Default Browser Picker

A macOS menu bar utility that lets you switch your default browser in one click.

Why?

Changing your default browser on macOS means navigating to System Settings > Desktop & Dock > Default web browser. That's a buried setting that takes 4+ clicks and pulls you away from whatever you're doing.

Default Browser Picker puts this control in the menu bar. Click the icon, pick a browser, done.

Features

• Menu bar icon shows your current default browser at a glance
• One-click switching to any installed browser from the dropdown
• Smart ordering with well-known browsers listed first, others separated below
• Start on Login toggle to keep it available after every reboot
• Native macOS design using standard AppKit menus with full Tahoe vibrancy
• Lightweight: zero CPU when idle, under 20 MB memory, no network access
• Universal Binary that runs natively on Apple Silicon and Intel

Screenshot

Install

Download

Download the latest .dmg from Releases, open it, and drag Default Browser Picker to your Applications folder.

Homebrew

brew install --cask default-browser-picker

Build from Source

Requirements

• Xcode 15+ (or Xcode Command Line Tools)
• macOS 14 Sonoma or later
• XcodeGen (brew install xcodegen)

Steps

git clone https://github.com/onwp/default-browser-picker.git
cd default-browser-picker
xcodegen generate
open DefaultBrowserPicker.xcodeproj

Build and run with ⌘R in Xcode.

Or build from the command line:

xcodebuild -project DefaultBrowserPicker.xcodeproj -scheme DefaultBrowserPicker -configuration Release build

How It Works

The app uses macOS Launch Services APIs to:

1. Detect browsers by querying all apps registered as HTTP/HTTPS URL handlers
2. Read the current default by checking which app is set as the default handler
3. Set a new default by calling the system API, which triggers macOS's built-in confirmation dialog

The menu bar icon dynamically updates to show whichever browser is currently set as the default. The browser list refreshes every time you open the menu, so newly installed browsers appear automatically.

No data is stored, no network calls are made, and the app consumes zero CPU when you're not interacting with it.

Supported Browsers

Any browser registered as an HTTP/HTTPS handler on macOS is detected automatically. Well-known browsers appear first in the list:

Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Arc, Brave, Edge, Opera, Vivaldi, Orion, Zen

Other HTTP-capable apps appear in a separate section below.

Requirements

• macOS 14 Sonoma or later
• Apple Silicon or Intel Mac

License

Free for personal and non-commercial use. Commercial use requires a license. See LICENSE for details.