The fastest way to save a website or contact

To add a favorite on iPhone, open Safari, navigate to the webpage you want to save, tap the share icon (the square with an arrow pointing up), scroll down and tap Add Bookmark, then choose Favorites from the location dropdown. The bookmark appears instantly in your Favorites folder and on your home screen if you choose that option.

You can also add contacts, apps, and locations to your Favorites through their respective apps — each uses the same heart icon or star icon to mark something as a favorite. The method varies slightly depending on what you're saving, but the principle is the same: find the save icon and tap it.

Key Takeaways

  • Safari bookmarks saved to Favorites appear in a dedicated folder you can access from the address bar or home screen.
  • The share icon (square with arrow) in Safari is where you'll find the Add Bookmark option for webpages.
  • You can add a Favorites folder shortcut to your home screen so your saved sites are one tap away.
  • Contacts, Maps locations, and Music tracks all use their own favorite buttons — usually a heart or star icon — separate from Safari bookmarks.

Adding a website to Safari Favorites

Open Safari and find the webpage you want to save. Tap the share icon in the bottom toolbar (it looks like a square with an arrow pointing up and to the right). A menu slides up from the bottom of the screen showing options like Message, Mail, and Copy.

Scroll down in this menu until you see Add Bookmark. Tap it. A dialog box appears with the page title pre-filled and a dropdown menu showing where the bookmark will be saved. By default it says "Bookmarks" — tap that dropdown and select Favorites instead. Then tap Save. The bookmark is now in your Favorites folder.

To access your Favorites later, tap the bookmark icon in the Safari toolbar (it looks like an open book) and you'll see a Favorites tab at the top. Your saved sites appear there in the order you added them.

Adding a Favorites shortcut to your home screen

If you use your Favorites folder often, you can add it as a shortcut directly to your home screen so you don't have to open Safari first. Open Safari, tap the share icon, and scroll down to find Add to Home Screen. A dialog appears with the page title in a text field — change this to "Favorites" or whatever you want to call the shortcut.

Tap Add in the top right corner. A new icon appears on your home screen. When you tap it, Safari opens and shows your Favorites folder immediately. This is faster than opening Safari and navigating to Favorites manually, especially if you check the same sites regularly.

Saving contacts, locations, and other items as favorites

Safari bookmarks are one type of favorite, but iPhone lets you mark other things as favorites too. In the Contacts app, open a contact and tap the heart icon at the top of the screen to add them to Favorites. They'll appear in a dedicated Favorites section at the top of your Contacts list.

In Maps, search for a location, tap it to open the details, and tap the heart icon to save it as a favorite. In Music, open a song, album, or artist and tap the heart icon to add it to your library. In Reminders, swipe left on a list and tap the star icon to mark it as a favorite, which pins it to the top of your lists.

Each app stores its favorites separately — a favorite contact doesn't appear in your Safari Favorites, and a favorite location doesn't appear in your Music library. They're organized by app, not in one central place.

Organizing and editing your Favorites folder

Once you've added bookmarks to Favorites, you can rearrange them or move them to other folders. Open Safari, tap the bookmark icon, and tap Edit in the bottom right corner of the Favorites tab. You can now drag bookmarks up or down to reorder them, or tap the circle icon next to a bookmark to delete it.

To move a bookmark to a different folder, tap Edit, then tap the bookmark itself (not the circle). A new screen appears showing the bookmark details and a dropdown showing which folder it's in. Tap that dropdown to move it to Bookmarks, Reading List, or any custom folder you've created. Tap Done when you're finished.

If you want to rename a bookmark, tap Edit, tap the bookmark, and change the title in the text field at the top. This is useful if the original page title is long or unclear — you can shorten it to something you'll recognize at a glance.

Syncing Favorites across your Apple devices

If you use multiple Apple devices — an iPhone, iPad, or Mac — your Safari Favorites can sync automatically through iCloud. Go to Settings on your iPhone, tap your name at the top, then iCloud. Make sure the toggle next to Safari is turned on (it should be blue).

Once Safari syncing is enabled, any bookmark you add to Favorites on your iPhone appears in Safari on your other devices within a few minutes. The same goes in reverse — if you add a bookmark on your Mac, it shows up in your iPhone's Favorites folder. This keeps your saved sites consistent across all your devices without any extra work.

If syncing isn't working, check that you're signed into the same Apple ID on all devices and that iCloud is enabled for Safari on each one. You can also manually force a sync by closing and reopening Safari, or by toggling the Safari iCloud switch off and back on.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I add a favorite from a link someone sends me?

Yes. Long-press the link in Messages, Mail, or any app, and a menu appears. Tap Add to Reading List or Open to go to the page, then use the share icon to add it to Favorites as described above. You can also copy the link, open Safari, paste it in the address bar, and bookmark it from there.

What's the difference between Favorites and Bookmarks?

Favorites is a folder within Bookmarks that appears at the top of Safari for quick access. Bookmarks is the larger collection where you can organize sites into multiple folders. Anything in Favorites is also in Bookmarks, but not everything in Bookmarks is in Favorites.

Can I delete a favorite without deleting the bookmark?

No. When you delete a bookmark from Favorites, it's gone from Safari entirely. If you want to keep the site but remove it from Favorites, move it to a different folder instead using the Edit method described above.

Why don't my Favorites appear on my iPad?

Check that Safari syncing is turned on for both devices. Go to Settings, tap your name, then iCloud, and make sure Safari is enabled. If it's already on, try turning it off and back on. It can take a few minutes for changes to sync, especially on slower connections.