How to clear cookies on Mac in every browser

Every browser keeps its own cookies, so clear them in each browser you use. The steps work on any MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac or Mac mini running macOS Ventura or later.

The short answer

1. Safari: choose Safari, then Settings, then Privacy, then Manage Website Data, and click Remove All.
2. Chrome, Firefox or Edge: press Shift-Command-Delete, tick the cookies option, choose All time and confirm.

You will sign out of most websites. Your saved passwords, bookmarks and history stay where they are.

What cookies are and why you clear them

A cookie is a small text file a website saves in your browser. It remembers that you signed in, what sits in your cart and which language you chose. Some cookies come from advertisers, who use them to follow you from site to site.

Good reasons to delete cookies

• A login loops or fails. A stale cookie can stop a site from signing you in.
• You used a shared or borrowed Mac. Clearing cookies signs you out of every account.
• You want fewer targeted ads. Removing tracking cookies breaks the trail advertisers follow.
• You plan to sell or give away your Mac. Clear cookies, then erase the Mac.

The types of cookies you will see

First-party cookies

The site you visit sets these. They keep you signed in and remember your settings, so deleting them is what signs you out.

Third-party cookies

Another company sets these through ads or embedded content on the page. They follow you across sites, and they are the ones most privacy settings block.

Session and persistent cookies

Session cookies disappear when you quit the browser. Persistent cookies stay until they expire or you delete them, which can take months or years.

What clearing cookies does not do

It doesn’t delete saved passwords, bookmarks or downloads, and it frees almost no disk space. For space, clear your cache instead.

Where to clear cookies in each browser

How to clear cookies on Mac, browser by browser

1. Safari

Delete all cookies

1. Choose Safari, then Settings, then Privacy.
2. Click Manage Website Data.
3. Click Remove All, then Remove Now.

Delete cookies for one site

In the same window, type the site’s name in the search field, select it and click Remove. Every other site keeps you signed in.

Delete cookies, cache and history together

Choose History, then Clear History, pick all history and confirm. For cache-only options, read how to clear Safari cache on a Mac.

2. Google Chrome

Delete all cookies

1. Choose Chrome, then Delete Browsing Data, or press Shift-Command-Delete.
2. Set the time range to All time.
3. Tick Cookies and other site data. Untick the rest if you want to keep them.
4. Click Delete data.

Signed in to Chrome?

Chrome keeps you signed in to your Google account in the browser even after you delete cookies, so sync keeps working.

Delete cookies for one site

Open the site, click the icon to the left of its address, then choose Cookies and site data, then Manage on-device site data. Click the bin icon next to each entry.

3. Firefox

Delete all cookies

1. Choose Firefox, then Settings, then Privacy & Security.
2. Under Cookies and Site Data, click Clear Data.
3. Tick Cookies and site data and click Clear.

Delete cookies for one site

Click Manage Data in the same section, search for the site, select it and click Remove Selected, then Save Changes.

4. Microsoft Edge

1. Press Shift-Command-Delete.
2. Choose All time and tick Cookies and other site data.
3. Click Clear now.

5. Brave, Opera and other browsers

Most other Mac browsers are built on the same engine as Chrome, so the same shortcut works. Press Shift-Command-Delete, tick Cookies and other site data, choose All time and confirm.

What to expect after you delete cookies

• You sign in again. Sites that use two-factor authentication may ask for a code, because they no longer recognise your browser.
• Cookie banners return. Sites forget your consent choices and ask again.
• Carts and preferences reset. Items in a shopping cart and choices such as language or dark mode go back to the defaults.
• Login loops stop. A site that kept failing to sign you in usually works on the next try.

How to clear cache and cookies on a Mac at once

When a site still misbehaves after you delete its cookies, clear its cached files too. In Chrome, Firefox and Edge, tick both the cookies option and the cache option in the same window. In Safari, Remove All in Manage Website Data clears both. Restart the browser afterwards.

Control cookies instead of deleting them

Block tracking cookies in Safari

Open Settings, then Privacy, and make sure Prevent cross-site tracking is on. Safari blocks most advertising cookies and keeps your logins working.

Block third-party cookies in Chrome

Open Settings, then Privacy and security, then Third-party cookies, and choose to block them.

Delete cookies automatically when you quit

Firefox

Open Settings, then Privacy & Security, and tick Delete cookies and site data when Firefox is closed. Click Manage Exceptions to keep the sites you want to stay signed in to.

Chrome

Open Settings, then Privacy and security, then Site settings, then On-device site data, and choose to delete data when you close all windows.

Use private browsing

A private window in any browser throws away its cookies when you close it. Press Shift-Command-N in Safari or Chrome, or Shift-Command-P in Firefox.

Don’t delete cookie files in Finder

Some guides tell you to delete files in ~/Library/Cookies or to run Terminal commands. Skip that. Modern browsers store cookies in their own databases, often in folders macOS protects, and deleting them by hand can corrupt a browser profile. The browser settings above are faster and safe.

Free up space as well

Cookies take up kilobytes, but app caches can take gigabytes. Our guide on how to clear cache on a Mac shows where the big caches hide and which ones are safe to clear.

Frequently asked questions