How to allow pop-ups in Safari on macOS or iOS

Adverts, adverts, adverts! Pop-ups are annoying as heck and it’s no wonder they’re blocked by default on Safari. Gone are the days of constantly closing new browser windows or hunting through the mess of pop-ups for the advert that’s blaring through your speakers.

That being said, pop-ups were developed for a reason and as hard as it may be to believe … sometimes we need to use them.

Online support chats, banking verification windows, interactive games, and even some job applications. All of these websites make good use of pop-ups in one way or another. But when Safari blocks every pop-up, many of these websites cease to function.

That’s why we’ve put together this simple guide that shows how to allow Safari pop-ups on any Apple device.

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• How to get rid of Safari pop-up scams
• How to remove a website from Safari’s ‘Never Save’ password setting

Allow Safari pop-ups on macOS

Macs give you the greatest level of flexibility for pop-ups, allowing you to save specific websites to enable pop-ups for. Additionally, you can choose from three pop-up options: allow, block, or block and notify, where the last option displays an icon in the Smart Search field whenever a pop-up has been blocked.

How to allow pop-ups in macOS

1. Launch Safari.
2. In the menu bar, go to Safari > Preferences or use the key command: ⌘,
3. Go to the Websites tab and select Pop-up Windows from the sidebar.
4. Choose the pop-up settings for any currently open or previously edited websites.
5. Choose Safari’s default pop-up where it says: When visiting other websites.

Allow Safari pop-ups on iOS

iOS on iPhones, iPads, and iPods allows you to enable Safari pop-ups for all websites but doesn’t let you customize specific website settings like on a Mac. As a result, you’ll probably want to manually revert the pop-up settings once you’re finished with any particular website. Otherwise you may find yourself inundated with adverts.

You can access all your open browser tabs and pop-ups using the Open Tabs button in Safari, shown by two overlapping squares in the bottom-right corner.

How to allow pop-ups in iOS:

1. Launch the Settings app and scroll down to Safari
2. Turn on or off the Block Pop-ups switch

If any other pop-up issues pop up, pop an explanation in the comments below and we’ll see what we can do to help. 

Dan Helyer( Senior Writer )

Dan is a freelance writer based in South West England.

He spent two years supervising repairs as a Genius Admin for Apple Retail and uses that knowledge to keep our troubleshooting guides up to date.

Long before that, Dan turned to Apple products from a musical background. Having owned iPods for years, he bought a MacBook to learn sound recording and production. It was using those skills that he gained a first-class Bachelor of Science in Sound Technology.