. Or bad. I'm thinking of going to Chrome.
posted by tilde at 7:40 AM on March 9

Yep. Happens to me... not infrequently. Force-quit works 3/4 of the time. Synch works 3/4 of the remaining times. Shut down works the rest of the time.
posted by Etrigan at 8:20 AM on March 9

I've never had force-quitting Safari not work.
posted by leahwrenn at 8:27 AM on March 9 [1 favorite]

When it happens to me (iPhone 4) I force-quit Safari and they come back.

I've never had force-quitting Safari not work.

Just to reiterate, I have tried this and it has not worked for me. I did not know the term "force-quit," but that's what I meant when I said I close and reopen the browser.
posted by amro at 8:51 AM on March 9

As a follow up, if going to a browser other than Safari is the best option, what's the preferred alternative browser? Chrome?
posted by amro at 8:52 AM on March 9

Force-quitting works for me, too. For those who don't know how: first leave Safari. Then you double-click on the home button to bring up the list of running apps. Then do a tap-and-hold on Safari until the red badge with the line appears, and then tap it.
posted by wyzewoman at 8:53 AM on March 9

That doesn't close the app. You need to double click the home button so that all the recently used apps appear at the bottom of the screen. Then hold one of them down until they wiggle. Then click the minus button to close the ones you want to close. You may need to scroll sideways to find them all. This should be done periodically anyway to increase performance and battery life.
posted by tamitang at 8:55 AM on March 9

That doesn't close the app. You need to double click the home button so that all the recently used apps appear at the bottom of the screen. Then hold one of them down until they wiggle. Then click the minus button to close the ones you want to close.

I guess I'm not being clear. This is what I do. I thought, based on what people are saying here, that this is called force-quitting.
posted by amro at 10:57 AM on March 9

I have had this happen 3-4 times in last year or so. I have to restart the whole phone and they come back.
posted by soelo at 12:37 PM on March 9

This should be done periodically anyway to increase performance and battery life.

Not true at all.

As Fraser mentions, yes, there are exceptional situations where an app with background privileges can get stuck, and you need to kill that app. The argument here is not that you should never have to kill any app using the multitasking switcher — the argument is that you don’t need to do it on a regular basis, and you’re not making anything “better” by clearing the list. Shame on the “geniuses” who are peddling this advice.
posted by justgary at 7:11 PM on March 9