How to use Safari’s tools to protect your privacy while browsing

If you’re a Mac user, then you have a copy of Safari on your computer — it’s the default browser for macOS. If you do use it, you’ll be happy to learn that, like other major browsers, Safari has been provided with a number of safeguards to enhance user privacy. Tracking is a major threat to online privacy, and there are several different methods for tracking users, from first-party cookies (usually used to store your preferences) to third-party tracking cookies (which gather information about your online activity). There’s also fingerprinting, which involves collecting details about your system’s configuration to build an identifiable fingerprint used to track you across the web.

Below, we walk you through how to adjust your settings on Safari, as well as how to delete cookies yourself. We also explain Safari’s anti-fingerprinting methods. Safari employs a feature called Intelligent Tracking Prevention which uses machine learning to determine which websites can track you across the internet. The browser will block and delete third-party trackers from sites you haven’t visited over the last 30 days.

If they come from sites you do visit frequently, Safari will allow them to function as third-party cookies for 24 hours. After that, they are partitioned off so they can’t track you across the web, but can keep you logged in. If you don’t visit that site for another 30 days, they are deleted. This feature is on by default, but you can turn it off: Unfortunately, Safari is one of the few browsers that will not delete cookies automatically upon exit — you have to do it manually.

You can delete your browsing history by going to “Safari” > “Preferences” > “General” and looking for the drop-down “Remove history items” menu. You can’t delete your history on exit, but you can remove it after a day (or a week, a month, or several other time periods). According to Apple, Safari offers several features to stop fingerprinting. To begin with, according to a PDF overview, the browser “presents a simplified version of the system configuration to trackers so more devices look identical, making it harder to single one out.

” In addition, Apple adds, it doesn’t “add any custom tracking headers or unique identifiers to web requests. ” Safari does not block ads natively, but you can add blocker apps via extensions. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links.