Want advertisers to forget what you did in the past? Want to refresh your browser, or has a website started to behave strangely? Find out here how to clear cookies in Safari on a Mac ⤓ for all sites or just one and what gets deleted in the process.
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How to Clear Cookies in Safari on a Mac
Time needed: 3 minutes
To delete all cookies stored in Safari under macOS on a Mac:
- Select Safari | Settings… (or Safari | Preferences…) from the menu in Safari.
macOS keyboard shortcut: Press Command , to open preferences quickly.
- Open the Privacy tab.
- Click Manage Website Data….
- Click Remove All to clear all cookies (and other website data such as local storage).
- Now click Remove Now to confirm.
- Click Done.
Here's what happens: This will clear cookies in Safari and certain apps using Safari to display content from the web, such as Dashboard widgets.
Their word: Apple include information on clearing cookies in the Safari User Guide.
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How to Clear Cookies for a Single Site in Safari
To clear the cookies set by a particular website (while keeping other cookies untouched) in Safari:
- Select Safari | Settings… from the menu.
- Go to the Privacy tab.
- Click Manage Website Data….
- Type the domain for the website whose cookies you want to delete over Search.
Search: You do not need to start typing with the beginning of the domain name or enter complete domain names; if you type "font", for instance, Safari will find the domains "dafont.com," for instance, and "fonts.googleapis.com." - Highlight all the sites whose cookies and data you want to delete in the search results.
- Click Remove.
- Now click Done.
How to Delete Cookies in Safari for iOS on iPhone and iPad
You can also clear cookies and web site data (across the board or for specific sites) in Safari for iOS, of course.
How to Remove Cookies in Safari on a Mac: FAQ
Will removing cookies for a site also delete other website date (local storage, cached pages…)?
Yes.
Safari will delete everything associated to a website — or everything stored, with Remove All.
What happens to cookies from sites open in private Safari windows?
Safari automatically removes cookies set by sites opened in a private window when you close the window.
Can I stop Safari from saving cookies altogether?
Yes.
To set up Safari so it does not save cookies in the first place:
- Select Safari | Settings… from the menu.
- Go to the Advanced tab.
- Turn on Block all cookies.
What do the various forms of stored data mean?
Safari can store different forms of data associated with websites:
- Cookies
Cookies are small text files that can contain any data. Historically, it was possible for cookies to be shared between websites. - Cache
When you visit a page, Safari typically keeps data both in memory and on disk so returning to the page is faster than loading it the first time was. - Local Storage
Local storage via the Web Storage API works very similarly to cookies but allows for larger amounts of data — e.g., contains of emails. - Database
Websites can store data in a SQL database through Safari to quickly access bits of relational data. - HSTS Policy
HSTS (HTTP Strict Transport Security) has Safari ignore all non-HTTPS pages and redirects to increase security and prevent a third party from intercepting traffic. - HTTP Alternative Services
Sites can specify alternative means to access them, a new HTTP protocol or TLS (Transport Layer Security), for example using HTTP Alternative Services.
(How to remove cookies in Safari on a Mac tested with Safari 13–18 and 26; first published April 2018, last updated May 2026)