Quick tips for Phi Browser
This page collects Phi gestures and shortcuts that are less obvious from the interface. The keyboard shortcuts shown here are the defaults. You can change them in Settings → Shortcuts.
Shortcut reference
| Action | Shortcut or gesture |
|---|---|
| Create a Split View | Option (⌥)-click a tab, Pinned Tab, bookmark, or eligible web link |
| Preview a link in a Peek | Shift (⇧)-click a web link |
| Switch between recently used tabs | Control (⌃) + Tab |
| Switch in reverse order | Control (⌃) + Shift (⇧) + Tab |
| Copy the current page URL | Command (⌘) + Shift (⇧) + C |
| Search open tabs | Command (⌘) + Shift (⇧) + A |
| Capture the full page | Command (⌘) + Shift (⇧) + 1 |
| Capture a selected area | Command (⌘) + Shift (⇧) + 2 |
| Move to the previous or next Space | Command (⌘) + Option (⌥) + ← or → |
| Open one of the first nine Spaces | Control (⌃) + 1 to 9 |
| Open a new Kiosk window from any app, with the global shortcut enabled | Command (⌘) + Option (⌥) + N |
| Open a Kiosk page or Peek as a tab in a Space | Command (⌘) + O |
| Open the Kiosk Space selection menu | Command (⌘) + Shift (⇧) + O |
| Open or hide Phi Chat from any app, with the shortcut enabled | Shift (⇧) three times |
Enable the global Kiosk shortcut under Settings → Navigation → Kiosk. To change its keys, edit New Kiosk Window under Settings → Shortcuts → File.
The Phi Chat shortcut is off by default. Turn it on with Summon Phi Chat with Shift Shift Shift under Settings → Phi & AI → Phi Sentinel. It cannot be changed to other keys. See Phi Chat.
Change the two Open in Space shortcuts under Settings → Shortcuts → Kiosk & Peek. See Kiosk and Peek View for details.
Create a Split View
- Hold Option (⌥) and click another tab, a tab inside a group, a Pinned Tab, a bookmark, or an eligible web link. Phi places it beside your current page.
- Drag a single tab, Pinned Tab, or bookmark to the left or right side of the current page. The side you choose decides where it appears.
- Drop an item over a pane in an existing unpinned Split View to replace that pane.
Return to a saved URL
A Pinned Tab or bookmark can move away from the URL you originally saved. You can return without losing the page you are viewing.
- Double-click a Pinned Tab to return it to its saved URL.
- Click a bookmark's favicon to return it to its saved URL.
- Hold Command (⌘) while using either gesture to keep the current page open as a separate tab before restoring the saved URL.
Use Group Overview
Click a Tab Group header to open Group Overview. It shows a snapshot of each page, with a Split View shown as one combined card.
From Group Overview, you can switch to a page, close a page, create a new tab, or change the group's name and color. If you use the address bar while Group Overview is open, the new tab joins that group.
Drag a whole Tab Group into the bookmarks area to turn it into a bookmark folder. Phi keeps the order of its tabs and dissolves the group, but the open tabs stay open.
Work with several tabs and bookmarks
- Command (⌘)-click regular tabs and bookmarks to select them one at a time.
- Shift (⇧)-click to select a range.
- Available actions can include creating a Tab Group, adding items to a bookmark folder, moving or cloning them to another Space, and closing them.
- Drag any selected item to move the whole selection. The two sides of a Split View stay together.
- Press Escape to clear the selection.
Switch, search, and copy
Control (⌃) + Tab follows recently used order, not the order of tabs in the window.
- Tap it once to switch between the current tab and the previous one.
- Hold it or press it repeatedly to show up to five recently used tabs.
- Add Shift (⇧) to move through the list in reverse.
- Press Command (⌘) + Shift (⇧) + A to search all open tabs.
- Press Command (⌘) + Shift (⇧) + C to copy the current tab's URL.
Personalize each Space
Open Settings → Spaces, then select a Space.
- Choose an icon from Phi's built-in set, or use an emoji.
- Choose a theme color and adjust its saturation.
Each Space keeps its own icon and theme. Switching Spaces applies the appearance you chose for that Space without changing the others.
Move between Spaces
- Press Command (⌘) + Option (⌥) + ← or → to move to the previous or next Space.
- Press Control (⌃) + 1 to 9 to open one of the first nine Spaces directly.
Route sites with URL Rules
Open Spaces → URL Rules… from the menu bar, or open Settings → Navigation and click Manage URL Rules…. A rule can match by Domain suffix, Domain, Domain contains, or URL.
Send a match to a regular Space, Incognito, or Kiosk. Choose Ask every time if you want Phi to ask before moving the page. When several rules match, the most specific rule wins.
Regular Space routing does not isolate cookies
Routing a site to a regular Space does not isolate its cookies or signed-in session. Assign the target Spaces to different Profiles when you want that separation.
Keep video visible with Picture-in-Picture
Phi can pop out playing video when you switch tabs or Spaces. Choose the behavior under Settings → Advanced → Auto picture-in-picture.
| Mode | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Off | Never open Picture-in-Picture automatically. Manual Picture-in-Picture still works. |
| Normal | Pop out playing video when you switch tabs or Spaces. |
| Park at edge | Pop out playing video, then park the window at the screen edge until you click it. |
Move or resize a Picture-in-Picture window and Phi remembers its position and size the next time that site opens Picture-in-Picture. This is saved per site in a regular Profile. Incognito Spaces do not retain it. If the saved display is no longer connected, Phi uses the default placement.
To park an open Picture-in-Picture window yourself, move the pointer over it and click the down arrow, labeled Park at screen edge. Phi tucks the window against the nearest screen edge and leaves a handle visible. Click the handle to bring the window back. This control works even when automatic Picture-in-Picture is set to Off.
Control background media with Mini Player
Mini Player appears at the bottom of the sidebar when supported audio or video is playing in a background tab, including when you switch to another Space. Muted media does not automatically show Mini Player. Mini Player hides when you return to the source tab, when that tab is visible in Split View, or when its video is in Picture-in-Picture.
Use Mini Player to play or pause and skip tracks. Click its site icon to return to the source tab. Click the speaker button to show the volume slider; Option (⌥)-click it to mute or unmute. If several background tabs have media, swipe left or right across Mini Player to switch sources.
Expand Mini Player to see media details, seek within a track, or open Picture-in-Picture. Available details and controls depend on what the website supports.
Choose a mode under Settings → Advanced → Mini Player:
| Mode | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Off | Mini Player does not appear automatically. |
| Auto | Start compact and expand on hover or keyboard focus. This is the default. |
| Always expanded | Show Mini Player expanded whenever supported background media is available. |
| Always compact | Keep Mini Player compact. |
Capture and edit screenshots
Choose File → Capture Full Page or press Command (⌘) + Shift (⇧) + 1 to capture the current webpage, including content beyond the visible area.
Choose File → Capture Area… or press Command (⌘) + Shift (⇧) + 2, then drag to select part of the page. While dragging, scroll with your mouse or trackpad, or hold the pointer near a page edge to extend the selection beyond the visible area. Release to capture, or press Escape to cancel.
These are the default shortcuts. Change them under Settings → Shortcuts → File.
After capture, Phi copies the original screenshot to the clipboard as a PNG and opens the image editor.
Use the image editor to crop, draw, add text and shapes, or blur parts of your screenshot.
Click Export… to save your edited image as PNG, JPG, or PDF.
Ask the assistant about your current work
- Select text, right-click it, and choose Ask [your assistant] about… to bring the selection into a conversation.
- Opening the assistant attaches the current tab by default. If that tab is in a group, Phi can attach the whole group.
- A Tab Group or Split View can be attached as one unit.
To start conversations without the current tab attached, turn off Automatically add current tab as context to new conversation under Settings → Phi & AI → AI Sidebar.
When you use Phi Cloud, the content needed to answer your question is sent to a third-party model provider for processing. With Private AI, it stays on your Mac. See Privacy & Your Data for details.
What's next
- Layouts & Navigation, how Split View and Phi's three layouts work.
- Bookmarks & Pinned Tabs, how saved pages and live tabs work together.
- Managing Tabs & Bookmarks, selecting, grouping, moving, and closing tabs.
- Spaces & Profiles, how Spaces organize work and Profiles isolate browsing data.