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What stays in your browser, and how to clear it

Privacy and your data 4 min read Beginner Updated

On this page
  1. What is stored
  2. Clear it from 4Search
  3. Clear it from your browser
  4. What clearing does
  5. Private windows
  6. What clearing does not do
  7. Common questions

Some of what makes 4Search convenient is stored in your own browser: your privacy choices, your theme, the things you follow. This page lists it, says how long it lasts, and shows how to delete it.

#What is stored

The Cookie Policy is the full list. In plain words:

What What it is for How long it lasts Needs your permission?
Your privacy choices Remembers what you chose on the banner so it does not ask again Until you change them or clear site data No: strictly necessary
Colour theme Remembers Hybrid, Light or Dark Until site data is cleared No
Topic menu order Remembers whether the topic menu is sorted Default, A-Z, Coverage or Size Until site data is cleared No
Saved preferences The things you follow or save, your home place and your settings. See Saved preferences Until you remove them, turn the choice off or clear site data Yes: Saved preferences
Weather units Your choice of °F or °C, in a cookie named wx_units Until you close the browser, or up to a year with Saved preferences The longer life needs Saved preferences
Maps units and odds format Miles or kilometers; percent, American or decimal odds With Saved preferences, until removed. Without it, for the tab or the page The longer life needs Saved preferences
AI Mode conversation Keeps your chat on screen Until you start a new chat or close the tab AI-assisted answers must be allowed to chat
A short-lived session cookie Protects forms and remembers a completed human check The browser session No: strictly necessary, and used only for protected forms or the human check
Small page notes For example, where the topic menu was scrolled and which of its branches were open While the tab is open No

Google's results panel can set its own cookies under Google's terms when it loads. That is Google's storage, described in Google's privacy terms. See Google search results and your privacy.

The page script that tells people from automated software stores nothing in your browser, according to the Cookie Policy.

#Clear it from 4Search

  • Saved items. Open the privacy panel, switch Saved preferences off and select Save choices, or select Reject non-essential. This deletes what Saved preferences kept: lists, home place, saved places, recent searches and saved units. Steps: Saved preferences.
  • One item. Select Following on an item to stop following it, or remove it from its list page.
  • The AI conversation. Select New chat in AI Mode.

#Clear it from your browser

Every browser has a place to delete a site's data, and the names differ a little.

  1. Open your browser's settings and look for Privacy, Cookies or Site data.
  2. Find the site you want, for example 4search.com, in the list of sites that have stored data. Most browsers also let you open this from the icon at the left of the address bar.
  3. Delete its cookies and site data.

Each site in the 4 Network is separate, so clear each one you want to forget.

#What clearing does

  • The banner comes back, because your choices are forgotten.
  • The theme goes back to Hybrid.
  • Your lists, home place, saved places and units are gone.

#Private windows

A private or incognito window may start with no site data and discard it when you close the window, or may block storage altogether. In that case the banner can return on every page and the site cannot remember your choices. Your followed items will not be there.

#What clearing does not do

Clearing your browser does not delete records the site keeps on its own servers, such as ordinary request records or a message you sent through a contact form. To ask about those, see Make a privacy request. For what is recorded, see What 4Search collects, and what it does not.

#Common questions

How do I delete everything 4Search has stored on my device?

Clear this site's cookies and site data in your browser, as in the steps above. To clear only the saved lists and places, switch off Saved preferences from the privacy panel.

Does 4Search store my searches in my browser?

Not as a history. A few things are kept for a moment while you use the site, such as the AI Mode chat for the life of the tab, and your last dozen Maps searches if you have turned on Saved preferences.

Will clearing my cookies log me out?

There is nothing to log out of. You will see the privacy banner again and your theme and lists will be reset.

Why does the site forget everything in a private window?

Private windows discard site data when they close, and some block storage. See My choices, followed items or settings are not remembered.

Read next

Personalize Saved preferences, the choice that lets 4Search remember your lists Saved preferences is an optional privacy choice. When it is on, this site keeps what you choose to save, such as followed stocks and places, in your browser. Privacy and your data Your privacy choices The banner, the privacy panel, the shield button and the Your Privacy Choices page: what each category does and how to change your mind at any time. Troubleshooting My choices, followed items or settings are not remembered Why the privacy banner keeps returning, the theme resets or followed items vanish, and how to fix it: private windows, cleared data or Saved preferences off. Privacy and your data Make a privacy request Ask to see, correct or delete your information, opt out of sale or sharing, or appeal. The Privacy Request Form, what to put in it and what happens next.