10 Privacy Tips for Managing Browser Cookies Everyone Should Know

Do you accept or decline the cookie request? Browser cookies remember more than just your login credentials: they can track your browsing history across different websites, show you targeted ads, or even hijack your active browser session to log in to your accounts without a password. On the other hand, if you don’t click “Accept” when you see a cookie notification banner, it can impact your browsing experience—many websites require cookies to function properly.

Fortunately, cookie management is no longer a simple binary choice. You can choose which cookies to accept on a website, set cookies to automatically delete after a set period of time, or even switch browser profiles to control which cookies remain active during a session.

Enable device-specific session credentials in Chrome.

When an attacker steals your session cookies, they can bypass password or multifactor authentication requirements and immediately access your accounts. Websites think you’re accessing an account you’re already logged into, so they don’t ask for your credentials again.

DBSC (or Device Bound Session Credentials) is a Chrome feature that limits session cookies to the current physical device. This establishes a hardware boundary to prevent hackers from reusing your session cookies on another device. DBSC is enabled by default in Chrome, but requires version 146 or higher and TPM enabled in Windows.

Install the official Multi-Account Containers add-on for Firefox.

Completely blocking all third-party cookies will often prevent embedded content from loading, but if you don’t, cookies from different websites can aggregate your entire browsing history for targeted advertising.

Total Cookie Protection is a standard Firefox feature that creates a separate cookie container for each domain, so third-party cookies remain active but can’t track you after you leave that website. This is great, except when you’re trying to stay logged into multiple accounts on the same domain, such as multiple Gmail accounts. Firefox doesn’t create separate cookie containers for different accounts on the same domain, so third-party cookies can track you from one account to another.

That’s why you should install Multi-Account Containers . This official Firefox extension allows you to separate cookies not only by domain name, but also by creating different container tabs, each representing a separate browser activity, such as “Personal,” “Work,” or “Shopping.” Each container gets its own cookie storage, which doesn’t interfere with the others. This can be combined with Total Cookie Protection for even greater privacy protection.

Learn about the different privacy settings in Safari.

ITP, ATFP, and AFP are three interconnected cookie management systems that work together to protect your Safari browser activity from trackers and cookies. You should know which one does what so you can enable the features that best suit your needs.

• Intelligent Tracking Protection (ITP) is a default tracking protection mechanism built into Safari since 2017. It causes cookies set by scripts to expire after seven days, and all site-specific data to be deleted after 30 days of inactivity.

• Advanced Tracking and Fingerprinting Protection (ATFP) is an optional feature that adds another layer of security protocols on top of ITP to block domains and remove link trackers.

• Enhanced Fingerprint Protection (AFP) is a new Safari feature that prevents websites from identifying your device using high-entropy APIs that extract data such as screen size, technical specifications, audio data, canvas rendering, and more.

You can adjust privacy settings in Safari by going to Settings > Apps > Safari > Advanced on your iPhone or Mac.

Automatically delete cookies when closing tabs.

Most people aren’t used to clearing cookies manually, although it’s certainly necessary. Fortunately, there are browser extensions that can automatically delete all cookies from a website when you close the browser tab, unless you’ve specifically whitelisted that website.

The Cookie AutoDelete extension for Firefox is the original extension that introduced this feature. However, for Chrome, Opera, Edge, and other Chromium-based browsers, you’ll need a newer extension, such as Cookie Guardian . Safari doesn’t have a similar extension, but it defaults to automatically deleting cookies after seven days, so you don’t have to worry about it as much.

Delete cookies individually to customize your website experience.

Sometimes you need to delete specific tracking cookies without deleting your entire website session. The open-source Cookie-Editor extension, available for all major browsers, allows you to do just that. While it’s primarily designed for developers to troubleshoot web applications, you can also use it to manage your privacy while browsing the internet.

However, Cookie Editor does not support rule-based automation, and cookies must be manually deleted each time you visit, so consider this more of a last resort for removing persistent tracking cookies rather than a tool you’ll use on a regular basis.

Save cookie profiles to avoid having to log in and out each time.

Did you know you can save a snapshot of all active cookies in your browser, delete them, and then restore the latest snapshot at any time using special extensions? Instead of manually logging in to your accounts every time you clear your cookie storage, you can create a cookie profile that will instantly log you back in after deleting your browsing history.

The Cookie Editor in Chromium-based browsers (not to be confused with the open-source Cookie-Editor) allows you to create cookie snapshots for each website and restore them with a single click. In Firefox, similar functionality is available with Cookie Quick Manager . Safari doesn’t yet have extensions that support cookie profiles, but it does allow you to export and import cookies in JSON format, which is pretty close.

Create temporary cookie permissions for each site.

Instead of allowing third-party cookies on every website, you can create temporary exceptions on a site-by-site basis for those websites that need to have cookies enabled.

In Chrome , you can do this by clicking the eye icon next to the address bar and then changing the “Third-party cookies blocked” setting to “Third-party cookies allowed.” This will grant the website an exception that will, by default, last for 90 days unless you manually disable it.

In Firefox, you can click the shield icon in the address bar and disable Enhanced Tracking Protection . Your page will now reload with trackers and cookies enabled. Tracking Protection won’t be used again until you manually enable it. If you visit a website occasionally and need full functionality every time, but aren’t sure the site will provide all cookie exceptions year-round, this may be a good compromise.

Regularly cancel active sessions on your device.

Passwords protect your login credentials, but not accounts you’ve logged into through a web browser. If you’ve already logged into an app or website through your browser, it generates session cookies that remain active until you close the browser. If an attacker gains access to these session cookies through malware or phishing, they can freely access your accounts as long as your current browser session remains active.

You can revoke your session cookies after finishing using an app or website by simply logging out of your account on that device. However, if you want to log out of all sessions on other devices, Google, Microsoft, Meta, and all other major online platforms allow you to revoke active sessions associated with your account, either on a per-device basis or across all devices.

This even works on third-party apps or websites that use single sign-on, which allows you to sign in with your Google or Microsoft account without entering a username and password.

Implement network-level blocking using DNS filters.

Not all browsers support extensions for managing cookies on every device. If you want to block tracking cookies before they reach your browser, you can use network tools that block cookie requests directly from your router. Pi-hole is a self-hosted application that runs on a remote server or virtual machine. Once installed, you can configure any router to route all internet traffic through your Pi-hole server by changing some DNS settings.

This will block cookie requests from any known advertising or tracking domains to your connected devices, effectively preventing tracking cookies from being generated. If installing Pi-hole yourself seems complicated, you can also try the cloud-based alternative NextDNS.

Before performing any clearing operations, please make sure to back up your cookies.

After clicking “Clear Browsing Data,” your browser will permanently delete all your cookies from your device’s memory, making them impossible to recover. If you want to avoid re-authentication on certain websites, you can back up your cookie storage before clearing it by exporting it to a CSV or JSON file. You can use the previously mentioned Cookie-Editor extension to export cookie storage in Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, and other popular web browsers. Other extensions, such as EditThisCookie and Cookies.txt, offer the same functionality.

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