As you browse the web in Apple Safari on macOS, the browser caches small website identity graphics known as favicons. These icons appear beside website titles in your browser tabs, bookmarks menu, and reading list. Occasionally, when a website rebrands, updates its branding assets, or experiences an SSL error, Safari’s internal favicon database becomes corrupted. Bookmarks suddenly display generic grey globe placeholders, outdated logos, or mismatched icons from unrelated websites. Because Safari does not clear favicon databases during a standard “Clear History” operation, resolving this requires purging the dedicated favicon cache directory.
Safely flushing Safari’s cached icon database restores sharp, accurate brand icons across all your bookmarked resources.
Understanding Where Safari Stores Favicons
In macOS Sonoma, Ventura, and macOS Sequoia, Safari maintains a dedicated SQLite database located inside your hidden user Library folder. The files reside in:
~/Library/Safari/Favicon Cache/Simply clearing browser cookies or website history in Safari Preferences does not touch this database. Removing this directory forces Safari to rebuild its icon registry from scratch the next time bookmarked domains load.
Step 1: Completely Quit Apple Safari
Before modifying or deleting internal browser cache files, you must ensure Safari is completely closed to avoid database file locks:
- Switch to Safari and press Command + Q (or click Safari → Quit Safari in the top menu bar).
- Verify in your macOS Dock that the small indicator dot beneath the Safari icon has turned off.
Step 2: Clear the Favicon Cache in Finder
You can locate and purge the icon cache files directly using macOS Finder:
- Click anywhere on your desktop wallpaper to bring Finder into focus.
- In the top menu bar, click Go and select Go to Folder… (or press Command + Shift + G).
- Copy and paste the following exact path into the search input box and press Enter:
~/Library/Safari/Favicon Cache- Finder immediately opens the cache folder, which contains several internal files such as
favicons.dband subfolders namedfavicons. - Press Command + A to highlight every file in this folder.
- Press Command + Delete to move the contents to your Mac Trash (Bin).
- Empty the Trash to finalize the purge.
Alternative: Clearing Favicon Cache via Terminal
If you prefer using the macOS Terminal for rapid system maintenance, execute the following one-line command while Safari is closed:
rm -rf ~/Library/Safari/Favicon Cache/*Step 3: Relaunch Safari and Repopulate Icons
Launch Safari again. Initially, open tabs and bookmarks will display generic grey globes for a brief moment. As you visit each bookmarked website, Safari queries the remote web server for its latest favicon.ico and Apple touch icons, caching fresh high-resolution logos in your newly generated database.