How does Safari’s Intelligent Tracking Prevention affect website tracking?

Intelligent Tracking Prevention, or ITP, is a WebKit privacy feature used in Safari to restrict cross-site tracking. It limits how websites and embedded services can use cookies and other stored information to recognise browsers over time.

Its protections include:

• Blocking third-party cookies by default, with controlled mechanisms for certain storage-access needs.

• Limiting the persistence of script-written cookies and other storage under specified conditions.

• Detecting tracking patterns involving redirects and identifiers added to links.

• Applying restrictions to certain uses of CNAME cloaking.

WebKit’s tracking prevention documentation describes these mechanisms and their conditions. The often-mentioned seven-day limit should not be interpreted as a universal expiry rule for every Safari cookie.

For website owners, ITP can affect returning-visitor recognition and advertising attribution. It can also affect local storage, so moving an identifier out of a cookie does not necessarily preserve it.

Browser restrictions and cookie consent serve different purposes. A visitor accepting a banner does not automatically disable Safari’s protections, and those protections do not replace the website’s consent obligations.