How do i delete cookies on my macbook air

Clearing cookies on a MacBook, or any of Apple's Mac devices, is easy enough to do and can be beneficial in multiple ways. However, and in spite of being a simple process, the exact method of clearing cookies will depend on the browser being used. Below are the instructions for two of the most popular browsers, Safari and Chrome, but the process is largely the same for all browsers available on a MacBook.

Cookies can be useful for many reasons. For example, they tend to help websites load faster and can make it much quicker to sign in to websites in general. However, the collection of cookies over time can start to have a negative impact on the experience. Besides being yet another way a device could become vulnerable to hackers, cookies can slow the browsing experience down dramatically. How often cookies should be cleared will be up to the individual, but it is certainly worthwhile clearing cookies every so often, and as regularly as needed.

To clear Safari cookies on a MacBook, open the Safari app and then and click on Preferences in the dropdown menu. Then click on Privacy and finally on Manage Website Data. In the new pop-up window, the MacBook user can then select the websites to clear cookies for and click on Remove. Alternatively, the user can just click on the Remove All option to delete all of the cookies. It is worth noting that in the same window where the Manage Website Data button is, there’s also a Prevent cross-site tracking option. Checking the box will automatically prevent trackers from being able to use cookies (or website data in general) to track the user. Likewise, there is also a Block all cookies box which can be checked as well. While this will automatically block all cookies, it is worth keeping in mind that it may stop some websites from functioning properly.

Clearing Cookies In Chrome & Other Browsers

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.

How to clear cache on Mac

Safari

1. Open Safari
2. In the menu bar (top left of your screen) click History
3. At the bottom of the menu, choose Clear History…
   • You can also choose Safari > Clear History…
4. Use the drop-down menu to pick what timeframe you want to clear history and cookies from Safari
5. One last time, click Clear History
6. Along with clearing your Safari history, this also clears your cookies and cache
   • 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.”

Google Chrome

1. For Google Chrome on Mac, click Chrome in the menu bar (top left corner)
2. Choose “Clear Browsing Data”
3. Pick a time range, or “All time”
4. Choose what data to clear with the checkboxes
5. Click Clear data

Firefox

1. For Firefox on Mac, click History in the menu bar (top left of your screen)
2. Click Clear Recent History…
3. Change the timeframe to what you’d like
4. Choose what data to remove
5. Click OK

Read more 9to5Mac tutorials: 

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• 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

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About the Author

Michael Potuck

@michaelpotuck

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.

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