Safari Profiles Cleaning Data Problem

[dialogos]

I have two profiles in Safari: one for personal use and another for work.
My work Gmail account is logged into the work profile. However, when I clear stored data from my personal profile, it also logs me out of my Gmail account. I was under the impression that the profiles were independent of each other.
To delete data, I navigate to Safari -> Settings -> Privacy -> Manage Website Data, ensure only the personal profile is selected, choose all data, and then click 'Remove'. I never use the 'Remove All' option and always confirm that only the personal profile is selected.
What could be causing this issue? Why does clearing data from my personal profile affect my Gmail session?

 

[Gregg2]

I'm noticing the note at the top of that Settings page. I think that explains it. I can't highlight it to paste it here.

Edit: I went ahead and clicked Remove All. (I only have one profile) Safari promptly logged me out of MacRumors.

 

[dialogos]

I'm noticing the note at the top of that Settings page. I think that explains it. I can't highlight it to paste it here.

Edit: I went ahead and clicked Remove All. (I only have one profile) Safari promptly logged me out of MacRumors.

If you have only one profile, it's typical to be logged out.

However, my understanding is that having two separate profiles means cookies and cache are stored separately for each profile. So, why does clearing data from one profile also log me out of Google on the other profile? This issue only occurs with Google in my experience. For instance, clearing data doesn't affect my Outlook.com session, where I'm also logged in.

 

[JonaM]

If it only affects Google and other websites don't get logged out then I suspect the culprit may be Google linking your two profiles behind the scenes and therefore logging you out of all. Google is famous for it's data scraping so it would not surprise me at all if they infer through browser fingerprinting that it's the same device and therefore relink it all together

 

[dialogos]

If it only affects Google and other websites don't get logged out then I suspect the culprit may be Google linking your two profiles behind the scenes and therefore logging you out of all. Google is famous for it's data scraping so it would not surprise me at all if they infer through browser fingerprinting that it's the same device and therefore relink it all together

If Google can link my two profiles, doesn't that undermine the purpose of having separate Safari profiles? Aren't they designed to provide privacy? Perhaps I'm missing something. Could someone with a better understanding of technology look into this? I've just started using Safari profiles to keep my work and personal activities distinct.

 

[JonaM]

The cache and cookies should not be shared. However , you will still be accessing the internet from the same web browser and the same IP address, so it remains possible for a website (especially one as adept at nosing into privacy as Google) to look at a login with your browser fingerprint from a unique IP address and then spot another login and conclude with a high level of certainty it’s the same machine.
Not saying that it what is definitely happening , but it is reasonably simple to do. Profiles help keep accounts apart, but they are not a foolproof method to prevent a determined actor linking. You’d need fingerprint blocking on to help that and a VPN

 

[dialogos]

The cache and cookies should not be shared. However , you will still be accessing the internet from the same web browser and the same IP address, so it remains possible for a website (especially one as adept at nosing into privacy as Google) to look at a login with your browser fingerprint from a unique IP address and then spot another login and conclude with a high level of certainty it’s the same machine.
Not saying that it what is definitely happening , but it is reasonably simple to do. Profiles help keep accounts apart, but they are not a foolproof method to prevent a determined actor linking. You’d need fingerprint blocking on to help that and a VPN

Thank you for responding. I have one final question, if you could assist me. Does this imply that my work Google account has access to read documents or browse the history of my personal Google account, even though they are linked to separate profiles? I have enabled advanced tracking protection in Safari for all browsing sessions, not just in private windows, if that makes any difference.

PS. I'm considering switching to a non-Google email where possible. Although I've tried Outlook, I find its search function less advanced than Google's.

 

[JonaM]

There should be no access between the two accounts, so there’s no risk of work reading private content or vice versa.
Even if you were to log into both in the same profile Google explicitly handles this scenario and can cope with two accounts active in the same browser. (I wouldn’t as it’s asking for a mixup, but you can)

I use Apple’s email service as it’s one of the few I trust not to snoop and I had your same problem with outlook - it’s search is dire and frequently misses emails you know are in there (see multiple threads on this website…)

 

[dialogos]

There should be no access between the two accounts, so there’s no risk of work reading private content or vice versa.
Even if you were to log into both in the same profile Google explicitly handles this scenario and can cope with two accounts active in the same browser. (I wouldn’t as it’s asking for a mixup, but you can)

I use Apple’s email service as it’s one of the few I trust not to snoop and I had your same problem with outlook - it’s search is dire and frequently misses emails you know are in there (see multiple threads on this website…)

Thank you again for your detailed responses.

I've considered switching to Apple's email service but hesitated due to concerns about spam filtering. Are you satisfied with it?