remove search 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

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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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 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.

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 may want a fresh start with your web browsing — perhaps to get rid of some history that may bring up a memory you'd rather forget as you type in a website URL in the address bar.

Apple makes this feature very easy to access on both the iPhone and iPad by offering two ways to clear your history. So with this in mind, here's how you can do just that and make a fresh start in Safari .

Viewing your web history in iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 is very easy to do — and it's all done from Safari.

• 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 , and an iPad Mini 6 for example.

• 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.

Master your iPhone in minutes

iMore offers spot-on advice and guidance from our team of experts, with decades of Apple device experience to lean on. Learn more with iMore!

It's great to have a feature like this in Safari — but it would be good to have this automated. To tell Apple's web browser to automatically clear history after 24 hours 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 everyday 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. 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 Manage Browsing History on Safari for iPad

Protect your privacy on your mobile device

What to Know

• Open Safari . Select the Bookmarks icon.
• Choose the Clock icon to open the History pane displaying the list of sites visited during the past month.
• Select Clear and indicate which entries to delete using one of the four options: The last hour, Today, Today and yesterday, and All Time.

This article explains how to manage browsing history on Safari for iPad, including how to view and delete the iPad Safari history, cookies, and stored website data. This article applies to all iPad devices with iOS 10 or iPadOS 13 or later. The process for managing browser history in Safari on an iPhone is slightly different.

How to View and Delete Your iPad Browser History in Safari

Reviewing your iPad browser history is a straightforward process. Safari stores a log of websites you visit along with other related components, such as the cache and cookies. These elements enhance your browsing experience, but you may want to delete your browsing history for privacy reasons.

You can manage your web browsing history on the iPad in two ways. The easiest option is to do it directly in Safari:

Open the Safari web browser.

Select the Bookmarks icon (it looks like an open book) at the top of the screen. 

Select the clock icon to open the History pane. A list of sites visited over the past month appears.

To delete a single website from the browser history, swipe left on its name.

Select  Clear at the bottom of the panel to reveal four options: The last hour, Today, Today and yesterday, and All time.

Select your preferred option to remove the browsing history from your iPad and all connected iCloud devices.

How to Delete History and Cookies From the iPad Settings App

Deleting the browser history through Safari doesn't remove all the data it stores. For a thorough cleaning, go to the iPad Settings app. You can also delete the browsing history and cookies from the Settings app. Clearing the history this way deletes everything Safari saved.

Select the gear icon on the Home screen to open the iPad Settings .

Scroll down and select Safari .

Scroll through the list of settings and select  Clear History and Website Data to delete the browsing history, cookies, and other cached website data.

Select  Clear to confirm, or select Cancel to return to the Safari settings without removing any data.

How to Delete Stored Website Data on iPad

Safari sometimes stores additional website data on top of a list of web pages you visited. For example, it can save passwords and preferences for frequently visited sites. If you want to delete this data but don't want to clear the browsing history or cookies, selectively delete specific data saved by Safari using the iPad Settings app.

Open the iPad Settings app.

Scroll to the bottom of the Safari settings screen and select Advanced .

Select  Website Data to display a breakdown of the data each website currently stores on the iPad.

Select Show All Sites to display the expanded list if necessary.

Select  Remove All Website Data  at the bottom of the screen to delete the site data at once, or swipe left on individual items to clear items one at a time.

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How to Clear Safari Profile Web History on iPhone

In iOS 17 , Apple has increased the options available for clearing Safari's web history and website data. You can even clear Safari's cache for a specific Safari profile. Keep reading to learn how it works.

If a site you regularly frequent has elements that have stopped working, or if a site has stopped loading completely, there may be a conflict between an older version of it that Safari has cached and a newer one. Or perhaps you simply want to protect your privacy by wiping the slate clean and removing all the data associated with websites you've visited.

With ‌iOS 17‌, Apple doesn't just let you clear Safari's history and website data for a specific timeframe. You can also clear the cache for a specific Safari Profile. (Profiles are is designed to help separate your browsing sessions into things like Work, School, or Personal: For more on how to use Profiles, click this link .)

How to Clear Safari Cache

Here's how to clear Safari history and website data on iPhones running ‌iOS 17‌, and iPads running iPadOS 17 .

• Open the Settings app.
• Scroll down and tap Safari .
• Tap Clear History and Website Data in blue.
• Choose a timeframe in which to clear your history: Last hour , Today , Today and yesterday , or All history .
• Choose a specific profile to clear from the list, or check All Profiles .
• To close all open tabs within your timeframe and profile(s), toggle on the switch next to Close All Tabs .
• Tap Clear History , then confirm when prompted.

That's all you need to do. The next time you open the associated profile(s), you should notice that all web history for the chosen timeframe will be gone.

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2 Easy Ways to Check Your Safari Search History

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Do you need to check your Safari browser history? In a few simple steps, you can easily view all the websites you accessed in the past. You can also search for specific websites in your history and clear any website data you don't want. This wikiHow will teach you how to view and delete your Safari history on iPhone, iPad, and macOS.

Things You Should Know

• On iPhone and iPad, you can click the book icon, then the clock icon to find your Safari history.
• On macOS, you can click the "History" tab, then "Show History".
• You can search for specific websites and clear your history data.

Using iPhone and iPad

• If needed, you can change your General Settings .

• If you're signed in with the same Apple ID to you use to log into your Mac, your Mac's Safari history will appear in this list as well.

• You may have to swipe down on the History page to find it.
• The results will load as you type.

• Tap a time period to delete the history from just that time period. To delete the entire log, select All time .
• You can also swipe left on individual websites in your history, then click Delete .

Using macOS

• Be sure to update Safari.

• If you're logged into the computer with the same Apple ID you use on your iPhone or iPad, you'll also see sites you've visited on those devices.

• A list of matching results from your history will appear. Click a site to load it in Safari.

• Select a time frame from the drop-down menu, then click Clear History .
• You can also delete cookies from Safari .

Expert Q&A

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/search-your-browsing-history-ibrw1114/mac
• ↑ https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201265

About This Article

iPhone/iPad: 1. Open Safari . 2. Tap the book icon. 3. Tap the clock button. macOS: 1. Open Safari . 2. Click History . 3. Click Show All History . Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How to clear Safari history on iPhone

How to clear chrome history on iphone, how to clear firefox history on iphone, how to clear siri history on iphone.

• How to browse privately 

How to clear the search history on your iPhone

• To clear the browsing history on your iPhone, delete it directly from the browser you use. 
• You can also delete your Siri search history and data. 
• Browsing the web in private mode can eliminate the need for clearing your iPhone's history.

The reason for wanting to clear the search history on your iPhone is your business. 

But the fact is, browsers keep a running log of all the sites you visit. And if you're curious about how to delete your browsing history, know that browsers aren't the only thing on your phone being tracked. If you normally use Siri to search for things on the web, it might be worth deleting your Siri data, too.

Here's how to clear the history on your iPhone, whether you use Safari, Siri, Chrome, or Firefox.

You can clear your search history in Safari in several ways, removing individual pages, deleting by batches, or clearing all search history at once.

Clearing all history on Safari

1. On your iPhone, go to Settings and select Safari .

2. Scroll down and tap Clear History and Website Data .

3. Confirm by clicking Clear History and Data .

Clearing Safari history based on time periods

1. Open Safari and tap the Bookmarks icon at the bottom of your screen. The icon looks like an open book.

2. Tap on the History icon on the upper-right hand corner of your screen. The icon looks like a clock. 

3. Tap Clear at the bottom right-hand corner of your screen. 

4. Select the time range you want to clear, from The last hour to Today to Today and yesterday to All time .

Deleting individual sites from Safari history

1. Open Safari and tap the Bookmarks icon at the bottom of your screen. 

2. Tap on the History icon on the upper-right hand corner of your screen. 

3. Swipe left on the website, then tap Delete . You can also swipe all the way left.

Like Safari, you can clear your search history in Chrome in several ways. Note that deleting your entire history in Chrome will clear synced data from your other Google accounts.

Clearing all history on Chrome

1. On your iPhone, open Chrome and tap the Menu icon at the bottom right-hand corner of your screen. The icon looks like three dots.

2. Tap History .

3. At the bottom of your screen, tap Clear Browsing Data.

4. Select a time range and the information you want to delete. In this instance, check Browsing History and uncheck items you do not want to delete. 

5. At the bottom of your screen, tap Clear Browsing Data . Confirm the action in the pop-up box that appears. 

Deleting individual sites from Chrome history

1. On your iPhone, open Chrome and tap the Menu icon at the bottom right-hand corner of your screen. 

3. At the bottom of your screen, tap Edit.

4. Select the sites you want to delete, and then tap Delete .

The searches you perform on Firefox are logged. And like Safari and Chrome, you can choose different ways to clear your browsing history. 

Clearing all history on Firefox

1. On your iPhone, open Firefox and tap the Menu icon at the bottom right-hand corner of your screen. The icon looks like three horizontal lines.

2. Tap History . 

3. Select Clear Recent History, and then tap Everything.

Deleting individual sites from Firefox history

1. On your iPhone, open Firefox and tap the Menu icon at the bottom right-hand corner of your screen.

4. In History, you will see a list of recently visited sites. Swipe left on the website, then tap Delete . You can also swipe all the way left.

If you normally use Siri, it's worth noting that Apple saves the history of your Siri interactions. If you're concerned about privacy, you can delete your Siri search history . 

1. On your iPhone, go to Settings and select Siri & Search.

2. Select Siri & Dictionary History .

3.  Tap Delete Siri & Dictation History .

How to browse privately 

If you want to browse freely without needing to delete your history later, you should use private browsing mode. To learn how to do that, check out our guide on how to turn on private browsing mode for Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and more.

• Main content

How-To Geek

How to wipe your browsing history automatically in safari on mac.

Safari records all your web activity, so it's best to occasionally clear it with Safari's self-destruct tool. Here's how it works.

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 .

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

Search your web browsing history in Safari on Mac

You can search your browsing history to quickly find web pages you visited.

Open Safari for me

Type in the Search field at the top-right corner of the window.

Safari uses iCloud to keep your browsing history the same on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Mac computers that have Safari turned on in iCloud preferences . On your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, go to Settings > [ your name ] > iCloud, then make sure Safari is turned on. Your Mac can keep your browsing history for as long as a year, while some iPhone, iPad and iPod touch models keep browsing history for a month. To change how often your Mac removes history items, see Change General preferences in Safari .

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I can’t clear my history on Safari!

I can’t clear my history on Safari. It is very irritating because I know how to but the “clear” button is grayed out and I cant push it. I cleared everything in settings, but when i search things that I accidentally searched before pop up. I don’t understand why I cannot clear history when I push the bookmark button, and it is really annoying that it is grayed out. I tried looking it up, everything all the websites say to do are from a long time ago and they do not work, like when you go to General in Settings, there is supposed to be a button that says “Restrictions”, but there isn’t anymore. Please help me!

iPhone 7, iOS 12

Posted on Mar 20, 2019 5:03 PM

Posted on Mar 23, 2019 7:17 PM

Turn off Screen Time Restrictions.

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Mar 23, 2019 7:17 PM in response to cherry_ontop

Mar 20, 2019 5:07 PM in response to cherry_ontop

On iOS 12, the restrictions has moved to a new location:

Settings > Screen Time > Content and Privacy Restrictions > here

Mar 23, 2019 3:39 PM in response to ckuan

what do i do after that to make it so the clear button in history is not grayed out?

Mar 23, 2019 3:47 PM in response to cherry_ontop

Then it will only grated out after you tap the button.