8 Safari Browser Settings You Should Change Right Away

Automatically Close Your Old Tabs

If you browse the web on your iPhone a lot, you're probably guilty of having way too many open tabs that you think you might need, but you never visit. Don't worry; we've all been there.

If you don't want to go through the hassle of closing them for yourself, you can make your iPhone close each tab for you after a certain time. Just follow these steps:

1. Open the Settings app. 
2. Scroll down and select Safari.
3. Under tabs, tap on Close Tabs.
4. Chose whether you want your iPhone to close your tabs after one day, week, or month. 

It's worth mentioning that this can only be changed on iPhone, and if you're on Mac, you'll need to do it for yourself.

Choose Your Favorite Search Engine

Not everyone likes Google. Since it's really easy for the company to create a digital profile based on your online activity, some people have started using other search engines that care about your privacy. 

The best part is that you can instantly change your favorite browser from the Safari settings like this.

How to change search engine on Safari for Mac:

1. Open the Safari app.
2. Click on Safari in the top left.
3. Select Preferences.
4. Go to the Search tab.
5. On Search engine, select the search engine you want to use. 

How to change search engine on Safari for iPhone:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Scroll down and select Safari.
3. Under Search, tap Search Engine.
4. Tap on the search engine you want to use. 

Hide Your IP Address

Companies and people online can use your IP address to find more information about you, like your current location. Fortunately, Safari helps you hide it from trackers and websites. Granted, this doesn't work as well as using a VPN service, but it's still a quick, easy, and affordable way to protect yourself and your location.

How to hide your IP address on Safari for Mac:

1. Open Safari.
2. Go to Safari in the top left corner of your screen.
3. Click on Preferences.
4. Select the Privacy tab.
5. Click on Hide IP address.
6. Choose where you want to hide it from just trackers or from trackers and websites.

How to hide your IP address on Safari for iPhone:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Go to Safari.
3. Scroll down and, under Privacy & Security tap on Hide IP Address.
4. Select From Trackers.

Fix Website Permissions

Website permissions are pretty self-explanatory, but this option lets you choose what your more-visited websites can access, including your location, camera, and microphone. For your own privacy and security, it's best to update website permissions like this:

How to Change Website Permissions on Safari for Mac:

1. Open Safari.
2. Click Safari in the top left corner of your screen.
3. Select Preferences.
4. Click on the Websites tab. 

How to Change website permissions on Safari for iPhone:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down and select Safari.
3. Scroll down again and go to Settings for Websites.

You'll be able to see all your permissions and disable them for websites you don't want to use. You can always go back and change these settings again when you need to.

Prevent Cross-Site Tracking

Many websites and platforms use third-party services that help track their users' online activity. The surprising part is that these third-party services can track your online activity even when you're using a different website. They can also track your Google search history and use that to show you ads you may be interested in. The good news is that Safari has a way to prevent this from happening. 

How to prevent cross-site tracking on Safari for Mac:

1. Open Safari.
2. Click on Safari in the top left corner of your screen.
3. Select Preferences.
4. Click on the Privacy tab.
5. Click on Prevent Cross-Site Tracking.

How to Prevent cross-site tracking on Safari for iPhone:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Scroll down and select Safari.
3. Scroll down again and, under Privacy and Security, toggle Cross-Site tracking off.

Get a Warning for Fraudulent Websites

Shady websites are a dime a dozen, so you need to be very careful with which websites you visit on your iPhone or Mac. In the best-case scenario, you'll only get a bunch of annoying ads. The worst-case scenario can lead to malware on your devices or someone stealing private information. 

Safari has a feature that'll warn you whenever you're about to visit a possibly fraudulent website. You won't get access to it until you say that you accept the risks. 

How to get a warning for fraudulent websites on Mac:

1. Open Safari.
2. Click Safari in the top left corner. 
3. Select Preferences.
4. Click on the Security tab at the top of the window.
5. Click Warn when visiting fraudulent websites to enable it.

How to get a warning for fraudulent websites on iPhone:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Scroll down and tap on Safari.
3. Scroll down again, and under Privacy & Security, toggle Fraudulent website warning on.

Turn Off Preload Top Hit

A cool Safari feature is that the browser will start loading the first search result whenever you search for something on Google. That way, you won't have to wait that long for it to change, and you can get to what you were looking for almost instantly. 

Of course, if you're using data, that means you're consuming data without you even knowing about it. Plus, you're also spending a bit more battery than you should. Fortunately, you can turn it off really easily.

How to disable preload top hit on Safari for Mac:

1. Open the Safari app.
2. Click on Safari in the top left corner of your screen.
3. Select Preferences.
4. Click on the Search tab.
5. Click on Preload Top Hit to disable it.

How to disable preload top hit on Safari for iPhone:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Go to Safari.
3. Under Search, toggle Preload Top Hit off.

Block Cookies

Cookies are an easy way for third-party services to track and remember your information for each website you visit. To be fair, cookies aren't all that bad since they can help improve your experience on any given website and remember your preferences automatically. 

Unfortunately, some websites might want to use this information to identify you and create a profile based on your information. However, Safari makes it easy to block all cookies from the get-go.

How to block all cookies on Safari for Mac:

1. Open Safari.
2. Click on Safari in the top left corner of your screen.
3. Click on Preferences.
4. Select the Privacy Tab.
5. Check Block all Cookies.

How to block all cookies on Safari for iPhone:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down and go to Safari.
3. Scroll down again and, under Privacy & Security, toggle Block all cookies on.