How do I recover disappeared Safari bookmarks on iPad?

My iOS in my IPad just auto updated to 18.5 and all of my 300 bookmarks disappeared.  I assume this is just one of the many bugs that the current Apple systems have and nothing can be done to recover this info. My guess is that I will simply need to try and remember all my items, search and bookmark again.


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: iPad bookmarks disappeared.

iPad Pro, iPadOS 18

Posted on Jun 10, 2025 09:29 AM

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4 replies

Jun 11, 2025 03:05 AM in response to SMGTi

See >>> Turn Private Browsing on or off on your iPad - Apple Support


To access Private Browsing in iPadOS 15+, it is necessary to first summon the Safari Sidebar using the button at upper left of the screen [1] - and from the menu tap the Private toggle button [2].




To return to regular browsing, tap the sidebar n Tabs button (highlighted here in blue), that appears above the Private button. If you don’t already have any open tabs, tap Start Page.


If you don't see any saved bookmark icons on your Safari Start Page, you may need to delete a single corrupt cookie from your Safari cached data.


From iPad settings:

Settings > Apps > Safari > Advanced > Website Data...


Allow the Website Data list to populate. When the list appears, in the Search dialogue, enter "cdn-apple.com" (without the quotes). Only one entry should appear in the remaining list; swipe to the left, then select Delete.


Your Safari favourites page should now refresh. If necessary, force-close and re-open Safari.

Jun 10, 2025 08:03 PM in response to LotusPilot

Thanks for the comment. When I go to the Safari Start page my Bookmarks always previously appeared for a decade through 2 iPads. Now, as of yesterday, there is a black box that has the title “ PRIVATE BROWSING” followed by 3 sentences explaining the benefits of Privacy. I could care less about privacy. I simply want my Bookmarks back. I know some of my Bookmarks were old and possibly had auto trackers so the programmers at Apple likely think they are helping me when they are actually frustrating me. It is allowing me to add them back one at a time but with 300 Bookmarks to go it will likely take me 900 minutes (15 hours) to recreate. Thanks for feedback. If you have any ideas I would appreciate the help.

Jun 11, 2025 06:37 PM in response to LotusPilot

Thank for feedback. I followed your instructions. The search for cdn-apple.com came up empty so there was nothing to delete. The only cdn items that appeared were creativecdn.com with 7.8 KB and rlcdn.com with zero bytes. I did not dare delete either.


My device is an IPad Pro. Not sure if this matters.


Any additional thoughts?


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How do I recover disappeared Safari bookmarks on iPad?

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