If you keep opening a work site under your personal account, Safari Profiles can help. This guide shows you how to set up Work and Personal profiles on a Mac, open the right window, and check that each website session uses the account you expect. There’s nothing extra to download: Profiles are built into Safari 17 and later.
What Are Safari Profiles?
A Safari profile is a separate browsing space within Safari. Profiles keep their own history, cookies and website data, Favorites, Tab Groups, and extension choices. Separate cookies are what let you stay signed in to a work account in one profile and a personal account in another. Apple’s Safari Profiles guide, retrieved October 15, 2026, describes these separate data types.
Choose Profiles when you use two accounts on the same site. Choose Tab Groups when you only need to organize tabs. If two people need separate Mac sign-ins, files, and device settings, use separate macOS user accounts. Safari Profiles do not create separate macOS users or Apple Accounts, and they are not a password security feature or Private Browsing mode.
Before You Begin
Make sure you have:
- A Mac running Safari 17 or later. Safari 17 is available with macOS Sonoma and supported updates for macOS Ventura and Monterey.
- A website where you have both work and personal accounts, if you want to test the separation.
- Your work and personal sign-in details, if that website asks you to sign in again.
- An iPhone running iOS 17 or later only if you also want to use profiles there.
On your Mac, open Safari and choose Safari > About Safari to check its version. If it is older than 17, open Apple menu > System Settings > General > Software Update and install an available update that includes a supported Safari version. Your Mac may need to restart.
Step-by-Step Guide: Mac
Step 1: Open Safari’s Profiles settings
Open Safari. In the menu bar at the top of the screen, choose Safari > Settings, then click Profiles.
If this is your first time setting up Profiles, click Start Using Profiles. Your existing browsing data becomes the default Personal profile; complete the new Work profile’s setup next.
Expected result: The setup dialog or Profiles list is open.
Apple’s Safari example shows a profile named Research; this guide uses Work. The plus button adds another profile. Source: Apple Support, retrieved 2026-10-16 11:33 UTC.
Step 2: Create a Work profile
Use the setup dialog, or click Add Profile below an existing profile list. Enter Work for Name. Pick a Symbol and Color that you can spot easily in a Safari window.
Under Favorites, choose an existing bookmarks folder if you already have one for work, or choose Create new bookmarks folder to start with a separate folder. Click Create Profile.
Expected result: Work appears alongside Personal in the Profiles list. The profile creation screen may close when the new profile is ready.
Step 3: Open a Work window
In a Safari window, click the profile button in the toolbar and choose New Work Window. You can also use File > New Work Window.
Look at the profile button in the new window before opening a work website. Its name, symbol, or color identifies the profile you are using.
Expected result: A new Safari window opens in the Work profile. Sites opened in that window use Work’s website data.
Apple’s official example shows the Research profile menu. Your menu uses the names of your own profiles, such as Work and Personal. Source: Apple Support, retrieved 2026-10-16 11:33 UTC.
Step 4: Open a Personal window
Click the profile button again and choose New Personal Window. If you use the menu bar, choose File > New Personal Window.
Keep both windows open for the next check. Before entering a password or opening a saved site, glance at the profile button to confirm which window is active.
Expected result: You have one Work window and one Personal window, each marked with its profile.
Step 5: Check your accounts in both windows
In the Work window, open a site where you have work and personal accounts. Sign in to your work account if needed. Visit that site’s account page or open its account menu and check the displayed email address.
Switch to the Personal window, open the same site, and check its account menu there. Sign in to your personal account if needed. Return to the Work window and confirm it still shows your work account.
Expected result: The two windows show the intended accounts independently. If one window shows the wrong account, sign out in that window, confirm its profile button, and sign back in with the correct account. Some sites may ask you to verify a sign-in on a new browser session.
Step 6: Enable an extension for Work, if needed
Choose Safari > Settings > Profiles, select Work in the list, and click its Extensions tab. Turn on the extension you want to use with Work. Manage the default Personal profile’s extensions in Safari > Settings > Extensions.
Extensions are off in a newly created profile by default. If you cannot see the extension in Safari at all, check Safari’s main Extensions settings and Apple’s extension instructions, retrieved October 15, 2026.
Expected result: The selected profile’s Extensions tab shows your chosen extension enabled for that profile.
Apple’s example shows the Extensions tab for Research with one installed extension. Your available extensions and selections can differ. Source: Apple Support, retrieved 2026-10-16 11:33 UTC.
Step 7: Check where a link from another app opens
Links from other Mac apps normally use the Safari profile you used most recently. To assign a website, open it, choose Safari > Settings > Websites > Open Links With Profile, and select its profile. The assignment applies to outside links, with an exception when that website is already open in another profile.
With your Work and Personal Safari windows open, click a harmless link in another app, such as a link to a public page in Notes. When Safari opens it, inspect that window’s profile button. If it is the wrong profile, copy the address, open a New Work Window or New Personal Window, and paste the address there.
Expected result: You can identify the profile used for the link and move the page to your intended profile before signing in. Repeat this check if you change how Safari opens links or use a different app.
Step-by-Step Guide: iPhone
You can use the same profiles on an iPhone if you want work and personal browsing there too. These steps apply to an iPhone running iOS 17 or later; the Settings path changed in iOS 18.
Step 8: Check Safari syncing on your iPhone
On an iPhone running iOS 18 or later, open Settings > [your name] > iCloud > See All and check that Safari is on. On iOS 17, look for Safari under Settings > [your name] > iCloud.
For profiles to appear across devices, Apple specifies Safari 17 or later, the same Apple Account on each device, and Safari enabled in iCloud settings on each device. Check the matching iCloud setting on your Mac under Apple menu > System Settings > [your name] > iCloud. Apple documents these sync requirements.
Expected result: Safari is enabled in iCloud settings on both devices, and the Mac’s profiles can appear on the iPhone.
Step 9: Choose a profile in Safari on iPhone
Open Safari on your iPhone and use the controls for your iOS version:
- iOS 26: Tap More (…), then All Tabs. If your Safari layout is Bottom or Top, tap Tabs instead. In the tab view, tap More (…) in the upper-left corner, then Profile, and select Work or Personal. Apple’s iOS 26 Profiles guide shows these layout-specific controls.
- iOS 27: Tap Tabs, then More (…), then Profile, and select Work or Personal. See Apple’s iOS 27 instructions.
- iOS 17 or 18: Tap Tabs, then Tab Groups, then Profile, and select Work or Personal. Apple documents this path for iOS 17 and iOS 18.
Open a website and check its account menu, just as you did on the Mac.
If you are setting up profiles on the iPhone first, go to Settings > Apps > Safari > New Profile on iOS 18 or later. On iOS 17, use Settings > Safari > New Profile. Give the profile a name, symbol, and color, then tap Done.
Expected result: Safari’s tab view shows the chosen profile, and sites opened in it use that profile’s website session.
Configuration: Keep the Two Profiles Easy to Recognize
Give Work and Personal distinct colors and symbols in Safari > Settings > Profiles. This small choice makes the profile button easier to check when several windows are open.
Set each profile’s Favorites to the sites you use in that context. A work bookmarks folder can hold your company tools; Personal can hold your everyday sites. If you use a USB-C hub or Thunderbolt dock with an external display, you can leave a Work window on one screen and a Personal window on the other. The windows still belong to the same Mac user.
Safari documents specific data that Profiles keep separate: history, cookies and website data, Favorites, Tab Groups, and extension choices. Do not assume every Safari setting is separate merely because a profile has its own window. Check a setting in Safari > Settings before relying on it to differ between profiles.
Tips and Troubleshooting
Profiles is missing from Safari settings
Choose Safari > About Safari. If the version is below 17, check Apple menu > System Settings > General > Software Update for a supported update. Safari Profiles require Safari 17 or later.
I cannot switch an already used window to another profile
Safari offers Switch to [Profile] Window only when the window shows a Start Page or an empty page. Once you are browsing a site, click the toolbar profile button and choose New Work Window or New Personal Window instead. Copy the page address into the new window if you need it there. Apple explains this window behavior.
My extension is off in Work
That is normal for a new profile. Go to Safari > Settings > Profiles > Work > Extensions and enable it there. If it does not appear as an option, check Safari’s main Extensions settings first.
My profiles are missing on another Apple device
Check the three sync requirements on both devices: Safari 17 or later, the same Apple Account, and Safari enabled in iCloud settings. Then reopen Safari and check its profile list. A separate Apple Account will not receive the Mac’s profiles through this sync setup.
What happens if I remove a profile?
Before removing one, open Safari > Settings > Profiles, select it, and review Safari’s deletion confirmation carefully. Deleting a profile removes its history, cookies and other website data; Favorites and other bookmarks remain. Save anything else you need before confirming.
Apple does confirm that if you delete every profile other than the default profile, Safari stops using Profiles. See Apple’s Profiles guide for the current removal steps and wording.
Wrapping Up
| Step | Action | Applies To |
|---|---|---|
| 1–2 | Check Safari and create Work beside the default Personal profile | Mac |
| 3–6 | Open the right window, verify accounts, and set extensions | Mac |
| 7 | Check the profile used by links from other apps | Mac |
| 8–9 | Enable Safari sync and choose a profile | iPhone |
Safari Profiles are a practical fix for mixed-up website accounts as long as you check the profile button before signing in. I’d still use a separate Mac user account when the whole device needs to be kept separate.