start page safari change

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How to Change Your Start Page on Safari

Last Updated: February 10, 2023 Tested

This article was co-authored by Luigi Oppido . Luigi Oppido is the Owner and Operator of Pleasure Point Computers in Santa Cruz, California. Luigi has over 25 years of experience in general computer repair, data recovery, virus removal, and upgrades. He is also the host of the Computer Man Show! broadcasted on KSQD covering central California for over two years. The wikiHow Tech Team also followed the article's instructions and verified that they work. This article has been viewed 456,018 times.

Your Safari start page, or "homepage", is the page that loads whenever you start Safari. You can change this page to whatever you'd like, but if you have an adware infection it may keep getting reset. If this is the case, you can try manually removing the adware so that you can regain your control. If you use an iOS device, you can create custom shortcuts to simulate a traditional start page.

Changing Your Homepage

• If you're using Safari for Windows, click the "Edit" menu and select "Preferences". It is highly recommended that you switch to a more up-to-date browser, as Safari for Windows is no longer supported by Apple and is not receiving any security updates.

• You can also click Set to Current Page to set your new homepage to the page that is currently open.
• If your homepage keeps resetting to something else, red on to the next section.

Removing an Adware Infection

• Amazon Shopping Assistant by Spigot Inc.
• Cinema-Plus Pro (Cinema + HD, Cinema + Plus, and Cinema Ploos)
• Ebay Shopping Assistant by Spigot Inc.
• Searchme by Spigot, Inc
• Slick Savings by Spigot Inc.

• /System/Library/Frameworks/v.framework
• /System/Library/Frameworks/VSearch.framework
• /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/Jack
• /Library/InputManagers/CTLoader/
• /Library/Application Support/Conduit/
• ~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/ConduitNPAPIPlugin.plugin
• ~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins/TroviNPAPIPlugin.plugin
• /Applications/SearchProtect.app
• /Applications/WebTools.app
• /Applications/cinemapro1-2.app
• ~/Applications/cinemapro1-2.app

iPhone, iPad, iPod

Expert Q&A

You might also like.

• ↑ https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203987
• ↑ http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/homepage-in-iphone-safari.398581/

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iOS 15: How to Customize Your Safari Start Page and Background

First seen in macOS Big Sur, Safari's redesigned Start Page in iOS 15 is a one-stop shop for all of your Bookmarks, Favorites, Frequently Visited sites, Siri Suggestions, iCloud Tabs, Reading List, and Privacy Report.

• Launch Safari on your iPhone or iPad .
• Tap the open tabs icon in the bottom right corner of the Safari interface.

• Scroll down to the bottom of the Start Page and tap the Edit button.
• To sync your Start Page settings with other devices linked to the same Apple ID , turn on the switch next to Use Start Page on All Devices .
• Use the switches to control what you want to appear on your Start Page. Options include: Favorites , Frequently Visited , Shared with You , Privacy Report , Siri Suggestions , Reading List , and iCloud Tabs .
• You can also turn on the Background image option and choose one of the existing iOS wallpapers, or select your own from your photos by tapping the big + button.

In iOS 15, Tab Groups is another new feature in Safari that can improve your browsing experience. To learn more about Tab Groups, be sure to check out our dedicated how-to.

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How-To Geek

How to change the safari home page on a mac.

Tired of opening Safari and seeing Favorites? Here's how to set your homepage to your favorite website in Safari on Mac.

Traditionally, a homepage is the first website your browser loads when you start it. But by default, Safari on Mac opens up a window of Favorites instead. If you'd like Safari to start with a website of your choice, follow these simple steps.

First, open the Safari web browser by clicking its icon in the dock, by using Spotlight Search , or by selecting it from the macOS Applications folder . From there, navigate to the page you'd like to use as your home page. It can be any website you want.

In the menu bar at the top of the screen, select Safari > Preferences.

In Preferences > General, click the "Set to Current Page" button. This changes your home page to the current website Safari has open.

After clicking the button, the address in the "Homepage" field will change to the address of the current page.

Next, we'll make it so you see your home page when you open Safari. In Preferences > General, click the drop-down menu beside the "New Windows Open With" listing.

In the drop-down menu, select the "Homepage" option.

If desired, you can repeat the same step with the "New Tabs Open With" option. In that case, every time you open a new tab, you'll see your home page.

Related: How to Reopen Closed Tabs and Windows in Safari on a Mac

How to customize your start page in Safari on iPhone and iPad

• Choose sections for your start page
• Set a background image for your start page

Safari is probably one of your most used apps on your current iPhone. After all, Safari is your gateway to the wonderful world of the internet on the go. But have you ever wished you could make your mobile Safari experience a little more personal?

Since macOS Big Sur, Apple gave users the ability to customize the start page in Safari on the Mac . But this same feature did not make its way to the iPhone and iPad until iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, respectively. When you customize the start page in mobile Safari, you can pick your own cool background image and choose what sections you want to display when you first open a new tab. Sections can include your Favorites, Siri Suggestions, Reading List, and more. It's a simple little setting, but customizing your start page makes Safari feel more like your own.

Here's how to customize your start page in Safari on iPhone and iPad.

How to choose sections for your start page in Safari on iOS

• Launch Safari on your iPhone or iPad.
• If you are on an existing webpage, tap the Tabs button and launch a new tab .

• Scroll down to the bottom of the start page and tap Edit .
• If you prefer to use the same start page customization across all of your iPhones, iPads, and Macs, make sure the toggle for Use Start Page on All Devices is set to ON (green). This ensures that your start page appearance and settings are synced through iCloud.
• You'll see sections for Favorites , Frequently Visited , Shared With You , Privacy Report , Siri Suggestions , Reading List , and iCloud Tabs . Tap the toggles for the sections that you want to display to ON (green).
• If you want to rearrange the order that these sections appear in, just drag-and-drop with the handle into the order that you prefer.

In iOS 16 , a new section for Recently Closed Tabs will be added to the available options listed above. This section will show tabs that you've recently closed, in case you want to pull them up again.

How to set a background image for your start page in Safari on iOS

Adding a background image is a good way to spice up your Safari browsing experience while you're on the start page. Apple gives you the option to choose a preset image, or you can even pick out your own. Here's how.

• Make sure you're in a new tab so you can be on the start page .
• Scroll down to the bottom and tap Edit .
• Tap the toggle for Background Image to ON (green).
• Select one of the preset images by tapping on it.
• If you prefer to use your own, tap the large plus (+) button.
• Choose an image from your Photo Library .

If you've already set an image from your Photo Library but want to change it, just tap on the square with your custom image to browse your Photo Library again for a different image.

A personalized Safari

As you can see, it's easy to customize your start page in Safari on your favorite iPhone and iPad in iOS 15 . Doing so will give you a better experience whenever you open up a new tab in Safari, and it is a great way to add your own touch to the browser.

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How to Customize Safari Start Page

You can now customize your Safari start page (also called a Safari home page) to show the content you're most interested in. That way when you open Safari, you can access bookmarked pages and shared files with a single tap on your screen. We'll show you how!

Related:  How to Hide Apps on the iPhone & Find Them Later

Why You’ll Love This Tip

• Easily view the bookmarks, shared files, and privacy reports you're most interested in.
• Organize your Safari home page content to best suit your browsing preferences. 

How to Customize Safari Home Page

Use the steps below to learn how to customize your Safari background image and the content displayed on your customized Safari home page. To see more iOS tips and tricks, check out our free Tip of the Day newsletter!

The great news is that your customized home page settings can also be shared across Apple devices, as long as those devices are signed into the same Apple ID and have iCloud enabled for Safari. 

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How to use the new Safari Start Page in macOS 11 Big Sur

If you're someone who likes Safari to start up with your own website already loaded, or your company's one, or a particular news site, you can carry right on. But if you're up for a change, or if you just never gave the start page a thought, the new improvements in macOS Big Sur are very appealing.

Let's not overplay this. What's really changed is that you can add a background, and that there are more options for what you see on that start page.

Yet don't underplay it, either. That start page can hold your most-used bookmarks, and it can take you quickly to your most-used sites. It can be where you go to catch up on articles you've saved, too.

And it can be where you go on your Mac to open that webpage you were reading on your iPad earlier.

How to customize Safari's start page

• If Safari always opens to a particular site, go to Safari , Preferences , General
• Click on the option New windows open with
• Choose Start Page
• Click on the option New tabs open with
• Again, choose Start Page
• Close the preferences window
• Open a new Safari window
• At bottom right, click on the Settings icon
• Tick on or off sections you want on the page
• Then scroll the page to see each section and over to the right of the title
• Optionally, choose Show More or Show Less

This is all you need to do to make any changes to the page that Safari starts up with, or opens a new tab with. The Settings icon is what you'll use to include or exclude particular sections and the odds are that you may only do that occasionally.

Whereas you'll probably end up adjusting the Show More and Show Less options as you work, choosing today to expand or contract what's offered.

Change the background image

By default, if you have Safari open to its Start Page, that page will be on a plain background. You can change it to anything you like, though, by clicking that Settings icon at bottom right.

Click once to tick that feature as on, and then you'll see buttons for choosing an existing image, or adding a new one. When you've changed the image once, though, the first thing that ticking this feature on does is switch to that image.

Apple's default options

Apple assumes that if you're using a Start Page, you want quick access to your Favorite sites. It's also going to track where you go so that it can show you all of your most Frequently Visited sites.

Favorites are shown as icons, but Frequently Visited sites get a thumbnail preview of their contents as they were the last time you went to them. By default, Safari will show you six of your most frequently visited sites, but if you over to the right of the title Frequently Visited, you get an option to show more.

If you choose that, Safari will now always show you a dozen frequently visited sites. If you don't want to see any at all, click on Settings and you can untick the whole section.

Reading List is also on by default and you may not have realised that you have this many pages in your list. At first, it will show you six, but clicking Show More expands that out to very many.

If you have an iPad, and you haven't switched off iCloud Tabs in the Start Page's settings, you'll see more websites. This time it's the web pages that are open on your iPad.

What Apple doesn't include

There is no point having a Start Page that gives you all your iPad's tabs, your entire reading list, a dozen frequently visited sites and 40-odd favourites. The point of a Start Page is to get you quick access to what you need.

So even Apple doesn't switch on every option. What it leaves off, though, is useful enough that you should still take a look at it.

Siri Suggestions is perhaps the most productive. It will offer you websites that you typically go to right about now.

Whereas Privacy Report is a one-line entry on the Start Page, which lets you click through for more detail.

What we don't get from Apple

Microsoft Edge has a similar feature, but it lets you see news headlines. That would be a convenient use for the Start Page, no doubt, except if you wanted to see news, you could set the New York Times as your start page.

What would be more useful would be a way to re-order the elements on the Start Page. Perhaps you rarely bookmark favorite sites and never go to them anyway, but you do rely on the Reading List.

It would be good to be able to rearrange the sequence instead of solely being able to switch them on or off.

Similarly, it would be good to have more control over how information is displayed on the page. You can't change the frequently visited section's thumbnails to icons, for instance, nor can you show thumbnails instead of icons in the Favorites section.

Thumbnails are handy, but often what you see is a quite large box around a quite short line of text. Being able to change those icon boxes into straight lines of text would let you get more on the Start Page.

Revolutionary

The Start Page is not revolutionary, except that you may come to look back on previous versions of Safari and wonder how you got by without it.

For instance, while everyone's mileage will vary, some AppleInsider writers found that they'd accrued many favicons that they stored as tabs in Safari. With the new Start Page, it was easy enough to move these favorites into the page and free up room on the tab bar.

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How to Customize the Start Page in Safari on macOS

Make Safari your own by customizing the start page with your Favorites, synced tabs, reading list, and more.

Safari's start page is the first thing you see when you open a new window. But many users don't realize how customizable it is. For starters, you can get rid of its bland look by adding sections and changing its background.

We'll show you how to spruce up Safari's start page on your Mac to get it just how you want it.

How to Change the Background for Safari's Start Page

By default, the start page's gray background is the first thing that'll grab your attention when you launch Safari. You can jazz it up with a couple of stock images that Apple bundles with Safari. Or you can upload a custom image to use as the start page background instead.

For that, click on the menu icon in the bottom-right corner of Safari's start page and enable the Background Image option. Next, you can pick one of the stock images from the Background Image label by scrolling from left to right.

Click the plus (+) icon to navigate to an image you want to upload for the start page's background in Safari. There are also plenty of other Safari tips and tricks for customizing your start screen.

How to Add Favorites to the Start Page in Safari

Safari manages Bookmarks and Favorites differently than the other browsers. While Bookmarks appear in the sidebar, you can pin a handful of your frequently visited websites as Favorites on the start page in Safari.

That'll save you from the chore of opening Bookmarks or keeping the Bookmarks sidebar active. Open Safari, click on the menu in the bottom-right corner, and select the checkbox to enable Favorites .

All the links you've added to your Favorites list will appear on Safari's start page.

How to Put Your Reading List on Safari's Start Page

If you like an article on a site, you can hit Shift + Cmd + D to add it to your Reading List. It's a good idea to add all the articles you want to read on the start page itself by enabling your Reading List.

Open the menu in the bottom-right corner of the Safari start page, then enable the checkbox for Reading List .

This way, you get quick access to the articles you want to read, instead of throwing them deep in the Bookmarks or cluttering your Favorites.

How to Sync Safari Tabs Across Devices Using iCloud

With Safari on your Mac, you can access open tabs on your other Apple devices. This lets you pick up reading a website exactly where you left off. Apple syncs your Safari tabs between devices using iCloud.

On your iPhone or iPad, open the Settings app. Then tap on [Your Name] > iCloud and enable the toggle for Safari from the list of Apps Using iCloud .

Now open Safari on your Mac, click on the menu in the bottom-right corner and select the checkbox for the iCloud Tabs .

You can start syncing tabs between Mac and other Apple devices, as long as the iCloud service is active on all of them.

How to Display a Privacy Report on Safari's Start Page

Safari's privacy features block third-party tracker cookies and generates a privacy report for you to view on the start page. The privacy report shows the numbers of trackers blocked along with the list of websites that tried tracking you.

Again, you'll have to enable the checkbox for Privacy Report from the menu on Safari's start page to see this.

Over time, you can figure out which websites use the most trackers so you can be careful which ones you visit.

Spice Up Safari's Start Page to Improve Your Browser Experience

Safari's start page is customizable to your needs, allowing Favorites, synced tabs, privacy reports, a personalized background, and more. Thankfully, there are no news feeds to clog it or cause it to consume data unnecessarily.

After dressing up the start page, you can still tweak other Safari settings for browsing the web more efficiently.

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Rolled out in iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, Apple allows you to edit the Safari welcome page to your heart’s content. Like  Safari on Mac , you can set a background image and also add or remove display sections like website icons, reports, and more. Besides, different Tab Groups can have different start page settings. Let me show you how to customize the start page in Safari on iPhone and iPad.

How to edit Safari start page on iPhone

• How to add a background image to Safari start page

The start page is the first screen you see when you launch Safari or open a new empty tab. Here, you’ll see bookmarked sites, frequently visited websites, privacy reports, items in the reading list, Siri-suggested sites, open tabs on your other Apple devices, etc.

You may want to organize things better or include more useful options and sections here. For example, I do not like privacy reports and reading lists on my Safari start page, so I don’t keep them. Your preferences may be different.

Here’s how to enable or disable sections from Safari’s start page:

• Open  Safari  and stay on the start page. If an existing web page opens, hit the tabs icon and launch a  new tab .
• Scroll down and tap  Edit .
• Toggle off the options you do not want on the Customize Start Page .
• You may also rearrange the order by touching the  three lines icon  and dragging it up or down.

Anytime you change your mind, follow the same steps to remove or add more sections.

Note: If you toggle on Use Start Page on All Devices , your customized start page settings will be applied across all your Apple devices. However, you must sign in with the same Apple ID while two-factor authentication is enabled.

How to add a background image to Safari start page on iPhone

Traditionally, browsers have been plain white backgrounds. But with this edit option, Apple has tried adding a pinch of glamor to it. What’s more, seeing elements you like keeps you fresh, motivated, and focused on the task.

You can use one of Apple’s wallpapers or choose a custom image from your Photos app. Here’s how.

• Open  Safari .
• Toggle on  Background Image .
• Tap a wallpaper or the  plus icon  to choose an image from the iPhone Camera Roll.
• Tap  X  to close this screen. You will see the selected image as the background for Safari’s start page.

How to change background for Safari Tab Group in iOS 16

From iOS 16, the start page customization option will not be applied to all the Tab Groups . So, if you have multiple Tab Groups in action, you’ll have to change them individually.

• Go to the desired Tab Group start page . 
• Tap the edit button.  
• Customize the page with the steps mentioned above. 

And that’s it.

This is how you can customize the start page in Safari on your iPhone. I hope this brief guide was helpful. If you have any further related queries, drop them in the comments section below.

You may also like:

• Safari tips and tricks for iPhone
• How to prevent websites from tracking you in Safari on iPhone
• Customize and share website settings in Safari on iPhone

I have been an Apple user for over seven years now. At iGeeksBlog, I love creating how-tos and troubleshooting guides that help people do more with their iPhone, iPad, Mac, AirPods, and Apple Watch. In my free time, I like to watch stand up comedy videos, tech documentaries, news debates, and political speeches.

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How to personalize your Safari start page on macOS Big Sur

Take control

In macOS Big Sur , Apple has added new features for the ' Safari ' app start page. Most of the new tools are designed to make it quicker to find your favorite web content. Apple also added a background feature.

First introduced with Mac OS X Panther way back in 2003, Apple's native web browser on macOS continues to receive software updates each year. In macOS Big Sur, the list of new features was much longer than other recent updates, however. 

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Safari page settings

In recent macOS releases, the 'Safari' start page seemed more like an afterthought than actually helping you be productive. Things have changed in macOS Big Sur. You can now customize the 'Safari' start page by adding a unique background image and adjusting which sections are shown. You can also rearrange the sections to suit your tastes better. 

Your 'Safari' homepage isn't the same as the start page. The former is an external webpage you select like 'techradar.com'. The latter is the one Apple created that includes links to your most visited and favorite websites, and more, which you can adjust. 

You can set the homepage and start page by going into the 'Safari' app, then click 'Safari' on the menu bar. Choose 'Preferences' in the pull-down menu.  By default, your start page is the page that's selected every time you open a new window or tab. If you rather not use the start page, you can adjust both settings to use another page or no page. Add your homepage at the same location.

Safari adjust start page

Go into the 'Safari' start page to make changes. Click on the slider at the bottom right of the page. From here, check the items you wish to show on the start page. Options include 'Favorites', 'Frequently Visited', 'Privacy Report', 'Siri Suggestions', 'Reading List', ' iCloud Tabs', and 'Background Image'.

When 'Background Image' is checked, you can use one of the template backgrounds or select your own. Drag sections in the slider to change their locations on the start page. 

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Other new Safari features

A revised start page isn't the only thing new about the 'Safari' app in macOS Big Sur. The update also includes improved battery life and efficiency when web surfing, Favicons in tabs, website previews, language translations, and more. 

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Bryan M. Wolfe is a staff writer at TechRadar, iMore, and wherever Future can use him. Though his passion is Apple-based products, he doesn't have a problem using Windows and Android. Bryan's a single father of a 15-year-old daughter and a puppy, Isabelle. Thanks for reading!

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6 tips to personalize your Safari Start Page on Mac

Discover ways to customize the Safari Start Page on your Mac by selecting just the sections you want to see, using a personal background image, and more.

Note: The tips here work on Mac running macOS Big Sur or later.

Related: How to customize and personalize Safari on iPhone and iPad

1. Select the sections you want to see on Safari Start Page

1) Open Safari , and you should be on its Start Page . If not, open a new tab to see the Start Page.

2) Click the Settings icon from the bottom right.

3) You’ll see a list of items that you can display on your Start Page. Just check the boxes for those you want to use:

• Favorites : Important websites you have marked as your favorites and folders you might have created to manage your favorite bookmarks.
• Recently Closed Tabs: Web pages you were viewing earlier but closed recently.
• iCloud Tabs: Sites you have open in Safari on your other devices like iPhone and iPad.
• Frequently Visited: Websites you visit on a regular basis.
• Shared with You: Links people have shared with you in apps like Messages.
• Privacy Report: A snapshot of the Privacy Report . You can click it for more details.
• Siri Suggestions: Websites Siri finds in Mail, Messages, and other apps.
• Reading List: Items at the top of your Safari Reading List . Click Show More on the top right corner of this section to see more.
• Background Image: Explained later below.

Note: In addition to using the settings icon, you can also right-click on a blank spot on your Safari Start Page and select or unselect the desired options.

2. Reorganize the Start Page sections

By default, Favorites is shown on the top of the Safari Start Page, followed by Recently Closed Tabs, iCloud Tabs, and so on. But you can easily change their position by clicking the settings icon and then dragging the options up or down .

3. Change the Start Page background

Another thing you can do to personalize the Safari Start Page is to use a background image. Apple gives you almost ten to pick from, or you can choose an image of your own.

Pick a pre-provided wallpaper

Click the Settings icon on your Safari Start Page, check the box for Background Image , and pick one of the wallpapers. You can view them all by scrolling through them to the right.

Use your own image

To use a picture or other image on your Mac, click the plus sign on the left of the wallpaper choices. Locate the image you want to use, click Choose , and your new Start Page wallpaper will appear.

Drag from Photos or Finder

Open Photos  or Finder , select the picture and drag it onto your Safari Start Page. You’ll see the background image change immediately.

Choose a different image

If you use one of your own photos or images and want to change it later, it’s easy. Hit the Settings icon on your Safari Start Page and click the tiny X on the upper left corner of the image you picked. The background will be removed, and you can click the plus sign to pick a different one, select one of the built-in options, or leave the background gray.

4. Remove items from the Start Page

Suppose you don’t like one of the sites that appear under Recently Closed Tabs on your Safari Start Page. In that case, you can right-click over that site’s name and remove it. Similarly, you can easily remove items from Reading List or Favorites.

5. View frequently visited sites as thumbnails

Frequently visited sites appear as icons, but you can right-click over this section and show them as big thumbnails.

6. Set your Start Page for tabs and windows

Remember, your Safari Start Page is different than the Homepage that you can configure in your Safari Settings. And if you did make a switch away from your Start Page for new tabs and windows and want to change it back, here’s a reminder for how to do it.

• Open Safari and click Safari > Settings or Preferences from the menu bar.
• Select the General tab.
• Choose Start Page in the drop-down boxes for New windows open with and/or New tabs open with .

If you’re like me and love options to customize your apps, then you’ll enjoy these ways to personalize your Safari Start Page on Mac.

How do you feel about the customizations for the Start Page in Safari on Mac? Will you take advantage of them, and if so, which are you happiest to see?

Check out next:

• How to create and use profiles in Safari on iPhone, iPad, and Mac
• How to have Siri read web articles to you on iPhone and iPad

How To Use the Safari 14 Start Page

Check out How To Use the Safari 14 Start Page at YouTube for closed captioning and more options.

No related posts.

Comments: 30 Responses to “How To Use the Safari 14 Start Page”

We'll have to agree to disagree whether the new start page is an improvement over Top Sites. I am already displaying Favorites above the tab bar, so sticking that on a start page is pretty redundant. I loved the way I could add, rearrange and pin up to 24 sites on the old Top Sites screen. The Frequently Visited "feature" has NONE of that functionality. I have submitted feedback to Apple, but I'm not holding my breath for a change of heart.

I could not agree more with Chris S. How does one leave feedback with Apple?

Mac: https://www.apple.com/feedback/

The text size on my new Safari 14 is tiny. It looks as if I can't go bigger than 14 but I can't even get that. Please help.

Bob: The size of text would depend on the website and their styles. You an always use Reader View if a site's text is too small for you to read.

Gary Is there a way to clear the Privacy Report on Safari 14.0? If so please le me know.

lali: No. Curious -- why would you need to do that?

Gary, the "Show iCloud Tabs" is not showing up as an option in the Start Page. I'm using Safari 14.0 in Catalina.

nick: You need to be using iCloud on multiple machines, have Safari enabled in iCloud (it is by default) and also have some web page currently open on another machine to have anything there.

You can sort of reproduce the "Top Sites" functionality in Safari 14.0. Go to the Start Page, and click on the Settings icon in the lower right corner. Select only "Favorites". Then open the Sidebar and select Bookmarks. Create a new Favorites folder. Name the folder "Start Page". Load the folder up with the sites you want on your Start Page. Then go to General Preferences and select that "Start Page" folder from the "Favorites Shows" dropdown. Quit and restart Safari.

mark: I pretty much say that in this video. But I suggest using both Favorites and Frequently Visited, since Top Sites was essentially that. So, why is it important to have it named Top Sites instead of Favorites? It is just a name.

how do you both add to and delete websites from frequently visited; before it was so easy with top sites

Arthur: You can't "add" them as it is a list off Frequently Visited sites. A site will appear there if you frequently visit it. If you want to add a site to the Start Page, use Favorites. You can remove a site from Frequently Visited, however, by Control+clicking on it.

Since the only way to really get back the features from Safari 13 seems to be downgrading, I think I'll try that route. You guys know if restoring a Time Machine backup from before Safari 14 should work?

John: That's not a valid option. You'll then be stuck with Catalina and Safari 13 for the rest of your life (until you get a new Mac) without new features or security updates. Eventually it will stop syncing properly with iCloud and website won't work as new HTML features won't be supported. What is so bad about Safari 14?

Gary Rosenzweig: I don't plan to stick with Safari 13 forever, this is meant to be more of a temporary solution while I wait and see if Apple will respond user feedback and bring back those features. The ones that I'm missing the most are the Top Sites start page, which was central to how i used Safari, and the old Tab System (being able to see both favicon and tab title, and also to close a tab while displaying another tab without having to right-click on it first).

John: Try using the Start Page with Favorites being the sites you had "pinned" previously, and Frequently Visited being the rest of "Top Sites." You can see favicons and titles just like before, and you can close tabs without having to switch -- just click on the X in the tab.

Gary Rosenzweig: It's not possible to edit the "Frequently Visited" section though, only to remove sites that are already there. And the Favourites icons are too small, not having enough space even for the site's title. Moreover, you can't have both favicon and tab title in the new Tab System, only one of the two, and when favicon are enabled you lose the ability to show the "X" on the tabs while hovering over them.

John: Right, so if you want a site to always appear, add it to your Favorites. You can definitely have the favicon and title. I'm looking at it right now. Maybe you have a ton of tabs open so there is no room? I see the Xs there too, if I move my cursor over them.

I just tested now with a new window: yes you can have favicons+tab title, though the title disappears at the 15th tab... so pretty useless for me (and i guess the majority of people) since i have more than 15 open at all times

John: 15 tabs? I don't know if that's a majority of people. How would you even have room for the favicon and title with lots of tabs? I rarely have more than 3. Anyway, I doubt Apple is going to ever go back to Top Sites.

Well, before the tabs closer to the currently displayed one had full titles and favicon, the others to the left we visible only by sliding horizontally on the tabs bar. Worked like a charm. And yeah, Top Sites is probably gone for good, and that's the real dealbreaker for me, it was so central to using Safari...

I don't remember which websites I had in my top sites (some, not all). Does Apple have a way for us to retrieve this info? My laptop auto updated and I opened it up to this new mess about Start pages.

AJ: No, there's no way to retrieve that. But you should still have your History and of course your Bookmarks.

Mark, that worked! At first I could not figure out how to create a favorites folder so I looked that up. It was just a regular bookmarks folder that I dragged up to the Favorites section. Thanks!

Really missing Top Sites! I was using it mostly for my leisure daily boomarks. It was so good to have this additional customisable Top Sites section as alternative to more complex Favorites section. ( I'm using my Favorites a lot for my pro research work in very complex way adding subfolders etc. )

A good example of Apples decline

Anyone missing top sites use Mark’s suggestion. It worked! Thanks so much Mark.

I'd already done Mark's suggestion, but it's a poor substitute for Top Sites, which were easy to see. I agree it's the only option, though. I wish Favorites could at least display in the same way as Frequently Visited; that would help. Frequently Visited often drops sites, even though I visit them daily! It's not keeping track of what I do; today, there's only one site! Why can't it at least keep what's recent? I can find no setting to manage this. I miss the functional simplicity of Top Sites.

I too am missing the actual displayed images and easy functionality of Top Sites. The favicons that now appear in the Favorites listing are not the same as the actual favicons of many of my preferred websites. So it takes extra unnecessary time to identify them since there is no image displayed of the website. This feels like another Apple change that serves their technology without taking into consideration their customers. I'll try the alternative mentioned for recreating faux Top Sites.

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Change Websites settings in Safari on Mac

To change these settings, choose Safari > Settings, then click Websites.

The settings you can customize (such as Reader and Content Blockers) are listed on the left.

To apply a setting to a website on the right, first select the setting, then choose the option you want from the pop-menu next to the website.

Open Safari for me