Cookies are tiny files that websites save in your browser to remember things like your login, your language, and what is in your shopping cart. Most of the time they are helpful. But when a site keeps logging you out, a page refuses to load properly, or you just want to cut down on tracking, clearing them often fixes it. The steps differ a little in each browser, and menu wording changes between versions, so treat the labels below as a close guide rather than an exact script.

If your problem is slow or broken pages rather than logins, you may actually want to clear the browser cache instead — that is a separate thing. And if you are unsure what these files even do, our plain-English explainer on what cookies are covers the basics.

Clear cookies in Google Chrome (computer and Android)

Chrome is the most-used browser, so start here if you are not sure which one you have. On a computer, a keyboard shortcut is the fastest way in.

  1. Open Chrome and press Ctrl+Shift+Delete on Windows, or Cmd+Shift+Delete on a Mac. This opens the “Delete browsing data” panel directly.
  2. At the top, choose a time range. Pick “All time” to remove everything, or a shorter window if you only want recent cookies gone.
  3. Tick the box for Cookies and other site data. Untick “Browsing history” and “Cached images and files” if you only want to touch cookies.
  4. Click Delete data and wait a moment for it to finish.

On an Android phone, tap the three-dot menu in the top right, go to Delete browsing data (under History or Settings depending on your version), tick Cookies and site data, choose a time range, and tap Delete data.

One thing worth knowing about Chrome: if you are signed in to a Google account and syncing turned on, clearing cookies on one device can sign you out across devices that share the same account. That is usually harmless, but it explains why your tablet or phone sometimes asks you to log in again after you have only touched your laptop.

Clear cookies in Safari on a Mac

Safari on macOS keeps cookies in its Settings window rather than behind a shortcut.

  1. Open Safari, then from the menu bar choose Safari > Settings (older versions call it Preferences).
  2. Click the Privacy tab.
  3. Click Manage Website Data. Safari lists every site that has stored cookies or data.
  4. Click Remove All to clear everything, then confirm. To clear just one site, see the single-site section further down.

If you would rather wipe history and cookies together, use History > Clear History from the menu bar and choose a time range.

Clear cookies in Safari on iPhone and iPad

This one trips people up: on an iPhone or iPad, you do not clear Safari cookies from inside the Safari app. You use the device Settings.

  1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
  2. Scroll down and tap Safari — the app’s own settings live here, not in the app.
  3. Tap Clear History and Website Data.
  4. Confirm when prompted. Note that on an iPhone this clears both history and cookies together; there is no cookies-only button in the standard menu.

If you use Chrome or another browser app on your iPhone instead of Safari, clear cookies inside that app’s own settings, because the Safari switch does not touch them.

Clear cookies in Mozilla Firefox

Firefox works much like Chrome, including the same keyboard shortcut.

  1. Open Firefox and press Ctrl+Shift+Delete (Windows) or Cmd+Shift+Delete (Mac) to open “Clear browsing data and cookies.”
  2. Choose a time range to clear from the dropdown.
  3. Tick Cookies (and “Site settings” if you also want to reset per-site permissions). Leave other boxes unticked to protect your history.
  4. Click Clear Now or Clear.

On Firefox for Android, tap the three-dot menu, open Settings, then Delete browsing data, tick Cookies, and confirm.

Clear cookies in Microsoft Edge

Edge is built on the same engine as Chrome, so the shortcut and layout feel familiar.

  1. Open Edge and press Ctrl+Shift+Delete (Windows) or Cmd+Shift+Delete (Mac).
  2. Set the Time range at the top of the panel.
  3. Tick Cookies and other site data, and untick anything you want to keep.
  4. Click Clear now.

You can also reach this through Settings > Privacy, search, and services > Clear browsing data if you prefer menus to shortcuts.

Clear cookies for one site instead of all of them

If only one website is misbehaving, there is no need to log out of everything. Every major browser lets you delete cookies for a single domain.

  1. In Chrome, go to Settings > Privacy and security > Third-party cookies > See all site data and permissions, search for the site, and click the trash-can icon next to it.
  2. In Firefox, open Settings > Privacy & Security, scroll to Cookies and Site Data > Manage Data, search for the site, select it, and choose Remove Selected.
  3. In Edge, go to Settings > Cookies and site permissions > Manage and delete cookies and site data > See all cookies and site data, find the site, and delete it.
  4. In Safari on Mac, use Settings > Privacy > Manage Website Data, search the site, select it, and click Remove.

A fast shortcut on any desktop browser: click the small icon on the left of the address bar while you are on the problem site, and look for a cookies or site-data option there.

Clearing one site is the right call surprisingly often. When a single shopping site, bank, or webmail page gets stuck in a loop, keeps showing an old error, or will not accept your login, its own cookie has usually gone stale. Removing just that site’s data forces a clean start there without the nuisance of logging back in to every other service you use. Reach for the all-cookies button only when several sites are misbehaving at once or when you are handing the computer to someone else.

What happens after you clear cookies

It helps to know what to expect, because clearing cookies has real side effects. This is normal and nothing has broken.

  1. You will be signed out of most websites and will need to log in again. Your saved passwords still work, so this is quick.
  2. Site preferences reset — things like chosen language, dark mode, and the cookie-consent banners you already dismissed will reappear.
  3. Items like a shopping cart or an unsaved form may be emptied if the site stored them in a cookie.
  4. Pages load normally; cookies do not hold page files, so you will not notice a speed change from this alone.

If none of that appeals but you still want a clean session, opening a private window is an alternative — see what incognito mode does for how that keeps a separate, temporary set of cookies.

Block third-party cookies to cut tracking

If your real goal is less tracking rather than fixing one site, blocking third-party cookies is a gentler, lasting option. These are the cookies set by advertisers and other sites embedded in the page you are visiting, and blocking them rarely breaks logins.

  1. In Chrome on a computer, go to Settings > Privacy and security > Third-party cookies and choose Block third-party cookies.
  2. In Chrome on Android, tap the three-dot menu, then Settings > Site settings > Third-party cookies, and select Block third-party cookies.
  3. In Firefox and Edge, the equivalent lives under the tracking-prevention or cookie-blocking settings in Privacy; choose the “strict” or “block third-party” option.
  4. On Safari for iPhone, go to Settings > Safari > Advanced; note that its “Block All Cookies” switch is aggressive and can break some sites, so use it with care.

Blocking first-party cookies as well tends to cause more headaches than it solves, so the third-party-only setting is the sweet spot for most people. If a specific site stops working afterward, you can allow cookies just for that one site in the same menu.

A last, honest point on versions: browsers are updated constantly, and the exact wording of these menus — “Delete browsing data” versus “Clear browsing data,” or where third-party controls sit — shifts every few releases. If a label here does not match your screen, do not worry. Look for the nearest equivalent under Privacy or Settings; the feature is almost always still there, just renamed or moved a level deeper.