If you’re a regular visitor to a specific website (maybe Make Tech Easier?), it can be useful to keep the websites you like on your Android home page. When you want to pay a visit to the site, simply head to the home page, tap the icon as if it were an app, and you’re there! While this post will cover Chrome specifically, the process to add your bookmarks to the home screen on Android usually works on most Chromium-based browsers.
Also read: What Is Android System WebView and Should You Uninstall It?
Adding a Specific Website
If you have a specific website in mind that you’d like to add to the home screen, it can be done very easily. You can add individual webpages to your home page where it won’t look too unlike the apps you’ve downloaded.
- Navigate to the page you’d like to add to the home screen, then press the three dots at the top right of the Chrome window.
- Press “Add to Home screen.”
- Confirm the name, changing it if you’d like, then long-press and drag the web page icon wherever you you’d like or tap “Auto-add” to add it to your home screen automatically.
- The website will appear on the Home screen like an app. Tap this any time you want to access that website.
Also read: 15 Useful Android Chrome Flags You Should Enable
Adding Multiple Websites
While adding a single website is useful, there may be times where you would like to add multiple bookmarks in one go to your home screen on Android. You could repeat the above process for each website, but there’s a neater and more organized way to solve this problem. This involves using bookmarks and placing an entire bookmark folder on the home screen instead.
- Bookmark your favorite sites. Do this by navigating to each favorite site, then pressing the three dots and selecting the star icon at the top.
- If you’d like to organize the bookmarks into a folder, access the Bookmarks menu by pressing the three dots again and selecting “Bookmarks.”
- Press the three dots next to the bookmark you want to move and select “Move to.”
- Select the folder you want to move the bookmark to. If you haven’t made a folder yet, select the “New folder … ” option at the top.
- To place this folder of favorite websites on the Home screen, go to the Home screen and access the widgets page. This is commonly achieved by long-pressing on an empty space and selecting “Widgets,” but this may vary by device.
- Scroll down until you see “Chrome,” then select “Chrome bookmarks.”
- This will put a customizable bookmark widget on the Home page. While the widget claims it’s 3×2, you can tweak the size by tapping an empty space on the widget once, then grabbing a corner and shunting it around.
- Now you have an area on your home page dedicated to your bookmarks.
Also read: How to Sideload Apps on Fire TV, Roku, Android TV, Google Chromecast
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I add web pages and bookmarks to other screens on Android?
While this tutorial talks about adding items to the home screen, the same process applies to any screen on your Android device. For instance, you could have an entire screen dedicated to websites or just have a large bookmarks widget.
Can I group web pages into a folder in Android homescreen the same way as apps?
Yes. Once you have two or more web page icons on a page, simply drag one on top of the other to create a new folder. This works well if you want to group your favorites together but don’t want to add them as bookmarks in Chrome.
What if I'm using a different browser?
The process can vary slightly based on the browser you use. However, most Chromium-based browsers use the same process as Chrome. For example, I often use Brave, which is built on Chromium. The process works the same, though the menu is at the bottom of the browser versus the top.
If your browser doesn’t support this, you can use a bookmark app to collect links. Use one that supports widgets or adding shortcuts to folders/links. Bookmark Folder is a completely free Android app (a premium version is available for $2.99 to remove ads and has a few extra features) that allows you to gather links from any browser. You can then tap the three dots beside any folder or link to add a shortcut to your Android home screen.
If you’re trying to find a more privacy-focused browser, try one of these options.
Do I have to stick with the default icons for web page shortcuts?
You can set your own custom icons for your Android apps and shortcuts. Use this guide to learn how to customize icons to make it even easier to quickly find the web page shortcut you would like to visit.
What happens if I delete the shortcut on my home screen?
If you added an icon, you’ll need to visit the website again in Chrome and add it back to your home screen. This works the same as deleting an app.
If you deleted the bookmarks widget, just go back through the process of adding the widget again.
If you’re afraid of losing your icons when switching phones or in the event your phone dies, consider logging into Google Chrome and saving all your bookmarks. Save all the web pages you’ve added to your home screen (or other screens) into a single folder. Then, if everything gets deleted, log back in to Chrome and re-add your shortcuts from your bookmarks folder.
Image credit: Deepanker Verma via Pexels
Our latest tutorials delivered straight to your inbox
