The ability to set a custom homepage in Google Chrome is do not one of the things that ensure its place among the best browsers. Most browsers have this or similar functionality. But that doesn’t mean learning how to change your home page in Chrome is intuitive. Especially since there are key differences between the process on mobile or tablet versus the Chrome desktop.

Well, that’s exactly what this guide sets out to highlight. Whether you change the homepage to a search engine you prefer. Or if you just want it to navigate to a homepage you frequent or one for work or a work-related intranet. This guide can show you how to set your homepage to something more usable.

There will be a prerequisite, first

Now, the biggest challenge to overcome when trying to set a new or different homepage in Google Chrome is obvious. Namely, the search giant effectively removed access to the home button, for starters, on desktop platforms. It did several updates ago as well. So you might think it’s gone forever – although mobile users still have the UI. To recover this, you’ll need to follow our other guide – or learn how to use keyboard shortcuts instead.

Whether you choose to use the required hotkey instead will vary depending on the system you are using. But, for any system, typing the shortcut will open the homepage in whatever tab you are currently on.

• For Windows and Linux, you must first press and hold the “Alt” key, then press the “Home” key
• For Mac users, the keyboard combination is a bit different. You’ll start by holding the “⌘” and “Shift” keys before pressing “h”
• For Chrome OS and Chromebook users, you will directly open the homepage by long-pressing “Alt” and then pressing “h”.

These shortcuts can be used instead of following the guide mentioned above. So if you know how to remember keyboard shortcuts well or write them down, it will save your efforts.

Here’s how to set a new or different homepage in Google Chrome on desktop or mobile

The process of changing to a new homepage will be slightly different on a computer compared to a mobile phone in Chrome, but similar enough not to cause issues. And we will also include images below for both sets of steps in our guide below. Just like we do with our other walkthroughs.

1. On a computer
   1. Access Chrome’s settings by first tapping or clicking the three-dot menu at the top right of the UI. Then select “Settings” at the bottom of the resulting menu
   2. On the Settings page, use the search bar at the top of the page with the term “home”
   3. If you want to enable the Home icon in the navigation bar, select this slider toggle. Alternatively, just select the words or blank space for “Show home button icon” from the resulting menu
   4. Chrome presents users with two options. The first is to return to the “New Tab page” when using the Home button or the keyboard shortcuts above. The second option is the one we are looking for. Enter your preferred homepage in this text field. We entered “androidheadlines.com”
   5. Chrome will automatically save the changes so you can now exit Settings. Your home page changes and the home button icon appears next to your navigation bar — it’s shaped like a house

1. From your phone
   1. Learning how to change your homepage in Chrome is almost identical to the guide above. But for Chrome mobile or tablet, the menus are laid out a bit differently. Either way, you’ll start by tapping on the three-dot menu at the top right of the UI and then selecting the “Settings” option.
   2. Next, scroll down to the “Advanced” subheading and select the “Homepage” option
   3. Here you can enable or disable the Home icon – it is enabled by default. But there’s also an option to launch Chrome’s dedicated homepage – effectively the new tab page. Or to enter a personalized web address. As shown in the images below, we entered “androidheadlines.com”
   4. Next, tap the back arrow at the top left of the UI. Chrome will automatically save your changes when you exit the menu