Whenever you use Safari on your Mac, the browser ends up caching web pages to speed up subsequent visits. It also stores cookies to remember site-related preferences and even allows you to track what you did later by continually recording your browsing activity. Learn how to clear cache, history, and cookies in Safari on Macthis helps improve your online experience.
But sometimes, browsing data can cause serious problems. For example, an outdated browser cache often results in performance issues, while history and cookies pose a privacy threat. Additionally, AutoFill data types such as passwords and saved web forms put sensitive information at risk.
How to clear cache, history and cookies in Safari on Mac
Fortunately, Safari offers multiple approaches to clear cache, history, and cookies on Mac. It’s up to you to choose the method that best suits your situation.
Warning: Deleting browsing history and AutoFill data in Safari causes changes to sync with other Apple devices you own. If you want to stop that, open the preferences of system from Mac, select Apple ID and disable Safari before starting.
Safari improves page load speed by saving site content, such as indexes and images, to local Mac storage. However, if you experience rendering issues, corrupted site elements, or erratic behavior, you may that it is an outdated or corrupt browser cache. You can resolve this by clearing cached data via Safari’s hidden Develop menu.
Note: If a problem is limited to a specific website, you can try clearing the cache related to that site only; more on that later.
1. Select Safari in the menu bar and choose preferences .
2. Switch to tab Advanced and check the box next to Show Develop menu in menu bar . Then exit the Preferences panel.
3. Open the menu Develop and select empty caches .
That should clear the browser cache immediately. You can choose to go back to the Preferences panel and disable the Develop menu if you wish.
If clearing the cache in Safari didn’t help fix site loading issues, you may want to continue flushing the DNS cache on Mac or renewing the DHCP lease.
Safari keeps track of all the web sites and pages you’ve visited, and you can access the information through the browser’s History panel. Logged browsing activity also tends to show up in search suggestions.
But that makes it easy for anyone else using the browser to find out what you’ve been doing online. So if privacy is a concern, you should clear your browsing history.
1. Open the menu Record from Safari and select the option labeled show history .
2. Select the entry you want to delete. You can use the search bar at the top right of the screen to filter items by site.
3. Control-click the entry and select Remove .
To delete multiple entries, select them while holding down the key Command . Then press the key Suppress .
1. Hold down the key Option and open the menu Safari . Then select Clear History and Keep Website Data .
2. Set Erase in all history .
3. Select Delete history .
Alternatively, you can set Erase in the options of the last hour , today , today and yesterday if you want to delete the specific browsing history of those periods only.
Browser cookies are small pieces of data that help Safari save preferences related to site and login sessions. But cookies also allow websites to track you. Also, outdated cookies may prevent the sites from working properly.
You can delete cookies from a specific site or from all sites you have previously visited, along with any cached data related to the site(s).
1. Open the menu Safari and select preferences .
2. Switch to tab Privacy .
3. Select the button labeled Manage website data .
4. You should see a list of websites. Use the search field at the top right of the window to filter them by site. Then choose an entry and select Remove to remove it. You can also hold down the button Command to choose and delete multiple entries.
If you want to delete all cookies and cached data, select delete all .
5. Select Clever .
Deleting cookies related to a site forces you to log in to that website again. If you delete all cookies, you will need to log in again everywhere.
We recommend using Safari’s private browsing windows for cases where you don’t want the browser to store cookies indefinitely.
If you’re in a hurry, you can immediately delete history, cookies, and cache in Safari.
1. Open the menu Safari and select Delete history .
2. Set Erase in all history . or choose the options of last minute , today either today and yesterday if you want to clear browsing history, cookies and cache related to those periods only.
3. Select Delete history .
Clear download history (individual entries or entire history)
Safari also keeps a separate log of your download history. You can easily remove individual entries or the entire list.
1. Open the menu Watch from Safari.
2. Choose the option show downloads .
2. Control-click an entry and select Remove from the list . or choose Erase to clear the entire download history.
Deleting download history will not delete downloaded files. You must locate and remove the downloads from your Mac manually.
Clear AutoFill data (passwords, credit cards, and web forms)
Safari’s AutoFill saves specific types of data (passwords, credit cards, and web forms) to make it easier to fill in repeatedly. However, considering the sensitive nature of the information, you may want to delete it if other people also have access to the same Mac user account.
1. Open the menu Safari and select preferences .
2. Switch to tab Autocomplete .
3. Select Edit next to the AutoComplete data type ( usernames and passwords , Credit cards or other forms ) you want to delete.
4. Enter your Mac user account password to continue. Then choose an entry or multiple entries and select Remove to remove them.
5. Exit the Preferences panel.
Clearing cache, history, and cookies in Safari requires a fair amount of digging into settings and hidden menus. But you can get rid of anything you want very quickly once you’ve tried it a few times.
However, you should only delete browsing data if you have serious performance or privacy concerns. Otherwise, you’ll just end up slowing things down.
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