What's the difference between the Safari iOS cookie settings?
On mobile Safari there are 4 settings for cookies:
- Always block
- Allow from current website only
- Allow from websites I visit
- Always allow
#1 makes sense but I am unable to distinguish the 3 remaining options.
Other browsers have settings to allow all cookies (could be #3 or #4 above) or only from the current website (eg on example.com don't allow cookies from thirdparty.com; could be #2 or #3 above).
So what is the third behaviour? And which option is which?
The Safari for Mac Documentation has a good explanation of these settings. They apply to iOS Safari cookies settings, too.
- Always Block - Block all first-party cookies and block all third-party cookies.
- Allow from Current Website Only - Allow all first-party cookies and block all third-party cookies.
- Allow from Websites I Visit - Allow all first-party cookies and block all third-party cookies unless that third party was a first party at one time (based on current cookies and browsing history).
- Always Allow - Allow all first-party cookies and allow all third-party cookies.