Many Safari users have recently experienced that their cookie preferences are no longer remembered in regular browser mode. Even when you’re not browsing in Private mode, Safari periodically asks for cookie consent again, which can be very frustrating.
Apple has adjusted the privacy surrounding cookies with recent updates to macOS and Safari. The Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) is stricter, meaning that cookies are deleted more quickly or are no longer stored. What’s going on and how do you solve it?
Cookies in Safari
Cookies in Safari are small files that a website stores on your device to store information. They help websites remember who you are, for example so that you remain logged in, the contents of a shopping cart are saved, or your preferences such as language settings are saved. This makes a website work easier and faster for you.
Cookies are useful because they enable a personal and user-friendly experience on the internet, for example by not having to log in every time. In addition, functional cookies also help websites function properly. There are also analytical cookies that collect information about how you use the site, which helps web administrators to improve the site.
At the same time, cookies also pose privacy challenges. For example, tracking cookies can follow your surfing behavior for targeted advertising. Safari therefore has strict privacy measures that delete some cookies more quickly to protect your privacy, which can sometimes mean that cookie preferences are remembered for less time than before.
New privacy measures in macOS and Safari
With the recent updates to macOS and Safari, Apple has further tightened the privacy surrounding cookies. In particular, the Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) is becoming stricter, meaning that cookies are deleted more quickly or are no longer stored at all. This means that websites ‘forget’ your cookie preferences more quickly and you are therefore asked for permission again and again.
One notable change is that Safari now automatically deletes certain cookies after 24 hours, even if you’re not in Private Browsing. This is part of Apple’s commitment to protecting your privacy, but the side effect is that cookie preferences are remembered for a shorter period of time.
It seems that preferences are stored less well under macOS and cookies are sometimes incorrectly deleted after 24 hours. iOS and iPadOS do not have this problem, while they offer the same protection.
Solve remembering cookie preferences
Since Safari 26, part of macOS Tahoe, cookies are sometimes automatically deleted after 24 hours by Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP), even without private browsing. This cannot be disabled, but is a privacy measure imposed by Apple. Although these measures are mainly related to privacy, there are a few things you can try to minimize the problem as much as possible.
- Check that you haven’t accidentally turned on ‘Block all cookies’: Go to Safari ▸ Menu bar ▸ Safari ▸ Settings ▸ Privacy ▸ Advanced, and make sure this option is turned off.
- Check whether you are not in private mode are surfing, click on ‘Archive’ in the menu bar and choose ‘New window’ instead of ‘New private window’.
- Temporarily disable extensions that affect privacy, cookie management or ad blockers to see if they are causing the behavior.
Delete and reset cookies
Do you continue to experience problems? You may then have to reset the website data and cookies for certain websites. This can help with automatic deletion after 24 hours.
- Open Safari
- Go to the menu bar and click on ‘Safari’
- Select ‘Settings’
- Open the ‘Privacy’ tab
- Click on ‘Manage website data’
A list of websites visited and saved cookies and website data opens. Search for the website you want to restore and select it from the list. Then click delete. Restart Safari, visit the website again and set your cookie preferences. You can also delete all website data with the ‘Delete all’ button; you then start with a clean slate.