How Do You Delete Cookies on an iPad

To delete cookies on an iPad, go to Settings, tap Safari, scroll down and tap Clear History and Website Data, then confirm the pop up. This removes cookies from every website you have visited in Safari, along with your browsing history and any cached files, all at the same time rather than one by one.

Cookies are small files websites save on your iPad to remember who you are, what is in your shopping basket, and whether you are logged in. Over time they build up, and a bloated or corrupted cookie is one of the most common causes of a website suddenly refusing to load properly, showing you logged out when you should not be, or looping endlessly on a login screen. This guide covers the full clear, a single site clear, and how the process differs if you use Chrome.

Clear All Cookies in Safari

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down and tap Safari.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the page and tap Clear History and Website Data.
4. Tap Clear History and Data on the confirmation pop up.

Note that this single option clears history and cookies together on an iPad. Unlike a desktop browser, Safari on iPad does not offer a way to clear cookies while leaving your browsing history untouched, so be aware you are removing both at once.

Delete Cookies for a Single Website Only

If you do not want to lose your entire browsing history just to fix one troublesome site, this targeted method is a better fit.

1. Open Settings, then tap Safari.
2. Tap Advanced.
3. Tap Website Data.
4. Type the name of the site into the search bar at the top, or scroll to find it manually.
5. Swipe left on the entry and tap Delete, or tap Edit in the top right to select several sites at once before deleting.

This clears that website’s stored cookies and login session specifically, which typically forces you to sign back in the next time you visit, but leaves every other site’s saved data untouched.

Clearing Cookies in Chrome on an iPad

If you browse primarily through the Chrome app rather than Safari, cookies are managed inside Chrome’s own settings instead.

1. Open Chrome and tap the three dot menu in the bottom right corner.
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap Privacy and Security.
4. Tap Clear Browsing Data.
5. Choose a time range, then make sure Cookies, Site Data is ticked. Untick History or Cached Images if you only want cookies removed.
6. Tap Clear Browsing Data to confirm.

Chrome gives you more granular control than Safari on iPad, since you can clear cookies while leaving history and cached images intact, or vice versa.

Managing Cookie Permissions Going Forward

Rather than clearing cookies repeatedly, you can control how Safari handles them by default.

1. Open Settings, then Safari.
2. Under the Privacy and Security section, you will see options including Prevent Cross Site Tracking, which is turned on by default and limits how advertisers track you across different websites using cookies.
3. Block All Cookies is also available here, though turning this on will break the login functionality of most websites, since many sites rely on cookies simply to keep you signed in, not just for tracking.

For most people, leaving Prevent Cross Site Tracking enabled while leaving Block All Cookies off gives a reasonable balance between privacy and a website actually working properly.

Cookies vs History: What Is the Difference

It is easy to assume clearing one automatically clears the other, but they store different things. History is a simple list of the web pages you visited and when. Cookies are small data files that remember your login state, site preferences, and shopping activity. If your goal is specifically to log out of every website and remove tracking data, cookies are what you actually need to target. If you only want to hide which pages you looked at, that is your browsing history instead. Our companion guide on how to clear iPad search history walks through that side in more detail, including the difference in Chrome versus Safari.

When Clearing Cookies Fixes a Broken Website

If a specific site is stuck loading an old version of a page, showing prices or a shopping basket that will not update, or refusing to remember that you are logged in, clearing that one site’s cookies through the Website Data screen resolves the issue far more often than restarting the app or the iPad itself, since the problem is usually a corrupted local file rather than anything wrong with your connection or the website’s servers.

Renting a Fresh, Pre-Configured iPad Instead

For business use, particularly shared devices at events or in classrooms, manually managing cookies and browsing data across multiple users adds up quickly. Our iPad rental UK service supplies devices that are wiped clean before every hire and reset again after, so nobody on your team has to think about cookies, history, or leftover login sessions from the last event.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I clear cookies without clearing my history on an iPad?

Not through Safari’s Settings menu, since Clear History and Website Data removes both together. Chrome does allow you to clear cookies specifically while leaving history intact, through its Clear Browsing Data screen.

Will clearing cookies log me out of everything?

Yes, clearing cookies signs you out of most websites and apps that use browser based logins, since the cookie is what keeps your session active. You will need to sign back in the next time you visit each site.

Do cookies slow down an iPad over time?

A large build up of cookies and cached data can occasionally cause a specific website to load slowly or behave oddly, though it has little effect on the overall performance of the iPad itself.

Is it safe to block all cookies on an iPad?

It is safe from a security standpoint, but many websites rely on cookies for basic functionality like staying logged in or remembering a shopping basket, so blocking all cookies often breaks those features rather than just improving privacy.

How often should I clear cookies on a shared iPad?

For a device used by multiple people, such as a family or shared work iPad, clearing cookies after each user session is a reasonable habit, since it prevents one person’s logins and site data carrying over to the next.