Setting a new homepage takes three steps in Safari settings

Your Safari homepage is the page that loads when you open a new tab or click the home button. To change it, open Safari, go to the menu bar and select Safari, then Settings (or Preferences on older Macs). Click the General tab. Under "Homepage", paste or type the web address you want, then close the window. The next time you open a new tab, your chosen page will load instead of the default.

The process is the same whether you want to set your homepage to Google, a news site, a blank page, or anything else. Safari remembers your choice until you change it again.

Key Takeaways

  • Your homepage appears when you open a new tab or click the home button, and you control which page loads through Safari Settings.
  • The General tab in Safari Settings is where you find and change the Homepage field to any web address you want.
  • You can set your homepage to a search engine, a news site, a blank page, or any other website you use regularly.
  • Safari saves your homepage choice until you manually change it again in Settings.

Finding Safari Settings on your Mac

Open Safari and look at the menu bar at the top of your screen. Click Safari — this is the first menu option, not a search bar. A dropdown menu appears. Near the top you will see either Settings (on newer Macs running macOS Ventura or later) or Preferences (on older versions). Click whichever one appears.

A window opens with several tabs across the top. Click General — it is usually the first tab. You are now in the right place to change your homepage.

Entering your new homepage address

In the General tab, look for the section labeled "Homepage". You will see a text field with a web address already in it. Click inside that field and select all the text (use Ctrl+A on your keyboard, or Command+A on Mac). Delete it.

Type or paste the web address you want to use as your homepage. Use the full address: for example, https://www.google.com or https://www.bbc.com. Do not include spaces before or after the address. If you want a blank page instead, leave the field empty.

After you enter the address, close the Settings window by clicking the red circle in the top-left corner. Safari remembers your choice when ready.

What happens when you set a blank homepage

Some people prefer a blank page when they open a new tab, rather than a website. To set this up, open Settings, click General, and leave the Homepage field completely empty. When you next open a new tab, you will see a blank white page with just the search bar at the top.

A blank homepage loads faster than a website and gives you a clean space to type a search or web address. You can switch back to a website homepage anytime by following the same steps and entering a new address.

Using the home button to test your new homepage

Safari has a home button that you may or may not see in your toolbar. To check if it is there, look at the icons to the left of the address bar. The home button looks like a small house. If you do not see it, you can add it: go to Safari menu, select Settings, click the Toolbar tab, and drag the home icon into your toolbar.

Once the home button is visible, click it to test your new homepage. The page you set in Settings should load. If it does not, go back to Settings and check that you entered the address correctly — common mistakes are missing the "https://" at the start or having extra spaces.

Changing your homepage back to Safari's default

Safari's default homepage shows a search bar and shortcuts to your frequently visited sites. If you want to return to this, open Settings, click General, and look for a dropdown menu next to the Homepage field. Click it and select Top Hit or Frequently Visited depending on your macOS version. Close Settings and your homepage returns to the default.

You can also set your homepage to show only a search bar with no shortcuts. In that same dropdown, select Empty or Blank Page if those options appear in your version of Safari.

Why your homepage might not change

If you set a new homepage but it does not appear when you open a new tab, check that you are actually opening a new tab. Some people click the home button instead, which is a different action. The home button and new tab button do the same thing only if you have set them to — by default, the home button goes to your homepage and a new tab shows Safari's start page.

Another reason is that you may have accidentally closed Settings before your change saved. Open Settings again, go to General, and confirm the address is still there. If it is gone, type it again and close Settings more slowly — give it a moment to save.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I set a different homepage for private browsing?

No. Safari uses the same homepage for both regular and private browsing tabs. The homepage setting applies to all new tabs you open, regardless of which browsing mode you are in.

What if I want my homepage to be a local file on my computer?

You can set a local file as your homepage, but the process is different. Open Finder, locate the file, right-click it, and select "Copy as Pathname". Then paste that path into the Homepage field in Settings. Local files must be in a format Safari can read, such as HTML.

Does changing my homepage affect my search engine?

No. Your homepage and your default search engine are separate settings. You can have Google as your homepage and Bing as your search engine, or any other combination. Search engine is set in the Search tab of Safari Settings, not the General tab.

Will my homepage change sync across my other Apple devices?

If you use iCloud to sync Safari settings across your Mac, iPhone, and iPad, your homepage change will appear on those devices too. Check Settings on each device under General to confirm syncing is turned on.

What if the website I want as my homepage keeps changing the address?

Some websites redirect to different addresses based on your location or device. If your homepage keeps loading a different page than you set, try using the exact address shown in the address bar when you visit the site manually, and make sure you include the full "https://" prefix.