# What Is ~/Library/HTTPStorages on Mac?

> HTTPStorages keeps per-app web data, mainly cookies, for apps using Apple's networking. Removing an app's entry signs it out of web services.

- Updated: 2026-10-10
- URL: https://fresh.ist/library/http-storages/

**TL;DR:** ~/Library/HTTPStorages is where apps that use Apple's networking frameworks keep their own web storage: a .binarycookies file and a small SQLite database per app, named by bundle ID. Entries for removed apps are safe to delete. For apps you use, deleting their entry can sign them out of their online accounts.

## Definition

- Full path: `~/Library/HTTPStorages`
- Scope: user (inside your home folder)
- Freshist checks this folder when uninstalling an app. When you uninstall an app, Freshist looks here for items that belong to it. Matches on the app's bundle ID can be pre-selected; name-only guesses are labeled “not sure” and never pre-selected. Removed items go to the Trash, so you can undo.

## What lives here

When a Mac app talks to the web through Apple's networking APIs (`URLSession` and the CFNetwork layer beneath it), the system needs somewhere to keep that app's cookies and related state between launches. In recent macOS versions that place is `~/Library/HTTPStorages`, with one entry per app or helper, named by bundle ID.

A look at a real Mac shows two kinds of entries:

| Entry | Contents |
| --- | --- |
| `com.example.App/` folder | `httpstorages.sqlite` plus its `-wal` and `-shm` journal files |
| `com.example.App.binarycookies` file | The app's cookie jar, in Apple's binary cookie format |

Apple doesn't publish a description of the folder itself; the layout above is what it contains in practice. The `.binarycookies` files are the same format Apple uses for [~/Library/Cookies](/library/cookies/), which older macOS versions used for many of the same apps.

## Why it matters

Cookies here may hold an app's active sign-in session for its online service. That's why a helper or app can stay signed in without asking for your password each time. It also means these files are sensitive: treat them like browser cookies.

## Why leftovers accumulate

Every helper process that makes a web request gets its own entry: crash reporters, updaters, license checkers, background agents. Uninstalling the app doesn't remove them. In one real-world example the folder had 166 entries totalling 130 MB, and the largest single entry was about 6 MB. So leftovers here are a matter of tidiness more than space.

## Inspecting it read-only

```bash
du -sh ~/Library/HTTPStorages
du -sh ~/Library/HTTPStorages/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h | tail -10
ls ~/Library/HTTPStorages | grep -i appname
```

Replace `appname` with part of the app or developer name to find its entries.

## Removing entries

For an app you still use, prefer its own **Sign Out** or **Reset** option; that clears server-side sessions too. For leftovers from removed apps:

1. Quit the app and any of its helpers, if they're still running.
2. In Finder, choose **Go → Go to Folder…** and enter `~/Library/HTTPStorages`.
3. Move both the bundle-ID folder and the matching `.binarycookies` file to the Trash.

If an app you use gets its entry deleted, expect to sign in again; nothing else is lost, because documents and settings live elsewhere.

## What to leave alone

Skip `com.apple.*` entries. They belong to App Store, account and media services, and removing them mostly causes extra sign-in prompts. Don't confuse this folder with `~/Library/Caches/com.apple.nsurlsessiond`, which holds background download data rather than cookies. Apps with their own web engines, like Chrome-based apps, keep their main browsing data in [Application Support](/library/application-support/) instead.

## Sources

- [URLSession](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/foundation/urlsession), Apple Developer Documentation
- [HTTPCookieStorage](https://developer.apple.com/documentation/foundation/httpcookiestorage), Apple Developer Documentation
- [Bug 210120](https://bugs.webkit.org/show_bug.cgi?id=210120), WebKit network process sandbox and HTTPStorages

## Frequently asked questions

### Are Safari's cookies in HTTPStorages?

No. Safari keeps its cookies inside its own container. HTTPStorages holds network data for other apps and system services that use Apple's networking APIs.

### Why are there folders for apps I've never opened?

Background helpers, updaters and installers create entries too. A single app suite can add a dozen folders for its daemons and update agents.

### Does HTTPStorages grow very large?

Rarely. Most entries are a few hundred kilobytes, and on a busy Mac the whole folder is often in the low hundreds of megabytes at most.

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Canonical page: https://fresh.ist/library/http-storages/
Official site: https://fresh.ist/ (fresh.ist only)
Generated: 2026-10-10