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On my Mac (Catalina Version 10.15.5), I'm not able to change my default browser to Google Chrome.

When I go to Settings -> General, under Default Web Browser, I only see options for Safari and Firefox. When I open my Chrome settings and click on Make default, I get a notification saying

Do you want to change your default web browser to "com.google.Chrome" or keep using "Safari"?

I click on Use com.google.Chrome but it doesn't do anything and links still open in Safari. Any ideas on what might be happening and how to fix?

covfefe
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  • I've been having the same problem for the past few weeks also, currently on 84.0.4147.125 (Official Build) (64-bit). Did you have any luck resolving? For me the Chrome option sometimes reappears in the System Prefs, but then goes again. Do you have an org managed policy applied by any chance (just a theory about possible cause)? – Rog Aug 13 '20 at 23:43

6 Answers6

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In my case there was a pending update of Chrome. After re-launching it the option for setting Chrome as default bowser was available again in:

Apple menu  > System Preferences -> General -> ”Default web browser”
Ivo Stoyanov
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11

That happened to me as well. One thing I noticed was that in the upper right corner of the Chrome browser window there was an "Update Chrome" button.

After updating Chrome and letting it restart, Chrome once again appeared in the list in the System->General->DefaultBrowser drop-down widget.

Rob Fagen
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    I would like to add to this answer that just CHECKING Chrome for updates (my browser was already up-to-date) seemed to jolt System Preferences into recognising Chrome as a web browser once again. – sabriele Feb 16 '21 at 07:33
  • Thanks for hint! No updates were shown to me, but restarting Chrome did the trick – Aaron Nov 09 '22 at 04:28
1

I had the same exact problem immediately after a kernel panic restart and I was able to resolve this by performing a system reboot. After the reboot, chrome was restored as my default browser. My laptop is a work laptop and the chrome policy is managed by my employer, FYI.

QuarkleMotion
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1

Restarting my mac also fixed this issue

Patricio Guerra
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0

Google Apple Menu -> System Settings -> search for Default web Browser and you can see a drop down for default browser, set to safari -> change it as per your need.

Ajay Kedia
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0

I had a similar issue where Chrome was not getting listed as an option in Default Browsers option in System Preferences. Only Safari, Edge and Firefox where shown.

In chrome://settings, there is a tab about Default Browser, where you can trigger this from within Chrome browser.

Teddy
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