iOS Safari cookies reappear after deleting repeatedly

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

It’s not the security issue, it’s cookie removal that’s not staying removed. I routinely remove cookies because I do not want to be tracked (traffic is also often routed through nodes that add cookies for advertising purposes) by random sources. I’ll allow cookies for sites I do business with but not for one I simply visited once but will never return again. Many cookies are also third party, outside of websites, for advertising tracking.

In the advanced window in Safari settings, we have the option to remove cookies individually which I’ve used for years now but recently, many keep reappearing even before I relaunch Safari. That is the issue. Why does the cookie reappear after being deleted? How do I delete it permanently? That’s the sole issue to which I’m seeking an answer.

I also use the DuckDuckGo browser which is better for privacy since it blocks all trackers and allows for complete cookie removal but Safari is often a better browser experience for me.

Thanks again for offering what help you could. Without people like you, there would be no community!

As suspected, the phone does need to be connected to a desktop and a backup made. After that’s done, we can launch Terminal and use the command line to search out Evercookie/super cookie databases stored in the backup and eliminate them. We then wipe the phone and reinstall the modified backup. Detailed instructions were found at intrepiduniverse.com:

https://www.intrepiduniverse.com/projects/evercookie-cleaning-algo.html

After clearing these cookies, it’s imperative to practice better internet “hygiene” by using the “privacy” mode in Safari or third party privacy browsers like Brave and DuckDuckGo when possible. For sites, like banking, that require proven identities, privacy browsers could be a hassle but I believe you can “whitelist” certain sites. Also, we can use privacy browsing for random searches and regular Safari when conducting business at known sites.

The above deletion method is best used by intermediate to advanced users who are familiar enough with using Terminal to follow the instructions included in the link. However, I’d love to see an app or setting in iOS that can do this for users of all levels and will be using the Apple suggestion site to share this discussion, especially since they’ve been recently touting their commitment to “privacy”.

Good luck everyone!

I’ve since learned that this type of cookie is called “Evercookie”. From Wikipedia:

“Evercookie (also known as supercookie) is a JavaScript application programming interface (API)that identifies and reproduces intentionally deleted cookies on the clients' browser storage. It was created by Samy Kamkar in 2010 to demonstrate the possible infiltration from the websites that use respawning. Websites that have adopted this mechanism can identify users even if they attempt to delete the previously stored cookies.

“In 2013, Edward Snowden leaked a top-secret NSAdocument that showed Evercookie can track Tor(anonymity networks) users. Many popular companies use functionality similar to Evercookie to collect user information and track users.

“There are three commonly used data storages, including HTTP cookies, flash cookies, HTML5 Storage, and others. When the user visits a website for the first time, the web server may generate a unique identifier and store it on the user's browser or local space…Due to privacy concerns, all major browsers include mechanisms for deleting and/or refusing cookies from websites. In response to the users' increased unwillingness to accept cookies, many websites employ methods to circumvent users' deletion of cookies. Started from 2009, many research teams found popular websites used flash cookies, ETags, and various other data storage to rebuild the deleted cookies by users, including hulu.com, foxnews.com, spotify.com, etc. In 2010, Samy Kamkar, a Californian programmer, built an Evercookie project to further illustrate the tracking mechanism with respawning across various storage mechanisms on browsers.“

These are insidious and have been building up in my phone to where I now have many dozens that can’t be removed, including .ru domains even though I’ve never knowingly actually visited domains based in Russia. Despite Apple’s declaration of privacy, it’s “delete” process in the advanced settings of Safari is utterly useless against these “supercookies”.

Does no one really not care about these or know some method for permanent removal in iOS? There does seem to be methods for Mac OS.

Thank you for taking time to reply and share your perspective. I realize many, especially younger users, are fine with sharing data but I’ve always been a bit paranoid (probably a personality trait) and don’t use social media. There is a big privacy movement out there that actually resulted in recent changes in some EU laws because it’s a short step from being tracked by Hulu or Fox News to being tracked by criminal entities or governments with nefarious intentions.

That said, I always research my questions before coming to Discussions as a last resort but for this question, I didn’t know the name of this type of cookie which is why I found no answers. Now that I know it as “Evercookie”, I’ve found many sites addressing it. I will create a separate post with the deletion method I found, so it can be quickly accessed without all the commentary for future seekers.

Thanks again to both of you and have a great day!

I’m in my late 50s and been an Apple fan since the SE30 in 1989. I’ll eventually install iOS 15 but am still using an iPhone 6s Plus with 128GB which, to me, was the pinnacle of that form factor generation and continues to give fabulous rock-solid service. Once a device ages, I begin to exercise caution in system upgrades to give time in the wild for bugs to be addressed and reports on system performance of older devices. The ram in 6s Plus continues to enable it to receive upgrades without too many problems and it’s been reported to manage 15 well.

Take care!

“… it is just a sad effort by people who worship money. Oh, and I despise social media.”

Hear, hear!

My privacy obsession, along with living a frugal lifestyle (which is why I carefully research and select an item, like my 6s Plus, and use it for years until it can no longer function) is my own little rebellion against The System. May not do much to change things, but it does make me feel a bit less at the mercy of it all.

I enjoyed conversing with you, take care!