Safari in iOS 11: Enabling Cross-Site Tracking Prevention to Protect Your Privacy

Wednesday September 20, 2017 4:34 PM PDT by Juli Clover
Safari in iOS 11 introduces a new tracking prevention feature that's meant to protect your privacy and make it harder for companies to track your browsing habits across multiple websites.

Disabling Cross-Site Tracking isn't going to cut down on the number of ads that you see, but it will make it harder for advertisers to gather data about what you've been browsing to deliver targeted ads. Here's how to enable it:

  1. Open the Settings app.

  2. Scroll down to Safari and tap it.

  3. Scroll down to "Prevent Cross-Site Tracking."

  4. Toggle it on so it's green.


This section of the Settings app also includes other Safari settings that are worth turning on if you haven't done so already, including "Ask Websites Not to Track Me," "Block Pop-ups," and "Fraudulent Website Warning." You can also restrict website access to cookies, the camera and microphone, and Apple Pay.

Related Roundup: iOS 11
Tag: Safari
18 comments


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dannyyankou
8 months ago
I appreciate Macrumors for putting this info out. 9to5mac tried defending cross-site tracking, probably because they benefit from it.
Rating: 9 Votes
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colbertnation
8 months ago
I dislike a lot of things about Tim Cook's Apple, but their adherence to privacy is definitely appreciated!

Biggest drawback that is preventing me from switching to Android anytime soon is their lack of privacy and monetizing customer data.
Rating: 5 Votes
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BlazednSleepy
8 months ago
Looks like it was enabled for me by default. You can cry and complain about "Tims" apple, but one things for sure, Apple is clearly a leader in respecting and protecting our privacy. No other giant corporation that I can think has made this more clear.
Rating: 5 Votes
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iapplelove
8 months ago
Mine was already toggled to on.
Rating: 3 Votes
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gixxerfool
8 months ago
This is such a welcomed feature. It’s crazy how these ads follow me all over.
Rating: 2 Votes
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gixxerfool
8 months ago

I know I’m going against the grain here, but if we’re going to see ads anyway, I’d rather see ads about things that interest me or items that I’ve been shopping for lately. Isn’t that far better than seeing generic “Lose Your Belly Fat Using This 1 Weird Trick” garbage ads?!


I see your point. My problem is when gift shopping it seems to hang on those items and I have my wife or daughter shoulder riding it has almost been an issue.
Rating: 2 Votes
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ArtOfWarfare
8 months ago
Can we get a guide to the new Podcasts app? Namely I just want to know about the queue. Where is the queue? How do I know what’s in the queue? How do I rearrange things in the queue? How persistent is the queue?
Rating: 1 Votes
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zzLZHzz
8 months ago
it seem to be on by default.
Rating: 1 Votes
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kdarling
8 months ago

Does this replace the option to block 3rd party cookies? I don’t see that option anywhere since upgrading...


Good question. Basically it's the same thing as blocking third party cookies, but with time delays. The way it works is this:

- When you get a third party cookie, it's good all over the place for 24 hours. That means yes, visiting other websites will transfer your latest search info etc. No different than now. So for at least a day, you'll continue to get targeted ads based on that particular cookie.

- After 24 hours of not visiting its origin site, Safari tries to intelligently use the cookie. That is, it will only present it if it thinks it's being used for cross site logins, like using your Google or Facebook login across websites.

- After 30 days of not visiting its origin site, Safari deletes the third party cookie.

Of course, if you've used that site again in the meantime, the time limits start over. And there's nothing to prevent another site in the first 24 hours from copying the info and setting its own cookie, as far as I can see.

ref: https://gizmodo.com/heres-how-safari-will-keep-ads-from-stalking-you-around-1795835678
Rating: 1 Votes
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definitive
8 months ago

I appreciate Macrumors for putting this info out. 9to5mac tried defending cross-site tracking, probably because they benefit from it.


I stopped going to 9to5's site a long time ago. The main reasons were the large amount of affiliate marketing spam, peddling their own small projects, and the way they presented the articles.

They are upfront about the affiliate marketing though, so I'm sure disabling tracking, cookies, ads, etc. makes them lose money, which is their site's main purpose.
Rating: 1 Votes
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