To add a Safari link to your iPhone Home Screen, open the website in Safari, tap the More button (three dots) next to the address bar, tap Share, then tap Add to Home Screen and Add. An icon for the site appears on your Home Screen, and tapping it opens that page.
These steps are for Safari in iOS 27 and iOS 26 on the iPhone 13 and every newer or older iPhone that runs those versions. They follow Apple’s iPhone User Guide pages on turning a website into an app and bookmarking a website. On iOS 18 and earlier, tap the Share button in the Safari toolbar instead; there is no Open as Web App switch.
How to Add a Website to Your iPhone Home Screen
You only need Safari and the web address of the page. Open the exact page you want the icon to open, such as a school dashboard, not just the site’s front page.
- Open Safari and go to the website or page you want.
- Tap the More button (three dots) beside the address bar, then tap Share. If your Tabs layout is Bottom or Top, tap the Share button (a square with an arrow) in the toolbar instead.
- Scroll down the list of options and tap Add to Home Screen. A card opens with the site’s icon, a name, and the web address.
- Tap the name if you want to shorten it. Short names like “Bank” or “School” fit under the icon without being cut off.
- Leave Open as Web App on if you want the site to open like an app, or turn it off for a plain shortcut that opens in Safari.
- Tap Add.
The card closes and the site’s icon appears on your Home Screen, in the first open spot. Tap the icon to check that it opens the right page. The icon appears only on the device where you add it, so it will not show up on your iPad or another iPhone automatically. If you use Screen Time, the icon may also explain a weird app listed on the Always Allowed screen.
If you mostly want fast access to Google, you can also add the Google search bar to your home screen as a widget.
On a tablet, you can add the same website link to your iPad Home Screen.
Don’t See Add to Home Screen?
- In the Share menu, scroll to the bottom of the list.
- Tap Edit Actions.
- Tap the add button next to Add to Home Screen, then tap Done.
Add to Home Screen now appears in the list whenever you share a page from Safari. If the option is still missing, check these:
- You’re in another app’s browser. Links opened inside apps like Mail, Messages or social apps may load in a built-in viewer. Use that viewer’s option to open the page in Safari, then try again.
- The page hasn’t loaded. Wait for the page to finish loading, or reload it, before you open the Share menu.
- Screen Time limits websites. If Content & Privacy Restrictions block the site, the person who set up Screen Time has to allow it first.
What Is Open as Web App?
When Open as Web App is on, tapping the icon opens the website just like an app. The web app opens without Safari’s address bar, gets its own card in the App Switcher, and you can quit it like any other app. Some websites can also send notifications from the web app; the site asks for permission first, and you can change that later in Settings. Since iOS 26, Safari turns this switch on by default for every site, even ones that were not built as web apps.
Turn the switch off when you want a plain shortcut. The icon then opens the page in a regular Safari tab, with your other tabs, the address bar, and the sign-ins you already use in Safari. A web app can keep its own sign-in, so you may need to sign in once inside it.
This also works for web services like Google Keep. Adding a Google Keep icon to your iPhone Home Screen covers both the app and web options.
How to Remove a Website Icon From the Home Screen
- Touch and hold the website icon on your Home Screen.
- Tap Delete Bookmark (or the remove option shown in the menu).
- Tap Delete to confirm.
The icon disappears. Removing it does not delete your Safari bookmarks, history or saved passwords. To change the name or switch between web app and plain shortcut, delete the icon and add the page again.
How to Organize Website Icons
To make a folder, touch and hold an empty area of the Home Screen until the icons jiggle, then drag one website icon onto another. iOS creates a folder and suggests a name you can change. Tap Done when you’re finished. You can also drag a shortcut you use every day into the Dock. For more detail, read this iPhone app-folder guide.
Can I Do This in Chrome or Firefox?
Yes. In Chrome for iPhone, tap the Share button at the top right, tap Add to Home Screen, edit the suggested name if you want, and tap Add. In Firefox, open the menu, tap Share, then tap Add to Home Screen and Add. These shortcuts open in the browser you made them from rather than in Safari.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a Home Screen link the same as a Safari bookmark?
No. Apple treats them as separate options: a bookmark or favorite lives inside Safari and syncs through iCloud, while Add to Home Screen puts an icon on one device’s Home Screen. You can do both for the same site. For the bookmark steps, read about saving a website as a favorite or bookmark on iPhone.
Why does my website icon look like a screenshot?
The icon comes from the website’s own icon files. Sites that don’t provide one may show a generic image or a picture of the page instead. Safari doesn’t let you pick your own picture for the icon.
Can I add more than one page from the same website?
Yes. Each page you add gets its own icon, so you can keep separate icons for a site’s sign-in page and its account page. Give them different names so you can tell them apart.
More Safari Guides
- How to get Safari back on iPhone
- How to move the Safari address bar to the top
- How to zoom out in Safari on iPhone
- How to change the Safari background on iPhone
Matthew Burleigh is the founder, head writer, and editor of Solve Your Tech, which he launched in 2012. He has written technology tutorials since 2008 and worked in IT since 2003, including small-business support, IT management, and consulting. He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science from Arizona State University.
Matthew writes practical guides for Windows, iPhone and iPad, Microsoft Office, Outlook, Google apps, and Android. Solve Your Tech’s guides are checked step by step against the device or app maker’s own documentation and tested on his own devices whenever he has the hardware or software, with clear steps, sources, and update dates.
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