How to Change Your Homepage in Safari

Mobile and desktop Safari use different procedures

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by Scott Orgera
Scott Orgera has been a tech journalist since 2007. He has 25+ years' experience as a programmer and QA leader and several Microsoft certifications.
Updated February 14, 2019

You can choose any page to display when you open a new window or tab in Safari. For example, if you usually begin browsing with a Google search, you can set Google's home page as the default. If the first thing you do when you get online is check your email, you can go directly to your email provider's page simply by opening up a new tab or window.

01
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To Set Your Homepage in Safari

  1. With Safari open, click the small settings icon at the top right of the browser window. It's the one that looks like a gear.
  2. Click Preferences or use the Ctrl+, keyboard shortcut.
  3. Select the General tab.
  4. Move to the Homepage section.
  5. Enter the URL you want to set as the Safari homepage.
02
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To Set a Homepage for New Windows and Tabs

If you also want the homepage to show when Safari first opens or when you open a new tab:

  1. Repeat steps 1 through 3 from above.
  2. Choose Homepage from the relevant drop-down menu — New window opens with or New tabs open with.
  3. Exit the settings window to save the changes.
03
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To Set Homepage to Current Page

To make the homepage the current page you're viewing in Safari:

  1. Use the Set to Current Page button and confirm the change if asked.
  2. Exit the General settings window and choose Change Homepage when asked if you're sure.
04
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Set the Safari Homepage on an iPhone

Technically, you can't set a homepage on an iPhone or another iOS device as you can with the desktop version of the browser. Instead, you can add a website link to the home screen of the device to make a shortcut directly to that website. You can use this shortcut to open Safari so that it acts as a homepage.

  1. Open the page you want to add to the home screen.
  2. Tap the middle button on the menu at the bottom of Safari. (the square with an arrow).
  3. Scroll the bottom options to the left so you can find Add to Home Screen.
  4. Name the shortcut as you wish.
  5. Tap Add at the top right of the screen.
  6. Safari will close.