diff --git a/docs/docs/start/config.md b/docs/docs/start/config.md
index 0fa4cf1af8..850638753c 100644
--- a/docs/docs/start/config.md
+++ b/docs/docs/start/config.md
@@ -107,7 +107,22 @@ Depending on how your InvenTree installation is configured, you will need to pay
 | INVENTREE_USE_X_FORWARDED_HOST | use_x_forwarded_host | Use forwarded host header | `False` |
 | INVENTREE_USE_X_FORWARDED_PORT | use_x_forwarded_port | Use forwarded port header | `False` |
 | INVENTREE_SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE | cookie.secure | Enforce secure session cookies | `False` |
-| INVENTREE_COOKIE_SAMESITE | cookie.samesite | Session cookie mode. Must be one of `Strict | Lax | None`. Refer to the [mozilla developer docs](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Headers/Set-Cookie) for more information. | `None` |
+| INVENTREE_COOKIE_SAMESITE | cookie.samesite | Session cookie mode. Must be one of `Strict | Lax | None | False`. Refer to the [mozilla developer docs](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Headers/Set-Cookie) and the [django documentation]({% include "django.html" %}/ref/settings/#std-setting-SESSION_COOKIE_SAMESITE) for more information. | False |
+
+### Debug Mode
+
+Note that in [debug mode](./intro.md#debug-mode), some of the above settings are automatically adjusted to allow for easier development:
+
+| Setting | Value in Debug Mode | Description |
+| --- | --- | --- |
+| `INVENTREE_ALLOWED_HOSTS` | `*` | Allow all host in debug mode |
+| `CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS` | Value is appended to allow `http://*.localhost:*` | Allow all connections from localhost, for development purposes |
+| `INVENTREE_COOKIE_SAMESITE` | `False` | Disable all same-site cookie checks in debug mode |
+| `INVENTREE_SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE` | `False` | Disable secure session cookies in debug mode (allow non-https cookies) |
+
+### INVENTREE_COOKIE_SAMESITE vs INVENTREE_SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE
+
+Note that if you set the `INVENTREE_COOKIE_SAMESITE` to `None`, then `INVENTREE_SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE` is automatically set to `True` to ensure that the session cookie is secure! This means that the session cookie will only be sent over secure (https) connections.
 
 ### Proxy Settings
 
diff --git a/src/backend/InvenTree/InvenTree/settings.py b/src/backend/InvenTree/InvenTree/settings.py
index a00a80259b..0eabc9615c 100644
--- a/src/backend/InvenTree/InvenTree/settings.py
+++ b/src/backend/InvenTree/InvenTree/settings.py
@@ -1093,22 +1093,40 @@ if (
     sys.exit(-1)
 
 COOKIE_MODE = (
-    str(get_setting('INVENTREE_COOKIE_SAMESITE', 'cookie.samesite', 'None'))
+    str(get_setting('INVENTREE_COOKIE_SAMESITE', 'cookie.samesite', 'False'))
     .lower()
     .strip()
 )
 
-valid_cookie_modes = {'lax': 'Lax', 'strict': 'Strict', 'none': 'None', 'null': 'None'}
+# Valid modes (as per the django settings documentation)
+valid_cookie_modes = ['lax', 'strict', 'none']
 
-COOKIE_MODE = valid_cookie_modes.get(COOKIE_MODE.lower(), 'None')
+if not DEBUG and COOKIE_MODE in valid_cookie_modes:
+    # Set the cookie mode (in production mode only)
+    COOKIE_MODE = COOKIE_MODE.capitalize()
+else:
+    # Default to False, as per the Django settings
+    COOKIE_MODE = False
 
 # Additional CSRF settings
 CSRF_HEADER_NAME = 'HTTP_X_CSRFTOKEN'
 CSRF_COOKIE_NAME = 'csrftoken'
+
 CSRF_COOKIE_SAMESITE = COOKIE_MODE
 SESSION_COOKIE_SAMESITE = COOKIE_MODE
-SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE = get_boolean_setting(
-    'INVENTREE_SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE', 'cookie.secure', False
+
+"""Set the SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE value based on the following rules:
+- False if the server is running in DEBUG mode
+- True if samesite cookie setting is set to 'None'
+- Otherwise, use the value specified in the configuration file (or env var)
+"""
+SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE = (
+    False
+    if DEBUG
+    else (
+        SESSION_COOKIE_SAMESITE == 'None'
+        or get_boolean_setting('INVENTREE_SESSION_COOKIE_SECURE', 'cookie.secure', True)
+    )
 )
 
 USE_X_FORWARDED_HOST = get_boolean_setting(
diff --git a/src/backend/InvenTree/config_template.yaml b/src/backend/InvenTree/config_template.yaml
index 4ef1bf42bf..fa597167a1 100644
--- a/src/backend/InvenTree/config_template.yaml
+++ b/src/backend/InvenTree/config_template.yaml
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ use_x_forwarded_port: false
 # Cookie settings
 cookie:
   secure: false
-  samesite: none
+  samesite: false
 
 # Cross Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) settings (see https://github.com/adamchainz/django-cors-headers)
 cors: