How to Clear Cache and Cookies in Safari

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.

How to Clear Cache and Cookies in Safari

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:

1. Opening the Safari app
   
2. Clicking on ‘History’
   
3. Selecting ‘Clear History’
   

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:

1. Open Safari
   
2. Click on the Safari header
   
3. Select ‘Preferences’ in the drop-down menu
   
4. Choose ‘Privacy’
   
5. Click on ‘Manage Website Data’
   
6. Select the websites whose cookies you’d like to delete
   
7. Confirm ‘Remove’ or ‘Remove All’ action
   

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:

1. Open the Safari browser
   
2. Click on the Safari header to open the drop-down menu
   
3. Select ‘Preferences’
   
4. Click on the gear icon for ‘Advanced’ at the top of the new window
   
5. Check the box for “Show Develop menu in menu bar”
   
6. Open the ‘Develop’ menu
   
7. Scroll down and select ‘Empty caches’
   

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:

1. Select ‘Manage Website Data’
   
2. Click on the website(s) slated for cookie deletion
   
3. Confirm the action to ‘Remove’ or ‘Remove All’
   

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:

1. Click on the Safari tab to open the drop-down menu
   
2. Select ‘Preferences’ and then ‘Privacy’
   
3. Check “Block all cookies”
   

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:

1. Click on ‘History’ in the Safari app
   
2. Scroll down and select ‘Clear History’
   
3. Choose the cleaning range
   

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

To clear cookies from your MacBook:

1. Select ‘Privacy’ from the Safari tab drop-down menu
2. Go to ‘Preferences’ and click on ‘Privacy’
   
3. Select ‘Manage Website Data’
   
4. Choose the websites for cookie deletion
   
5. Confirm with ‘Remove’ or ‘Remove All’
   

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:

1. Click on Settings on your iPhone
   
2. Select ‘Safari’
   
3. Tap ‘Clear History’ and ‘Website Data’
   

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:

1. Tap on Settings
   
2. Select ‘Safari’ and then ‘Advanced’
   
3. Tap on ‘Website Data’
   
4. Select ‘Remove All Website Data’
   
   

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:

1. Tap on ‘Settings’ and then ‘Safari’
   
2. Select ‘Clear History and Website Data’
   

Clearing cookies from your iPad requires these extra steps:

1. Tap on ‘Settings’ and then ‘Safari’
2. Select ‘Advanced’
3. 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:

1. Click on the Safari app
   
2. Select ‘History’ and ‘Clear History’
   
3. Choose how far back you want to clean
   

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

1. Click on the Safari header
   
2. Choose ‘Preferences’ from the drop-down menu
   
3. Click on ‘Privacy’
   
4. Click on ‘Manage Website Data’
   
5. Select the websites you’d like to clear cookies for
   
6. Confirm the action
   

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:

1. Select the Safari header at the top of the screen
   
2. Click on ‘History’ and then ‘Clear History’
   
3. Choose the range of dates you’d like to clear
   

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

1. Click on ‘Safari’ and then ‘Preferences’
   
2. Choose ‘Privacy and Manage Website Data’
   
3. Manually select each website to clear cookies
   
4. Confirm the action with ‘Remove’ or ‘Remove All’
   

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?