Safari profiles arrived with Safari 17, and they're one of the most useful features most people still haven't switched on. A profile is a separate browsing identity inside the same Safari, with its own logins, history and extensions, all wrapped in a color you pick. Let's set yours up so work and personal finally get rooms of their own!
What a profile keeps separate (and what it shares)
Think of a profile as a second (or third, or fifth) Safari living inside the one you already have. Each profile keeps its own:
- Browsing history
- Cookies and website data, which is what keeps you signed in to sites
- Tab Groups
- Favorites
- Extensions, turned on or off per profile
- Start page settings
That cookie line is the magic one! Being signed in to one Google account in your Work profile and another in Personal just works. No more signing out and back in, and no more wondering which account you're about to send from.
A few things stay shared across every profile, which is mostly a good thing: AutoFill, passwords, and your security, privacy and website settings. If you keep passwords in iCloud Keychain, they're available in any profile you create, so there's nothing to set up twice.
Create your first profile in about two minutes
- Open Safari and choose Safari → Settings, then click Profiles.
- If this is your very first profile, click Start Using Profiles.
- Click the Add button (the little plus) below the profiles list.
- Give it a name, then choose an icon and a color. Pick colors that are easy to tell apart; they're how you'll recognize the profile at a glance.
- Choose a bookmarks folder for this profile's favorites: a brand new one, or one you already have.
- Click Create Profile.
- Click Extensions and turn on the ones this profile needs. New profiles start with extensions switched off, so a work profile might want a password manager and very little else.
Here's the part that surprises people in the nicest way: when you create your first profile, nothing you already have gets lost. Your current history, cookies, website data, extensions, Tab Groups and favorites become the default profile, named Personal. Your new profile starts fresh right beside it.
Opening windows in the right profile
Once you have more than one profile, every Safari window belongs to one of them. To open a new window in a particular profile, choose File → New Window, then pick the profile you want.
You'll also spot a new button in the Safari toolbar showing the current profile's name, symbol and color. Click it for two handy options:
- New [Profile] Window opens a fresh window in that profile.
- Switch to [Profile] Window moves the current window into another profile. To keep histories separate, this only works from a start page or an empty page, before you've visited a site.
Bonus: each profile's color also shows up in the default background of its start page, so a brand-new window tells you which profile you're in before you type a thing.
Profile ideas that really pay off
- Work and Personal. The classic split, and the one that pays off fastest. Your work logins and your personal logins, never tangled again.
- One per client. Perfect for freelancers and agencies: each client's logins, dashboards and bookmarks live in their own colored profile, so switching clients means switching colors.
- School or a side project. Anything with its own set of logins and its own headspace deserves its own profile.
- A clean profile for testing. Designers and developers, this one's for you: see a site the way a first-time visitor does, without your own logins and cookies getting in the way.
A friendly rule of thumb: make a new profile when a part of your life has its own logins. If it's only a different topic, a Tab Group inside an existing profile is usually plenty.
Here's a little starter kit to borrow:
| Profile | Color idea | Extensions to turn on |
|---|---|---|
| Work | Blue | Your password manager and the tools your job needs |
| Personal | Green | Whatever you already use day to day |
| A client | A color you link with that client | Only what their project needs |
| Testing | Something you'd never mistake for Work | None, so nothing changes how pages behave |
Little settings that make profiles even better
Send links to the right profile
Links you click in Mail, Messages, the Finder or other apps can open in a specific profile. In recent versions of Safari, visit the site, then choose Safari → Settings, click Websites, select Open Links With Profile in the sidebar, and pick a profile for that site from its pop-up menu. Now your project tracker's links land in Work every time. This only affects links that come from outside Safari.
Pair profiles with Focus
macOS Focus can switch Safari to a particular profile for you. Choose Apple menu → System Settings, click Focus, then pick a Focus such as Work. Under Focus Filters, click Add Filter and choose Safari, set the Filter Type to Profile, and pick your Work profile. Turn on your Work focus and Safari comes along for the ride.
Take them everywhere
Profiles sync between your devices that use Safari 17 or later, are signed in with the same Apple Account, and have Safari turned on in the iCloud section of your Apple Account settings. Set them up once on your Mac, and your other devices follow along.
Tidying up: editing and deleting profiles
Profiles live in Safari → Settings → Profiles, where you can select one to see its settings and its own Extensions tab. To remove one, select it and click the Delete button below the list.
A gentle heads-up before you do: deleting a profile erases its tabs, history and website data, so you'll be signed out of everything in it. Its favorites folder is kept (unless it's empty). And you can't delete the default Personal profile, so there's always a home base to come back to.
Seeing profiles at a glance
Profiles solve the logins beautifully. But once you have a few windows in each, telling them apart from outside Safari can still be tricky, since each window's profile button is usually tucked behind whatever window is in front.
That's where Canopy comes in. We make it, so take this with a friendly pinch of salt. Hold ⌘ ` inside Safari (or ⌥ Tab from anywhere) and every Safari window appears as a live preview labeled with its page title and address, plus a colored badge for its profile. Work and Personal are distinct before you ever switch, and you can type a profile's name to show only its windows. Safari is on Canopy's free tier, so this part is free forever.
If your windows are already piling up, our guide to switching between Safari windows covers every built-in method too.
Try it: profiles in one coffee break
- Pick your split. Start with two profiles, usually Work and Personal. You can always add more later.
- Create Work. Follow the steps above, choose a color you'll recognize instantly, and turn on only the extensions work needs.
- Sign in fresh. Open a Work window and sign in to your work email, calendar and tools. Since cookies are separate, this is a one-time job.
- Tidy Personal. Back in your Personal profile, sign out of the work accounts you no longer need there.
- Route your links. Set Open Links With Profile for the two or three work sites you open most often from Mail or chat apps.
- Live with it for a week. Notice how often you land in the wrong profile. If it happens a lot, make the colors more different!
Quick answers
Will I lose my bookmarks or history when I turn on profiles?
Nope! Everything you already have becomes your Personal profile, and new profiles start fresh beside it.
Can I stay signed in to two Google accounts at once?
Yes. Cookies and website data are separate per profile, so each profile can stay signed in to a different account.
Do my saved passwords work in every profile?
They do. Passwords and AutoFill are shared across profiles, so your iCloud Keychain passwords are available in every profile you create.
Can each profile have different extensions?
Yes! Each profile you create has its own Extensions tab in Safari's Profiles settings, and extensions start switched off for every new profile.
