Window.localStorage

The read-only localStorage property allows you to access a Storage object for the Document's origin; the stored data is saved across browser sessions. localStorage is similar to sessionStorage, except that while data stored in localStorage has no expiration time, data stored in sessionStorage gets cleared when the browsing session ends—that is, when the browser is closed.

It should be noted that data stored in either localStorage or sessionStorage is specific to the protocol of the page.

Syntax

myStorage = window.localStorage;

Value

A Storage object which can be used to access the current origin's local storage space.

Exceptions

SecurityError
The request violates a policy decision, or the origin is not a valid scheme/host/port tuple (this can happen if the origin uses the file: or data: scheme, for example). For example, the user may have their browser configured to deny permission to persist data for the specified origin.

Example

The following snippet accesses the current domain's local Storage object and adds a data item to it using Storage.setItem().

localStorage.setItem('myCat', 'Tom');

The syntax for removing the localStorage item is as follows:

localStorage.removeItem("myCat");

Note: Please refer to the Using the Web Storage API article for a full example.

Specifications

Specification Status Comment
HTML Living Standard
The definition of 'localStorage' in that specification.
Living Standard  

Browser compatibility

Feature Chrome Edge Firefox (Gecko) Internet Explorer Opera Safari (WebKit)
localStorage 4 (Yes) 3.5 8 10.50 4
sessionStorage 5 (Yes) 2 8 10.50 4
Feature Android Edge Firefox Mobile (Gecko) IE Phone Opera Mobile Safari Mobile
Basic support 2.1 (Yes) ? 8 11 iOS 3.2

All browsers have varying capacity levels for both localStorage and sessionStorage. Here is a detailed rundown of all the storage capacities for various browsers.

Note: Starting with iOS 5.1, Safari Mobile stores localStorage data in the cache folder, which is subject to occasional clean up, at the behest of the OS, typically if space is short. Safari Mobile's Private Browsing mode also prevents writing to localStorage entirely.

See also

Document Tags and Contributors

 Last updated by: Sheppy,