All Apple users are familiar with the limitations of customizing Apple products. On your Mac, however, you can customize the Safari start page, ensuring that all of your web needs are in one convenient place.
If Safari is your default web browser on Mac, here’s how you can make your start page for a more personalized and comfortable browsing experience.
Features of the start page in Safari on the Mac
The Safari start page is the first thing you see when you open a Safari window. This makes it the perfect place to store all of the websites you use on a regular basis. Of course, you can also create tab groups in Safari while managing multiple tabs and organizing things, but the customizable start page lets you do much more.
If you don’t see the Safari start page when you launch Safari, you can set it to appear when a new window opens. Heres how to do it:
- Open Safari → go to the menu bar and click on Safari.
- Select Settings.
- Click the General tab and select Start Page from the dropdown menu next to Open new windows with.
Here are some of the Safari start page features you can use:
Change the background of the start page in Safari on a Mac
The first thing you’ll notice is a simple gray background when you launch Safari. Although there’s nothing wrong with that, you can spice up your Safari by choosing a more vibrant wallpaper. Do it:
- Open a new window and click the menu icon in the lower right corner.
- Check the background image box → click the plus (+) icon.
- Select one of the available pictures from Desktop Pictures, or select a picture from another folder.
To change the background image, simply delete the background image by clicking the Close (X) button and selecting a new image.
Add your favorites to the Safari start page on your Mac
While your bookmarks are tucked away safely in the Safari sidebar, you can add your favorite websites you visit frequently for easy access. For this:
- Open a website.
- Right-click the plus icon next to the website.
- Select favourites.
You should see an icon for the website you’ve added to your favorites when a new window opens. You will also be able to access all of your favorites from the sidebar. Just click on Favorites to expand it.
Include your Reading List on the Safari start page
There are web pages we just want to keep for future reading, but they aren’t important enough to make our favorites list. If so, Reading List is the best place for them. Simply open a new window and select “Reading List” on the menu icon.
When you’re on a webpage you want to save, just press Shift + Cmd (⌘) + D to instantly save it to your reading list.
Saving things you want to read later in your Reading List on your homepage is a great visual reminder that makes it more likely that you will read them the next time you see them.
Home page on all devices
If you’re on the Apple ecosystem, having the same start page settings on all devices can be useful for accessing all your favorites and reading lists, no matter what device you’re currently on.
Use iCloud to sync Safari tabs across devices
Similarly, you can enable iCloud for Safari on all of your devices, making it easier to work across devices.
Make sure that you’re signed in with the same Apple ID and that Safari is enabled in all of your device’s iCloud settings. Here’s how to enable iCloud on your devices:
On your Mac:
- Go to Apple menu → System Preferences.
- Select (your name) at the top of the sidebar → click iCloud on the right.
- Launch Safari.
On your iPhone/iPad:
- Go to Settings → (your name) → iCloud.
- Click Show All → Enable Safari.
Show privacy report
Apple takes privacy and security very seriously. If you’re concerned about the pages you visit and which sites try to track your activity, the Safari Privacy Report will show you how many trackers have been blocked and which sites want to track you.
Other features of the Safari start page
In addition to the above features, here are other features that you may want to see on the Safari start page:
- Recently Closed Tabs: Shows you websites from the tabs you closed recently in the selected tab group.
- Frequently Visited: This indicates which sites you have visited recently or frequently.
- Shared with you: Contains videos, stories, news, and other links that you’ve shared with you in Messages.
- Siri Suggestions: Show suggested websites found in Mail, Messages, and other apps.
How to hide or show home page elements
The Safari start page is fully customizable and lets you choose which items to show or hide. To show or hide items, go to the main menu icon and select or uncheck items.
How to remove items from the Safari start page on a Mac
You need to manually remove each item to remove it from the Safari start page. This works for items in your reading list, favourites, and frequently visited sites. Simply right-click the item you want to remove and select Delete or Delete Item.
If you still see Siri suggestions that you no longer want to see, right-click on them and choose Don’t suggest this site from the pop-up menu.
How to rearrange items on the Safari start page on a Mac
You can also rearrange the start page options in the order you want them to appear. Just go to the menu icon and drag each item up or down to change their order.
an end…
The Safari start page is a powerful tool for quickly getting to your favorite websites and content. All these features make Safari your go-to browser for all your web needs.
If you have other Apple devices, use synced Safari settings across all of your devices. This ensures that you have the same starting page on all of your devices.
I hope this helps you!
Read more:
- How to view a web page in Safari on Mac
- Change Safari Search Engine on iPhone, iPad and Mac
- How to disable or block private browsing in Safari on iPhone and iPad