How to Stop Chrome From Opening New Tabs on Mac: 6 Ways (2026)

To stop Google Chrome from opening new tabs by itself on a Mac, first notice when the tabs appear. At launch, change Settings > On startup. On one site, block Pop-ups and redirects. Everywhere, remove extensions you don't trust and unknown apps. If every link opens a new tab, check for a stuck Command key.

Few things make a Mac feel less like yours than a browser that acts on its own. You close a tab, another one appears, and you start wondering what else is running. Behind it there's usually one of six causes, and every fix uses settings you already have. Below: how to tell yours apart, the macOS steps for each, and how to handle a tab that claims your Mac is infected.

Why does Chrome keep opening new tabs on my Mac?

Chrome opens tabs on its own for one of six reasons: a startup setting, a site's pop-ups and redirects, an extension, site notifications, an unwanted app or profile on the Mac, or a keyboard sending a held-down Command key. The moment the tabs appear tells you which, so check this before changing anything:

That last row catches people out. A link clicked in another app has to open somewhere, and a default browser puts it in a new tab. If those are the only tabs you're seeing, Chrome is doing its job.

1. Change what Chrome opens at startup

If extra tabs show up the moment Chrome launches, the fix is in Settings > On startup. Google's help page lists three choices: Open the New Tab page, Continue where you left off and Open a specific page or set of pages. The last one is where an unwanted page usually hides.

1. In Chrome, press Command-Comma to open Settings, or pick Settings from the More menu (three dots).
2. Click On startup in the sidebar.
3. If Open a specific page or set of pages is selected, look at the list. Click the three dots beside any page you didn't add and remove it.
4. Choose Open the New Tab page if you want a clean start every time.
5. Under Appearance, check the address under Show Home button too, since that's another place a stray page can sit.

Continue where you left off isn't a fault, but it can look like one. Chrome reopens whatever was open when you quit, so a day's worth of tabs comes back at once. That happened to me after a long research afternoon: I quit Chrome to get a clean slate before a call, and every tab returned when I opened it again. I keep that setting on, and close what I don't need before quitting.

If you remove a page here and it's back the next day, something else is resetting it. Skip ahead to ways 3 and 5.

2. Block pop-ups and redirects in Chrome

When new tabs open only on a particular site, usually the moment you click anywhere on the page, that site (or an ad on it) is opening them. Chrome's Pop-ups and redirects setting is the control for this.

1. Open Chrome Settings, click Privacy and security, then Site settings.
2. Click Pop-ups and redirects and choose the option that stops sites sending them.
3. Under Allowed to send pop-ups and use redirects, look for sites you don't recognize. Click More next to one and choose Block.
4. To block a site that isn't listed, click Add next to Not allowed to send pop-ups or use redirects and enter its address. Google says the pattern **[*.]example.com** covers a whole domain.

When Chrome stops a pop-up, a Pop-up blocked indicator appears in the address bar. That's your sign the setting is working. If you actually need a site's pop-up, such as a bank's statement window, click that indicator and allow that one site rather than turning the blocker off.

Some sites are built to throw tabs at you. If one keeps doing it after this change, I'd simply stop visiting it. No article on that site is worth a malware cleanup.

3. Find the extension that opens tabs

When extra tabs appear on every site, an extension is the first suspect. Chrome lists them all on its Manage extensions page, and you can turn each one off without deleting it, which makes testing easy.

1. From Chrome's More menu (the three dots), choose Extensions > Manage extensions. You can also type chrome://extensions in the address bar and press Return.
2. Remove anything you don't remember installing: click Remove, then Remove again to confirm.
3. Turn off every remaining extension with its switch.
4. Browse for a while. If the tabs stop, switch the extensions back on singly, browsing a little after each, until the tabs return.
5. Remove the last one you turned on.

The one that caused it for me was a coupon extension I'd added for a single checkout and then forgotten. It had a friendly icon and a name I half recognized, which is exactly why I'd skipped past it. Shopping helpers, PDF converters and "search" tools are the kinds worth a second look, because their whole purpose involves your pages.

If the Remove button is grayed out, or an extension says it was installed by your administrator, Chrome is being managed. On a personal Mac that's a red flag, and way 5 covers it.

4. Turn off site notifications in Chrome

If tabs open after you click an alert banner from a website, a website has permission to send you notifications, and each one leads to a new tab. Chrome lets you remove that permission site by site.

1. Open Chrome Settings, then Privacy and security > Site settings > Notifications.
2. Look under Allowed to send notifications for sites you don't recognize, and remove or block each one.
3. To block a site ahead of time, click Add next to Not allowed to send notifications and enter its address.
4. On a site you're visiting, click the View site information icon at the left of the address bar and turn Notifications off.

I learned this one by clicking Allow on a recipe site's prompt without reading it. Its alerts kept pulling me into new tabs until I tracked down the permission. Now my default answer to that prompt is no, and the Use quieter messaging option under Notifications makes the prompts themselves less intrusive.

While you're in Privacy and security, click Go to Safety Check. Google says Safety Check looks at Safe Browsing, Chrome updates, sites that may be sending unwanted notifications, unused site permissions, and extensions that might pose security risks. It's a quick second opinion on ways 3 and 4.

5. Remove the app or profile behind it

When a startup page or extension comes back after you remove it, something outside Chrome is putting it back. Google's advice is to remove programs you don't recognize before resetting the browser, and on a Mac there are three places to look.

Apps you don't recognize

1. Quit Chrome with Command-Q.
2. Open Finder and click Applications in the sidebar.
3. Switch to list view and sort by date added, so anything that arrived around the time the tabs started sits together.
4. Right-click anything you don't recognize and choose Move to Trash. Search an unfamiliar name before you trash it, since plenty of useful utilities have odd names.

Login items

In System Settings > General > Login Items & Extensions, Apple lists what opens when you log in under Open at Login, and apps that can run tasks while closed under App Background Activity. Pick anything unfamiliar under Open at Login and use the minus button beneath it to take it off, then turn off unknown apps under App Background Activity. Apple notes you need to be an administrator of the Mac to change these.

Device Management profiles and a managed Chrome

Open Chrome's More menu and look at its last line. Google says that if you see Managed by your organization, your browser is managed. If your employer or school issued the Mac, that's expected. On your own Mac, check System Settings > General > Device Management: Apple's steps are to select a profile and click Remove. Removing one deletes its settings, so on a company Mac I'd send IT a screenshot and leave it alone.

For a deeper cleanup, including launch folders and a hijacked search engine, our guide to removing My Inbox Helper from a Mac (another browser hijacker) walks through the same checks in more detail. The steps apply to most browser hijackers, whatever they're called.

6. Check for a stuck Command key

If every link you click opens in a new tab, the cause may not be software at all. In Chrome on a Mac, Command-click opens a link in a new background tab, so a Command key that's stuck or being reported as held down turns every ordinary click into a new tab.

1. Unplug or turn off any external keyboard and try clicking links with only the built-in keyboard and trackpad.
2. If the tabs stop, the external keyboard is the problem. For a Bluetooth keyboard, turn it off and on again, charge it, or remove it in System Settings > Bluetooth and pair it again.
3. To check for a held-down key, click the Input menu near the clock and choose Show Keyboard Viewer. No Input menu? Apple's steps are System Settings > Keyboard > Text Input > Edit, then turn on Show Input menu in menu bar.
4. Watch the Command keys in Keyboard Viewer. A key that shows as pressed while you aren't touching it is your culprit.

I once had crumbs under the Command key of an old desk keyboard, and for an afternoon every link I clicked opened quietly in the background. I blamed Chrome for a good hour before trying the laptop's own keyboard. A can of compressed air fixed it. Key-remapping apps can cause the same thing, so quit any you use while you test.

If nothing works: reset or reinstall Chrome

Resetting Chrome puts its settings back to the defaults without touching your bookmarks or passwords. Google lists what a reset changes: the default search engine, homepage, startup tabs and new tab page, pinned tabs, content settings such as pop-up permissions, cookies and site data, and extensions and themes.

1. Open Chrome Settings and click Reset settings.
2. Click Restore settings to their original defaults, then Reset settings.
3. Afterward, go to More > Extensions > Manage extensions and turn back on only the extensions you trust.

The reset applies to your Chrome profile on every device where you're signed in. Because it clears cookies, expect to sign back in to some sites. If the tabs still return, reinstall Chrome: quit it, move it from Applications to the Trash, and, if you want a truly fresh start, delete the folders in ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome using Go > Go to Folder in Finder. That removes the bookmarks, history and anything else Chrome kept only on this Mac, so make sure Chrome sync or an export has them first. Then download Chrome again from Google's own site.

What to do if a new tab says your Mac has a virus

A tab that suddenly warns your Mac is infected and gives a phone number to call is a scam, not a real alert. The FTC says that real security pop-ups never ask you to call a phone number.

• Don't call the number, and don't click anything on the page. Close the tab, or quit Chrome with Command-Q if the page won't let you.
• When you reopen Chrome, check On startup (way 1) so the page doesn't load again, then work through ways 2 to 5.
• If you already called, follow the FTC's steps for people who paid or gave access, and change any password you shared right away, plus any account that uses the same one. Start with your email. Our guide to updating an email password on a Mac covers Gmail, iCloud, Outlook and Yahoo.
• Report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, which the FTC's page links to.

The same tricks show up by email too. If a fake renewal or support notice has landed in your inbox, how to spot a Geek Squad email scam goes through the checks, and they carry over to other brands.

How to keep Chrome from opening tabs on its own again

Most unwanted tabs get in through a click you didn't think about, so a few habits keep them out:

• Say no to notification prompts unless you know you want that site's alerts.
• Install extensions only when you need them, and remove them when the job is done.
• Download Mac apps from the App Store or the developer's own site, and choose the custom option in installers so you can uncheck extras.
• Run Safety Check in Chrome's Privacy and security settings every month or two.
• Keep Chrome updated: Safety Check tells you when a newer version is waiting.
• Treat any Managed by your organization label on a personal Mac as something to investigate that day.