Restore Google search box ton Safari Start Page in iOS 26.6

Unfortunately, that’s never been a thing on iPhone. Safari has never had a configurable start page to a particular website. It’s never had a Google search bar in the middle of the start page either.

The start page on iPhone has always been collection of favorites and recent websites visited.

You can however, always use the address bar to perform a Google search. The only other way to get to a Google search automatically when opening Safari is to make a home screen shortcut or bookmark to the Google home page.

To do this, you open the Google search home page, tap on the share icon and select add to home screen.

click here ➜ Bookmark a website in Safari on iPhone - Apple Support

This will create a shortcut icon on the iPhone’s home screen to open Safari directly to Google.com.

If the Safari start page you selected is https://www.google.com/?client=safari then that is the page that will be shown. Google is responsible for its content.

To change Safari's start page, refer to Customize your Safari settings on iPhone - Apple Support

As is often the case there are many ways to accomplish what you describe. One way is to add that web page to your Reading List and then designate that as your Start Page. But if all you want is a Google search page, the way I would go about it is to add it to your iPhone's Home Screen. Tap that icon instead of the Safari app icon, and Safari will open with Google's search page.

Of course I know you are asking how to have it and nothing else on Safari's Start Page. I have no explanation for the fact it appears to have changed on its own, but if you selected "Use Start Page on All Devices" in Customize Start Page, changing it on another device (Mac, iPad, etc) will have changed it on your iPhone as well.

Thank you for your reply.

Where can I set/change/select the start page? Everything I’ve read and all the guidance I’ve gotten today says it can’t be done. But for a very long time, up until this afternoon, I’ve had a Google search box in the middle of every start page in Safari on my iPhone.

Tha page you suggested, Customize your Safari settings on iPhone - Apple Support, does not have any details , that I can see, regarding setting the start page to a specific page.