# Safari Shared Tab Groups vs Shareling: tabs or kept links > **TL;DR** A Safari Shared Tab Group is a set of open Safari tabs that you share through Messages with up to 100 people, who all add and remove tabs and see changes in real time. It is free and built into Safari, and every participant needs an Apple Account with Safari in iCloud and two-factor authentication. Shareling does a narrower job: at launch it sends one link from any app to one person, and the link then stays in both people's libraries with its note, with no read receipts. Pick the Tab Group to browse together; pick Shareling to hand one person a link and both keep it. A Safari Shared Tab Group is a set of open tabs that several people edit together: you share it through Messages, and everyone in it can add and remove tabs and see the changes in real time. It is free, it is already in Safari on every participant's Apple devices, and it holds up to 100 people. Shareling solves a smaller problem. It sends one link to one person from whatever app you found it in, and both of you keep that link in a library afterwards. If you want to browse with someone, the Tab Group is the better tool. If you want to hand someone a link and still find it next month, read on. Shareling's sending is designed for launch and not built yet, and this page says so wherever it matters. ## What is a Safari Shared Tab Group, and what does it cost? A Shared Tab Group is an ordinary Safari Tab Group that you have shared with other people, and it costs nothing. Apple added it in 2022 with iOS 16 and macOS Ventura, describing it as a way to share a collection of websites with friends and family. The Ventura announcement adds that people "see what tabs others are looking at live" and can build a list of bookmarks on a shared Start Page. Apple's pages read on 2026-09-25 put no price on it. The requirements are about accounts. Everyone you collaborate with must be signed in to an Apple Account, have Safari turned on in iCloud settings, and have two-factor authentication on. Apple's iPhone guide documents the feature from its iOS 16 edition on. ## How do you share a tab group in Safari? You share it through Messages, which is the only channel Apple's pages describe. On iPhone: 1. Open the Tab Group and tap its share button. 2. Tap Messages. 3. Choose the person or group you want to share it with. On a Mac, hold the pointer over the Tab Group in Safari's sidebar, open its menu, choose Share Tab Group, then Messages. After that, collaborators add and remove tabs, and changes show up in the Messages conversation as activity updates. You can start a Messages chat, a FaceTime audio call or a FaceTime video call with everyone in the group without leaving Safari. Manage Shared Tab Group offers Remove Access, Share With More People and Stop Sharing. Apple's pages don't say which participants can use those. ## Are Safari tab groups the same as bookmarks? No. A Tab Group holds open tabs, and a bookmark is a saved link you file in folders. With iCloud for Safari on, both sync across your own iPhone, iPad and Mac, and that sync is how a Tab Group reaches your other devices. Sharing with another person is a separate step, and a Tab Group is the only Safari collection Apple documents sharing that way. For more on the saved-link side, see [Safari Reading List vs bookmarks](/guides/safari-reading-list-vs-bookmarks) and [sharing a bookmark folder with someone](/guides/share-bookmark-folder-with-someone). ## What does a Safari Shared Tab Group do better than Shareling? It does most things better for a group browsing together. It is free and already installed, so nobody downloads an app, makes an account beyond their Apple Account, or pays. Shareling is a separate app, and the other person needs it too. Its plans are on the [plans page](/plans). It is live. Everyone sees tabs appear and disappear in real time, and Apple's announcement says you can see which tab each person is looking at. Shareling has no live view at all. Until its iCloud connection between two people ships, Shareling cannot send a link to anyone. It scales. A Shared Tab Group takes up to 100 participants, while a Shareling channel is exactly two people and one drop goes to one person. Planning a trip with five friends is one Tab Group in Safari and five separate sends in Shareling. It talks. Messages, FaceTime audio and FaceTime video with the whole group are one tap away from Safari. Shareling has no calls or chat, only a note on each link. It works on older devices. Apple documents it from iOS 16, while Shareling needs macOS, iOS or iPadOS 26 or later. ## What does a Shared Tab Group leave out when two people swap links? It leaves out a copy each person owns. A Shared Tab Group is one live set of tabs, so a tab one person removes is gone for everyone. Apple documents no per-person copy, and the Messages activity updates are the only history Apple describes. Leaving is undocumented too. Apple's pages don't say what a removed participant keeps after Remove Access or Stop Sharing, or after the owner deletes the group. Other gaps, going by what Apple's pages describe: - **Links from other apps.** A link found in X or LinkedIn has to be opened in Safari and added as a tab. On iPhone, a link that arrived in Messages can move into a Tab Group from Shared with You with Open in Tab Group. Apple describes no share-sheet step that sends a link to the group from any app. - **Notes and labels.** Organisation is one flat set of tabs, pinned tabs and a shared Start Page of bookmarks. Apple describes no tags and no per-link notes. - **Search.** Apple's Tab Groups page covers reordering, renaming, pinning and moving tabs, and says nothing about searching a group. - **Privacy while browsing.** Others can see which tab you have open. ## Where does Shareling do better? Shareling does better when one person hands another a link and both want to keep it. As designed for launch, you send from the share sheet in any app on iPhone or iPad, or drop a link on a person at the Mac's notch. The link exists once, in your iCloud zone, and shows in your library under Sent and in theirs under Received. ![Shareling's share sheet on iPhone, from the app's snapshot tests: a page title and site, a note field with an #inspiration folder chip, and Send to offering a person and Self](/content/compare-safari-shared-tab-groups/share-sheet.webp) The note you write travels with the link, so the reason you sent it arrives with it. Your folders, favorites and read-later flags stay private, and one link can sit in several folders. Shareling has no read receipts: whether you opened a link is stored in your own private iCloud zone. Nothing records which link you are looking at. Losing a link is harder. Either person can hide a link, which deletes nothing. The sender can unsend within one hour. If you remove a person, Shareling copies every link they sent you into your own zone before it revokes either share, so your library looks the same afterwards. Compare that with a Tab Group, where Apple's pages don't say what you keep. The library also searches by word across each link's title, URL, note and page description, and the Received and Sent switch sits at the top. ![Shareling's library on iPad, from the app's snapshot tests with sample content: All links, a row of folders, link cards marked with the sender's initials, and the All, Received and Sent switch](/content/compare-safari-shared-tab-groups/library-ipad.webp) ## How do Safari Shared Tab Groups and Shareling compare? | | Safari Shared Tab Group | Shareling (at launch) | | --- | --- | --- | | Cost | Free, built into Safari | Separate app; see [plans](/plans) | | What is shared | A live set of open tabs | One link, sent to one person | | People | Up to 100 | Two per channel | | Where you add links | In Safari | Share sheet in any app on iPhone and iPad; notch drop on Mac | | Real-time editing | Yes | No | | Who sees what you view | Others see which tab you have open | Nobody; no read receipts | | Note on a link | Not described | Yes, and it travels | | Tags or folders | Not described | Private folders; one link in several | | Search | Not described | Title, URL, note, page description | | Removed tab or link | Gone for everyone | Hide deletes nothing; Unsend within 1 hour | | After removing a person | Apple's pages don't say | Their links are copied to you first | | Calls and chat | Messages, FaceTime | None | | Devices | Safari only; iPhone from iOS 16 | macOS, iOS, iPadOS 26 or later | | Account | Apple Account, iCloud Safari, two-factor | iCloud | ## What are Shareling's limits? Shareling is Apple-only and needs version 26 or later of macOS, iOS or iPadOS. It is built for exactly two people per channel, with no group sharing and no feed. Most of what this page compares is not built. Sending to a person, invites, the notch drop, Unsend and Remove person are designed for launch. The share sheet and library exist; in the current build the share sheet saves to Self only, and the live iCloud connection that carries a link between two people is listed as later work. Shareling has no Safari extension either. ## Which should you pick? Pick a Safari Shared Tab Group if several people are researching or planning together, if you want to talk it over on FaceTime while you browse, or if nobody wants another app. It is free and it is already there. Pick Shareling if you and one other person keep sending each other links from X, LinkedIn and Messages and then lose them. It gives each of you a library that keeps every link with its note, private folders, no read receipts, and no live view of what you have open. The two also sit side by side fine, with a Tab Group for the trip and Shareling for the one article you want your partner to read. How sending works is on [share links with one person](/features/share-links-with-one-person). ## Frequently asked questions ### Are Safari Shared Tab Groups free? Yes. Shared Tab Groups are built into Safari, and none of Apple's pages read on 2026-09-25 put a price on them. Everyone in the group needs an Apple Account, Safari turned on in iCloud settings and two-factor authentication. ### How many people can join a Safari Shared Tab Group? Up to 100. Apple's Safari guide for Mac says a Shared Tab Group can have a total of 100 participants, and people can be added or removed at any time. ### What happens to the tabs when someone is removed from a Shared Tab Group? Apple's pages don't say. They document Remove Access, Share With More People and Stop Sharing, but not whether a removed person keeps the tabs as a private copy. ### Can the other person see what I'm looking at in a Shared Tab Group? Yes. Apple's macOS Ventura announcement says people in a Shared Tab Group can see what tabs others are looking at live. Shareling records no such thing: the only things that travel with a link are its URL, title, preview details, the note, the sender's name and the sent date. ### Is Shareling a replacement for Safari Shared Tab Groups? Not for browsing together. Shareling has no live shared tab set and each channel is between two people. It is for sending one link to one person from any app so both of you keep it, which is designed for launch and not built yet.