reset cookies in safari

• Apple Watch
• Accessories
• Digital Magazine – Subscribe
• Digital Magazine – Log In
• Smart Answers
• M3 MacBook Air
• New iPad Air
• iPad mini 7
• Next Mac Pro
• Best Mac antivirus
• Best Mac VPN

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn't affect our editorial independence .

How to clear Safari’s cache and cookies on Mac

There are a handful of situations when clearing Safari’s cookies or cache–one of the places where Safari stores website data to avoid having to download it afresh each time you access a site–can help improve your browsing experience.

The first is when websites simply stop working when you access them on Safari. Perhaps Facebook stops updating with new posts, for example, or the images on a site don’t appear as they should. If this happens, it’s likely the cache has become corrupted.

Alternatively, if you find that personal info automatically completed on sites isn’t correct, deleting cookies can help. These are small files that sites use to save data about you and what you do on the site.

Even if none of these problems affect you, periodically cleaning browser data can help protect your privacy from snoops who want to discover what you’ve been up to online. In this article, therefore, we explain how to clear Safari’s cache and cookies on Mac.

We also have an article that explains How to clear cache on a Mac.

How to clear Safari cookies and cache for websites

Cleaning cookies and the cache data for individual sites can be done via Safari’s Settings/Preferences.

• Open Safari
• Click on Safari in the menu at the top of the screen.
• Click on Settings or Preferences (depending on the version of macOS you are running).
• Go to the Privacy tab.
• Click on Manage Website Data…
• Choose Remove All or select websites individually to remove.

After the data is loaded you’ll probably see a long list of websites. You can choose to Remove All or just select individual websites you want to remove from this list. If you want to select a number of different sites you can click on one and then press and hold the Command key to select a second, third or fourth and so on. We recommend that you don’t select hundreds this way – it’s better to delete in batches just in case you have to start over.

If you would prefer to select all and then deselect the ones you want to keep you can do so. Use Command + A to select all, then press and hold Command while clicking on any website you are happy to keep in this list. Just click Remove afterwards, not Done, as that will just undo all your hard work.

There’s a search field you can use to track down individual sites.

Bear in mind that deleting cookies might remove autocompleted login usernames and passwords for sites, and will almost certainly log you out of that site if you’ve configured it to automatically log in each time you visit.

How to clear Safari cache

The hidden Safari Developer menu can be used to clear just the cache, leaving cookies and the browser history in place. This is a very useful diagnostic step to take before removing those two items if a website behaves badly.

If you just want to clear all your cache you can do so by following these steps:

• Open Safari.
• Click on Safari in menu bar at top of screen.
• Click on Settings/Preferences (depending on the version of macOS you are running).
• Click on the Advanced tab.
• Check the box beside Show Develop Menu in Menu Bar.
• Now there will be a new Develop tab in the menu at the top of your screen. Click on this.
• Click on Empty Caches.

Alternatively click on Option/Alt + Command + E.

Close any open Safari windows and select Empty Caches on the Develop menu. Then click File > New Window to start Safari with a clean cache.

How to remove autocomplete data from AutoFill

Safari’s AutoFill tool can fill in username and password details on websites as well as credit card details and other elements like your address and email details.

This can be really useful, but it can also be annoying if the data it fills in is incorrect or out of context. It’s also a problem when AutoFill helpfully enters old or incorrect passwords or emails and addresses.

You can change this data, or delete it by following these steps:

• Click on Safari.
• Click on Settings/Preferences.
• Choose the AutoFill tab.
• Here you can edit contact information, usernames and passwords, credit cards and other data. Click on Edit beside the category you want access to.
• You’ll need to enter your password or use Touch ID to gain access.

Delete incorrect data: If you are finding that Safari is autofilling incorrect data about you–your address, for example–click Edit beside Using information from my contacts. This will open up your Contacts app. Your card will be at the top or under My Card. You can add and amend data about you here.

Delete incorrect passwords and site logins: If you wanted to delete incorrect passwords, for example, you can just click on the Passwords tab. If you know which password you want to remove search for the website or service and then find the older password option (if there is more than one) and select it and then click on the – below the column to remove it. You can then select Delete Password. If that means there is no password saved for that website, you can then recreate the entry for the site by clicking the Add button. You’ll first need to provide the URL of the site (that is, something like https://facebook.com ), and then type the username and password alongside (hit the Tab key to move from field to field).

See: How to autofill passwords, bank cards, names and addresses for more.

Delete logins and passwords system-wide

Pruning site logins can also be done via the Keychain Access app, which you’ll find in the Utilities folder of the Applications list in Finder, although you should be very careful using this app because it pretty much controls the entire security operation of your Mac! However, by removing errant username and password entries here you’ll stop virtually all of your Mac apps using them, and not just Safari.

Just type the name of the site into the Search field, and look in the list of results for entries of the kind Web Form Password. Right-click the entry and select Delete.

If you want to delete your Chrome or Firefox cache, cookies or browsing history read: How to delete your Mac browsing history . For alternative web browsers take a look at: Best web browser for Mac.

How to clear cache on Mac in Safari, Chrome, and Firefox

Looking to tidy up the browser on your Mac or fix some issues you’re seeing with websites? Read on for how to clear cache on Mac, as well as history, and cookies in Safari , Chrome, and Firefox.

It’s a straightforward process to clear cache on Mac in Safari as well as third-party browsers like Chrome and Firefox. While the button in the menu bar for Safari is labeled “Clear History,” it also clears cookies and your cache.

For Chrome and Firefox, you get more detailed control of what data you’re deleting.

Whether you’re just wanting to do some regular maintenance or having some issues with browsing that you want to clear up, follow along below…

For how to clear your cache, history, and website data on iPhone and iPad, check out our tutorial here .

Table of contents

Google chrome, how to clear cache on mac.

• Open Safari
• In the menu bar (top left of your screen) click History
• You can also choose Safari > Clear History…
• Use the drop-down menu to pick what timeframe you want to clear history and cookies from Safari
• One last time, click  Clear History
• Keep in mind that means you may be logged out of websites, etc.

Now look at the bottom of the menu and click “Clear History…”

To fully clear your history, cache, and cookies, click the drop-down and select “all history.”

• For Google Chrome on Mac, click Chrome in the menu bar (top left corner)
• Choose “Clear Browsing Data”
• Pick a time range, or “All time”
• Choose what data to clear with the checkboxes
• Click Clear data
• For Firefox on Mac, click History in the menu bar (top left of your screen)
• Click Clear Recent History…
• Change the timeframe to what you’d like
• Choose what data to remove

Read more 9to5Mac tutorials: 

• Best USB-C and Thunderbolt displays for Mac
• Here’s how the new 14″ and 16″ MacBook Pro compare to other MacBook models
• Find the battery percentage of your iPhone 13 (and earlier iPhones too )
• Here’s how Background Sounds work in iOS 15

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:

Apple’s Mac lineup consists of MacBook, MacBoo…

A collection of tutorials, tips, and tricks from…

Michael is an editor for 9to5Mac. Since joining in 2016 he has written more than 3,000 articles including breaking news, reviews, and detailed comparisons and tutorials.

Michael Potuck's favorite gear

Satechi USB-C Charger (4 ports)

Really useful USB-C + USB-A charger for home/work and travel.

Apple Leather MagSafe Wallet

My slim wallet of choice for iPhone 12

• a. Send us an email
• b. Anonymous form
• Buyer's Guide
• Upcoming Products
• Tips / Contact Us
• Podcast Instagram Facebook Twitter Mastodon YouTube Notifications RSS Newsletter

How to Clear Safari Browsing History and Cache

Whenever you browse the web in Safari, the browser stores website data so that it doesn't have to download it again each time you revisit a site. In theory this should speed up your browsing experience, but there are some scenarios where you might want to clear the cache and start anew. Keep reading to learn how it's done on Mac, iPhone , and iPad .

If a site you regularly frequent has elements that have stopped working, or if a site has stopped loading completely, there may be a conflict between an older version of it that Safari has cached and a newer one.

Or perhaps you simply want to protect your privacy by wiping the slate clean and removing all the data associated with websites you've visited. Either way, here's how it's done on macOS and iOS.

How to Clear Safari's Cache on Mac

There are two ways to clear Safari's cache on a Mac. The first method outlined below deletes everything relating to a website you've visited, including not only the cached versions of the site, but also cookies and any other related data. The second method described offers a more targeted approach and clears only Safari's cache, but it does involve enabling a hidden menu.

• Launch Safari browser on your Mac.

How to Clear Safari's Cache on iPhone and iPad

Note that the following steps clear all history, cookies and website data on your device, regardless of when the sites were accessed.

• Launch the Settings app on your iOS device.
• Scroll down and select Safari .
• Scroll down and select Clear History and Website Data .
• Choose the timeframe to clear ( Last hour , Today , Today and yesterday , or All history ), choose the profile or select All Profiles , then tap Clear History .

For another way to protect your privacy while browsing the web, be sure to check out our guide on how to use Safari's Private Browsing Mode .

Get weekly top MacRumors stories in your inbox.

Popular Stories

When to Expect a New Apple TV to Launch

When to Expect the Next iPad Mini and Low-End iPad Models to Launch

Alleged iPhone 16 Battery Details Show Smaller Capacity for One Model

Best Buy Introduces Record Low Prices Across Every 10th Gen iPad

Microsoft Says Windows Laptops With Snapdragon X Elite Will Be Faster Than M3 MacBook Air

Apple Event for New iPads Still Considered 'Unlikely' Following Delays

Google Launches Android Find My Device Network

Next article.

Our comprehensive guide highlighting every major new addition in iOS 17, plus how-tos that walk you through using the new features.

App Store changes for the EU, new emoji, Podcasts transcripts, and more.

Get the most out your iPhone 15 with our complete guide to all the new features.

A deep dive into new features in macOS Sonoma, big and small.

Revamped models with OLED displays, M3 chip, and redesigned Magic Keyboard accessory.

Updated 10.9-inch model and new 12.9-inch model, M2 chip expected.

Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference will kick off with a keynote on June 10.

Expected to see new AI-focused features and more. Preview coming at WWDC in June with public release in September.

Other Stories

8 hours ago by Tim Hardwick

9 hours ago by Tim Hardwick

9 hours ago by MacRumors Staff

1 day ago by Tim Hardwick

1 week ago by MacRumors Staff

Manage cookies and website data

Websites often store cookies and other data on your Mac. This data may include information that you have provided, such as your name, email address, and preferences. This data helps websites identify you when you return so the site can provide services for you and show information that might be of interest to you.

By default, Safari accepts cookies and website data only from websites you visit. This helps prevent certain advertisers from storing data on your Mac. You can change options in Safari preferences so that Safari always accepts or always blocks cookies and other website data.

Open Safari for me

Important: Changing your cookie preferences or removing cookies and website data in Safari may change or remove them in other apps, including Dashboard.

Choose Safari > Preferences, click Privacy, then do any of the following:

Change which cookies and website data are accepted: Select a “Cookies and website data” option:

Always block: Safari doesn’t let any websites, third parties, or advertisers store cookies and other data on your Mac. This may prevent some websites from working properly.

Allow from current website only: Safari accepts cookies and website data only from the website you’re currently visiting. Websites often have embedded content from other sources. Safari does not allow these third parties to store or access cookies or other data.

Allow from websites I visit: Safari accepts cookies and website data only from websites you visit. Safari uses your existing cookies to determine whether you have visited a website before. Selecting this option helps prevent websites that have embedded content in other websites you browse from storing cookies and data on your Mac.

Always allow: Safari lets all websites, third parties, and advertisers store cookies and other data on your Mac.

Remove stored cookies and data: Click Manage Website Data, select one or more websites, then click Remove or Remove All.

Removing the data may reduce tracking, but may also log you out of websites or change website behavior.

See which websites store cookies or data: Click Manage Website Data.

Change how often websites ask to use your location information: Select a “Website use of location services” option:

Prompt for each website once each day: Safari prompts you once each day for each website you visit that requests use of location services.

Prompt for each website one time only: Safari only prompts you once for each website you visit that requests use of location services.

Deny without prompting: All websites are denied access to location services and Safari does not prompt you.

Ask websites not to track you: Some websites keep track of your browsing activities when they serve you content, which enables them to tailor what they present to you. You can have Safari ask sites and their third party content providers (including advertisers) not to track you.

With this option turned on, each time Safari fetches content from a website, Safari adds a request not to track you, but it’s up to the website to honor this request.

• Tech Gift Ideas for Mom
• Hot Tech Deals at Target Right Now

How to Reset Safari to Default Settings

Restoring default settings is a multistep process

What to Know

• First, remove the browser history: Select Safari in the menu bar > Clear History , then select All History > Clear History . 
• Remove cookies: Safari > Preferences . Select the Privacy tab > Manage Website Data > Remove All .
• Clear cache: Safari > Preferences . Advanced > Select Show Develop menu in menu bar . Exit. Develop > Empty Caches .

This article explains how to reset Safari to default settings by removing Safari's history and cookies, clearing the cache, and disabling extensions. Instructions apply to Safari versions 11 through 14 and iOS.

Remove Browser History

The first step when resetting Safari is to remove your browser history. When you clear your browsing history, Safari removes data such as recent searches, the frequently visited site list, web page icons, the history of web pages you've visited, and more.

From Safari's menu bar, select Safari > Clear History

In the drop-down menu, select All History .

Select Clear History to complete the process.

To clear a particular website instead, navigate to History > Show History , select the website you want to clear, and press Delete .

Remove Cookies

When you remove all cookies from Safari, you'll lose personal registration data such as your name and address, shopping cart contents, preferred web page layouts, and more.

From Safari's menu bar, select Safari > Preferences .

Select the Privacy tab.

Select Manage Website Data .

Select Remove All .

Select Remove Now .

Select Done .

Clear Safari's Cache

When you clear Safari's cache, you're removing stored website data.

Select the Advanced tab.

Place a check next to Show Develop menu in menu bar , and then exit out of Preferences.

From Safari's menu bar, select Develop > Empty Caches .

Disable or Uninstall Extensions

Safari extensions are like mini-apps that add functionality to the browser. If you're trying to reset Safari, you'll want to disable or uninstall any extensions.

Select the Extensions tab.

Select an extension, and then deselect the checkbox next to the extension to disable it.

Many extensions have several sub-extensions, so you'll need to uncheck all of them.

After you've disabled an extension, you can uninstall it. Select Uninstall .

You'll see a message that the extension is part of an application, and that you'll need to remove the application. Select Show in Finder .

Finder will open with the app selected. Right-click on the application and select Move to Trash .

Enter your password and select OK . You've deleted the extension.

Clear Website Data on Safari for iOS

To clear Safari's settings on an iPhone or iPad:

Open the iOS device's Settings app.

Scroll down and select Safari .

Under Privacy & Security , select Clear History and Website Data .

Select Clear History and Data to confirm.

Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day

• How to Clear Private Data, Caches, and Cookies on Mac
• How to Manage Browsing History on Safari for iPad
• Speed Up Safari With These Tuneup Tips
• How to Delete and Clear Cookies on an iPhone
• How to Manage Cookies in the Safari Browser
• How to Clear Your Search Bar History
• How to Clear Internet Cache in Every Major Browser
• How to Clear Cookies for a Specific Site
• How to Delete Cookies in Every Major Browser
• How to Clear Search History on iPhone
• 3 Ways to Clear Cache on an iPad
• How to Clear Cache on Samsung S10
• Add More Features by Turning on Safari's Develop Menu
• How to Clear Your iPhone Cache
• How to Manage Your Browsing History in Safari
• Managing History and Other Private Data in Safari for macOS

How to Delete Cookies and Stored Website Data in Safari

Websites and advertisers use cookies to identify you and follow you around the internet, and they might also save other website data to remember you by. In Safari, you can delete these cookies and other data. Let's head to Safari's privacy settings.

Stored content can include a history of your site visits or information you provided the site, such as your name and email address. You can delete all of the website data at once or for individual sites.

Delete Cookies and Saved Data on the Mac

1. Select Preferences from the Safari menu or hold down the Command key and the comma key at the same time (Command+,).

2. Go to the Privacy tab.

3. Click the Remove All Website Data button to remove all stored website data, or skip to step 5 to remove data on a site-by-site basis.

4. Click Remove Now to confirm. Note, as Safari warns you, this could log you out of sites and perhaps also change how they function. For example, instead of getting tailored ads on the site, you'll be served generic ones.

5. To remove stored data by site, click the Details button.  

Stay in the know with Laptop Mag

Get our in-depth reviews, helpful tips, great deals, and the biggest news stories delivered to your inbox.

6. Select the sites with stored data you want to remov e. Hold down the Command key to select multiple sites.

7. Click Remove.

8. Click Done.

Alternatively, you can click the Remove All button to delete all of the sites' cookies and stored data. Safari will ask you to confirm your choice:

Delete Cookies and Web History in Safari in iOS

Clear your history, cookies, and browsing data from Safari on your iPad or iPhone .

1. Open the Settings app and tap Safari.

2. Tap Clear History and Website Data. If you're using iOS 7 or earlier, the menu is slightly different: Tap "Clear History" and "Clear Cookies and Data".

3. Tap Clear to confirm.

4. Tap Advanced back in the Safari Settings window to clear other stored website data.

5. Tap Website Data.

6. Tap Remove All Website Data . Alternatively, you can click the Edit link at the top right and then delete individual sites' data by tapping the minus sign next to the site names.

Doing this will not only help protect your privacy. It can also clear out precious space on your device.

Looking to learn more about your Mac — or buy a new one? Check out our how to reset a MacBook guide for more details about what to do before you sell your laptop (or other macOS machine) and our MacBook Pro 2019 rumors roundup for details on what to expect in next year's model.

• How to Search for Text Within a Web Page in Safari
• How to Restore Recently Closed Tabs and Windows in Safari
• How to Block Cookies in Safari

How to convert PDF to JPG, PNG, or TIFF

How to add Outlook Calendar to Google Calendar

Retro game emulators are now welcome in the App Store — but don't get too excited

Most Popular

By Madeline Ricchiuto 8 April 2024

By Momo Tabari 8 April 2024

By Rael Hornby 8 April 2024

By Mark Anthony Ramirez 7 April 2024

By Sarah Chaney 6 April 2024

By Mark Anthony Ramirez 5 April 2024

By Madeline Ricchiuto 5 April 2024

By Sarah Chaney 5 April 2024

By Momo Tabari 5 April 2024

By Hilda Scott 5 April 2024

By Hilda Scott 4 April 2024

• 2 Microsoft Store Spring Sale: Up to $600 off Surface devices, up to 80% off PC, Xbox games and accessories
• 3 Spotify launches AI playlists — here's when it'll be available and for who
• 4 The iPhone SE 4 could be here sooner than you think
• 5 Pretendo saves the day after Wii U and 3DS server shut down — here's how to keep your Nintendo games online

• PC & Mobile

How to Clear Cache and Cookies in Safari

Lee Stanton Lee Stanton is a versatile writer with a concentration on the software landscape, covering both mobile and desktop applications as well as online technologies. Read more January 3, 2020

Device Links

• Device Missing?

Clearing your cache and cookies is something that everyone should get into the habit of doing, but few do it regularly. It’s like cleaning the dust under your bed. You know it’s there and it could cause problems, yet you rarely get around to doing it.

Like cleaning your home, clearing cache and cookies can help you in different ways. It helps protect your personal information, and helps applications run smoother on your computer.

Find out how easy it is to clear your cache and cookies in Safari across different iOS devices.

Clearing your history on your Safari browser deletes saved data, such as recent searches and lists of frequently visited sites. It also removes cookies from websites that ask to send you notifications or for your location.

Removing all of that information generally involves three simple steps:

When you select Clear History, Safari will ask you how far back you want to clean. It can be recent history or all the history. The choice is yours.

While you’re at it, don’t forget your cookies!

Clean out old, stored cookies and data with these steps:

How to Clear Cache and Cookies in Safari on Mac

If you need more space on your Mac, clearing your cache and cookies is a good start. After a while, old files can slow down your computer and take up space. You can use tools and apps to clear your browser cache, but why spend the extra money?

Here’s how to clear your cache manually:

You can also use keyboard shortcuts to empty your cache. Press Cmd + Option + E to clear your cache automatically.

Cookies, however, are an entirely different story.

You can manage your browser cookies by going into Preferences in the Safari tab. Once you have the Preferences drop-down menu, take these actions:

This extra step to delete cookies can become tedious at times. If you don’t want to deal with the extra maintenance of deleting cookies by yourself, you can keep others from storing them on your Mac. This is how you do so:

Keep in mind, though, that cookies aren’t just for tracking your habits and location. They also help websites run smoothly. If you choose to put your Mac on a diet and ban cookies, some websites may not work properly.

How to Clear Cache and Cookies in Safari on a MacBook

All devices need a little routine cleaning and maintenance every once and a while and your MacBook is no different. Fortunately, clearing your cache is as simple as a few simple clicks:

Clearing cache isn’t necessarily the same as clearing cookies, though. That requires a separate action.

To clear cookies from your MacBook:

• Select ‘Privacy’ from the Safari tab drop-down menu

How to Clear Cache and Cookies in Safari on iPhone

Your cache and cookies contain a lot of personal information that others can access. So, the last thing you want is to keep them lingering on your device. Make sure that your history and cache are scrubbed clean regularly. Here’s how to do this:

Clearing your cache isn’t the same as clearing cookies from your iPhone, though. Check out how to clear cookies while keeping your device’s history:

How to Clear Cache and Cookies in Safari on iPad

If you know how to clear cache and cookies on an iPhone, you already know how to do it on an iPad. You clear both mobile devices in the same way:

Clearing cookies from your iPad requires these extra steps:

• Tap on ‘Settings’ and then ‘Safari’
• Select ‘Advanced’
• Choose ‘Website Data and Remove All Website Data’

How to Clear Cache and Cookies in Safari 13

Is it time to do some routine cleaning on your Safari 13-enabled device? Check out how to get your cache shiny and new in just a few clicks:

Cleaning up cookies is a separate step, but just as simple:

How to Reset Cache and Cookies in Safari

Resetting or clearing a cache in Safari is a simple process. Here’s how to do this:

Unfortunately, clearing or resetting a cache doesn’t automatically delete cookies stored on your system. This is how to delete cookies in Safari:

Additional FAQ

What happens if i clear my cache and cookies on mac.

Deleting temporary media files, such as text files and images, can help your Mac run more efficiently. Not only does it help your apps run smoother, but it can also help protect your identity. Clearing your cache and cookies gets rid of personal information stored on your computer during browsing.

Start a Regular Maintenance Routine

Setting up a regular cleaning routine for your cache and cookies helps you and helps your Apple devices run better. It gets rid of unnecessary files that may bog down your system. It also deletes personal information you may want to keep private.

It’s a win-win situation. But your Apple device can’t do it on its own.

How often do you clear your cache and cookies? Tell us about it in the comments section below?

Related Posts

Disclaimer: Some pages on this site may include an affiliate link. This does not effect our editorial in any way.

Parth Shah February 29, 2024

Lee Stanton February 23, 2024

Lee Stanton February 19, 2024

Send To Someone

Missing device.

Please enable JavaScript to submit this form.

Clear Cache on iPhone & iPad (Safari)

Updated at: Mar 01, 2022

Safari on iOS has a very straight-forward interface to Reset Safari. The controls to clear your Cookies, Browsing history, cache and other things in Safari are all stored in the same screen. To get to these controls and choose what you want to clear, follow these instructions.

Clear Cache, Cookies and History in Safari on iPhone & iPad

Open the "settings" app.

The controls to reset Safari aren't actually inside Safari! They're in the Settings app.

Go to your iPhone's Home Screen and tap the Settings app.

Scroll down to the "Safari" menu item and tap it

Scroll the screen down until you see Safari , and then tap on it.

Tapping on the Safari menu item will open up the settings screen for Safari.

Scroll down to the "Clear History and Website Data" item

This item is towards the bottom of the screen so you'll need to scroll down a bit.

When you see it, simply tap on it. You will be prompted to confirm deleting your history , cookies and other browsing data .

Confirm your decision to clear your browsing data

Now you are prompted to clear your browsing data. You can tap Cancel (or just press the Home button) to abort clearing your browsing data from Safari if you've decided not to proceed.

Once you've cleared your data you can simply press the Home button to return to the Home Screen of your device.

Clear your cache and cookies in other web browsers

Here are some guides for other web browsers like Chrome or Firefox.

Clear cache & history

Do i need to clear my cache.

Not sure why you've been asked to clear your cache? We can explain. Why you need to clear your cache

What is a cache?

Before you consider clearing your browser cache, you should know what it is! Learn a little bit about browser caches

Is it safe to clear my cache?

Are there any risks to clearing your cache? Find out if it's ok to clear your cache

Update my web browser

Do i need to update my browser.

Find out if your browser is out of date Is my browser out of date?

Why should I update my browser?

There are very good reasons to, find out here! Why update your browser?

Is it free to update Chrome?

Find out about the cost of updating Chrome... Does Chrome cost anything?

What does "Update browser" mean?

What does it actually mean? What does it mean to update your browser

Get help with our guides

How to enable javascript.

Change your JavaScript settings Guide to enabling Javascript

How to enable Cookies

Configure your cookie settings for privacy Guide to enabling cookies

Related articles

I can't log in to a website..

We've got a detailed guide to help you solve login problems How to fix website log in problems

Why do websites use cookies?

Why are cookies useful? Do you need them? What's the deal with cookies?

How to update your browser

Old software puts you at risk. Keep your browser fresh and up to date

Clear Cache, Cookies and History

How to reset your browsing history How to reset your browser

Try a different web browser

Different web browsers have different features - try a different one to see if you prefer it. Experiment a bit!

Use a VPN to hide your IP address

We recommend NordVPN to hide your IP address or to unblock websites. Hide your IP Address

Clearing your cache, cookies, and browsing history - Frequently asked questions

How to clear cache.

Clear instructions to clear your cache, cookies, and history. follow the guides.

Learn how to clear your cache, cookies, and history

Before you consider clearing your browser cache, you should know what it is!

Learn a little bit about browser caches

What does "Clear your Cache" mean?

Have you heard the phrase "clear your cache" but aren't sure what it means?

What "clear cache" means

Not sure why you've been asked to clear your cache?

Why you (might) need to clear your cache

Clear the cache for just one page

Need to completely reload a page but don't want to clear your entire cache?

How to clear the cache for just one page

Should I clear my cookies?

Can clearing cookies help with problems or privacy? Here's some info.

Why you (might) need to clear your cookies

Are there any risks to clearing your cache?

Find out if it's ok to clear your cache

What happens when I clear my cache?

When I decide to clear my cache or cookies, what actually happens?

See what happens

Clear Cache in Chrome Shortcut

Don't bother clicking the menus, use the handy keyboard shortcut!

Keyboard shortcut to clear cache in Chrome

Clear Cache in Firefox Shortcut

Keyboard shortcut to clear cache in Firefox

Clear Cache in Edge Shortcut

Keyboard shortcut to clear cache in Edge

Clear Cache in Brave Shortcut

Keyboard shortcut to clear cache in Brave

Clear Cache in Safari Shortcut

Keyboard shortcut to clear cache in Safari

Does clearing cache in one browser affect the other browsers on my computer?

Are the different caches on my computer related to each other?

How big is Chrome's Cache?

Find out how much temporary space Chrome is using for your Cache

The size of Chrome's cache

How to reset all of your Safari browser's settings on a Mac, including clearing your cache and removing plugins

• Knowing how to reset your Safari browser on a Mac can help speed up the browser and fix issues. 
• However, resetting Safari will also cause you to lose browser-saved data, including login credentials and browser extensions.
• Here's what you need to know to reset the Safari browser on your Mac computer.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories .

Resetting your Safari browser on a Mac computer can help speed it up and get rid of any issues you may have encountered. 

But before you start, be aware that it will delete your installed extensions, as well as any auto-fill data, including saved usernames and passwords. 

So you may want to take note of those before getting started, so that you can get your browser back to the way that you're accustomed to using it.

Once that's done, here's how to reset the Safari browser on your Mac .

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

Macbook pro (from $1,299 at apple), how to reset safari on a mac.

Resetting your Safari browser consists of several steps (like clearing your cache and history), rather than a simple button. So it will take a while to accomplish. Here's what you need to do:

Clear your Safari history

Keep in mind that the process is different for Safari on an iPhone or iPad , in case you want to do a reset across all of your devices.

1. Launch Safari

2. In the top toolbar, select "Safari" and then "Clear History."

3. Select "All History" in the dropdown and then click "Clear History."

Clear your Safari cache

1. With Safari open, go up to the top toolbar.

2. Select "Safari" and then "Preferences."

3. Toggle over to the "Advanced" tab and tick the box next to "Show Develop menu in menu bar" — you should see "Develop" appear in the top toolbar.

4. Click "Develop" and then select "Empty Caches."

Get rid of your Safari extensions

1. Go back into your Safari Preferences (located in that top toolbar)

2. Toggle over to the "Extensions" tab

3. Go through all of your extensions and select "Uninstall"

Turn off plugins within Safari

1. With the Safari Preferences window still open, toggle over to the "Websites" tab

2. Untick the box next to each plugin (listed at the bottom of the left sidebar)

Delete those plugins

These are stored in two separate areas, so your work will feel a bit redundant, but it's necessary to get the job done.

1. Tap your Finder to open it (it's the half-toned face icon in your bottom toolbar).

2. Under the "Go" menu of the top toolbar, select "Go to folder."

3. In the pop-up search menu, type "~/Library" and hit "Go."

4. Locate and go through the "Internet Plug-ins" folder and delete your plug-ins (you may want to keep your Safari Preferences open to "websites" so you can view your installed plugins) by dragging them over to the Trash.

5. Go up to the "Go" tab in your top toolbar and select "Go to folder".

6. Enter "/Library" in the search bar and hit "Go."

7. Locate and open the "Internet Plug-ins" folder again.

8. Select and delete or drag your undesired plugins into the Trash.

Related coverage from   How To Do Everything: Tech :

How to set your browser's homepage on a mac, with instructions for safari, chrome, and firefox, how to block pop-ups on a mac computer's safari browser, and avoid fraudulent websites, how to add websites to your favorites list on a mac's safari browser, making them easily accessible at any moment, how to save and delete webpages on the reading list in your mac computer's safari browser.

Watch: Apple just launched a $6,000 Mac Pro, available this fall

• Main content

How-To Geek

How to clear cookies / cache for a single website on iphone or ipad.

Clearing the cache on your iPhone or iPad is really easy, but that will log you out of every single website that you were previously logged into, and wipe any other cookie-based preferences.

Quick Links

Clear cookies / cache for a specific website.

Clearing the cache on your iPhone or iPad is really easy, but that will log you out of every single website that you were previously logged into, and wipe any other cookie-based preferences. So what if you want to just wipe cookies or cache for a single site?

Luckily that's also pretty easy... though not quite as simple since you'll have to dig through a list of all the sites you've ever visited or that have put cookies on your device.

You might be asking yourself why you'd bother doing this, and the answer is simple: if a particular site is misbehaving you can wipe the cache and cookies just for that site, login again, and sometimes the problem will be resolved.

First you'll want to open up the Settings app, and then find Safari on the left-hand side, and then scroll down until you see the Advanced on the right-hand side. If you're using an iPhone it won't display like this, but you'll be able to easily figure it out.

Now press the Website Data button.

And now push the Edit text button on the upper right-hand corner.

Now you'll see a list of the sites that have put cookies on your device. You'll probably need to expand to show all of the sites, and then browse down through the list. Once you've found the one you want to wipe, just hit the red minus icon and then press Delete, just like you would in most iOS apps.

There isn't a whole lot more to it.

How to Reset Safari to Default Settings on Your Mac

If Safari runs slow or fails to open a page on your Mac, we will show you how to reset the browser to its default state to fix those issues.

Safari helps you feel at home while browsing the web on a Mac. The latest iterations of Safari always bring improvements, but no browser is perfect. Over time, Safari tends to slow down, become sluggish, and feel unresponsive.

While Chrome and Firefox pack a reset button, this feature is missing from Safari. We will show you how you can reset Safari to default settings on your Mac.

First, Back Up Your Bookmarks

After you've used Safari for a while, you probably have a lot of sites saved in your Bookmarks and Favorites. It's a good idea to make a copy of your Bookmarks before you proceed. Since you'll remove every bit data related to Safari, you probably don't want to erase all your bookmarks.

To do this, launch Safari, select the File tab in the top menu bar, and click Export Bookmarks . You can either set a new name or let it use the default one if you don't mind it. Click Save to save a copy of those bookmarks.

You may also want to edit, organize, and manage those bookmarks that you've collected over years.

After you've reset Safari by following the methods below, you can import the HTML copy of your Bookmarks by going to File > Import From and selecting Bookmarks HTML File . Make sure to save the file somewhere safe in the meantime.

Clear the Browsing History in Safari

To start, you should run Safari's built-in history cleaner. This will remove cookies and other browsing data from everywhere you've visited. Thankfully, the process to remove your browsing history manually from Safari is quite straightforward.

Related: How to Clear Your Safari Browsing History and Data

After opening Safari, click on the Safari item in the top menu bar and select Clear History . A window will pop up; select All History from the dropdown list. Then click on the Clear History button to erase all that data from Safari.

Remove the Temporary Files and Cache

To improve your browsing efficiency, Safari stores the data for sites that you visit regularly as cache on your Mac and uses that to load elements faster than downloading them again. That cache takes up disk space and often contributes to Safari's performance woes.

It's thus a good idea to get rid of that old data when you're resetting Safari to its defaults. Here's how to clear Safari's temporary files and cache:

• While you have Safari running, open Safari > Preferences from the menu bar.
• A window will pop open. Head to the Advanced tab and select the check box for Show Develop menu in menu bar .
• The Develop menu will appear next to Bookmarks on the menu bar. Select Develop > Empty Caches or use Option + Cmd + E to quickly clear the web cache.

Delete All Cookies

Like other browsers, Safari stores site cookies whenever you visit websites. These cookies contain details about your interactions with the site, such as registration and form data, your cart contents, and similar. It's a good idea to remove those cookies when starting fresh.

Here's how you can clear all cookies from Safari:

• Launch Safari and in the menu bar at the top of the screen, go to Safari > Preferences .
• In the window that pops up, go to the Privacy tab and click the Manage Website Data button. That'll pop open a window showing the list of cookies in Safari.
• You can hold down Cmd to select cookies to remove individually, or click Remove All to delete the entire list.

Turn Off Website Access/Delete Safari Plugins

While Apple builds Safari for efficiency, some outside plugins and website access rules can cause Safari to slow down. It's best to ensure that those plugins ask you before Safari runs them. You can also confirm which sites can access your Mac's camera, microphone, and other settings.

With Safari open, go to Safari > Preferences in the menu bar on the top of the screen. Go to the Websites tab and check each item in the sidebar for website access. We recommend disabling Auto-Play , Camera , Microphone , Location , and Pop-Ups , unless you have some reason not to do so.

If you're using an older version of Safari that doesn't have these options, you can head to Safari > Preferences and click on Security > Plug-In Settings . Then set all the plugins to Ask before Safari runs them, and disable the ones you don't need.

Disable or Uninstall Safari Extensions

Unlike Chrome and Firefox, Apple allows only a handful of extensions to work with Safari. Even with this filtering, some of them might impact your browsing performance and slow everything down. Whether you use extensions for saving articles to Pocket or applying dark mode on every website, they could affect Safari.

You can disable these extensions by going to Safari > Preferences and clicking the Extensions tab. Uncheck each extension listed to disable it. To remove all of them, you'll need to select each extension and click on the Uninstall button in the adjacent pane.

You can always find and install new Safari extensions later after resetting the browser. Try to only install high-quality ones you absolutely need.

Reset Safari Using Terminal

Even after removing cookies, cache, browsing history, and extensions, Safari still has some underlying metadata. To wipe everything in a true sense, you can use the Terminal app.

Using the Terminal to reset Safari to its default state means you'll have to use a series of commands. Refer to our beginner's guide to the Mac Terminal for using it effectively.

To reset Safari using Terminal:

• Open the Terminal app (you can find it easily using Spotlight with Cmd + Space ).
• Next, open the Apple menu at the top-left corner of your screen. Click Force Quit and select Safari to completely close it.
• Enter the below commands commands, one line at a time. After you run each command, the Terminal will prompt for confirmation to delete said files. Type y to confirm, then hit Enter .

Reset Safari for a Fresh and Fast Browser Experience

Now you know how to effectively reset Safari to factory settings. It should feel faster after this—though all the sites you visit at first will take a couple of seconds to load completely, since they'll create new cookies and cache.

To get even more out of Safari, make sure you're applying the best Safari tweaks for a better experience.