safari touch icons cache

How to refresh website favicons in Safari on Mac

A favicon is the small website logo you see in your browser tab. The ability to see favicons for websites in Safari is convenient. It lets you spot the site you want at a glance by seeing just the icon on your tab, in your bookmark list, and in your history.

But have you ever noticed favicons that go missing or are incorrect, showing the wrong icon? You can “refresh” the website favicons in Safari on Mac in just a few steps, and here, we’ll show you how.

Delete Safari’s favicon cache

If you’re experiencing favicons that aren’t right, maybe they have icons for different websites; clearing the cache and starting over is a good option. Here’s how to do that:

1) Close and quit Safari .

2) Using Finder, click Go > Go to Folder from the menu bar

3) Enter ~/Library/Safari/Favicon Cache/ in the pop-up window and go to this location.

4) Select all items in the cache folder and move them to the Trash . You can select all with the keyboard shortcut Command + A and then drag them to your Trash or right-click and pick Move to Trash.

5) Empty your Trash or delete those items from it. (For help with both options, check out our tutorial on How to Empty Trash on Mac .)

6) Open Safari .

The Safari favicon cache folder will rebuild itself as you visit websites. And you’ll need to visit the sites you have saved for the favicons to appear. But those that were incorrect or missing should show up correctly.

Related : How to skip the Trash and delete files on Mac immediately

Alternative option

If you’d rather try something else, there is one other option that may or may not work.

Open the website with the incorrect favicon in a private window in Safari. You can do this easily by right-clicking Safari in your Dock and selecting New Private Window or selecting File > New Private Window from the menu bar.

Visit the website in the private window, and when you return to your non-private Safari, the favicon may be correct.

The suggestion comes from the Apple Community Forum . This method did not work for the user with the question, nor did it work for me; however, it’s worth a try if you’d like.

Enabling favicons in Safari

As a reminder, you can enable favicons in Safari on older versions of macOS by following these simple steps:

1) With Safari open, click Safari > Preferences from the menu bar.

2) Select the Tabs tab.

3) Check the box for Show website icons in tabs to enable favicons.

Hopefully, either rebuilding the Safari favicon cache or opening a specific site in a private window works for you. And if you have another method to refresh favicons in Safari that works for you, please share it in the comments below!

Useful Safari tips:

• 11 tips to customize and personalize Safari on iPhone and iPad
• How to pin tabs in Safari on iPhone, iPad, and Mac
• How and why to update Safari, Chrome, and other web browsers on iPhone and Mac
• How to open multiple websites at once on Mac

Safari Favorites Icons Missing? 7 Ways to Get Them Back

If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Full Disclosure Here…

Safari favorites icons, or favicons, are a celebrated convenience that allows you to quickly see the website you want in history, bookmarks, or tabs. Unfortunately, these favicons tend to appear incorrectly or go missing. This article shows you how to get back missing favorite icons on your Mac.  

If you notice that your Safari favorites icons are missing , clearing your cache and restarting Safari is the fastest way to get them back . There is another alternative way of opening the affected website in a private Safari window; I will look at it in detail later in the article.

How to Find Safari Favorites Icons Missing? 

• Method 1: Clear Safari favorites icons cache 

Method 2: Use Safari Private Window

Method 3: create new user, method 4: verify your preferences, method 5: restore items from time machine, method 6: download updates.

• Method 7: Use the safe mode        

In Conclusion

If the favorites icons are missing in Safari on your Mac, try going to “Safari” > “Preferences” > “Tabs” and check the box next to “Show website icons in tabs.” If this doesn’t solve the issue, try resetting the Safari browser by going to “Safari” > “Reset Safari” and selecting the appropriate options. If the issue persists, try restarting your Mac or updating the operating system.

How to bring back Safari Favorites Icons

When Apple first introduced the favicon feature on Safari, most people unsurprisingly jumped on it enthusiastically. The convenience of quickly locating your favorite website on a tab or bookmark list was too good to pass up. Precious seconds are saved by that little image appearing in the history list of the Safari browser, while not seeing it can put some people off whatever they are doing on the internet. Even though the Safari favorites icon appears distorted or missing, we’re here to tell you that you can quickly recover the icon by following a few simple steps on your MacBook. 

Method 1: Clear Safari favorites icons cache  

Clearing the Safari favorites icons cache and starting over is the universal way of solving the problem of incorrect and missing favicons on your computer. Follow the steps below to get your favorite icons back. 

• Shut or quit Safari.
• Go to Finder on your Mac.  
• Next, click on Go, then select Go To Folder on the visible menu.
• A pop-up menu will appear, and you will need to type in/Library/Safari/Favicon Cache/ 
• Once you’ve typed that in, you need to click on Go.
• You must send all the items in the folder on your screen to Trash. Pressing the Command and the A key simultaneously selects all the files in the folder, then you can drag them to the trash. You can also right-click the files and select Move To Trash on the menu that appears on the screen. 
• Empty the entire trash or delete the items from the favicon cache folder only. The simplest way to empty your trash is by right-clicking the trash icon on your dock and selecting Empty Trash. 
• Open your Safari browser again and visit your saved sites. 

The incorrect or distorted images should appear correctly. The favicon cache rebuilds itself as you visit your saved sites. However, in rare cases, some alternatives might help. I’ll now look at some of the methods that you can use. Feel free to try them all, as none take a long time to complete.

Also Read: How to Fix Finder Not Responding on Mac

There is no guarantee that this alternative method will work, but it is worth a try if clearing the favicon cache is not working or if you prefer not to use it. Safari has a private window that does not store browsing history, and you can use this feature to try and refresh your favicons.

• Right-click on Safari in the Dock
• Select New Private Window
• Visit the site with the incorrect or missing favicons
• Close Private Window

The favicons should return to normal working conditions after this. You can try these further steps in the Private Window.

• Select Preferences and click on Privacy on the Safari menu
• Click on Manage Website Data, and a list of sites will appear
• Choose the site that is causing issues and click on Remove
• Click on Done to finish the process
• Go back to the non-private window and open the website again.

Your Mac should be able to rebuild the favicon cache on its own. If you know your way around the device, you can manually make another favicon cache folder, but this is not a recommended route. It is better to contact the Apple Support center.    

If you continue having issues with favicons, create a new user on your Mac. This method has worked for others on the Apple Community Forum , where users try to help each other solve various challenges with Mac. One user managed to retrieve all the missing favicons using this method. 

• Select System Preferences (System Settings on macOS Ventura and above) on your menu and click Users & Groups
• Click on Add at the bottom of the dialogue box.   
• Choose the type of user, preferably the Administrator. 
• Enter the name of the new user and a password.
• Click on Add User.

The first time you open Safari under the new user profile, favicons should all work perfectly. \

Also Read: How to Change Admin Name on Mac

The Mac has a preference setting that allows tabs to display icons when you’re on Safari. Check that your preferences are set correctly by following these simple steps. 

• Open Safari 
• Click on Safari in the menu bar
• Select Preferences 
• Click on Tabs, and a list of preferences will show up
• Tick the box allowing website icons to be shown. 

The image below shows the box that you should tick. You can try doing this a couple of times while restarting your device. Try this method several times, restarting your device each time. 

If you use Time Machine to backup files, then you can use it to retrieve files and items. The good thing about Time Machine is that it works with almost all Mac apps. Here is a reminder of how to open Time Machine and retrieve files and items. 

• Click on the Time Machine icon. If the icon is not there, go to System Preferences (System Settings on macOS Ventura and above) and click Time Machine on the Apple menu.
• Click on Show Time Machine in the menu bar to browse backups and local snapshots.
• Use the arrows to look through your missing files and items. When you see the files you need, click Restore. 

You can restore all the files at once or one by one. When restored, the files return to the original folder. Remember, you need to have already set your device to back up to the Time Machine for this method to work perfectly.   

Also Read: How to Turn off Time Machine on a Mac

Your Safari favorites icons missing challenge can also be solved by updating your device. The macOS Catalina 10.15.7 Combo update fixes issues that prevent files from syncing with iCloud and resolves graphics. You can download this update and see if the problem is solved. 

Follow these steps to download software updates on your Mac. 

• Open the Apple menu and choose System Preferences (System Settings on macOS Ventura and above).
• Click on Software Update.
• Open the Software Update preferences for the Safari folder.

You can also find a list of available updates in the Apple Store or set your device to check for software updates in the System Preferences (System Settings on macOS Ventura and above) automatically. However, for this particular issue of missing favicons, the Catalina 10.15.7 Combo update should be able to help. 

Method 7: Use the safe mode         

One way of solving issues on your Mac is to restart it in safe mode. The safe mode allows your device to start and run with limited functionality as you try and solve specific issues. You must determine if your device uses Apple silicon, then follow these steps. 

• Shut down your Mac device.
• Turn on your Mac and hold the power tab until the startup options window appears.
• Choose the startup disk. 
• Click the Continue in Safe Mode tab while holding down the shift key.
• Log in, and if asked to, do it again.

If your device uses the Intel processor, follow the instructions below.

• Turn on the Mac
• Press and hold the shift key immediately
• Release the shift key when the login window appears
• Login as per instruction

All the methods mentioned here should help retrieve missing or distorted favicons. If you continue having issues after everything I have touched on here, you may need to reinstall your macOS to ensure that all the third-party apps are up to date. 

Also Read: Best Mac OS Version

Always keep your Mac device updated, as this helps solve issues before they arise. Clearing your favicon cache is the simplest and fastest way of retrieving your missing favicon. If it does not work, you should get joy from the other methods mentioned above. As a last resort, reinstall the operating system. None of your data is removed by reinstalling macOS. Click on the Reinstall macOS tab in the Utilities window and follow the instructions to complete the process. 

Do not close the lid on your Mac until the reinstallation process is finished. Your device will load all the latest software updates and be as good as new. Besides everything I have covered here, you can also contact Apple support and get help.   

Favicons provide a convenient way of quickly identifying websites on tabs, bookmark lists, and browser history. For those using the internet for work, favicons save valuable time and energy since you do not have to type the first few letters of sites to get where you want to be.

Ujjwal is a tech enthusiast with a special interest in everything Apple! He manages and writes on MacMyths.com where sharing anything and everything related to Apple devices and services is his daily thing to do.

Recent Posts

How to connect an ethernet cable to a MacBook Air [Solution]

Apple introduced Ethernet ports in MacBook versions 2010 and 2011. After this, the tech giant focused primarily on Wi-Fi connectivity and removed the ports from all its devices. However, if you are...

8 Ways to Fix a MacBook Trackpad Not Working

Are you having trouble with your Macbook trackpad not working? You're not alone. Many Macbook users experience this issue, and it can be incredibly frustrating. So, after testing different methods, I...

Best Things To Do in Moscow

Local recommendations from our my guide moscow team.

While sightseeing Moscow’ s popular landmarks should be on anyone’s travelling itinerary, the city also offers a number of alternative and recommended options to enhance any visit to the capital. Here we suggest what to do and where to go.

Whether an adrenaline junkie or a history buff, visiting alone or with family, Moscow has something for everyone. Join a tour visiting places of interest or leave the beaten track on a jeep safari. Try skydiving or hot-air ballooning. Take the kids to a fun park, seek out a specialised museum or join a spaceflight simulator. The choice is yours.

International School of Moscow

ISM is now accepting applications from expat families to looking to prepare kids for top international universities, while building character, developing leadership, entr

Art Deco Museum

In December, 2014, the first private Art Deco Museum in Russia opened in the former mansion of Imperial Mint on the Luzhnetskaya Embankment. The founder of the museum, Mk

Khudozhestvennyi Cinema theatre

Khudozhestvennyi is one of the oldest cinema theatres in Moscow which is over 100 years old and is right in the city centre near Arbatskaya metro station.............

Nikulin Circus on Tsvetnoy Bulvar

Nikulin Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard is considered to be one of the best circuses in Russia and indeed worldwide. The building was constructed in 1880 through the efforts

Bolshoi Theatre

The Bolshoi Theatre is one of the greatest and most famous treasures of Russia. Its history dates back to 1776 and today it remains a unique architectural structure and a

Ivan the Great Bell Tower

The visitors are able to enjoy the exposition, which takes several storeys of the Bell Tower, and the observation platform, which is situated at a height of 25 meters....

THEATRE.DOC

A documentary theatre THEATRE.DOC was founded by a number of playwrights in 2002. This is a non-state, non-commercial, independent and collective project. Many of works h

The Moscow Maritime Aquarium is a public Oceanarium and located on Chistye Prudy in the city centre and so very conveniently situated for a visit. Fish, sea urchins, star

16 Tons is centrally located, just a minute-away from the subway station 'Street of 1905 year'. It was open in April 1996 as a traditional English pub.............

Moscow Theatre MOST

The Moscow Theatre MOST was founded as a part of world-famous Moscow State University Student Theatre (MSUST). The history of the MSUST is very old, and the chronicle of

Moscow-City observation platform

The new observation platform in Moscow joins the rank of world-famous tourist attractions, such as Burj Khalifa, Empire State Building, Taipei 101, and Rockefeller center

The Russian Academy of Sciences

The observation platform of the Russian Academy of Sciences is less popular than the one on Sparrow Hills, but not less impressive............

Create New Guide

Mini guides.

Login to create your guides for Moscow.

Add to My Guide

• Add to New Guide

Recommended Experiences in Moscow

USSR History, Mosaics Arts, Soviet Architecture & Statues

Walk through the Soviet Historical Era of Bishkek of Soviet Kyrgyzstan. Explore Soviet architect Buildings, Statues and Touch the mosaics art which were applied in the decades between the 1960s-1980s.

Massada and the Dead Sea in Russian

Massada and the Dead Sea – A journey to the lowest place in the world.

T-72 Tank Driving Heavy Metal Experience

You'll have the opportunity to drive a T-72 tank under the guidance of a professional instructor who will provide you with expert instruction and safety briefings before you get behind the controls.

T-55 Tank Driving Heavy Metal Experience

You'll have the opportunity to drive a T-55 tank under the guidance of a professional instructor who will provide you with expert instruction and safety briefings before you get behind the controls.

Moscow suburb and Central Market

One of the oldest and architecturally most valuable places in Riga is the Moscow Suburb, which first emerged just outside the walls of Riga in the 13th century.

Search, Compare, and Save up to 70%!

Local car rental comparison with my guide, free cancellation.

No need to worry if your plans change with free cancellation options available

24/7 Customer Service

All of our providers offer 24/7 support

500+ trusted car hire partners globally

Create & share your own guide to moscow with friends and family.

Add your recommended places to visit by browsing the website and pressing the icon.

Create your own guide of favourite 'must see' places

Earn your Local Expert badge by Sharing your guides with others

Get your guide seen by submitting it to the Mini Guides section

Must See Places For First Timers

Handpicked by a Local Expert

Places to watch the FIFA World Cup 2018

Best For Kids

We Are Part of the My Guide Network!

My Guide Moscow is part of the global My Guide Network of Online & Mobile travel guides.

We are now in 120+ Destinations and Growing. If you are interested in becoming a local travel partner and would like to find out more then click for more info about our Website Business Opportunity .

Nearby Destinations

• My Guide St Petersburg
• My Guide Warsaw
• My Guide Gdansk
• My Guide Stockholm
• My Guide Krakow
• My Guide Slovakia
• My Guide Budapest
• My Guide Copenhagen
• My Guide Berlin

No results found

• Concert Halls
• Family and kids
• Galleries and Art Centres
• Observation platforms
• Parks and Gardens
• Skating rinks
• Sports and Activities
• Summer Activities
• Tours and Cruises
• Winter Activities
• Arbat Moscow
• Arkhangelskoye
• Kitay - Gorod Moscow
• Kuskovo Moscow

{[{item.label}]}

• {[{data.title}]}

Events in Moscow

Filter Events by Sub-Category

• This Weekend

Please select a Date first.

Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT

>  Learn more

>  Add to your calendar 

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Safari 14 favourites icons

Some of my start page favourites are just showing as single letters in the tile, they are showing correctly in the sidebar but not on the main page, any ideas how to correct this?

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.0

Posted on Oct 26, 2020 1:18 AM

Similar questions

• Safari Home Screen Icons Blank For the past several weeks, my Safari home screen's favorite icons aren't just gray...they're blank. I thought the latest update would address this issue, but it didn't. How do I fix this? It's annoying to try to read the little text to actually use this feature. 261 3
• Favorites not showing when opneming a new page Hi, when I start Safari or openen a new page the favorites thumbals are not displayed. The side bar with the favorites is working well. Erik 1743 5
• My tab display the twitter bird icon despite twitter not being open For some reason my safari tabs appear with the bird icon. I could open a fresh tab and search anything and the twitter birth appears. What is happening? It's really annoying and inconvenient. 765 2

Loading page content

Page content loaded

Nov 2, 2020 5:17 AM in response to CornishRattler

see here: Change favourite icons on "Start Page… - Apple Community

Let's hope Apple solve this problem also with a default feature.

The problem is with touch icons that haven't the correct format (PNG, at least 144x144, 72 dpi) or are in some websites with subdomains or so...

Oct 26, 2020 1:27 AM in response to CornishRattler

I know to do it but it is a LONG PROCESS

So go to the user Library folder by going to the finder, and the GO menu holding the option(alt) key, then you'd see a folder called library, there Navigate to Safari, then Touch Icons Cache, Images

There you can find all your images, and they have some crazy name like" Y1H781J815811HG1" or something like that, I don't know what you have. Now get your own image which you want to replace that ugly letter with and rename that with the same name as the file which is being replaced. After that move your custom image into that folder. You'd get a prompt saying that this file name already exists. Just click replace. Now your custom image is what will be shown as the Favicon. For this to take effect, quit Safari and relaunch it again.

Oct 26, 2020 10:13 PM in response to CornishRattler

I think that's because those icons are made for the icons in tabs, and not favicons, although I'm not sure. Those might be for bookmark icon, you can see icons for all of them in the left of those names in the bookmarks sidebar, and the favicon "square" dimensions are a specific thing, and those icons from websites are made for the "sidebar" since their size is smaller and those sizes are probably not accepted to be shown in the favicon "square" or icon.

This is just my guess I have never really thought about why just how to make them what I want

Oct 26, 2020 1:31 AM in response to Sahasvat_V

I'll try later and thanks. I've no idea why it doesn't just 'work' like all other browsers

2018 Primetime Emmy & James Beard Award Winner

R&K Insider

Join our newsletter to get exclusives on where our correspondents travel, what they eat, where they stay. Free to sign up.

A History of Moscow in 13 Dishes

Featured city guides.

• Notifications

No notifications to show yet

You’ll see useful information here soon. Stay tuned!

• Animated icons
• Interface icons

Are you sure you want to delete this collection?

We’re sorry you canceled your Premium subscription

You can still enjoy Flaticon Collections with the following limits:

• You can choose only 3 collections to keep
• You can only add up to 100 icons per collection
• You can’t add Premium icons to your collection

The advantages of your collections have changed

Keep making the most of your icons and collections

20% OFF our Annual Premium Plan

Select 3 collections to continue:

You have 8 collections, but can only unlock 3 of them

Report download

Please indicate what problem has been found. Thanks!

Base 64 encoded image

Copy the base64 encoded data and insert it in your HTML or CSS document. Need help? Maybe this link can help you

CSS background

Using it for the web? Copy this link in your website:

How to attribute for other media?

Don’t you want to attribute the author?

Going Premium is easy and it also allows you to use more than 15,237,500 icons without attribution. Find out more information here

Select a color from the icon

Choose a new color

Custom palette

• Remove color
• Remove palette
• You have exceeded the number of color samples for this palette

Select a shape

Stroke width

You can only save 3 new edited icons per collection as a free user. Upgrade to save unlimited icons.

Your collection is locked. You can upgrade your account to get an unlimited collection.

You have reached the icons limit per collection (256 icons)

This feature is only available for registered users. Login or register

This icon has a gradient color and cannot be edited.

Group search results

You can group your results by author style, pack, or see all available icons on your screen.

Moscow city Icons

• Delete filters

• Add to collection
• Copy to clipboard. Copying this asset counts as a download Copy to clipboard SVG PNG

Set your own limits

Gain access to over 15,237,500 icons in formats SVG, EPS, PSD & BASE64

Download what you want, cancel when you want

Related tags

Collection:

Over 15,237,500 icons for 8.25 USD /month

• No attribution required
• 15.2M icons & stickers in SVG, EPS, PSD & BASE64
• Unlimited downloads
• Browse ad-free

You must attribute the author

How to attribute for other media? How to attribute?

How likely are you to recommend Flaticon to a friend?

How about giving us a rating on Trustpilot

If you can spare a few minutes to leave us a review, we’d be super grateful 😃

Please visit:

moscow city

Download 10000 free Moscow city Icons in All design styles.

• User documentation