Profiles help to keep your personal and official browsing activities separately while using browsers. As of now, you can easily create profiles in Chrome, Edge and other popular browsers but not in Safari. Apple did not support profiles in any of the devices like iPhone and Mac. However, with the new feature is introduced in iOS 17 and macOS Sonoma and now you can easily create profiles and sync your browsing activities across devices.
Safari Profiles
Profiles in Safari helps to keep the following data separately:
- Tabs that you are working.
- Browsing history.
- Favorites, reading list, etc.
- Assign extensions separately.
Let me create two profiles – personal and work in Safari Mac and iPhone and show how it works.
Create Safari Profiles in iPhone
- Tap on “Settings” app and go to “Safari” section.
- Scroll down to middle of the page and tap on “New Profile” option under “Profiles” heading.
- On the new profile creation page, type the name for your profile (I use the name as Personal). Select the icon and background color for tabs.
- Under “Settings” section, you have options to set the “Favorites” folder and which page you want to open as a new tab.
- Tap on “Done” link showing on top right corner to finish the profile creation.
- Now, you can see the newly created profile in Safari settings page and tap on that.
- You will see additional “Extensions” section and choose Safari extensions items you want to use with that profile.
Similarly, you can create as many as profiles you need. For example, I create another profile with the name as “Work” and assign different icon and background color to it.
Switching Profiles in Safari iPhone
Now that there are two profiles create, next step is to use them while browsing.
- Open Safari app and tap on tabs icon showing on bottom right corner.
- On the next screen, tap on three horizontal lines icon showing in the bottom middle.
- It will show a pop-up and you can see “No Profile” is used by default for the “Profile” option. Tap on it and select “Personal” profile from the list.
- You will see the Start Page shows with the background color you have selected with the profile icon.
- You can anytime switch the profile to “Work” and you will see corresponding icon and background colors for the Start Page.
Now, you can start using different profiles to keep your history and favorites separately without mixing them. Remember, Safari profiles will be synchronized across all your devices logged in with the same Apple account.
Delete Safari Profiles in iPhone
Anytime you can delete the profile and remove all associated history, favorites and website data.
- Open Settings app and go to “Safari” section.
- Scroll down and tap on the profile name under “Profiles” section.
- Tap on “Delete Profile” link showing on the bottom of the screen.
- Confirm your action by tapping on “Delete” to remove the profile and its data.
Create Safari Profiles in Mac
Open Safari app in your Mac and go to “Safari > Settings…” menu.
Go to “Profiles” tab and you will see “Personal” and “Work” profiles that I have created on my iPhone. Click the + icon showing below the list of profile names.
If you did not create any profiles in iPhone or Mac before, then you will see a details about using profiles in Safari. Click on the “New Profile” button to continue.
Type the profile name, select icon and background color under “General” tab. You can create a bookmarks folder or choose an existing folder for saving your Favorites webpages. If required, go to “Extensions” tab and assign the extensions that you want to use with this Safari profile. I type the name as “Mac Profile” and click “Create Profile” button.
Safari browser will instantly change the background with the selected profile color and use the profile icons in the background.
Switching Profiles in Safari Mac
Unlike iPhone, Safari in Mac will instantly start using the newly created profile. You can see the profile name shows on the top bar next to sidebar icon as shown in the below picture.
However, the profile name will disappear and Safari will not use any profiles when you quit and reopen the app. For using a profile when launching Safari afresh, go to “File > New Profile Window” menu and select the profile window you want to use. You can also use the keyboard shortcuts Option + Shift + Command and then 1 or 2 or 3 and so on to launch the first corresponding profiles in the “Safari > Settings > Profiles” list.
Now, Safari will change the Start Page setup as per the selected profile and show relevant Favorites, Reading List and Privacy Report sections. Note that I selected “Personal” profile which was created in iPhone.
Deleting Safari Profiles in Mac
If you do not want to use Safari profiles on Mac anymore, simply delete them from settings page.
- Open Safari and go to “Safari > Settings…” menu.
- Go to “Profiles” section and select the item that you want to remove.
- Click the – icon and confirm your action by clicking on “Delete Profile” button.
Disable Profiles Synching
If you do not want the profiles to sync across devices, then you should disable iCloud sync for Safari app in iPhone and Mac. However, this will also disable all other Safari synching like tabs sharing, favorites and recently accessed pages.
- On Mac – go to “Apple menu > Settings > Apple ID > iCloud” section. Click on “Show All” button under “Apps Using iCloud” section and disable “Safari” option on the next page.
- On iPhone – go to “Settings > Apple ID > iCloud” and tap on “Show All” under “Apps Using iCloud” section. Disable “Safari” on the next screen to stop the syncing.
