delete browsing history from safari

How to clear Safari browsing history on iPhone and iPad

Clear Safari browsing history on iPhone and iPad in a few simple steps

You'll definitely want to know how to clear Safari browsing history on iPhone and iPad . Know how to delete browsing history is part of basic user operation on all your devices, and is especially if you share devices with others. 

Luckily, deleting browsing history on Safari is easy and can be done in just a few taps, and is the same on iOS and iPadOS, so whether you're using an iPhone 15 Pro or an iPad Air , these steps will apply.

Remember, though, that deleting your browsing history only stops your activity being visible on that device. Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) will still be able to see the webpages you have visited. If you want to stop that, for ultimate privacy, you'll need to use one of the best VPN services .

The following screenshots were taken on an iPhone running iOS 17 . If you aren't running the latest version of your device's OS, we can show you how to update an iPhone or how to update an iPad .

• In Safari, tap the book icon
• Go to the history tab (clock)
• Select how far back to clear

Read on to see full illustrated instructions.

1. In Safari, tap the book icon

Firstly, open Safari and tap the book icon in the bottom bar.

2. Select the history tab (clock icon) and tap Clear

Now select the history tab (clock icon) and tap Clear at the bottom.

3. Select how far back to clear and tap Delete

Now choose how far back you'd like to delete : last hour, today, today and yesterday, or all time.

If you like, you can toggle on Close All Tabs , which will close every open tab that isn't in a tab group (we can show you how to use tab groups if you aren't sure).

Finally, when you're happy, hit Delete .

As you can see in the screenshot above, if you now go back to the history tab, your history will have been deleted.

For more iPhone tutorials, check out our guides on how to transfer data from iPhone to iPhone , how to clear RAM on iPhone , how to delete multiple contacts on iPhone and how to rearrange the iOS 17 Messages '+' menu .

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How to clear browsing history on Safari on iPhone or Mac

You can clear your Safari browsing history on both iOS and Mac

Last updated 3 years ago

As tracking goes, Safari keeping your browsing history is less about privacy-busting security and more about just being useful. It's your history that means Safari remembers where to go to when you choose forward and back within a site, for instance.

It's also how Safari is able to offer you a list of sites that you regularly go to, on account of how handy it is to be able to back to them with a click. History also does keep things you may not expect, though, such as a list of items you've downloaded.

If you don't want that, though, or you're just fed up of Safari going to site addresses you haven't looked at in years, you can wipe the whole browsing history.

On a Mac, you can also wipe, for instance, just the last hour's browsing history. So if you share Safari and it's someone's special birthday coming up, you can avoid them inadvertently finding out you plan to surprise them with dance lessons.

How to clear search history on Safari on Mac

• In Safari, choose the History menu
• Select Clear History from the very bottom of the menu
• In the dialog box that appears, choose from clearing the last hour , today , today and yesterday , or all history
• Click on Clear History

Alternatively, within Safari you can press Command-Y and the current page will be replaced by a history list. There's a Clear History... button toward the top right.

Clicking on that gives you exactly the same dialog about choosing how far back you want to clear your browsing history. But this page does also give you one extra option — the ability to delete one specific item.

How to clear one item from Safari search history on Mac

• In Safari, press Command-Y
• From the long list, click once on a history item to select it
• Right-click to bring up a menu, then choose Delete

Alternatively, if you select one, two, or more items in the history list, you can then press the Delete key to remove them all.

That kind of precision removal is only possible on your Mac, not on iOS . However, whether it's precision or wholesale clearing of your history, though, there is a way to replicate it on iOS.

If you have set iCloud to share your Safari history, then just doing this on your Mac also removes the history from your iPhone, and iPad.

Otherwise, you're stuck with going to your iOS device. And then with clearing the entire history.

How to clear search history on iPhone

• Go to Settings on your iOS device
• Tap on Safari
• Scroll down to Clear History and Website Data
• Tap that, then tap Clear History and Data to confirm

One important thing to note is that you can't selectively remove, say, today's browsing history on the iPhone or iPad . It's all or nothing, with iOS.

What you leave behind

Clearing your history like this does remove the list of sites and pages you've visited. It does mean you can't go back to that site you read last Tuesday, not without remembering what it was and going there yourself.

What it doesn't remove, though, is the information that gets used by something like AutoFill. If you have your address, for instance, and you're used to online forms being filled out with it, you've still got that feature.

You've also still got anything you downloaded. It's purely that Safari won't keep the list of downloads.

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2 Simple Ways to Clear History in Safari

Last Updated: January 4, 2024

This article was co-authored by Luigi Oppido . Luigi Oppido is the Owner and Operator of Pleasure Point Computers in Santa Cruz, California. Luigi has over 25 years of experience in general computer repair, data recovery, virus removal, and upgrades. He is also the host of the Computer Man Show! broadcasted on KSQD covering central California for over two years. This article has been viewed 126,145 times.

You can delete all of your web browsing history or specific entries on both the OS X and the iOS versions of Safari. This can come in handy if you're on a public computer, or need to remove a certain website from your browsing history. No matter what system you're using, it will only take a few moments.

OS X (All History)

• If you're using an older version of Safari, click the "History" menu instead and select "Clear History".

• Note that this will delete history across all devices connected to your iCloud account.

OS X (Single Entries)

iOS (All History)

• If you want to delete a single entry, click here .

iOS (Single Entries)

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• ↑ http://osxdaily.com/2014/11/28/clear-recent-web-history-safari-mac-os-x/
• ↑ http://osxdaily.com/2014/11/21/delete-specific-history-safari-ios/

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How to view and clear your web browsing history in Safari on iPhone or iPad

Easily wipe your browsing history in Apple's Safari web browser in seconds.

What you'll need

How to find your web-browsing history, how to clear your web browsing history.

Clearing your browsing history on iPhone and iPad in Safari has been a straightforward affair for years now.

Sometimes you want to clear your history to get rid of bloat and streamline your browsing experience. Other times, you're trying to hide a gift purchase from a loved one.

Apple makes it very easy to clear your browsing history on both the iPhone and iPad and we're here to show you how. Here's how you can make a fresh start in Safari and debloat your web browsing experience.

On the latest models, web browsing is smoother than ever before thanks to ProMotion in the iPhone 15 Pro and faster chipsets like the M2 found in the iPad Air 6 . If you're looking for a new Apple device, we highly recommend one of the following: 

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Viewing your web history in iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 is very easy to do, here's how:

• In Safari, tap the Bookmarks button in the toolbar that's below the address bar.
• Tap the History icon in the upper right corner. Here, you can view your entire web history.

• Use the History search bar to find previously viewed pages.

If the time calls to wipe most or all of your web browsing history in Safari, here's how to do it on both iPhone and iPad.

To note, the below steps will be the same if you attempt to wipe your web browsing history on an iPhone 15 Pro Max or an iPad Mini 6 , all Apple devices require the same steps.

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• In Safari, tap the Bookmarks button.
• Select the History icon in the upper right corner.
• Tap Clear and select how much history you'd like to clear: the last hour, the last day, 48 hours' worth, or all recorded history.

One more thing… A feature no one talks about

Privacy on the web matters more than ever in these modern times. Websites store the pages you click on, especially when you sign into a page that can contain personal information about you.

It's great to have a feature like this in Safari — but it would be good to have this automated in iOS 18 . If Apple's web browser could automatically clear history after 24 hours it would be very useful, as you wouldn't leave a trail behind.

Regardless, it's still a good feature, and one you should use every week.

Daryl is iMore's Features Editor, overseeing long-form and in-depth articles and op-eds. Daryl loves using his experience as both a journalist and Apple fan to tell stories about Apple's products and its community, from the apps we use every day to the products that have been long forgotten in the Cupertino archives.

Previously Software & Downloads Writer at TechRadar, and Deputy Editor at StealthOptional, he's also written a book, ' The Making of Tomb Raider ', which tells the story of the beginnings of Lara Croft and the series' early development. His second book, ' 50 Years of Boss Fights ', came out in June 2024, and has a monthly newsletter called ' Springboard '. He's also written for many other publications including WIRED, MacFormat, Bloody Disgusting, VGC, GamesRadar, Nintendo Life, VRV Blog, The Loop Magazine, SUPER JUMP, Gizmodo, Film Stories, TopTenReviews, Miketendo64, and Daily Star.

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How to view and clear your web browsing history in Safari on iPhone or iPad

Manage your history for greater privacy

Tools and requirements

• Quick steps
• Step-by-step guide

Final thoughts

Knowing how to view and clear your web browsing history in Safari on an iPhone or iPad is fundamental for privacy. After all, browsing history comes bundled with web navigation unless you're on Private browsing.  

Safari is Apple ’s proprietary web browser, and it offers a simple method to review and delete specific websites from your web history, or all of it. In this guide, we'll walk you through the steps to access and clear your Safari browsing history on iPhone and iPad. 

Additionally, for an incredibly secure browsing experience on iPad, we recommend checking out the best iPad VPN .  

• An iPhone or iPad

Steps for how to view and clear your web browsing history in Safari on iPhone or iPad

• Launch Safari. 
• On an iPhone, tap the Book icon at the bottom. On an iPad, tap the 'Show Sidebar' button at the top left.
• Select the History tab (Clock icon). 
• Tap 'Clear' and select the timeframe.  
• Tap 'Clear History'. 

Step-by-step guide to view and clear your web browsing history in Safari on iPhone or iPad

We’ve demonstrated the steps below on an iPhone. But the process is nearly the same on the iPad, and we’ve pointed out the differences where relevant. 

1. Launch Safari and access History

Open Safari on your iPhone and tap the 'Bookmarks' button at the bottom (beside the tab switcher button). 

On iPad, tap the 'Show Sidebar' button at the top left corner.

2. Clear History

Select the History tab (clock icon) to view all your browsing history. 

Tap 'Clear' at the bottom right corner to bring up the menu and choose a duration under the 'Clear Timeframe : Last hour , Today , Today and yesterday' , and 'All history' . 

To close tabs along with clearing history, toggle on 'Close All Tabs' . 

Finally, tap 'Clear History' at the bottom to erase your browsing history. 

To delete only specific websites from history, go to the History tab , tap 'Edit' (in the bottom left corner), select the websites you wish to delete, and then tap 'Delete' (bottom right corner).

Clearing your web browsing history in Safari is a straightforward and effective way to boost privacy. But remember that deleting your history removes data that you could easily use to access previously visited websites. If you’d prefer not to save your browsing data, try the Private Browsing Mode on Safari. 

For more iPad and iPhone tips, check out our tutorials on how to use and configure a VPN on your iPhone or iPad , how to change your iPhone password or reset it , and how to save, view and manage passwords in Safari .

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Nikshep Myle is a freelance writer covering tech, health, and wellbeing. He has written for popular tech blogs like Tom's Guide, GadgetReview, SlashGear, and Creative Bloq, and has extensively reviewed consumer gadgets. When he’s not writing, you’ll find him meditating, gaming, discovering new music, and indulging in adventurous and creative pursuits.

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How to Clear Safari's Browsing History on an iPhone or Mac

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Navigating the digital world creates a footprint similar to how our steps leave marks in real life. These digital traces, from sites visited to search queries, can pose privacy risks. So, it's essential to know how to clear your browsing history.

Whether you aim to clear search history on your iPhone or Mac, delete history from a specific timeframe in Safari, or fully clear your browsing history, Apple offers streamlined solutions. Let's take a look.

How to Delete Your Safari Browsing History on an iPhone or iPad

If you're looking to clear Safari's browsing history from within the Safari app on the iPhone or iPad, you're looking in the wrong place. Apple puts such options in the Settings app, and this is how to find them:

• Open the Settings app. Then, scroll down and tap on Safari .
• Scroll down to the Privacy & Security section and tap Clear History and Website Data .
• When a sub-window pops up, choose a timeframe and tap Clear History .

If you find yourself needing to delete your history in short timeframes, consider using private browsing (or incognito mode) in Safari instead of heading to the Settings app to do this often.

How to Clear Your Browsing History in Safari on a Mac

Unlike on an iPhone or iPad, you'll find all you need to clear Safari's history within the app. There's no need to open System Settings. Here's how to do it:

• Launch Safari using Spotlight search ( Command + Space ) or any other desired method.

There are still a few other things you would have to do if you want to reset Safari to default settings . But this method is all you need to delete your Safari browsing history on a Mac.

Safari Keeps Your History Private

Do not be worried if you suspect Apple is selling your browsing data; that is far from the truth. Apple has built a reputation for prioritizing privacy and security and even goes the extra mile to protect you from advertisers and third parties.

In fact, Safari might be safer to use than Google Chrome since Google doesn't offer the same commitment to privacy as Safari does. Use Private Browsing if necessary or delete your history if you still want to keep it from prying eyes.

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How to Manage Your Browsing History in Safari

Revisit websites or remove them from your Safari search history

In This Article

Jump to a Section

• Step-by-Step: Manage History on macOS
• Use Private Browsing in Safari
• Step-by-Step: Manage History on iOS Devices
• Use Private Browsing on iOS

The Apple Safari web browser keeps a log of your search history and the websites that you visit. Learn how to manage your browsing history in Safari and how to browse privately.

Instructions in this article apply to Safari for Mac computers with OS X Yosemite (10.10) through macOS Catalina (10.15) and Apple mobile devices with iOS 8 through iOS 14.

How to Manage Safari History on macOS

Safari has long been the standard web browser for macOS . Here's how to manage Safari's history on a Mac:

Open the Safari browser and select  History  in the menu bar located at the top of the screen.

You'll see a drop-down menu with the titles of the web pages you visited recently. Select a website to load the respective page or select one of the previous days at the bottom of the menu to see more options.

To clear your Safari browsing history and other site-specific data that's stored locally, choose  Clear History  at the bottom of the History  drop-down menu.

If you want to keep website data (like saved passwords and other autofill information), go to  History  >  Show All History . Press Cmd + A  to select everything, then press  Delete to remove your browser history while retaining website data.

Select the period you want to clear from the drop-down menu. Options include the last hour , today , today and yesterday , and all history .

Select Clear History to delete the list of sites.

If you sync your Safari data with any Apple mobile devices using iCloud , the history on those devices is cleared as well.

How to Use Private Browsing in Safari

To prevent websites from appearing in the browser history, use Private Browsing. To open a private window in Safari, go to File > New Private Window , or use the keyboard shortcut Shift + Command + N .

When you close the private window, Safari doesn't remember your search history, the web pages you visited, or any autofill information. The only distinguishing feature of the new window is that the address bar is tinted dark gray. The browsing history for all tabs in this window remains private.

In Safari for Windows , select the settings gear and choose Private Browsing from the drop-down menu.

How to Manage History in Safari on iOS Devices

The Safari app is part of the iOS operating system used in the Apple iPhone , iPad, and iPod touch . To manage the Safari browsing history on an iOS device:

Tap the  Safari app to open it.

Tap the Bookmarks  icon at the bottom of the screen. It resembles an open book.

Tap the History icon at the top of the screen that opens. It resembles a clock face.

Scroll through the screen for a website to open. Tap an entry to open the page in Safari.

To clear the browsing history, tap  Clear  at the bottom of the History screen.

Choose one of the four options:  The last hour , Today , Today and yesterday , and  All time .

Clearing your Safari history also removes cookies and other browsing data. If your iOS device is signed into your iCloud account, the browsing history is removed from other devices that are signed in.

Tap  Done  to exit the screen and return to the browser page.

If you only want to remove individual sites from your Safari history, swipe left on the entry, then tap Delete .

How to Use Private Browsing in Safari on iOS Devices

You can also use Private Browsing in iOS to prevent your Safari search history and web data from being saved:

Open the Safari app and then press and hold the tabs icon (the two overlapping boxes) at the bottom of the screen.

Tap Private .

Tap the plus sign to open a private browsing window.

When you are in private browsing, the background of the URL address bar is black instead of light gray. Enter a URL or search term as usual.

When you are ready to go back to regular browsing, tap the tabs icon and then tap Private to turn off private browsing.

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How To Automatically Delete Browsing History in Safari

Evan Gower With over a decade of experience in digital publishing. Evan leads our team with a keen eye for emerging tech trends. Read more May 28, 2019

Browsing history in Safari is there to help you quickly navigate to a specific page. In addition, Safari can remember the pages you frequently visit and display them in the main window as top sites. However, there is one downside to the browsing history.

The more pages you visit, the more data gets cached in the browser. This might slow down the overall browser performance and affect your user experience. On the other hand, browsing history is easily accessible to anyone using your Mac. So you might want to set the browser to automatically delete the history after some time.

Whatever the reason, it’s pretty straightforward to do, even if you are not tech-savvy. Check out the methods below.

Deleting the Browsing History

Launch Safari and press Cmd + Comma to access “Preferences”. You can also do it by selecting Safari, then Preferences in the menu bar.

Click or tap on the “General” button and select the pop-up menu next to “Remove history items”. By default, the history automatically gets deleted after a year. You can change the settings to after a day, week, two weeks, or a month. Of course, there is also an option to do it manually.

How to Manually Remove Safari History

Select “History” from the menu bar and click on “Clear history” at the bottom of the drop-down window. A pop-up window appears in Safari, and again, you get to choose the time frame – last hour, today, today and yesterday, or all history. Once you make the selection hit “Clear History” to confirm.

Safari Preferences Tips and Tricks

Aside from automatic history removal, you can customize the new window’s behavior and change the homepage. To change the homepage, click on the bar and insert a link http://www.techjunkie.com/ , for example. Then confirm by tapping/clicking on “Set to Current Page”.

By default, the files you download go to the Downloads folder, but you can change it to any destination of your liking. The downloaded files are automatically removed after day, but you can also change it to “manually”, “after quitting”, or “upon successful download”.

The “Tabs” button reveals a menu with a few options to tweak Safari tab performance. There are also a few useful shortcuts that can make your browsing experience faster. If you want to block all cookies, click or tap the “Privacy” button and check the box next to Cookies and website data.

Can You Do It on Your iPhone?

Sure you can, and the same method applies for your iPad and iPod Touch. That said, iOS on mobile devices doesn’t feature automatic scheduling and there is no option to select the time frame. In other words, you need to do it manually and the action deletes all the history and website data.

Tap on the Settings app, swipe up and select Safari. Once inside the Safari menu, navigate to “Clear History and Website data” and tap on it.

Tap “Clear History and Data” in the pop-up window to confirm and you’re good to go.

Note: Deleting Safari history via a mobile device affects all other devices signed into the same iCloud account. On the other hand, this action doesn’t affect the AutoFill data, so you’ll be able to easily log into websites you frequently use.

Can You Automatically Delete History in Chrome?

Unfortunately, there is still no way to automatically remove browsing history and cache in Chrome. However, you can delete cookies automatically. Take the following path to access the option:

Chrome > Settings > Advanced > Content settings (under Privacy and Security) > Cookies

Toggle on the button next to “Keep local data only until you quit your browser”. If you are really annoyed by cookies, you can also toggle the button next to “Block third-party cookies”.

How to Delete History in Chrome

To access your browsing history, press “Cmd + Y” on your keyboard and select the “Clear browsing data” option. The pop-up window allows you to select the time frame and type of data. It’s advisable to keep Passwords, Autofill, Hosted apps, and Media licenses unchecked.

Once you are done with the selection, click/ tap the “Clear Browsing Data” button to confirm This process is very similar on your iPhone.

Launch Chrome and tap the three dots to access the “More” menu. Select “History” and tap “Clear Browsing Data” at the bottom of the window. You can choose the type of data to delete – tapping on “Edit” allows you to pick the websites you want to delete or keep.

Unleash the Cookie Monster

By now, you know how easy it is to set automatic history removal in Safari on your Mac or PC. The automatic removal is not possible on your iPhone/iPad. However, it shouldn’t take you more than 10 seconds to reach the “Clear History and Website Data” section.

Whichever method you prefer, it’s advisable to get rid of the browsing history at least once a week to make sure your browser run smoothly.

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Clear your browsing history

You can remove all records that Safari keeps of where you’ve browsed during a period of time you choose. If your Mac and your other devices have the iCloud Safari feature turned on, your browsing history is removed from all of them. Clearing your browsing history in Safari doesn’t clear any browsing histories kept independently by websites you visited.

Open Safari for me

Choose History > Clear History and Website Data, then click the pop-up menu and choose how far back you want your browsing history cleared.

When you clear your history, Safari removes data it saves as a result of your browsing, including:

History of webpages you visited

The back and forward list for open webpages

Top Sites that aren’t marked as permanent

Frequently visited site list

Cookies and website data saved while visiting webpages

Recent searches

Icons for open webpages

Snapshots saved for open webpages

List of items you downloaded (downloaded files aren’t removed)

Websites added for Quick Website Search

Websites that asked to use your location

Websites that asked to send you notifications

Websites with plug-in content you started by clicking a Safari Power Saver notice

Responses to requests to let websites use WebGL

How to Clear Your Browser History - Delete Your Browsing History in Chrome, Firefox, and Safari

Have you ever tried to view your browsing history? Maybe you want to check that restaurant you looked up last night (but forgot its name), or you want to revisit a travel site you browsed a couple days ago. It can be super useful.

But, on the other hand, what if you don't want a record of sites you've visited left on your computer? Perhaps your spouse or partner will discover you've been searching for their birthday gift (last minute, too!), or you've visited a site that you'd rather keep private and personal.

You could also be using a public computer, and just don't want strangers viewing your history. Fair enough.

Whatever the reason, it's a good idea to know how to view - and clear, or delete - your browsing history. And it's pretty easy to do so in various different browsers. So let's have a look.

How to clear your history in Chrome

Chrome stores the sites you've visited over the last 90 days in your browsing history. If you're using incognito mode (which you can read more about here) it won't store those sites. But anything you browsed in a regular Chrome browser will appear there.

Also, something to note : if you've synced up all your devices (laptop, iPhone, tablet, and so on), that history will be visible across all devices. Likewise, when you clear it, it will be cleared from all of the devices.

Clearing all your browsing history

On your computer, open the Chrome browser. In the upper right corner, you'll see three vertical dots. Click them to open that menu, and select the "History" tab from the options there.

Once you click that option, you'll be brought to a summary of your recent browsing history. If you just want to check it out, great.

If you want to clear it, just click the "Clear browsing data" tab on the left. You'll be brought to this screen (below), where you have the option to clear the data for the last hour, 24 hours, 7 days, 4 weeks, or all time. Choose your time frame, and the categories you'd like to clear:

As you can see from the screenshot above, Chrome stores not only your browsing history, but also cookies from sites you visit and cached files.

Once you clear that data, it won't show up in your history. Chrome also won't autocomplete those sites for you if you start typing them in the address bar.

Clearing part of your history

What if you just want to clear a few sites, but want to keep the rest? That's possible, too.

Open Chrome, click on those three vertical dots, choose "History". Same process so far. Now, on that first page of history, instead of clicking "Clear browsing data" on the left, just select/check boxes for what you want to delete:

Once you've selected all the sites you'd like to clear, just click "Delete" in the upper right corner. Only those sites will be removed from your history.

How to clear your history in Firefox

To clear your history in Firefox, the process is fairly similar to Chrome - the buttons just look a little different.

Clearing all browsing history

Open your Firefox browser, and click the library tab at the upper right (it looks like a few books leaning together):

Select the "History" tab, then the "Clear recent history" option from the menu that will replace the previous one.

You'll see this box pop up:

And you'll notice that there's a "Time range to clear" dropdown. You can clear your history from the last hour, two hours, four hours, today, or all time.

You can also select what information you'd like to clear, similar to Chrome.

Now, be prepared: if you just select "Clear Now" at the bottom right, it'll clear all your history, no questions asked.

If you'd like to select which bits to clear, the process is a bit different. Click that same library tab, select "History" and then "Show all history" down at the bottom.

This box will pop up:

Then you'll see your history. If you only have a few sites there, you can just ctrl click (or right click) on the site you want to delete.

When you hold down the ctrl key and click on the site, a menu will pop up. Just select "forget about this site" from that menu and Firefox will delete it from your history.

All history associated with that site (cookies, cache, browsing and logins, and so on) will be removed. Hooray!

How to clear your history in Safari

Last but not least, let's see how to clear your history in Safari.

Clearing all of your browsing history

Once again, the process is fairly similar to Chrome and Firefox. But in Safari, you just click the "History" tab at the top of your browser menu. From the dropdown, select "Clear History":

A box will pop up that will ask you whether you'd like to clear all your history (which includes caches, etc) and for what time frame (last hour, today, today and yesterday, all history).

Select the appropriate option, and click "Clear History". Boom, history cleared for that period of time (or all time).

Again, you might not want to clear everything. Just one site. Totally doable.

Click the "History" tab and select "Show all history" at the top of the dropdown. All the sites you've browsed will be listed by day.

If you want to choose one specific site to delete, just ctrl click (or right click) on that site, and select "Delete" from the drop down:

Just that site will be deleted from your browsing history.

Now you know how to delete your browsing history - all or part of it - from some of the major browsers in use today.

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Clearing Safari history on Childs iPhone/iPad

How do I clear history and website data in Safari settings on my child's iPhone/iPad? I have taken off content restrictions as described in several Apple support posts. Clear history is still greyed out. There is a big data usage number for Safari due to this and I can't clear it out. I don't really want to do a reset when this appears to be a simple solution, I just don't know what the solution is! I put restrictions on my my kids' phone and iPads so that they wouldn't look or see inappropriate websites, know this is crippling their device because the storage is full and I can't clear the Safari history.

Posted on Jan 25, 2022 9:21 PM

Posted on Jan 27, 2022 7:11 AM

Hi nicki271,

Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities. It sounds like you're having an issue with clearing Safari history on a device with restrictions enabled. We're happy to provide some information to assist.

As you mentions and it states in the article here: Clear the history and cookies from Safari on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch "When there's no history or website data to clear, the setting turns gray. The setting might also be gray if you have web content restrictions set up under Content & Privacy Restrictions in Screen Time."

We'd also recommend attempting to clear history and storage from the iPhone storage page and the help of the steps here: How to check the storage on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

You can also check Settings > Safari > Advanced to check and clear data. How to See and Remove All The Data Websites Have Saved on Your iPhone or iPad

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• Clear history from Safari Trying to clear Safari history on my son’s iPhone 8. “Clear” is grayed out. According to all articles I read, this is tied to Content & Privacy Restrictions. I have turned those off and Clear is still grayed out. Have also gone into content restrictions and web content to set “Unrestricted Access” and still grayed out. Since we have family sharing set up, I have tried from the master device and still grayed out. All devices are on iOS 12.3.1. Son also has an iPad associated with him and I have tried all the above via that too. Clear is still grayed out. What to do? 2786 1
• Clear iOS Safari Browsing History but KEEP Website Data? Hello. Is there a way to clear Safari browsing data but KEEP the website data on iPad or iPhone? On a Mac, you can clear browsing history by choosing History > Clear History. But if you hold the Option key before selecting Clear History, you can clear history and keep website data. Is there a similar option for iOS? Thanks. 1053 2

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Jan 27, 2022 7:11 AM in response to nicki271

Safari User Guide

• Change your home page
• Import bookmarks, history and passwords
• Make Safari your default web browser
• Go to websites
• Find what you’re looking for
• Bookmark web pages that you want to revisit
• See your favourite websites
• Use tabs for web pages
• Pin frequently visited websites
• Play web videos
• Mute audio in tabs
• Pay with Apple Pay
• Autofill credit card info
• Autofill contact info
• Keep a Reading List
• Hide ads when reading articles
• Translate a web page
• Download items from the web
• Share or post web pages
• Add passes to Wallet
• Save part or all of a web page
• Print or create a PDF of a web page
• Customise a start page
• Customise the Safari window
• Customise settings per website
• Zoom in on web pages
• Get extensions
• Manage cookies and website data
• Block pop-ups
• Clear your browsing history
• Browse privately
• Autofill username and password info
• Prevent cross-site tracking
• View a Privacy Report
• Change Safari preferences
• Keyboard and other shortcuts
• Troubleshooting

Clear your browsing history in Safari on Mac

You can remove all records that Safari keeps of where you’ve browsed during a period of time you choose. If your Mac and your other devices have Safari turned on in iCloud preferences , your browsing history is removed from all of them. Clearing your browsing history in Safari doesn’t clear any browsing histories kept independently by websites you visited.

Open Safari for me

Choose how far back you want your browsing history cleared.

When you clear your history, Safari removes data it saves as a result of your browsing, including:

History of web pages you visited

The back and forward list for open web pages

Frequently visited site list

Recent searches

Icons for web pages

Snapshots saved for open web pages

List of items you downloaded (downloaded files aren’t removed)

Websites added for Quick Website Search

Websites that asked to use your location

Websites that asked to send you notifications

How can I clear my browser cache, cookies & history?

To clear the cache, cookies or history please click your browser below and follow the steps provided.

• In the browser bar, enter chrome://settings/clearBrowserData
• Select the items you want to clear (you can choose Clear browsing history, 'Clear download history', 'Empty the cache', 'Delete cookies and other site and plug-in data').
• From the dropdown menu, you can choose the period of time you want to clear cached information for. To clear your entire cache, select the beginning of time .
• Click Clear browsing data .

Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer 8, 9, 10 & 11

• Click 'Tools' and select  Delete Browsing History .
• Deselect 'Preserve Favourites website data', and select  Temporary Internet files, Cookies , and  History .
• Click  Delete .
• From the 'Tools' or 'History' menu, select  Clear Recent History  (If the menu bar is hidden, press Alt to make it visible).
• Select from the "Time range to clear" drop-down menu. To clear your entire cache, select  Everything .
• Click the down arrow next to "Details" to choose which elements of the history to clear. Click  Clear Now .
• Click  Close , and then click  OK  to exit.

Mobile Safari for iPhone OS (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad)

To clear cache and cookies:

• From the home screen, tap  Settings , and then tap  Safari .
• At the bottom of Safari's settings screen, tap  Clear cookies and data , or  Clear Cookies  and  Clear Cache .
• Confirm when prompted.

To clear history:

• From the home screen, tap  Safari .
• At the bottom of the screen, tap the  Bookmarks  icon.
• In the lower left, tap  Clear .
• Tap  Clear History .
• Start your browser.
• Tap  Menu , and then tap  More .
• Select  Settings .
• Under 'Privacy settings', select  Clear cache, Clear history , or  Clear all cookie data  as appropriate, and then tap  OK .

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Today's NYT Connections Hints and Answer for June 15 (#370)

Today's nyt connections hints and answer for june 16 (#371), proton drive is getting even better.

Your browser records all your web activity. Therefore, for added privacy, it's best to regularly clear your browsing history. Safari on your Mac can take care of this for you and automatically wipe your history every once in a while. Here's how to set it up.

Launch Safari on your Mac from the Launchpad or by looking it up on Spotlight .

Next, click "Safari" from the left corner of the menu bar and select "Preferences." Alternatively, you can press Cmd+comma on your keyboard to head directly into this menu.

Under the "General" tab, locate the "Remove History Items" option.

From the dropdown beside it, you can select how often Safari should delete your browsing history. You can have it cleared as frequently as every day or every year.

When you enable this setting, Safari automatically wipes logs of the websites you visit, your web searches, and more.

If you prefer reviewing your browsing history before clearing it, you can choose "Manually" from the dropdown and periodically erase your web activity from Safari yourself.

At the bottom of the "General" section, you'll also find a separate setting called "Remove download list items." With this option, you can configure Safari to automatically remove the list of files you downloaded (but not the files themselves).

You can have them wiped after a day, as soon as you quit Safari, or when the download is unsuccessful.

Enabling these won't affect your Safari browsing data on other Apple devices such as an iPhone or an iPad. As of yet, the options to automatically wipe your browsing history and the download list are not available on Safari's iOS and iPadOS apps.

There's a lot more you can do for a more secure experience on Safari, including browsing in incognito mode by default and optimizing it for maximum privacy .

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Clear cookies and site data in Firefox

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• Download a fresh copy

Cookies are stored on your computer by websites you visit and contain information such as site preferences or login status. This article describes how to delete Firefox cookies, other site data and cached web content .

• If you just want to clear the Firefox cache, see How to clear the Firefox cache .
• To clear your browsing history, cookies and temporarily cached files at once, see Delete browsing, search and download history on Firefox .
• To prevent websites from storing cookies on your computer, see Block websites from storing cookies and site data in Firefox .

Table of Contents

• 1 Clear cookies for the current website
• 2 Clear cookies for any website
• 3 Clear all cookies, site data and cache
• 4 Clear all cookies and keep other data

Clear cookies for the current website

To delete cookies and site data for a website you're currently visiting:

• Click Clear Cookies and Site data .

Clear cookies for any website

To delete cookies for any single website:

• Click the Manage Data… button. The Manage Cookies and Site Data dialog will appear.
• To remove all cookies and storage data for the website, click Remove All Shown .
• To remove selected items, select an entry and click Remove Selected .
• Click Save Changes .
• In the Removing Cookies and Site Data confirmation dialog that opens, click OK .
• Close the about:preferences page.

To learn more about managing site data in Firefox, see Manage local site storage settings and Enhanced Cookie Clearing .

Clear all cookies, site data and cache

• Select the Privacy & Security panel and go to the Cookies and Site Data section.
• Cookies and Site Data (to remove login status and site preferences) and Cached Web Content (to remove stored images, scripts and other cached content) should both be check marked.
• Click Clear .

Clear all cookies and keep other data

To delete only cookies while keeping other data, do the following:

• Select Cookies and make sure that other items you want to keep are not selected.
• Click OK Clear Now to clear all cookies and close the Clear All History window.

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How to delete history on Google Chrome?

G ood browser hygiene, believe it or not, is crucial for online safety. I say that because things like your browsing history — which is essentially a window into who you are — can cause a lot of problems for you when it gets in the wrong hands. That's why clearing your browser history frequently is just as important as, say, using a password manager . Consider this as a reminder to clear your browser history if you haven't done it in a while.

Best web browsers for Windows in 2023

How to delete browser history in chrome, you clear your entire history or select a date range.

Deleting the browser history is fairly simple, and it only takes a few steps, regardless of the web browser you're using on your laptop or smartphone . If you are a Google Chrome user and are wondering how to do it, then here's a step-by-step guide that you can follow along to clear history.

• Open Google Chrome , and click the three-dot icon in the top-right corner of the screen.
• Click the Clear browsing data option to open a new pop-up window. Alternatively, you can also press Ctrl+Shift+Del on your keyboard from within Chrome to open this pop-up window.
• Click the dropdown menu next to the Time range option to select how much browsing history you'd like to delete.
• Click the checkbox next to Browsing history , if it's not selected already.
• (Optional) Check/uncheck next to Cookie and other site data and Cache images and files options if you'd like to clear them as well.
• Click Clear data button at the bottom to delete the browser history in Google Chrome.
• Click Ok, got it button to close the confirmation screen.

And that's it, you have now deleted the browsing history on Google for the selected duration. The process of clearing history is pretty much the same across all platforms, so do give it a try and keep your browsing history clean.

How to enable auto-delete in Chrome history?

If you don't have time to manually delete the browsing history on Google Chrome, then you can also let Google handle it for you. All you have to do is enable Auto-delete under the Activity controls in Google settings, and you will be good to go. To do that:

• Visit myactivity.google.com and click Activity Controls .
• Scroll down till you find the Auto-delete option, which should be set to Off by default.
• Click Choose an auto-delete option .
• Click the dropdown menu to set how frequently you want Google to automatically delete your Web & App activity, which also includes your Chrome history.
• Click Next .
• Click Confirm on the pop-up window that highlights your preferences.
• Click Got it on the confirmation window to successfully save the setting.

Clearing browser history is quite easy in Chrome

Those are the two ways you can ensure your browser history is always clean and is safe from falling into the wrong hands. I highly recommend setting up the auto-delete functionality in case you don't want to go through the hassle of deleting the history manually every once in a while.

• Security, Safety and Privacy Overview​
• Get Help with Windows Security​
• Stay protected with Windows Security​
• Before you sell or gift your Windows 10 device or Xbox One
• Remove malware from your Windows PC
• Firewall & network protection in Windows Security
• Get Help with Windows Safety​
• View and delete browser history in Microsoft Edge​
• Delete and manage cookies
• Safely remove your valuable content when reinstalling Windows​
• Find and lock a lost Windows device
• Get Help with Windows Privacy​
• Windows privacy settings that apps use​
• View your data on the privacy dashboard​

Manage cookies in Microsoft Edge: View, allow, block, delete and use

Cookies are small pieces of data stored on your device by websites you visit. They serve various purposes, such as remembering login credentials, site preferences, and tracking user behavior. However, you might want to delete cookies for privacy reasons or to resolve browsing issues.

This article provides instructions on how to:

View all cookies

Allow all cookies.

Allow cookies from specific website

Block third party cookies

Block all cookies, block cookies from a specific site, delete all cookies, delete cookies from a specific site, delete cookies every time you close the browser, use cookies to preload the page for faster browsing.

Select  Settings   >  Cookies and site permissions .

Select Manage and delete cookies and site data > See all cookies and site data.

By allowing cookies, websites will be able to save and retrieve data on your browser, which can enhance your browsing experience by remembering your preferences and login information.

Select Manage and delete cookies and site data  and enable the toggle  Allow sites to save and read cookie data (recommended)  to allow all cookies.

Allow cookies from specific site

Select Manage and delete cookies and site data.

Navigate to Allow  section and select  Add  to allow cookies on a per-site basis by entering the site's URL.

If you don't want third party sites to store cookies on your PC, you can block cookies. But doing this might prevent some pages from displaying correctly, or you might get a message from a site letting you know that you need to allow cookies to view that site.

Select Manage and delete cookies and site data and enable  Block third party cookies.

Select Manage and delete cookies and site data  and disable Allow sites to save and read cookie data (recommended)  to block all cookies.

Microsoft Edge allows you to block cookies from a specific site however doing this might prevent some pages from displaying correctly, or you might get a message from a site letting you know that you need to allow cookies to view that site. To block cookies from a specific site:

Navigate to Block section and select  Add  to block cookies on a per-site basis by entering the site's URL.

Select  Settings   >  Privacy, search, and services .

Navigate to Clear browsing data section and select  Choose what to clear located next to  Clear browsing data now . 

Under Time range , choose a time range from the list.

Select Cookies and other site data , and then select Clear now .

Note:  Alternatively, you can delete the cookies by pressing  CTRL + SHIFT + DELETE together and then proceeding with the steps 4 and 5.

All your cookies and other site data will now be deleted for the time range you selected. This signs you out of most sites.

Open Edge browser, select Settings and more    > Settings   >  Cookies and site permissions .

Under Cookies and data stored , select  Manage and delete cookies and site data > See all cookies and site data and search for the site whose cookies you want to delete.

Select the down arrow    to the right of the site whose cookies you want to delete and select Delete  .

Cookies for the site you selected are now deleted. Repeat this step for any site whose cookies you want to delete. 

Open Edge browser, select  Settings and more    > Settings   > Privacy, search, and services .

Under Clear browsing data , select Choose what to clear every time you close the browser .

Turn on the Cookies and other site data toggle.

Once this feature is turned on, every time you close your Edge browser all cookies and other site data are deleted. This signs you out of most sites.

Enable the toggle Preload pages for faster browsing and searching.

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