Use Safari browser in full screen mode on the iPhone

Safari is Apple’s default web browser so there is no surprise that it is the native iOS browser. And it is a pretty successful browser for mobiles since according to Net Applications, in October 2011 Safari accounted for 62.17 % of mobile web browsing traffic.

The iOS version of Safari has many iOS specific features (such as the ability to bookmark links as “Web Clip” icons on the Home screen, Multiple Documents Interface aka MDI browsing, saving a photo to the photo album by pressing on it for three seconds, support for HTML5 new input types etc.), but one of the most important features introduced in the iOS 6 update of Safari, is the ability to go full screen in landscape view while browsing the internet.

You see, when the iPhone 5 was launched with a 16:9 aspect ratio people became worried that due to its widescreen aspect ratio, the screen will be far to short for a pleasant experience while browsing using Safari and that the browser’s navigation menus will appear absurdly long.

Fortunately for us, Apple was aware of these concerns and they included the ability to go full screen while browsing the web using Safari on your iPhone. This way, the whole of iPhone 5′s retina display will show you only relevant information – that is the content of the site you are browsing.

To access full screen mode while using Safari in your iPhone 5, all you need to do is follow this simple (seriously, it is ridiculously simple) steps:

1. As you probably guessed, the first step is to launch the Safari web browser from your iPhone 5′s Home screen
2. In step two, you simply go to the web page that you want to see in full screen
3. Now here’s the thing: full screen view in Safari works only in landscape mode, so if it isn’t already in landscape mode, tilt your iPhone 5 so that it enters landscape orientation mode
4. See that icon in the bottom right part of your iPhone screen? The one that resembles two arrows in opposite diagonal directions. Tap it and voila, you are in full screen mode.
5. Now if you want to return to regular mode, you can tap that same icon (which is now transparent), again and you will exit full screen view. Another simple way of exiting full screen mode requires you to vertically tilt your iPhone so that it exits landscape view and goes back to portrait view

Knowing how to enter full screen mode is very useful as you can take advantage of every pixel on the screen while browsing using Safari and that’s because the web browser’s controls and status bar are hidden while in full screen mode. This way activities like reading and viewing images while browsing web pages are now much more enjoyable due to the increased screen area. Enjoy browsing our web page from your iPhone.