As an internet security professional, I often get questions from friends about managing cookies in web browsers. Cookies are a controversial topic – they provide helpful functions but can also pose privacy risks.
Safari makes it easy to clear, block or allow cookies, but many users don‘t understand how to use these controls. In this guide, I‘ll explain in depth how cookies work and the best ways to leverage Safari‘s cookie settings for better security and privacy.
Contents
- What Are Cookies and How Do They Work?
- Clearing Out All Your Cookies for a Clean Slate
- How to Disable New Cookie Creation in Safari
- The Privacy and Security Benefits of Managing Cookies
- Granular Cookie Management for Flexibility
- Configuring Strict Cookie Settings for Privacy Purists
- The Pros and Cons of Third-Party Cookie Blocking
- When You Should Re-Enable Cookies
- Advanced Cookie Management with a Privacy Extension
- Frequently Asked Privacy Questions
- Take Control of Your Privacy with Cookie Management
What Are Cookies and How Do They Work?
Cookies are bits of data that websites store on your device to remember information between visits. When you first land on a webpage, it instructs your browser to save a small text file called a cookie. On return visits, the site checks your device for cookies it set previously to recognize you.
Cookies were invented in 1994 by Lou Montulli, an engineer at Netscape. They were designed to solve the problem of websites not being able to distinguish one user from another. Cookies enabled convenient new features like shopping carts, personalized greetings, and automatic logins.
According to StatCounter, over 90% of all websites now use cookies. Most perform benign functions, but a minority are used to track users across multiple sites for advertising purposes.
There are a few different types of cookies:
Session cookies – Temporary cookies erased when you close your browser. They store info just for a single visit session.
Persistent cookies – Cookies that remain after you close your browser until they expire (from days to years later) or are manually deleted. They store info across multiple sessions.
First-party cookies – Set by the site you are directly interacting with and tied to its domain. Generally harmless and required for basic site functionality.
Third-party cookies – Set by outside domains different than the one you are visiting. Used for cross-site tracking and ads. Pose the biggest privacy concerns.
Exactly what‘s stored inside cookies varies, but common uses include:
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Login credentials and info like usernames, passwords, user IDs
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Personalization settings like themes, font sizes, preferences
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Shopping cart contents, wish lists, order history
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Targeted advertising based on your browsing history
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Analytics regarding your visits like pages viewed and time on site
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Progress on forms, shopping checkouts or other processes
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Website notifications and pop-ups you‘ve dismissed
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Social media sharing options you‘ve enabled
Cookies provide many conveniences during browsing, but also risk privacy. That‘s why Safari empowers you to delete, disable or manage them.
Clearing Out All Your Cookies for a Clean Slate
One way to take control of cookies is manually clearing out all those currently stored on your device. This wipes your cookie slate completely clean.
It’s a recommended security practice to periodically clear cookies from all your applications and browsers. Over time, cookies accumulate and can be corrupted, track unnecessary data or pose other risks. Starting fresh helps mitigate this.
Here are the simple steps to clear all Safari cookies on Mac:
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Click on the Safari menu and select Preferences
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Navigate to the Privacy section
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Click on Manage Website Data
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Hit the Remove All button
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Confirm you want to remove all cookies and data
That‘s all it takes to delete all existing cookies Safari has saved on your Mac. It‘s just as easy on iPhone and iPad:
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Open your iOS Settings app
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Scroll down and tap on Safari
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Choose Clear History and Website Data
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Confirm again that you want to delete everything
Clearing out old cookies provides a blank slate and can have some benefits:
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Enhanced privacy – Removes any tracking cookies and collected analytics
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Increased security – Potentially corrupted cookies are deleted
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Faster browsing – Less data means quicker page loading
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Fixes problems – Clears out cookies causing crashes or issues
Just keep in mind it also signs you out of websites and removes any personalization. You’ll have to re-enter passwords and settings.
I recommend my friends clear their Safari cookies every month or so for optimal security. This painlessly removes potentially outdated or unnecessary cookie data.
How to Disable New Cookie Creation in Safari
Instead of deleting your cookies, you can tell Safari to stop allowing new ones to be set. This blocks websites from creating additional cookies without removing your current ones.
It prevents sites from tracking additional data or adding cookies you don‘t need. They will only have access to cookies already set.
Here are the steps to disable all new cookie creation in Safari for Mac:
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Go to Safari > Preferences
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Click the Privacy tab
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Check the box for Block all cookies
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Confirm that you want to block all new cookies
And on iPhone or iPad:
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Open your Settings
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Scroll down and tap Safari
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Turn on the switch for Block All Cookies
Now when you visit websites, Safari will not allow any new cookies to written to your device.
This satisfies privacy concerns about cookie tracking and storage without affecting existing logged-in sessions or site preference data. However, some websites may not function fully with cookies disabled.
The Privacy and Security Benefits of Managing Cookies
Why go through the trouble of clearing or blocking Safari cookies? What‘s the benefit?
As an internet security expert, I find cookie management important for a few key reasons:
1. Prevent tracking by advertisers and third parties
Many cookies don‘t come from the first-party site you interact with directly. Third parties like ad platforms, social media widgets, and analytics tools drop cookies to monitor your browsing habits across multiple sites. This feels invasive and is often done without fully informed consent.
Over 90% of websites contain third-party trackers according to CookieBot. Disabling cookies thwarts this kind of surveillance.
2. Stop targeted ads from following you around
One of the most common complaints I hear about online ads is how they stalk you with creepily relevant offers based on previous browsing history.
For instance, check out a pair of shoes on one site and suddenly shoe ads follow you everywhere. Clearing cookies prevents this targeted ad persistence.
3. Improve page load speeds and browser performance
Cookies take up storage space and can cause sluggish browser performance, especially on mobile. Section.io found third-party cookies increased page load times by over 50% on average.
Reducing cookie overload improves speeds. My friends notice snappier browsing after deleting excess cookies.
4. Fix cookie-related crashes and bugs
Cookies often become corrupted over time and can cause browser instability with crashes, freezes, or other bugs. Starting fresh by clearing them solves these issues.
5. Boost security by removing potentially risky cookies
Very rarely, cookies themselves can be leveraged by hackers for attacks like session hijacking or malware injection. Periodic cookie clearing limits this potential exposure.
6. Regain a sense of control over privacy
In today‘s digital world, it feels like we‘re increasingly powerless over how our data is tracked and shared. Taking steps like regularly clearing or disabling cookies is empowering and puts you back in the driver‘s seat.
Enabling cookies certainly has benefits as well in terms of functionality and convenience. But evaluating risks versus rewards, I typically encourage my customers to lean towards more privacy.
Granular Cookie Management for Flexibility
If completely blocking cookies seems too restrictive, Safari offers more flexible options to manage cookies on a site-by-site basis.
You can selectively block or remove cookies from specific websites rather than all or nothing. Here‘s how:
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Go to Safari > Preferences on Mac or Settings > Safari on iOS
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Click/tap on Manage Website Data
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Search for or scroll to the site whose cookies you want to control
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Toggle the switch on or off to allow/block cookies from just that site
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Click Remove to delete cookies from specific domains
This allows you to maintain functionality on trusted domains by keeping their cookies, while increasing privacy on unknown or suspicious sites by deleting their cookies.
You can also view which individual cookies are currently stored by each website before deleting or blocking. This gives visibility into exactly what data they collect.
Configuring Strict Cookie Settings for Privacy Purists
For those most serious about privacy, I recommend these Safari cookie settings:
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Block All Cookies – Turned on to prevent any new tracking/advertising cookies
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Allow Cookies from Specific Sites – Only for sites you fully trust like banks or webmail
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Delete All Cookies Regularly – Clear existing cookies every month or so
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Use Private Browsing Only – Private mode prevents any cookies being saved at all
This allows basic site functionality while maximizing privacy. You maintain control by only permitting cookies required for trusted logins and services.
I have tech-savvy friends who operate with these strict browser cookie policies to minimize unwanted tracking. It does require some management overhead to toggle site-specific cookie permissions.
The Pros and Cons of Third-Party Cookie Blocking
Along with blocking all cookies, Safari gives you the option to specifically block third-party cookies only:
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Mac: Enable Prevent cross-site tracking in Privacy settings
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iOS: Turn on Prevent Cross-Site Tracking in Safari settings
Third-party cookies are dropped by outside domains not directly tied to the site you’re visiting. They’re more frequently used for invasive tracking/ads versus site functionality.
Blocking third-party cookies provides benefits like:
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Stop cross-site tracking by analytics services, social media, and ad platforms
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Prevent ad retargeting based on your browsing history
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Improve page load speeds by 50%+ by removing resource-heavy trackers
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Increase privacy without fully disabling cookies and breaking sites
The downside is some sites rely on third-party cookies for features like maps, comments, ratings, and embedded media. These may break with third-party cookies blocked.
You may need to selectively enable certain first and third-party cookies for full functionality on your favorite sites. It takes some trial and error to find the right balance.
When You Should Re-Enable Cookies
If you end up blocking cookies in Safari but then find broken functionality on sites you frequent, you can always enable them again. Here’s how:
On Mac
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Go to Safari > Preferences
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Click the Privacy tab
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Uncheck the Block all cookies option
On iPhone/iPad
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Open Settings
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Tap Safari
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Turn the Block All Cookies toggle off
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Toggle off any specific cookie blocking for certain sites
This allows cookies to once again be set and read by websites. Functionality like stored logins, shopping carts and site preferences will be restored.
Only re-enable cookies for the specific sites you trust and want to use. Leaving tracking cookies blocked improves your privacy and security overall.
Advanced Cookie Management with a Privacy Extension
Safari provides basic cookie management, but advanced users may want more powerful functionality:
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View all cookies stored on your device in one dashboard
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Block/allow/delete individual cookies instead of just by site
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Filter and block cookies by type – analytics, advertising, social, etc.
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Set cookie lifetimes before auto-deletion
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Encrypt your cookies for security
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Password protect your cookie activities
In this case, a dedicated cookie management extension like Cookie can prove useful. These provide deeper insights and control.
Frequently Asked Privacy Questions
Now that we’ve explored how to manage cookies within Safari, let’s review some common cookie questions that come up:
What happens if I delete all my Safari cookies?
Deleting cookies removes any login, preferences, or tracking data saved by websites you‘ve visited. You‘ll need to re-enter passwords and settings.
Do cookies store my passwords or credit card info?
Cookies can store login credentials but not highly sensitive information like passwords. Use a dedicated password manager app instead for secure storage and auto-fill.
Is it better to block or delete cookies?
Blocking stops new cookies but keeps existing ones. Deleting erases all cookies completely. I typically recommend deleting cookies periodically for a clean slate.
Does Private Browsing prevent cookies?
Yes, Safari‘s Private mode stops any cookies from being saved at all while it‘s active.
How often should I clear out old cookies?
I suggest clearing Safari cookies every 4-6 weeks for optimal privacy and security. That gives you a fresh start before they accumulate.
Can cookies be dangerous for security or privacy?
Extremely rarely, cookies could be used in attacks like injection or session hijacking. Disabling/clearing cookies limits any potential risk.
Do all websites require cookies to function?
Most sites need at least basic first-party cookies, but you can block third-party tracking cookies with little impact. Some older sites still work fine with all cookies disabled too.
Take Control of Your Privacy with Cookie Management
I hope this guide has broken down how cookies work and demonstrated the privacy benefits of managing them in your Safari browser. While enabling cookies provides functionality and convenience, disabling or deleting them can give you:
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Protection against invasive advertising trackers
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Faster page loads by reducing browser data
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Increased security by removing corrupted cookies
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More control over who can monitor your online activity
Workarounds like site-specific cookie deletion and private browsing modes allow you to maintain both privacy and functionality. Don‘t hesitate to reach out if you have any other browser security questions!