Fix Missing Favicons in Chrome Tabs (Quick Fixes)

If your Chrome tabs suddenly look like blank squares with no icons, you’re not alone. A recent Chrome update introduced a bug that stripped favicons from tabs for some users, making it much harder to switch between tabs quickly. Here’s how to get them back.

Bring Your Tab Icons Back

Try the Fast Fixes First

1. Click the three-dot menu in the top-right corner of Chrome and select Reload tab, or press Ctrl+R (Windows) or Cmd+R (Mac) on the affected tab.
2. If reloading doesn’t help, close Chrome completely and reopen it.
3. Click the three-dot menu, go to Help, then About Google Chrome, and let any pending update finish installing. Restart Chrome when prompted.

Clear Your Favicon Cache

Chrome stores favicon data separately from regular browsing cache. That cache can get corrupted, especially after a buggy update.

1. Type chrome://favicon in the address bar and press Enter.
2. The page will show a blank or broken icon. This confirms the favicon cache is the source of the problem.
3. Now type chrome://history in the address bar and press Enter.
4. Click Clear browsing data.
5. Set the time range to All time.
6. Check the box for Cached images and files and make sure Browsing history is also checked.
7. Click Clear data, then restart Chrome.

Reset Chrome Flags

If a Chrome flag was changed during the buggy rollout, resetting flags to default can fix the issue.

1. Type chrome://flags in the address bar and press Enter.
2. Click the Reset all button at the top of the page.
3. Click Relaunch to restart Chrome with default flag settings.

Good to Know

• This favicon bug was tied to a specific Chrome rollout, so a Chrome update may fix it on its own within a few days. Keep Chrome up to date.
• If favicons are missing only on certain sites, the problem may be on the website’s end rather than Chrome. Try visiting those sites in a different browser to check.
• On Chromebook, you can also try signing out of your account and back in, which refreshes Chrome’s profile data.

Clearing the favicon cache or resetting Chrome flags resolves the missing icon bug for most users. If the problem comes back after a future update, the same steps will work again.