How To Refresh On Mac Keyboard (2026)

Panic sets in. "How do you refresh on a Mac?" you whisper. Your browser window is stuck showing yesterday’s news, a stale email inbox, or a frozen webpage.

On Windows, that’s . On a Mac, it’s a two-step dance: how to refresh on mac keyboard

Hold down and Option (the key next to Command), then press R . Panic sets in

You’ve just switched from Windows to a Mac. Your fingers, trained by years of muscle memory, reach for the top-right corner of the keyboard. You expect to feel the familiar F5 key. Instead, you find a key with a strange symbol: a square with an upward arrow. Or perhaps a key labeled F5 with a cryptic icon. On Windows, that’s

You can. Here’s the secret handshake: Hold down the key (bottom-left corner, next to the globe or Control key) and then press F5 .

Now go refresh that stale webpage. Your new life awaits.

But what if you want to use F5 as a true refresh key?