How to switch between Chrome profiles quickly on a Mac

The quickest built-in ways to switch Chrome profiles on a Mac are the profile (avatar) button at the top right of a Chrome window, the Profiles menu in the menu bar, and the ⌘⇧M shortcut. All three open a window in the chosen profile, but they do not bring back a window that profile already has open. If you want one click to jump straight to a profile’s existing windows, give each profile its own Dock icon with Chrome Profile Switcher.

The avatar button

Every Chrome window shows the current profile’s picture in the toolbar, at the top right. Click it and Chrome lists your other profiles. Pick one and Chrome opens a window in that profile.

This is easy to find, and fine if you switch once or twice a day. The catch is that it is built around opening a profile, not finding a particular window. If your work profile already has three windows open behind other apps, clicking the avatar is not a reliable way to get back to the one you want. Duplicate windows pile up over the day.

The Profiles menu in the menu bar

When Chrome is the front app, the menu bar has a Profiles menu. It lists every profile, and choosing one does the same thing as the avatar button: it opens a window in that profile. Same limit: it is a launcher, not a switcher.

The ⌘⇧M keyboard shortcut

Press ⌘⇧M (Command, Shift, M) in Chrome and the profile menu opens without reaching for the mouse. Choose a profile from the list. It is the fastest built-in route, but again you get a window in that profile, not the one you were using.

Cycling windows with ⌘ `

⌘ ` (Command and the key above Tab on a US keyboard) is a macOS shortcut that cycles through the open windows of the front app. Because all Chrome profiles live inside one Chrome app, it steps through every Chrome window from every profile, one at a time.

Quick with two windows, slow with ten: you press, check the avatar, and press again until the right account shows up.

Mission Control and App Exposé

Mission Control (the F3 key, a swipe up with three or four fingers, or Control and Up Arrow) spreads out all your windows so you can click the one you want. App Exposé (Control and Down Arrow) does the same for the front app only, so with Chrome in front you see every Chrome window side by side.

This is the best built-in way to find an existing window, because you can see it. The downside is that the thumbnails do not say which profile a window belongs to. With similar Gmail tabs in several profiles, you are guessing from small pictures.

Why the built-in options fall short

All of these run into the same two problems:

• They open new windows. The avatar button, the Profiles menu and ⌘⇧M are designed to start a profile, so they tend to add windows instead of returning you to the ones you have.
• You have to hunt. ⌘ ` and Mission Control can reach your existing windows, but you have to search through every profile’s windows to find the right one.

The root cause is the Dock. macOS shows one icon per running app, so every Chrome profile shares a single Chrome icon. Click it and Chrome brings forward whatever it last had in front, whichever profile that was. There is more on this in how to add multiple Chrome profiles to the Mac Dock.

A faster way: one Dock icon per profile

Chrome Profile Switcher is a small menu bar app from ZwayStudios that gives each profile its own icon in the Dock, with that profile’s picture and a small browser badge. It keeps Apple’s Dock as it is and places the profile icons next to Chrome’s normal icon.

How switching works with it:

• Click a profile icon and that profile’s existing windows come forward. It only opens a new window if the profile has none.
• Click again to cycle to the same profile’s next window. You never step through windows from other profiles.
• Other desktops and displays work too. If the window is on another Space or screen, macOS switches there.
• Hover the icon to see a panel of that profile’s windows with live previews, including windows on other desktops. Click one to jump to it, or use the “+” button to open a new window in that profile. See live window previews for how this works.
• Right-click the icon for a list of that profile’s windows, plus New Window and New Incognito Window.

There is no second copy of Chrome. Each profile icon is a tiny launcher app of about 2 MB, and the one real Chrome keeps running with the same logins, extensions and history. Icons appear by themselves for every profile with an open window and leave the Dock when its last window closes. You can also keep an icon in the Dock (right-click, Options, Keep in Dock) and arrange it like any app.

It also works with Brave, Edge, Vivaldi, Firefox and more. The browsers page lists them all.

The app is free during the beta and needs macOS 14 Sonoma or later. You can download it here.

What about a keyboard shortcut per profile?

A keyboard shortcut for each profile is not available yet. It is planned and listed as “Next” on the public roadmap, which you can follow on the updates page. Until then, ⌘⇧M is the best keyboard route inside Chrome itself.

If your real problem is that links open in the wrong profile rather than switching itself, see why Chrome opens the wrong profile on a Mac and how to open links in a specific Chrome profile.

Questions

What is the Chrome shortcut to switch profiles on a Mac? ⌘⇧M opens Chrome’s profile menu, where you choose a profile. It opens a window in that profile rather than returning to an existing one.

Why does clicking the Chrome Dock icon show the wrong profile? All profiles run inside one Chrome app, and macOS gives each app one Dock icon. Clicking it brings forward Chrome’s most recent window, whichever profile it belongs to.

Can I switch to a profile’s existing window instead of opening a new one? Built in, only by hunting with ⌘ ` or Mission Control. Chrome Profile Switcher gives each profile its own Dock icon that brings that profile’s existing windows forward.