How to Change the Default Browser on Mac

Links from Mail, Messages, and other apps keep opening in Safari when you want them in Chrome, Firefox, or another browser. The setting that controls this lives in System Settings and takes a minute to change.

Open the browser once

Install the browser you want if it is not already on the Mac, then launch it at least once. macOS only lists browsers that have been opened, so a freshly installed one may not appear in the menu until you do this.

Open System Settings

Click the Apple menu in the top-left corner and choose System Settings. You can also press Cmd + Space, type "System Settings", and press Return.

Go to Desktop & Dock

In the sidebar on the left, click Desktop & Dock. On macOS Monterey and earlier, this setting was under System Preferences, General instead.

Pick the browser under Default web browser

Scroll down the Desktop & Dock pane to the Default web browser menu. It sits below the Dock and Windows sections. Click the menu and choose the browser you want. The change takes effect immediately, with no restart needed.

Confirm with a link

Open Mail, Messages, or Notes and click any web link. It should open in the browser you selected. If Safari still opens, check that the browser is selected in the menu and that the link was not opened from inside Safari itself.

If the browser asks to become the default. Most browsers show a banner or a settings option offering to set themselves as default. Accepting it opens the same System Settings pane described above, or applies the change directly. Either route ends with the same result.

If a browser is missing from the menu. Open it, then reopen System Settings. If it still does not appear, the app may not have registered itself as a browser. Reinstalling it from the developer's site usually fixes that.