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How to Clear Safari Browsing History and Cache

Whenever you browse the web in Safari, the browser stores website data so that it doesn't have to download it again each time you revisit a site. In theory this should speed up your browsing experience, but there are some scenarios where you might want to clear the cache and start anew. Keep reading to learn how it's done on Mac, iPhone , and iPad .

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. Either way, here's how it's done on macOS and iOS.

How to Clear Safari's Cache on Mac

There are two ways to clear Safari's cache on a Mac. The first method outlined below deletes everything relating to a website you've visited, including not only the cached versions of the site, but also cookies and any other related data. The second method described offers a more targeted approach and clears only Safari's cache, but it does involve enabling a hidden menu.

Launch Safari browser on your Mac.

How to Clear Safari's Cache on iPhone and iPad

Note that the following steps clear all history, cookies and website data on your device, regardless of when the sites were accessed.

Launch the Settings app on your iOS device.
Scroll down and select Safari .
Scroll down and select Clear History and Website Data .
Choose the timeframe to clear ( Last hour , Today , Today and yesterday , or All history ), choose the profile or select All Profiles , then tap Clear History .

For another way to protect your privacy while browsing the web, be sure to check out our guide on how to use Safari's Private Browsing Mode .

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How to Delete Cookies and Stored Website Data in Safari

Websites and advertisers use cookies to identify you and follow you around the internet, and they might also save other website data to remember you by. In Safari, you can delete these cookies and other data. Let's head to Safari's privacy settings.

Stored content can include a history of your site visits or information you provided the site, such as your name and email address. You can delete all of the website data at once or for individual sites.

Delete Cookies and Saved Data on the Mac

1. Select Preferences from the Safari menu or hold down the Command key and the comma key at the same time (Command+,).

2. Go to the Privacy tab.

3. Click the Remove All Website Data button to remove all stored website data, or skip to step 5 to remove data on a site-by-site basis.

4. Click Remove Now to confirm. Note, as Safari warns you, this could log you out of sites and perhaps also change how they function. For example, instead of getting tailored ads on the site, you'll be served generic ones.

5. To remove stored data by site, click the Details button.

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6. Select the sites with stored data you want to remov e. Hold down the Command key to select multiple sites.

7. Click Remove.

8. Click Done.

Alternatively, you can click the Remove All button to delete all of the sites' cookies and stored data. Safari will ask you to confirm your choice:

Delete Cookies and Web History in Safari in iOS

Clear your history, cookies, and browsing data from Safari on your iPad or iPhone .

1. Open the Settings app and tap Safari.

2. Tap Clear History and Website Data. If you're using iOS 7 or earlier, the menu is slightly different: Tap "Clear History" and "Clear Cookies and Data".

3. Tap Clear to confirm.

4. Tap Advanced back in the Safari Settings window to clear other stored website data.

5. Tap Website Data.

6. Tap Remove All Website Data . Alternatively, you can click the Edit link at the top right and then delete individual sites' data by tapping the minus sign next to the site names.

Doing this will not only help protect your privacy. It can also clear out precious space on your device.

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How to clear all website data from Safari on iPhone and iPad

Whether you know it or not, your iPhone and iPad actually tracks what you're doing in Safari for several reasons. The main ones being to speed up browsing and to store logins. On the down side, website data can also be used for tracking purposes. If you'd rather not have sites track you, clearing out this data now and again is a good idea.

Here's how:

Launch the Settings app from the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad.
Scroll down and tap on Safari .
Again, scroll down to the bottom and tap on Advanced .
Now tap on Website Data .
This is where you'll see all the sites storing data via Safari. Scroll to the botom and tap on Remove All Website Data .
You'll be asked to confirm you'd like to delete all data with a detailed explanation of what it does. Just tap Remove Now to confirm.

That's it. All the website data currently stored on your iPhone or iPad is now gone. Depending on how much you browse, you may have noticed lots of data being stored. This is also a way to free up a little storage space now and again if you find yourself running dangerously low.

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

Browsing data reveals your browsing habits, and can be accessed by sites you visit. If you're concerned about your privacy, you can manage and delete your browsing history.

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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It’s easy to clear Safari cache, history and cookies on your iPhone and iPad. This comes in handy when you want to delete some sensitive browsing information, in case you did not use Private Mode. Moreover, it can also help free up some space to keep your browser running efficiently. If Safari is being slow or behaving erratically, you can get rid of data to clear out the load. So let’s see what’s involved.

Why should you clear Safari cache?

Cookies can store a range of data, from your login details to your shopping preferences. If they become corrupted or get shared with perpetrators, they can put your information at risk.
Clearing the Safari cache will prevent anyone else from seeing the websites you’ve been visiting and the searches you’ve been performing. If you’re utilizing a shared device or a public Wi-Fi network, this is extremely crucial.
Overall, tips and tricks like this for Safari on your iPhone are simple but keep the data stored in your browser at a minimum and help free up space on your phone.

How to clear cache and history in Safari on iPhone or iPad

Launch the Settings app on your iPhone.
Scroll down and select Safari .

This procedure will remove all cookies, cache, and history from your iPhone completely. Furthermore, you can prevent the cache from piling up by surfing in the Private Browsing Mode .

How to delete specific website data from Safari on iPhone or iPad

Go to the Settings app → Safari .
Scroll down to the bottom and tap Advanced .

Go to the Settings app, tap Safari, scroll down and tap Advanced, select Website Data

Once finalized, tap Done .

To remove data from all websites, tap Remove All Website Data, Remove Now

Clearing data from a particular website ensures the removal of all cookies. If you want, you can even customize Safari to your preference in a few simple steps.

How to block cookies in Safari on iPhone

Under Privacy & Security, toggle on Block All Cookies .

Go to the Settings app, Safari, Under Privacy & Security, toggle on Block All Cookies, Tap Block All

Yes. Clearing Safari cache, history, and cookies will log you out of the websites you are currently logged into.

No. Clearing your Safari cache, history, and cookies will not delete your bookmarks.

Yes. Clearing your Safari cache, history, and cookies will delete any saved passwords you have for websites.

Now, you’re safe…

Clearing Safari cache, history, and cookies on iPhone can help you to secure your privacy and improve the performance of your device. It is a simple and easy process that only takes a few moments to complete.

Do let me know if you’d want me to cover more such articles. Until next time!

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Mehak has a master’s degree in communication and over ten years of writing experience. Her passion for technology and Apple products led her to iGeeksBlog, where she specializes in writing product roundups and app recommendations for fellow Apple users. When not typing away on her MacBook Pro, she loves being lost in a book or out exploring the world.

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🗣️ Our site is supported by our readers like you. When you purchase through our links, we earn a small commission. Read Disclaimer .

How to clear Safari’s cache and cookies on Mac

There are a handful of situations when clearing Safari’s cookies or cache–one of the places where Safari stores website data to avoid having to download it afresh each time you access a site–can help improve your browsing experience.

The first is when websites simply stop working when you access them on Safari. Perhaps Facebook stops updating with new posts, for example, or the images on a site don’t appear as they should. If this happens, it’s likely the cache has become corrupted.

Alternatively, if you find that personal info automatically completed on sites isn’t correct, deleting cookies can help. These are small files that sites use to save data about you and what you do on the site.

Even if none of these problems affect you, periodically cleaning browser data can help protect your privacy from snoops who want to discover what you’ve been up to online. In this article, therefore, we explain how to clear Safari’s cache and cookies on Mac.

We also have an article that explains How to clear cache on a Mac.

How to clear Safari cookies and cache for websites

Cleaning cookies and the cache data for individual sites can be done via Safari’s Settings/Preferences.

Open Safari
Click on Safari in the menu at the top of the screen.
Click on Settings or Preferences (depending on the version of macOS you are running).
Go to the Privacy tab.
Click on Manage Website Data…
Choose Remove All or select websites individually to remove.

After the data is loaded you’ll probably see a long list of websites. You can choose to Remove All or just select individual websites you want to remove from this list. If you want to select a number of different sites you can click on one and then press and hold the Command key to select a second, third or fourth and so on. We recommend that you don’t select hundreds this way – it’s better to delete in batches just in case you have to start over.

If you would prefer to select all and then deselect the ones you want to keep you can do so. Use Command + A to select all, then press and hold Command while clicking on any website you are happy to keep in this list. Just click Remove afterwards, not Done, as that will just undo all your hard work.

There’s a search field you can use to track down individual sites.

Bear in mind that deleting cookies might remove autocompleted login usernames and passwords for sites, and will almost certainly log you out of that site if you’ve configured it to automatically log in each time you visit.

How to clear Safari cache

The hidden Safari Developer menu can be used to clear just the cache, leaving cookies and the browser history in place. This is a very useful diagnostic step to take before removing those two items if a website behaves badly.

If you just want to clear all your cache you can do so by following these steps:

Open Safari.
Click on Safari in menu bar at top of screen.
Click on Settings/Preferences (depending on the version of macOS you are running).
Click on the Advanced tab.
Check the box beside Show Develop Menu in Menu Bar.
Now there will be a new Develop tab in the menu at the top of your screen. Click on this.
Click on Empty Caches.

Alternatively click on Option/Alt + Command + E.

Close any open Safari windows and select Empty Caches on the Develop menu. Then click File > New Window to start Safari with a clean cache.

How to remove autocomplete data from AutoFill

Safari’s AutoFill tool can fill in username and password details on websites as well as credit card details and other elements like your address and email details.

This can be really useful, but it can also be annoying if the data it fills in is incorrect or out of context. It’s also a problem when AutoFill helpfully enters old or incorrect passwords or emails and addresses.

You can change this data, or delete it by following these steps:

Click on Safari.
Click on Settings/Preferences.
Choose the AutoFill tab.
Here you can edit contact information, usernames and passwords, credit cards and other data. Click on Edit beside the category you want access to.
You’ll need to enter your password or use Touch ID to gain access.

Delete incorrect data: If you are finding that Safari is autofilling incorrect data about you–your address, for example–click Edit beside Using information from my contacts. This will open up your Contacts app. Your card will be at the top or under My Card. You can add and amend data about you here.

Delete incorrect passwords and site logins: If you wanted to delete incorrect passwords, for example, you can just click on the Passwords tab. If you know which password you want to remove search for the website or service and then find the older password option (if there is more than one) and select it and then click on the – below the column to remove it. You can then select Delete Password. If that means there is no password saved for that website, you can then recreate the entry for the site by clicking the Add button. You’ll first need to provide the URL of the site (that is, something like https://facebook.com ), and then type the username and password alongside (hit the Tab key to move from field to field).

See: How to autofill passwords, bank cards, names and addresses for more.

Delete logins and passwords system-wide

Pruning site logins can also be done via the Keychain Access app, which you’ll find in the Utilities folder of the Applications list in Finder, although you should be very careful using this app because it pretty much controls the entire security operation of your Mac! However, by removing errant username and password entries here you’ll stop virtually all of your Mac apps using them, and not just Safari.

Just type the name of the site into the Search field, and look in the list of results for entries of the kind Web Form Password. Right-click the entry and select Delete.

If you want to delete your Chrome or Firefox cache, cookies or browsing history read: How to delete your Mac browsing history . For alternative web browsers take a look at: Best web browser for Mac.

Clear Safari cache on Mac
Clear Safari cache on iPhone or iPad
How to save passwords when clearing your cache

How to clear your Safari browser cache on a Mac, iPhone, or iPad

You can clear your cache on Safari in just a few steps on a Mac, iPhone, or iPad.
Clearing your cache, as well as history and cookies, can help resolve your device's performance issues.
Clearing your cookies will clear your passwords as well, unless you save them with keychain.

A cache is a store of data. When you visit a website on your Mac, iPhone, or iPad, the Safari browser keeps a snapshot of the pages you view.

If you go back to that website, Safari loads the cached page in an instant, instead of taking the time to retrieve the page from the internet again.

But an overloaded cache can take up storage space and cause your device to run inefficiently — and it could use a periodic clearing.

Here's what you need to know to clear your cache on Safari, as well as your cookies and browsing history.

How to clear Safari cache on Mac

You can either clear just your cache or your cache, history, and cookies.

Clear your cache

1. Click on the Safari tab at the top left of your screen and choose Preferences from the dropdown menu.

2. Click the Advanced tab of the menu that pops up.

3. At the end of the tab, select the Show Develop menu in menu bar box and close the Preferences menu.

4. Click the Develop tab from the Safari menu at the top of the page.

5. Click Empty Caches from the dropdown menu.

Clear your cache, history, and cookies

You may also want to clear your browsing history and cookies in addition to emptying your cache. Here's how to do that.

1. Choose the History tab at the top of your screen.

2. At the very bottom of the dropdown menu, choose Clear History.

3. A box pops up with a choice to clear the last hour, today, today and yesterday, or all history. Choose your time frame and click the Clear History button.

Once you clear the history, it will also clear the cache and cookies associated with that time period.

How to clear Safari cache on iPhone or iPad

To clear your cache and browsing history:

1. Open the Settings app.

2. Tap Safari .

3. Tap Clear History and Website Data .

4. On the screen that pops up, choose Clear History and Data .

To clear your cache but not your browsing history:

3. Tap Advanced .

4. Tap Website Data .

5. Choose Remove All Website Data .

What happens to saved passwords when you clear your cache

When you clear your cache, history, and cookies, you may discover that Safari has logged you out of your favorite websites.

While clearing Safari's cache alone will not delete your passwords, clearing your history and cookies can. That's because when you empty your cookies, you will lose their password data saved in Safari as well. And keep in mind that clearing your history also clears its associated cookies.

Luckily, Apple has a solution to this problem. If you use iCloud, check your iCloud settings on your phone or computer.

Make sure that you've checked the box for Safari. As long as this box is checked, any passwords you save through your browser will stay safe in your keychain .

Main content

Safari User Guide

Get started
Go to a website
Bookmark webpages to revisit
See your favorite websites
Use tabs for webpages
Import bookmarks and passwords
Pay with Apple Pay
Autofill credit card info
View links from friends
Keep a Reading List
Hide ads when reading
Translate a webpage
Download items from the web
Add passes to Wallet
Save part or all of a webpage
Print or create a PDF of a webpage
Interact with text in a picture
Change your homepage
Customize a start page
Create a profile
Block pop-ups
Make Safari your default web browser
Hide your email address
Manage cookies
Clear your browsing history
Browse privately
Prevent cross-site tracking
See who tried to track you
Change Safari settings
Keyboard and other shortcuts

Clear cookies in Safari on Mac

You can see all the websites that have stored cookies and website data on your Mac, and you can remove some or all of it.

Open Safari for me

Click Manage Website Data.

Select one or more websites, then click Remove or Remove All.

Removing the data may reduce tracking, but may also log you out of websites or change website behavior.

Note: Removing cookies and website data in Safari may change or remove them in other apps.

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience.

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.

Go to History, Clear History, and then choose how far back you want your browsing cleared

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.

You can remove your takeaway habits from Safari, we're not judging you.

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.

Clearing your Safari history is all or nothing on 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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How-To Geek

How to see and remove all the data websites have saved on your iphone or ipad.

Storage space on an iPhone or iPad can be hard to come by. Why not reclaim space that websites have taken for themselves?

Quick Links

How to see and then remove data.

Whenever you visit a website on an iPhone or iPad, snippets of data are saved to your device. Cookies and other cached data eventually start to take up significant space, so you may want to clean them out. Here's how.

Periodically clearing the data that iOS stores can be a good idea for a number of reasons. Beyond the fact that collectively these websites store quite a bit of data on your devices, that data can be used to track your visits, too. Websites save cookies to your devices to be able to tell when you visit again, and even though that can be beneficial to keep you logged in and save preferences, not everyone likes it.

If you want to make sure that websites can't keep tabs on you, you might also want to make sure you delete the information they save to your device. If you're short on space, you might just want to clear out of all cruft, too.

To get started, open the Settings app. Next, tap "Safari."

Now, scroll to the very bottom of the screen and tap "Advanced."

Next, tap "Website Data" at the top of the screen.

The next screen displays the websites that are using the most data. If you want to see them all, tap "Show All Sites." To delete all of the data for all websites, tap "Remove All Website Data."

However, if you'd prefer to remove data for only one website, swipe it to the left and then tap the "Delete" button that appears.

Even though iOS may delete some of this data during its normal housekeeping activities when it detects a device is running low on storage space, it's always a good idea to keep tabs on the data that is saved to your iPhone or iPad. This is one way to do exactly that, and we think you'll be surprised at how quickly the total amount of data starts to balloon.

Manage cookies and website data

Websites often store cookies and other data on your Mac. This data may include information that you have provided, such as your name, email address, and preferences. This data helps websites identify you when you return so the site can provide services for you and show information that might be of interest to you.

By default, Safari accepts cookies and website data only from websites you visit. This helps prevent certain advertisers from storing data on your Mac. You can change options in Safari preferences so that Safari always accepts or always blocks cookies and other website data.

Open Safari for me

Important: Changing your cookie preferences or removing cookies and website data in Safari may change or remove them in other apps, including Dashboard.

Choose Safari > Preferences, click Privacy, then do any of the following:

Change which cookies and website data are accepted: Select a “Cookies and website data” option:

Always block: Safari doesn’t let any websites, third parties, or advertisers store cookies and other data on your Mac. This may prevent some websites from working properly.

Allow from current website only: Safari accepts cookies and website data only from the website you’re currently visiting. Websites often have embedded content from other sources. Safari does not allow these third parties to store or access cookies or other data.

Allow from websites I visit: Safari accepts cookies and website data only from websites you visit. Safari uses your existing cookies to determine whether you have visited a website before. Selecting this option helps prevent websites that have embedded content in other websites you browse from storing cookies and data on your Mac.

Always allow: Safari lets all websites, third parties, and advertisers store cookies and other data on your Mac.

Remove stored cookies and data: Click Manage Website Data, select one or more websites, then click Remove or Remove All.

Removing the data may reduce tracking, but may also log you out of websites or change website behavior.

See which websites store cookies or data: Click Manage Website Data.

Change how often websites ask to use your location information: Select a “Website use of location services” option:

Prompt for each website once each day: Safari prompts you once each day for each website you visit that requests use of location services.

Prompt for each website one time only: Safari only prompts you once for each website you visit that requests use of location services.

Deny without prompting: All websites are denied access to location services and Safari does not prompt you.

Ask websites not to track you: Some websites keep track of your browsing activities when they serve you content, which enables them to tailor what they present to you. You can have Safari ask sites and their third party content providers (including advertisers) not to track you.

With this option turned on, each time Safari fetches content from a website, Safari adds a request not to track you, but it’s up to the website to honor this request.

How to Delete an Individual Website from Safari’s History instead of All Websites

It is easy to clear the history from Safari on iPhone, iPad or Mac. When you tap the Clear History and Website Data in Settings on your iPhone, all of your history will be gone. However, clearing all of the history, cookies and cache may not be ideal. For example, this creates a lot of login headaches, as you won’t be able to automatically log in to websites, like when you want to check your email. You will have to re-enter your username and password and probably complete other authentication steps, which may be annoying.

What if you just want to remove a few websites from your history? Sometimes, you may not want to see a particular website appear as a suggestion when you enter a URL in Safari. Or you may have accidentally visited a questionable website, and you want to remove that from Safari. The good news is that you can just remove that website while keeping all of your other history.

Safari keeps a record of what URLs you visit to give you a history list, which makes it easy to go back to previously visited pages. If you browse the web in Private Mode, Safari does not record your history. Lastly, when you clear the history, it won’t affect your autofill information.

Remove a website from History in Safari on iPhone or iPad

Open Safari on your iPhone or iPad.
Tap the Bookmarks button in the toolbar at the bottom, which looks like an open book.

Tap the History tab, which looks like a clock.

From the bottom-left corner, tap Edit . Then, select the websites you want to remove. You probably have a lot of websites. You can scroll down to reveal the search bar, which you can use to find the websites you want to delete.

Then tap the red Delete button, and the selected websites will be deleted. Tap Done when you are done.

Remove a website from your history on Mac

Open Safari on your Mac.
From the top menu bar, click History and Show All History .

All of your history will show up. Again, scroll up or down to find the website you want to delete. You can also use the search field, which is located at the top-right of your screen.

Once you find the website, right-click (or Control -click) it and select Delete . You can choose multiple websites by selecting the websites while pressing the Command key.

You should note that if you are using multiple devices with the same Apple ID and if iCloud is enabled for Safari, then deleting a history item on one device means your deletion will sync across your other devices.

What about cookies and cache

Please note that when you delete a website’s history, its cache and cookies won’t be deleted. If you want to delete an individual website’s cookies and cache, follow these steps:

On iPhone and iPad : Go to Settings > Safari > Advanced > Website Data . You can use the search field to find the website you would like to delete, and once you find it, swipe left and tap Delete .
On Mac : In Safari, click Safari > Settings > Privacy , then click the Manage Website Data button. Using the search field, find the website and then click Remove .

How to Clear the Browser Cache in Safari on Mac
How to enable Cookies on iPhone
What is Website Data on iPhone, iPad & What Happens If you Clear It

Dr. Serhat Kurt worked as a Senior Technology Director specializing in Apple solutions for small and medium-sized educational institutions. He holds a doctoral degree (or doctorate) from the University of Illinois at Urbana / Champaign and a master’s degree from Purdue University. He is a former faculty member. Here is his LinkedIn profile and Google Scholar profile . Email Serhat Kurt .

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How to clear your browser cache

It’s quick, simple, and useful.

By Barbara Krasnoff , a reviews editor who manages how-tos. She’s worked as an editor and writer for almost 40 years. Previously, she was a senior reviews editor for Computerworld.

Share this story

A sage-colored Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2 with its screen open and facing the viewer in front of a pink and yellow backdrop.

One of the best ways to restore space to your computer or phone — or to fix a problem that may have been caused by a temporary file screwing up the works — is also one of the simplest: to clear the browser cache. However, unless you’ve been instructed sometime in the past to clear your cache, you may be unaware of this otherwise invisible feature.

Here’s how to clear your cache on the major browsers and on your Android or iOS devices. We’ve also included instructions on how to clear the data for a single site if you need to.

Click on the three dots in the upper right corner.
On the desktop version, select More Tools > Clear Browsing Data... On the mobile app, select Settings > Privacy and security > Clear browsing data .
Make sure the Cached images and files box is checked. (You can also choose to clear your browsing history and cookies if you want — click on the Advanced tab if you want to get more specific.)
Use the Time range drop-down menu to choose how far back to go. (In the case of clearing your cache, All time is best.)
Click on the Clear data button.

To clear the data for a specific site

Click on the three dots on the top right
Select Settings > Privacy and security > Cookies and other site data .
Scroll down and click on See all cookies and site data.
Search for the website’s name in the upper right corner and select the trash can icon to the right.

Interestingly, Safari makes it very easy to clear all your data — including cache, browsing history, and cookies — at one blow. But it’s not as obvious if you just want to clear your browser cache.

To do it the easy way:

While you’re in the Safari browser on your desktop, go to the top menu and select Safari > Clear History...
Select the time period (last hour, today, today and yesterday, all history) you want to clear and click on Clear History .
Or, on your iPhone, tap the Bookmarks icon at the bottom of the screen (it looks like an open book) and then on the History icon (the clock).
Tap on the Clear button and select your time period.

If you want to just clear out the browser cache on your web browser, it’s a little more complicated.

Look to see if there is a Develop section in your Safari’s top menu. If not, go to Safari > Preferences... > Advanced and check Show Develop in menu bar .
Click on Develop > Empty Caches .
Click on Safari > Preferences...
Click the Privacy tab and then Manage Website Data...
You’ll get a list of websites. To remove one, click on it and then click Remove . To remove all website data from Safari, click Remove All .

Microsoft Edge

The Edge browsers for desktop and mobile are different enough, so we’ll describe the process separately.

Desktop browser

As in Chrome, just check the correct box to empty your cache.

Click the three dots in the upper right corner
Select Settings > Privacy, search, and services
Scroll down to Clear browsing data and click on Choose what to clear
Make sure Cached images and files is checked (and check any other data you want to clear out)
Use the Time range drop-down to select the last hour, last 24 hours, last four weeks, or all time
Click on Clear now
Select Settings > Cookies and site permissions > Manage and delete cookies and site data .
Search for the website’s name in the upper right corner or scroll down to find it
Click on the “down” arrow next to the site name, and then use the trash can icons to delete the cookies and data.
You can also use the buttons on top to Remove all shown or Remove third-party cookies .

Mobile browser

In mobile Edge, click the bottom three dots and then choose Settings.

Tap on the three dots at the bottom of the screen and select Settings > Privacy and security
Select Clear browsing data
Make sure Cached images and files is checked, and use the drop-down menu to pick your time range.
If you want, you can toggle on Clear browsing data upon exit to clear out all your data each time you exit Edge.

Click on the three lines in the upper right corner of the app, then select Settings > Privacy & Security
Scroll down to Cookies and Site Data ; click on Clear Data...
Make sure Cached Web Content is checked (you can also check off the Cookies and Site Data box if you want to clear that as well)
Select Clear

In Cookies and Site Data , there is also a box you can check to delete all cookies and site data when you close the browser. A button called Manage Exceptions... lets you choose any sites whose cookies you want to keep.

If you’re on the website you want to clear:

Look for a lock icon to the left of the address bar and click on it.
Click on Clear cookies and site data... and then click Remove on the pop-up box.

If you want to clear data from one or more specific sites:

Go to Firefox > Preferences > Privacy & Security > Cookies and Site Data . Click on Manage Data .
Scroll down to find the site you want to clear or type its name into the search box.
Highlight the site and click on Remove Selected . (If you want, you can also click on Remove All .)

Update July 6th, 2022, 2:10PM ET: This article was originally published on July 4th, 2022, and has been updated to add information on Firefox.

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How to Clear Safari Documents and Data on iPhone and iPad

Need to clear Safari documents and data on iPhone or iPad? Look no further. With Safari not only being Apple’s native browser, but one of the most popular mobile browsers in general, plenty of users may find themselves needing to clear some space. Going through the internet can cause users to amass quite a collection of files that are no longer necessary or warranted. Over time, users may find that these files have completely overtaken the storage on their device. While bloat is almost never fun, there is a rather simple way to get rid of it.

Keeping all this in mind, I’m going to take a look at how you can clear Safari documents and data on iOS. This includes clearing Safari data on iPhone as well as iPad. I’ll also go into a few details concerning what exactly your browser is storing, and I’ll also take a look at smaller tips as well. If you’re in need of clearing documents and data from Safari, let’s explore some options.

What is Documents and Data on Safari Storage?

Documents and Data is where Safari stores information about the websites you visit. Whenever you are traversing the vast internet landscape, your device needs to download and collect everything you visit so that you are able to access it. While this can make visiting certain websites multiple times a faster experience, it’s also going to accumulate data on your device. Things such as cached files, cookies and other files need to take up space on your iPhone or iPad. Fortunately, if you find that it’s taking up far too much space, there is a way to get rid of it.

Why is My Documents and Data on Safari So High?

When it comes to Safari, if you find that the browser is taking up a large amount of storage on your device, it’s likely due to your browsing history. This applies to both websites and downloaded files. Overtime, these files will eventually begin to accumulate until you find that your storage is overtaken by data you no longer need.

Additionally, Safari is going to save webpage data, images and cookies from every site that you visit. Obviously this will cause your storage to fill rather quickly. This will be especially true if you synchronize Safari with other devices. Plug-ins, toolbars and extensions will also eat up a lot of storage space.

How Do I Clear Safari Data on My iPhone?

For those that need to clear their Safari storage, doing so is fortunately rather easy. Even better, Safari gives you a couple of options when it comes to clearing your storage: you can either clear your history and cookies, or you can delete just your cookies. Note that deleting any of this information will not change your AutoFill information.

Time needed: 1 minute

If you want to clear both your history and cookies, simply follow these steps:

If you want to delete just your cookies and keep your history, do the following:

From your iPhone, go to Settings.
Select Safari .
Choose Advanced .
Tap Website Data and select Remove All Website Data .

Note that if there is no history or cookies to delete, these options will turn gray and you will not be able to click them. This applies to both methods.

You can also delete website data for a specific website by going to Settings > Safari > Advanced > Website Data and swiping left on the site you want to delete.

Note that when it comes to things you’ve downloaded, Safari gives you options on where they’re stored. The default option is to store them in iCloud. So if you want to delete Safari downloads from iCloud, visit the Files app and go to iCloud Drive > Downloads . If you download files directly to your iPhone, you can delete them by going to Files > On My iPhone > Downloads . You can change where your downloads go in Safari by navigating to Settings > Safari > Downloads .

You can choose where files are downloaded to, even when trying to clear data from Safari on iPhone.

Clear Safari iPhone Data: Does Clearing Safari History Save Storage?

Clearing your Safari history is going to save you some storage, yes. Clearing the history and website data is going to clear the temporary files from your devices, freeing up some space on your device. Deleting cookies will also free up some space, but not nearly as much. Additionally, know that deleting your history and website data may cause improvements in the speed of your device, but it may take some websites to load longer.

Clear Safari iPhone Data: What Will Deleting Safari Data Do?

If you clear your website data and history, there are a couple of things you should know. First, you will more than likely need to re-login for most of the sites you visit. Furthermore, if you have anything in shopping carts that you have yet to purchase, it will be gone as well. Webpages will also take a little longer to load, as the site will need to redownload things.

Note that deleting data from Safari will not have an impact on passwords saved to your iPhone. You will also keep your bookmarks, as well as any data you save from a particular website. For example, Google Docs will still keep your information in the cloud.

How Do I Delete Documents and Data From Safari on iPad?

The steps for iPad are virtually identical to the steps for iPhone. Simply go to Settings > Safari > Clear History and Website Data and then confirm. You will also have the option to delete cookies as well. Note that virtually all of my advice regarding deleting files applies to both the iPhone and the iPad.

Keep Your Record Clean: Clear Safari Data on Your iPhone

Clearing out website data in Safari can be a great way to free-up some additional space on your iPhone or iPad. While you will have to remember to log back in to your favorite websites, having more storage on your device is almost always a good thing. There’s also the added benefit that you may find your device acting a bit snappier if your Safari data was extremely bloated. With more storage on your device, you can go back to saving the things that are actually important to you.

If you need further help with Apple’s Safari, we’ve got you covered. For example, did you know that there is a way to download videos from Safari on both the iPad and iPhone ? We can also show you how to handle your Safari extensions , which can also be handy if you’re trying to free up some space on your device. If you find that your device isn’t running its best, you may want to consider these tips to get your gear working the way it was intended.