Sometimes websites malfunction and the provider’s tech support or your own Google-fu recommends you delete cookies. If updating your web browser or restarting your device doesn’t help, this is a viable option, with one caveat: Don’t delete cookies for all websites.

As I discussed in Are You a Cookie Monster?, there are various types of cookies in the context of your web browser and some of them are generally helpful in making your web browsing experience more efficient.

However, suppose you are unable to log into your account on a website, add items to a shopping cart, or play a video. When core functions of a website don’t work, it may be helpful to delete cookies for the specific website.

The process to do so, where available, differs in each web browser on each device.

Client Notes

Last week, while on hold with Michael’s email provider tech support (in India), I figured out an alternative way to restore his Yahoo Business email account, which requires app-specific passwords to function in Apple Mail on his various devices.

I also completed a proper data migration to Stephanie’s new Mac after discovering that she had started using it with an underlying assumption that all her data would download from a cloud — which turned out to not be the case.

Plus, I coached June to reconnect her iPhone to her car stereo and discovered that Mail’s built-in junk filter may not be as reliable as server-based filters.

Mac Safari Delete Cookies for Specific Sites

Delete Cookies in Safari on Mac

  1. Go to Safari > Settings > Privacy
  2. Click Manage Website Data…
  3. Search for the domain name whose website is malfunctioning
  4. Select one or more entries in the list and click Remove, or click Remove All to delete all currently displayed entries

Mac Chrome Delete Cookies for Specific Sites

In Google Chrome on Mac

…or in any Chromium-based browser, such as Arc or Edge:

  1. Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Site Settings (the easiest way to get there is to enter chrome://settings/content in the address bar)
  2. Select View permissions and data stored across sites
  3. Search for the domain name whose website is malfunctioning
  4. Click the trash button next to each entry you want to delete, or click Delete displayed data to delete all currently shown. For domains with multiple subentries, click the disclosure caret to see and delete specific items.

Mac Firefox Delete Cookies for Specific Sites

In Firefox on Mac

  1. Go to Firefox > Settings > Privacy & Security
  2. In the Cookies and Site Data section, click Manage Data…
  3. Search for the domain name whose website is malfunctioning
  4. Select one or more entries in the list and click Remove Selected, or click Remove All Shown to delete all currently displayed entries
  5. Click Save Changes and click OK to confirm

iPad Firefox Data Management

Delete Cookies on iPhone/iPad

If you use Safari:

  1. Go to Settings > [Apps >] Safari > Advanced > Website Data
  2. Search for the domain whose website is malfunctioning
  3. Swipe left across an entry to delete it

In Firefox:

  1. Go to Settings > Data Management > Website Data
  2. Search for the domain whose website is malfunctioning
  3. Select one or more entries and tap Clear Items

Google Chrome on mobile devices does not have a method of selecting specific domains to delete cookies or other website data.

When you delete cookies and other data for a website, you are effectively resetting your view of the website to defaults. Another way to think about this is restarting, which is often the easiest way to restore a nonworking device, app, or function.