What are browser cookies, and how do you manage them?
A cookie is a small piece of data a website asks your browser to save. Your browser sends it back when you return, so the site can remember things like your login, the contents of a shopping cart, or a preference you chose. Cookies can also be used to recognize your browser across visits.
Which cookies are on your device?
First-party cookies come from the site you’re visiting. Third-party cookies come from another site whose content appears there, such as an ad or embedded widget. Either kind can be used for different purposes; who set a cookie alone doesn’t tell you whether it needs consent. A shopping-cart cookie may be strictly necessary. An advertising cookie isn’t.
Your browser’s privacy settings let you see which sites have saved cookies and other site data. If you want to check what a website sets before you agree to anything, follow our 15-minute cookie audit.
How to view, delete, or block cookies
Each browser puts these controls in a slightly different place. Use the browser maker’s instructions for the current steps:
- Chrome: delete, allow, and manage cookies
- Firefox: clear cookies and site data
- Safari on Mac: manage website data
- Microsoft Edge: view, allow, block, and delete cookies
You can usually remove data for just one website instead of clearing everything. Deleting cookies may sign you out or erase saved preferences. Blocking all cookies can break logins, shopping carts, and other features; blocking third-party cookies is a narrower choice.
Browser settings aren’t the same as a site’s cookie choice
If a site has a Cookie settings link, use it to change the choices you made on that site. Browser controls can stop or erase storage, but they don’t necessarily withdraw a consent record or stop other ways a company processes data. Clearing a site’s cookies may also make its consent banner appear again.
These settings are specific to the browser and device you changed. Repeat them on any other browser or device you use. If you want to send a browser-level request not to sell or share your data, read about Global Privacy Control; it is separate from blocking cookies.