What are tracking cookies?

A plain-English guide to what tracking cookies are, which companies plant them, and how to clear them from every major browser.

Cookies — the basics

A cookie is a small text file a website saves in your browser. Not all cookies are bad. Some are essential — they keep you logged in, remember your shopping cart, or save your language preference. These are called functional cookies.

Tracking cookies are different. They are placed by advertising networks, analytics companies, and social media platforms — often on sites you’ve never directly visited. Their job is to follow you across the web, build a profile of your interests, and serve you targeted ads.

How they follow you

1

You visit a news site

The site loads a Facebook "Like" button or a Google ad. Even if you never click them, your browser contacts Facebook's and Google's servers to load those elements.

2

A cookie is planted

Facebook and Google's servers respond by setting a cookie in your browser — one that identifies you uniquely across any site that loads their code.

3

You browse elsewhere

Every other site that loads Facebook or Google scripts reads that same cookie. They now know you visited the news site, the shopping site, and anything else in between.

4

A profile is built

Over weeks and months your browsing habits, interests, location, and even political views are inferred and sold to advertisers.

Common tracking cookies

These are some of the most widely planted tracking cookies on the web.

Cookie nameCompanyWhat it does
_gaGoogle AnalyticsTracks your visits and behaviour across sites · 2 years
_gidGoogle AnalyticsIdentifies your browser session · 24 hours
_fbpFacebook / MetaTracks you across sites for Facebook ads · 90 days
_fbcFacebook / MetaStores the Facebook click ID from an ad · 90 days
frFacebook / MetaDelivers and measures targeted ads · 90 days
_ttpTikTokTracks conversions and ad performance · 1 year
IDEGoogle DoubleClickUsed for targeted advertising across the web · 1 year
NIDGoogleStores preferences and tracks Google ad activity · 6 months
__utmzGoogle Analytics (old)Records where your visit came from · 6 months
bcookieLinkedInBrowser identification for LinkedIn analytics · 2 years

How to clear tracking cookies

Step-by-step instructions for every major browser. Clearing cookies logs you out of most sites — you’ll need to sign back in afterwards.

🌐

Chrome

  1. 1.Open Chrome and click the three-dot menu (⋮) in the top right
  2. 2.Go to Settings → Privacy and security → Clear browsing data
  3. 3.Select "All time" from the time range dropdown
  4. 4.Check "Cookies and other site data"
  5. 5.Click "Clear data"

💡 You can also press Ctrl+Shift+Delete (Windows) or Cmd+Shift+Delete (Mac) to open this directly.

🦊

Firefox

  1. 1.Open Firefox and click the menu button (≡) in the top right
  2. 2.Go to Settings → Privacy & Security
  3. 3.Scroll to "Cookies and Site Data" and click "Clear Data…"
  4. 4.Check "Cookies and Site Data"
  5. 5.Click "Clear"

💡 Firefox also has Enhanced Tracking Protection — check that it's set to "Standard" or "Strict" for ongoing protection.

🧭

Safari

  1. 1.Open Safari and click "Safari" in the menu bar
  2. 2.Go to Settings (or Preferences) → Privacy
  3. 3.Click "Manage Website Data…"
  4. 4.Click "Remove All" to clear all cookies
  5. 5.Confirm by clicking "Remove Now"

💡 Safari's Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) already blocks many tracking cookies automatically.

🔷

Edge

  1. 1.Open Edge and click the three-dot menu (…) in the top right
  2. 2.Go to Settings → Privacy, search, and services
  3. 3.Under "Clear browsing data", click "Choose what to clear"
  4. 4.Select "All time" and check "Cookies and other site data"
  5. 5.Click "Clear now"

💡 Edge's Tracking prevention (under Privacy, search, and services) can be set to "Balanced" or "Strict" for ongoing blocking.

📱

Chrome (Android)

  1. 1.Open Chrome and tap the three-dot menu
  2. 2.Go to Settings → Privacy and security → Clear browsing data
  3. 3.Select "All time", check "Cookies and site data"
  4. 4.Tap "Clear data"
🍎

Safari (iPhone / iPad)

  1. 1.Open the Settings app on your device
  2. 2.Scroll down and tap "Safari"
  3. 3.Tap "Clear History and Website Data"
  4. 4.Confirm by tapping "Clear History and Data"

💡 This clears your browsing history too. To keep history but clear only cookies, use Safari → Settings → Advanced → Website Data → Remove All Website Data.

Ongoing protection

Clearing cookies is a one-time fix. For ongoing protection consider:

  • →A privacy-focused browser like Firefox or Brave with built-in tracking protection
  • →The uBlock Origin browser extension — free, open source, blocks most trackers
  • →A VPN to prevent your ISP from seeing which sites you visit
  • →Privacy Badger by the EFF — learns and blocks tracking automatically
  • →Using a privacy-respecting search engine like DuckDuckGo or Brave Search

Our promise

CheckMiIP sets no cookies, uses no analytics scripts, embeds no social media buttons, and stores no personal information. You can verify this yourself using our cookie checker.