How to Reset Safari on Mac

To wipe Safari on your Mac, open Safari, go to Safari > Settings, choose Privacy > Manage Website Data, and click Remove All Website Data. Confirm to clear cache, cookies, and saved site info. Restart Safari to load pages with fresh settings and fix most speed or display problems for many users today on macOS systems easily.

What happens when you reset Safari?

When you reset Safari on a Mac, it clears browsing data, cookies, extension settings, and saved site info, then restarts with default preferences, giving you a clean, non-problematic browsing session.

A note from our experts: 

 

Manually deleting apps on Mac almost never finishes the job. You throw the app into Trash, but its launch agents, browser add-ons, helper tools, and cached data stay in Library folders and keep loading in the background.

 

As our tests show, those leftovers can slow Safari again right after you “reset” it, because the problematic extension or plugin is still present in the system. That is why we use Smart Uninstaller inside MacKeeper, not Finder. MacKeeper is a macOS utility software optimized for macOS, and it removes both the app and all of its related files in one session.

 

To use Smart Uninstaller:

1. Open MacKeeper and choose Smart Uninstaller in the left sidebar.
2. Click Start Scan to let the tool collect apps, browser extensions, plugins, and leftover files.
3. Review the categories and select the apps or Safari-related items that cause issues.
4. Click Remove Selected to delete them safely together with support files.

How to restore Safari to default settings on Mac?

To restore Safari to default settings on a Mac, open Safari and clear all history. Then go to Safari > Settings > Privacy and remove all website data to wipe cookies and cached files. Open the Extensions tab and disable or uninstall everything unnecessary. Finally, restart Safari so it starts with clean data and default behavior.

1. Clear Safari cache

Safari sometimes keeps outdated scripts, so to reset Safari to default settings Mac we start with the cache because it is the safest fix.

Do it like this:

1. Open Safari → Settings → Advanced.
2. Turn on Show features for web developers.
3. In the menu bar, pick Develop → Empty Caches.
4. Close Safari and open it again.

2. Delete Safari history

Old history can restore broken pages, so we clean it to force Safari to load everything fresh.

Follow these steps:

1. Open Safari.
2. Click History → Clear History….
3. Choose Show all history.
4. Press Clear History.
5. Reopen Safari to test.

3. Clean Safari cookies

Problematic cookies often block logins, so we remove them before we update Safari on a Mac or change settings.

Here is how we do it:

1. Go to Safari → Settings → Privacy.
2. Click Manage Website Data….
3. Press Remove All.
4. Restart Safari and sign in again.

4. Remove Safari extensions

Unstable add-ons are a common reason why Safari keeps quitting unexpectedly, so we disable them first.

Try this:

1. Open Safari → Settings → Extensions.
2. Uncheck everything you don’t use.
3. Click Uninstall for suspicious items.
4. Restart Safari and check if it stays open.

5. Disable plug-ins

Old Internet plug-ins can look like a Safari virus, so we switch them off to see if the issue goes away. Note that Safari has replaced traditional plug-ins with extensions, and support for old plug-ins like Flash is deprecated.

Although we can’t show the step-by-step process with screenshots, here’s what to do if you have an older version of Safari:

1. Open Safari → Settings → Security.
2. Untick Allow Internet plug-ins.
3. Reload the problematic site.
4. Keep it off unless you trust the page.

6. Reset Safari via Finder

If the browser still lags and you keep wondering why Safari is so slow, clear its saved state in Finder.

Use this method:

1. Open Finder.
2. Press Shift+Command+G.
3. Paste ~/Library/Saved Application State/com.apple.Safari.savedState.
4. Delete the contents.
5. Launch Safari again.

7. Wipe Safari via Terminal

We use Terminal only when other resets fail, because it removes data instantly.

Follow the steps carefully:

1. Quit Safari.
2. Open Terminal.
3. Run rm -Rf ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari.
4. Run rm -Rf ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Safari.plist.
5. Open Safari to generate clean files.

Conclusion

Resetting Safari on Mac comes down to clearing cache, history, cookies, extensions, and, if nothing helps, removing saved state folders. Doing it step by step shows exactly which part of the browser was causing slow pages, broken layouts, or startup crashes, so you do not wipe data blindly.

MacKeeper is a leading solution in Mac optimization and cybersecurity, and its Smart Uninstaller finishes the cleanup after you reset the browser. It finds leftover extensions, obsolete plug-ins, and support files that still load with Safari, removes them safely, and keeps performance stable, so your fix lasts longer on your Mac today.