Modern Web browsers offer profiles, a powerful but often overlooked feature. Whether you’re juggling work and personal browsing or managing multiple projects, browser profiles can make your digital life more organized and efficient.

Why Use Browser Profiles?

The overarching reason to use browser profiles is to make it easier to focus on one thing at a time. Imagine you’re working on a bathroom remodel at home while negotiating a new contract with an important client at work. You probably don’t want to be distracted by tabs showcasing countertop surfaces when you should be estimating client deliverable dates. That’s especially true if you use the same Web apps—Gmail, Google Docs, Slack, Trello—to manage both personal and professional projects.

By setting up separate browser profiles, you can keep your work and personal browsing completely separate. That includes different bookmarks, sets of tabs, and account logins for the same websites. When you open Google Docs in your personal profile, you will find sheets that track the timeline for your bathroom remodel in your personal account; switch to your work profile to view only documents in your work account.

Other common uses for browser profiles include separating clients—particularly when managing accounts for them—keeping research projects or hobbies distinct, and maintaining a clean browser environment for testing.

What’s Stored in a Browser Profile?

Each browser profile maintains its own distinct set of browsing data and settings. While specifics may vary slightly among browsers, options include:

• Bookmarks/favorites: Saved websites, possibly in hierarchical folders
• Browsing history: The chronological list of websites you have visited
• Saved passwords: Login credentials for websites if you rely on the browser rather than an independent password manager
• Extensions and their settings: Which browser extensions are installed and how they’re configured
• Cookies and site data: These store website preferences, login status, and site-specific information
• Stored forms and autofill data: Saved addresses, payment methods, and other form data
• Browser settings and preferences: Search engine preferences, home page and startup settings, theme and appearance options, and privacy and security settings
• Open tabs and windows: Including tab groups and recently closed tabs

When you switch between profiles, you get a completely fresh browser environment with its own set of everything listed above. You can log in to the same website using different accounts in various profiles, and your activity in one profile won’t impact or be visible in another.

Setting Up and Switching Between Profiles

Getting started with profiles is simple. Here’s how to create and switch between them in Safari (in macOS 14 Sonoma and later), Google Chrome, and Firefox. Before you get started, though, a few tips:

• Give profiles descriptive names and distinct colors so they’re easy to identify.
• Keep the number of profiles manageable because too many can become confusing.
• If you create profiles for clients or projects, periodically review and tidy up unused ones.
• Keep in mind that profiles are intended for organization and efficiency, not security—anyone with access to your Mac can switch to any profile.
• Chrome and Firefox profiles are stored on a particular computer—they won’t sync with another copy of those browsers on another computer.

Safari

Safari profiles share more data than those in Google Chrome and Firefox, and unlike the other two, Safari profiles automatically sync between devices. All bookmarks and saved passwords are accessible to all profiles, although you can choose a separate primary bookmark folder for each profile. Note that Safari stores its current settings in a permanent Personal profile that becomes visible only after you create a new one. To create a new profile in Safari:

1. Choose Safari > Settings > Profiles.
2. If this is your first new profile, click Start Using Profiles. Otherwise, click + to create a new profile.
3. Enter a name, and choose a symbol and color.
4. Select a folder within your bookmarks to hold the profile’s primary bookmarks.
5. Click Create Profile.
   
6. Choose how new windows and tabs open.
7. Click the Extensions tab, and select the extensions you want to use with the profile.

Every window in Safari is associated with a profile, so switching between them can be as simple as clicking another window or using the Window menu. At most, you have to open a new window for the desired profile:

• Choose File > New Profile Window. If you have three or more profiles, the command becomes File > New Window > New Profile Window.
• With the sidebar closed, click the profile button and choose New Profile Window to create a new window. When viewing the Start page, you can choose Switch to Profile Window to change the profile for the current window.
  

Google Chrome

Google Chrome has had browser profile support for many years. Like Safari, you start with a default profile. To create a new profile in Chrome:

1. Choose Profiles > Add Profile. Click to continue without an account or sign in with a different Google account.
2. Enter a name and pick an icon for the profile.
   
3. If desired, choose Chrome > Settings to adjust settings and active extensions for the new profile.

Every window is associated with a profile, so switching is often just a matter of clicking the desired window or choosing it from the Window menu. To open a window for a different profile:

• Choose Profiles > MyProfile.
• Click the profile icon in the toolbar and choose the profile you want.

Once you have multiple Chrome profiles, the app will ask you which to open on each launch. From this screen, you can also remove a profile by clicking the vertical dot menu and choosing Delete. If you deselect “Show on startup,” Chrome will open the last used profile at startup. You can always access this screen by clicking the profile icon in the toolbar and choosing Manage Chrome Profiles.

Firefox

Although Firefox was the first browser to support profiles, they remain poorly integrated into its interface and can be confusing because each opens in another instance of Firefox— a new Firefox icon appears in the Dock for each. To create a new profile in Firefox:

1. Type about:profiles in the address bar to open the About Profiles page.
2. Click Create a New Profile.
3. Name your profile and optionally select a custom location for profile storage.
4. On the About Profiles page, in the listing for your new profile, click “Launch profile in new browser” to open a new instance of Firefox with it.
   
5. Configure this new instance of Firefox as desired.

Opening a new profile instance can be tricky since it’s essentially like opening another app, but there’s only one Firefox icon in your Applications folder. While there are command-line tricks to make switching easier, this is the simplest approach:

1. Type about:profiles in the address bar to open the About Profiles page.
2. In the listing for the profile, click “Launch profile in new browser.”

To simplify this process, open the About Profiles page in each profile and drag its proxy icon to the Bookmarks toolbar. That way, you can click the bookmark in the toolbar for quick access to About Profiles.

Once multiple profile instances are open, you can switch between them by clicking their windows or Dock icons.

Be Careful with External Links

Browser profiles struggle with one scenario: opening links from other apps. Imagine you’re busy in your Work profile but take a quick break to check your personal email. You receive a link from your bathroom designer with possible lighting options, so you click it. Since your browser is using your Work profile, the link opens there, and you have to transfer it manually to your Personal profile or risk muddying your organization.

However, this is a minor obstacle, given how beneficial browser profiles can be for organizing your online activities, whether you’re juggling multiple projects or simply keeping your work and personal browsing distinct.

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There’s no avoiding some downtime when installing a full macOS update, which is why we recommend starting such updates at the end of the day or before you leave for lunch. That’s why Apple introduced Rapid Security Responses, which generally install in just 3–4 minutes, including a restart if necessary.

But with a bit of setup, you can pick up where you left off before a restart within a minute or two. There are three settings that can reopen apps, documents, and folders, and all Web browsers have options that reload all previously open tabs.

Apps, Documents, and Folders

If you always want certain apps running or documents open, you can ensure they open at login. In macOS 13 Ventura, open System Settings > General > Login Items (shown below); in macOS 12 Monterey and earlier, look in System Preferences > Users & Groups > User > Login Items.

You can add apps, documents, and even folders to the Open at Login list. To remove an unwanted item, select it and click the – button. If there’s anything you don’t recognize, Control-click it and choose Show in Finder to see where it’s located.

What if you have other apps or documents open that you want to return to immediately after relaunching an app? macOS offers another setting for that. In Ventura, look in System Settings > Desktop & Dock and scroll down to Windows & Apps. Deselect “Close windows when quitting an application” because reopening an app won’t restore its open documents and windows when that’s on. In Monterey and earlier, find this setting in System Preferences > General.

Choose Restart, Shut Down, or Log Out from the Apple menu to reveal the last and most important setting to ensure that your Mac environment is the same after a restart as it was before. In this dialog, select “Reopen windows when logging back in” and click Restart. macOS remembers this setting, so you shouldn’t have to select it each time.

As a bonus, if your Mac crashes or shuts down unexpectedly, it should come back as it was before the crash.

Web Browsers

The macOS settings above should work for most apps, but Web browsers are a special case. Open tabs aren’t quite the same as documents, and you might or might not want all those tabs to come back after relaunching your browser. Control the session settings in these popular Web browsers with the instructions below:

• Safari: Recent versions of Safari always open with windows (and tabs) from your last session, though you can choose whether that includes all windows or just non-private ones in Safari > Settings > General.
  
• Google Chrome: For Google Chrome, you have additional options, but to make sure your open tabs are restored after relaunching the app, choose Chrome > Settings > On Startup, and select “Continue where you left off.”
  
• Firefox: Mozilla’s browser puts its session settings front and center. Choose Firefox > Settings > General and select “Open previous windows and tabs.”
  
• Arc: The new browser Arc encourages users to set up workspaces containing pinned tabs, both of which persist across sessions. However, to ensure all your windows and regular tabs load after relaunching, open Arc > Settings > Advanced and select “When opening Arc, restore windows from previous session.”
  
• Brave: As a Chrome-based browser, Brave offers a setting similar to Chrome but in a different location. Find it in Brave > Settings > Get Started.
  
• Microsoft Edge: Although it is also based on Chrome, Microsoft Edge stores its session setting in a different location, with a different name. Choose Microsoft Edge > Settings > Start, Home, and New Tabs, and then select “Open tabs from the previous session.”
  

Between these macOS and browser settings, you can ensure that a restart presents the minimum interruption possible, such that when your Mac finishes restarting, all your apps, documents, windows, and browser tabs will be the same as when you left off.

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All major Web browsers provide two features to help you protect your privacy from people who can access your Mac: private browsing and clearing your browsing history.

After you invoke private browsing, the browser doesn’t store the URLs of visited pages in your browsing history. This makes it so others can’t go back through to see where you’ve been. Private browsing also avoids recording your searches so they don’t pop up for future search suggestions, doesn’t store the names of downloaded files, and more—the specifics vary a little by browser. In short, if you ever anticipate visiting a website that you wouldn’t want someone else with access to your Mac to know you had visited or don’t want to be embarrassed by a search suggestion when someone is peering over your shoulder, use private browsing.

What if you forget, or realize only after you’re done that your browsing history might reveal something you’d prefer stayed private? In that case, you’ll want to clear your browsing history, a feature that all browsers provide.

You should keep two important facts in mind when using these features:

• Both of these features are focused on reducing privacy worries related to someone accessing your Mac. They do not, for the most part, keep your activities private from your ISP, the organizations whose websites you access, or advertisers (through ad trackers).
• Neither of these features is meant to protect state secrets, sensitive journalistic research, or important business plans. If you’re interested in that level of security, contact us for personalized advice about what apps and devices to use.

Invoke Private Browsing

The hardest part of invoking private browsing is merely remembering to do so. In Safari, Firefox, and Brave, simply choose File > New Private Window to get a new browser window with private browsing enabled. Slightly different are Google Chrome, where you choose File > New Incognito Window, and Microsoft Edge, where the command is File > New InPrivate Window.

In all cases, the browser alerts you that you’ve enabled private browsing, are in a private window, or have gone incognito. Safari is the most subtle (top left, below), whereas Firefox (bottom left, below), and Chrome (right, below) make it painfully obvious and provide links to additional information about precisely what is protected and what’s not.

Additional tabs you create in that private browsing window are also private, so you don’t have to keep making new windows as you browse, although there’s no problem with opening multiple private windows at once. The main annoyance of using private browsing is that websites won’t recognize you or know you’re logged in.

To leave private browsing, simply close that window.

Clear Browsing History

How you clear browsing history varies by browser. Although they all let you choose how far back to go, only some give you choices about what type of data to clear.

• Safari: In Safari, choose History > Clear History. A pop-up menu lets you clear your history from the last hour, today, today and yesterday, or all time. Happily, Safari also clears your history from other devices signed into your iCloud account.
  
• Firefox: In Firefox, choose History > Clear Recent History and select the information to remove. You can clear data from the last hour, two hours, four hours, within the last day, or everything.
  
• Google Chrome: With Chrome, choose Chrome > Clear Browsing Data. You can switch between two modes: Basic and Advanced, the latter of which gives you more control over exactly what you’re removing. Chrome provides the most flexible time periods from which to remove data: the last hour, the last 24 hours, the last 7 days, the 4 weeks, or all time.
  

The history clearing interfaces in Brave and Microsoft Edge are similar to Chrome since those browsers are based on the same underpinnings. However, both add an On Exit mode that removes the specified types of data every time you quit. Firefox also offers the option to clear cookies and site data every time you quit, but remember that doing so will sign you out of all websites.

In the end, don’t get too caught up in a Spy vs. Spy scenario with your browsing history. There’s nothing wrong with keeping your birthday present research private or working to avoid an embarrassing situation with a search suggestion, but it’s better to have and build trusting relationships than to worry constantly about someone discovering what you’re doing.

Check out another security/privacy tip. 

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