Iphone how to add website to home screen

If you find yourself frequently visiting a website or using a web app on your iPhone or iPad, it’s easy to add a shortcut icon directly on your Home screen using Safari that you can quickly tap to launch the site. Here’s how.

First, open Safari and navigate to the website you’d like to put on your iPhone’s Home screen. Once there, make sure you can see the navigation toolbar by tapping once near the bottom of the screen, which will make it appear.

On the navigation toolbar at the bottom of the screen, tap the Share icon (the rectangle with an upward arrow).

A Share menu will appear at the bottom of the screen. Use your finger to pull it up and swipe through the list. Tap “Add to Home Screen.”

A menu titled “Add to Home Screen” will appear. Use this menu to name your new Home screen web icon anything you’d like using the onscreen keyboard. Once you’re done, tap “Add” in the top-right corner of the box.

The icon for the website will appear on your Home screen. Any time you’d like to use it, just tap on the shortcut as if it were a regular app. Safari will automatically open and load the website.

Add a Website to Your iPad Home Screen

On your iPad, open Safari and navigate to the website you’d like to put on your Home screen. Once there, make sure you can see the navigation toolbar by tapping once near the top of the screen, which will make it appear.

On the navigation toolbar at the top of the screen, locate the Share icon (the rectangle with an upward arrow). Tap on it.

A Share menu will appear on the right side of the screen. Tap “Add to Home Screen.”

Next, a pop-up titled “Add to Home Screen” will appear where you can name your new Home screen icon anything you’d like. Once you’re done, tap “Add” in the top-right corner of the box.

The icon for the website will appear on your iPad’s Home screen. Any time you’d like to visit the site, just tap on the shortcut. Safari will automatically open and load it up.

More About the Web Shortcut Icon

The website icon we created with Safari looks and behaves like a regular app icon on the iPhone’s or iPad’s Home screen. You can rearrange it along with other apps, add it to a folder, or even drag it to the Dock.

You might notice that some websites have Home screen icons that seem perfectly tailored to the iPhone or iPad interface. That’s because these sites specifically created an image for this purpose and defined it in their website’s code. Otherwise, your iPhone or iPad will generate a tiny thumbnail of the website to use as its icon.

So far, only Safari can create shortcut icons like this. And since Apple doesn’t let you change your default browser, the sites always load in Safari, as well. Still, it’s a handy way to speed up your iPhone or iPad experience.

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Keep your favorite websites close at hand

What to Know

• Open Safari browser > go to website and tap Share icon.
• Next, tap Add to Home Screen. To give the link a new name, tap the website name > Add.

This article explains how to save a website to the Home screen and use it like you would an app on devices running iOS 8 and later.

How to Pin a Website to Your Home Screen

When you launch a website from the Home screen, Safari opens with a link to the website. So, after your session, either quit Safari or continue browsing.

To keep your most-used sites handy at all times:

1. Open the Safari browser and go to the website you want to save to the Home screen.

2. Tap the Share icon.

3. Tap Add to Home Screen.

4. A window appears with the name of the site, the URL, and an icon. To give the link a new name, tap the website name.

5. Tap Add to complete the task.

6. Safari closes, and an icon for the website appears on the Home screen.

What Else Can You Do With the Share Button?

The Safari Share menu has options to save, share, and read web pages. Here are some things you can do through this screen:

• Message: Use this option to send a link to a friend in a text message.
• Mail: Use this option to email the link to a friend. This option opens the compose email screen where you can type a message to accompany the link.
• AirDrop: Use AirDrop to quickly share files with iPhones and iPads nearby as long as those devices also have AirDrop activated. These devices need to be in your contacts list, although you can set AirDrop to detect any nearby device. Tap their contact picture in the AirDrop area (if they don't have a picture, it shows their initials) to share a website, photo, or anything else.
• Add to Notes: When you don't want to bookmark a website, but you want to save the link for later reference, tap this option. Add to Reading List is also a good option for this, but by adding a Note, you can get to the link from any device using iCloud.
• Facebook: If your iPad is connected to Facebook, you can quickly post a link to the article on your feed. You can also share it on Twitter.
• Add to iBooks as PDF: Convert any web page to a PDF with this option. Use this option for long articles. It copies everything on the web page, including photos, images, and diagrams.
• Print: If you have an AirPrint printer, you can quickly print a web page.
• Request Desktop Site: If a web page displays a mobile-optimized and not-quite-fully-functional page, use this feature to request the desktop version.

FAQ

• How do I remove website shortcuts from my iPad home screen?

  To remove iPad home screen shortcuts, tap and hold the shortcut, then tap Delete in the pop-up window.

• How do I add widgets on iPad?

  To add iPad widgets, tap and hold an empty area on the home screen, then tap the Plus (+) in the upper-left corner. Choose a widget, select a size, then tap Add Widget > Done.

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