How to Clear Cookies on iPhone (Safari and Chrome)

How to clear cookies on iPhone in Safari and Chrome, clear cookies but keep your history, turn cookies back on, and stop apps from tracking you.

October 27, 2026 • 8 min read

To clear cookies on your iPhone in Safari, open Settings, tap Apps, choose Safari, then tap Clear History and Website Data. Pick how far back to clear and tap Clear History. This removes cookies along with your Safari history for that period.

If you want to keep your history, there’s a separate option for that. Below are the steps for Safari and Chrome, what gets deleted, and how to turn cookies back on if a website stops working.

How to clear cookies on iPhone (Safari)

Cookies are small files websites save on your phone to remember you. They can keep you logged in, remember your settings, or save items in a shopping cart.

To clear cookies in Safari on iPhone together with your browsing history and the cache (saved parts of websites that help pages load faster):

Open Settings.
Tap Apps.
Select Safari.
Scroll down and tap Clear History and Website Data.
Choose the timeframe you want to clear.
Tap Clear History to confirm.

On older iOS versions without Apps, use Settings → Safari instead.

According to Apple’s Safari guide, Safari removes the matching history, cookies, and saved website files. It won’t erase your saved AutoFill details. So an address you’ve saved for checkout should still be there, even if the store asks you to sign in again.

If Clear History and Website Data is gray, Safari may have nothing to clear. Restrictions under Screen Time can also stop you from using the button. We’ll cover that below.

One tip: if a single site is stuck on a login screen, try clearing only its website data first. You may not need to wipe your whole browsing history.

How to clear cookies but keep your history

Maybe a shopping site won’t let you sign in, but you still want to keep the list of pages you’ve visited. Safari lets you clear saved website data without clearing that history.

Open Settings.
Tap Apps.
Tap Safari.
Scroll down and tap Advanced.
Tap Website Data.
Tap Remove All Website Data.
Tap Remove Now.

This removes cookies and other saved site files. Your browsing history stays, but websites may forget that you were signed in. It can also reset a site’s language choice or cookie notice.

To remove data for just one site, find its name on the Website Data screen, swipe left and tap Delete if your iOS version shows that option. Other sites keep their saved data.

Be careful not to mix up site data with history. Removing a page from Safari’s history doesn’t necessarily remove its cookies.

How to clear cookies in Chrome on iPhone

Chrome keeps its own browsing data, so clearing Safari won’t touch Chrome’s cookies. To clear cookies on iPhone in Chrome:

Open Chrome.
Tap More (⋯).
Tap Delete Browsing Data.
Tap Time Range and choose All time if you want to remove everything.
Tap Browsing Data.
Select Cookies, Site Data. Turn off any other data types you want to keep.
Tap Confirm.
Tap Delete Browsing Data.

Check the time range. Google says Chrome normally starts with 15 minutes selected. If you leave that alone, older cookies may stay on your phone.

Google also gives another path: More → Settings → Privacy and Security → Delete Browsing Data. You can use this to choose cookies without deleting your history.

Clearing Chrome cookies may sign you out of websites, including Google services. Your Google Account itself isn’t deleted. Saved passwords aren’t removed unless you separately choose to delete them.

What happens when you clear cookies

Most of the time, nothing dramatic happens. Your phone still works, and you can visit the same websites. The difference is that some sites won’t remember you right away.

You may need to sign in again. Your shopping cart might be empty. A site may ask for your language or cookie choice again. If you clear the cache too, some pages can take a little longer to open the first time.

People often clear these three things together, but they do different jobs:

Data	What it is	What happens when you clear it	When it’s useful
Cookies	Small files that help sites remember you	You may be signed out; site choices may reset	A login keeps failing, or you want fewer saved site details
Cache	Saved images and pieces of web pages	Pages download fresh copies and may load slower at first	A page looks broken or shows old content
History	A list of pages you visited	Those visits disappear from the browser’s history list	You don’t want older visits showing on your device

Should you clear cookies on your iPhone? You don’t need to do it every day. Try it when a website breaks, when you’re troubleshooting a login, or when you want to remove saved website information.

Cookies or cache: which is better to clear? If a page looks wrong, try clearing the cache. If a website keeps signing you into the wrong account or remembering an old choice, clearing its cookies can help. On Safari, Remove All Website Data clears both while keeping your history.

If you’re giving your phone to someone for a while, clearing cookies helps protect some saved sign-ins. But if you’re selling it, clearing cookies is not enough. You’ll also need to remove your accounts and erase the phone properly.

How to enable (or block) cookies on iPhone

If websites keep telling you to enable cookies, check Safari’s cookie setting. Blocking all cookies can stop sign-ins and even break some page features.

To allow cookies on iPhone in Safari:

Open Settings.
Tap Apps.
Select Safari.
Tap Advanced.
Find Block All Cookies.
Turn Block All Cookies off.

To block all cookies instead, turn the switch on and confirm Block All. Apple says this removes existing cookies and site data, then reloads your Safari tabs.

Don’t worry if you’re allowing cookies but still see fewer ads following you around. Safari already blocks third-party cookies—cookies placed by companies other than the site you’re visiting—by default. Apple’s WebKit team added full third-party cookie blocking in March 2020.

Chrome on iPhone has different cookie controls from Safari. Google’s iPhone help confirms the steps for deleting cookies, but it doesn’t give the same Block All Cookies switch used by Safari. Don’t look for the Safari switch inside Chrome. Check Chrome’s own Settings if a website won’t work.

Another option is to browse without keeping a normal cookie session using a private tab. Remember, private browsing doesn’t delete cookies saved in your regular tabs.

How to stop tracking on your iPhone

Clearing cookies removes saved website data, but it doesn’t stop every kind of tracking. Websites may still recognize an account you sign into. Apps can also ask to follow your activity across other apps and sites.

You can make a few useful changes without installing anything.

Limit tracking between websites in Safari

Open Settings.
Tap Apps.
Tap Safari.
Turn Prevent Cross-Site Tracking on.

This helps stop companies from following you between different websites through common tracking tools.

Stop apps from asking to track you

Open Settings.
Tap Privacy & Security.
Tap Tracking.
Turn Allow Apps to Request to Track off.

Apple explains that apps asking while this is off are treated as if you refused permission. You can also change the setting for each app in the same list.

Check Safari’s IP protection. Go to Settings → Apps → Safari → Hide IP Address. Apple says Safari can hide your IP address from known trackers. Eligible people using iCloud+ can also get protection from websites through iCloud Private Relay. What you can choose depends on your setup.

An IP address is the network address websites use to send information back to you. Deleting cookies doesn’t change it. If you want to change the IP websites see, you can use a VPN to hide your IP, though a VPN won’t stop tracking through accounts you log into. You can also look at a privacy-focused VPN.

And check your location permissions under Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services. You can review which apps can use your location and turn off access where it isn’t needed.

How to clear cookies on iPad

The steps on iPad are nearly the same. For Safari, open Settings → Apps → Safari → Clear History and Website Data. To keep history, go to Settings → Apps → Safari → Advanced → Website Data → Remove All Website Data.

In Chrome on iPad, open More → Delete Browsing Data, pick your time range, and choose Cookies, Site Data. As on iPhone, make sure you aren’t deleting passwords or history unless you want to. Older iPads may show Safari directly in Settings rather than under Apps.

Key points to remember

To remove cookies in Safari, use Settings → Apps → Safari. Choose Clear History and Website Data if you want to clear history too, or Advanced → Website Data to keep it. For Chrome, clear Cookies, Site Data from Delete Browsing Data and check the time range.

Clearing cookies can fix annoying websites and reset saved sign-ins, but it isn’t a privacy shield. If you also want to stop sites from seeing your usual IP, see how VPNs work or compare affordable VPNs.

Frequently asked questions

There’s no set schedule. Clear them when a site stops working, you want to reset a login, or you’d like to remove saved website data. You don’t need to keep clearing them just to use your phone normally.

No, not if you’re clearing just cookies. Safari says its history-clearing option doesn’t change AutoFill information. In Chrome, don’t select passwords or other data you want to keep. You may still need to sign in again.

Either Safari has no matching data to clear, or a Screen Time restriction may be blocking the action. Check your Screen Time web content settings if you know you’ve been browsing and the button still isn’t available.

Not completely. It removes saved browser information, but websites can use logins, your IP address, and other methods to recognize visits. Safari’s tracking settings and iPhone app permissions give you more control.

Yes. Clearing cookies doesn’t erase your photos, contacts, or apps. Just be ready to sign back into some websites and set a few site preferences again.