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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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Peter is Editor of the How To and Camera sections at Tom's Guide. As a writer, he covers topics including tech, photography, gaming, hardware, motoring and food & drink. Outside of work, he's an avid photographer, specialising in architectural and portrait photography. When he's not snapping away on his beloved Fujifilm camera, he can usually be found telling everyone about his greyhounds, obsessively detailing his car, squeezing as many FPS as possible out of PC games, and perfecting his espresso shots. 

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• Help Center
• Google Search
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Service
• Submit feedback
• Announcements

If you want to request removal of search results from Google, go to Remove web results from Google Search .

Manage & delete your Search history

When you search on Google with Web & App Activity turned on, Google saves activity like your Search history to your Google Account. Web & App Activity saves data about the things you do across Google services, including associated info like locations, in your account to make your experience more personalized. We use your saved activity to give you more personalized experiences, like app and content recommendations.

In My Activity , you can:

• Delete Search history saved to your Google Account.
• Manage Search settings like what activity Google saves and when Google auto-deletes your history.

Your Search history can also be saved to your device, like when you use the Google app while signed out of your Google Account. Learn how to manage your on-device Search history .

Manage Search history saved to your Google Account

Delete search history.

Important: If you delete Search history that’s saved to your Google Account, you can’t get it back.

You can delete a specific activity, or delete your Search history from a specific day, a custom date range, or all time.

Control your Search history

• If you find “Auto-delete (On),” Google automatically deletes your Web & App Activity, which includes your Search history, after a specific time period. To change the time period or turn it off, tap Auto-delete (On) .
• Follow the on-screen instructions.

To pause saving your history:

• Under "Web & App Activity," tap Turn off .
• Tap Turn off or Turn off and delete activity .
• If you choose “Turn off and delete activity,” to select and confirm what activity you want to delete, follow the additional steps.

Manage Search history saved on your device

• Tap the search bar and find the activity you want to delete.

Even if your Search history isn’t saved to your Google Account, or you delete it from My Activity, your browser might still store it.

You can delete your browser history:

• In Chrome: Learn how to delete browsing history and other browsing data .
• In other browsers: Check your browser’s instructions.

If you use the Google app while you’re signed out of your Google Account, the app saves your Search history to your device.

Tip: If you delete your Search history in the Google app, it might still be saved in your Google Account. To find and delete your Search history saved to your Google Account, go to My Activity .

To delete Search history saved on your device:

• If you find your Search history, tap Clear all .

To delete searches from the search bar:

• At the top of “Recent searches,” if you find “Manage History,” you’re currently signed in to your Google Account.
• Turn off Search customization .

Fix problems with your Search history

• Connect your device to the internet: If you delete your history from My Activity on one device, you might still find it on a device that’s offline. When your device connects to the internet, it removes your deleted Search history.
• Clear your cache and cookies: Learn how to clear your cache and cookies .

To turn off Search customization:

How google deletes your history in your google account.

When you choose to delete activity manually or activity is deleted automatically based on your auto-delete setting, we immediately start the process of removing it from the product and our systems.

First, we aim to immediately remove it from view and the data may no longer be used to personalize your Google experience.

We then begin a process designed to safely and completely delete the data from our storage systems. 

Related articles

• Delete your activity
• View & control your Web & App Activity
• Manage your audio recordings in your Web & App Activity
• Change your Google app settings
• Search & browse privately

How Search works with your activity

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How to Clear Search History on iPhone

Clear selected Safari entries or your entire browsing history

In This Article

Jump to a Section

• Clear History Via Safari
• Clear History Via the Settings App
• Frequently Asked Questions

The Safari web browser on your iPhone keeps a log of web pages that you visit. If you want to clear your search history, you can do so through Safari or your iPhone's Settings app.

These procedures work for all recent versions of iOS.

Clear Browsing History Using the Safari App

Here's how to delete your browsing history through the Safari app on your iOS device.

Open the Safari app and tap Bookmarks (the icon that looks like an open book) at the bottom.

Tap History (clock icon).

Select Clear , and then select All time to erase your browsing history completely. Alternatively, choose The last hour , Today , or Today and yesterday .

Depending on the setting you chose, you've deleted your browsing history.

To delete individual entries, instead of tapping Clear , swipe from right to left over the website you want to remove, and then choose Delete .

Clear Browsing History Using the Settings App

You also can delete your browsing history through your iOS device's Settings app.

Tap Settings and then scroll down and tap Safari .

Scroll down and tap Clear History and Website Data .

In the confirmation box, tap Clear History and Data . You've deleted your Safari browsing history.

This method clears your entire browsing history, with no option to delete items selectively.

Open the Safari app and tap the book icon at the bottom of the screen. Tap the History icon (clock) and pull down on the screen to reveal the Search History field. Enter a search term .

You can't, but neither can anyone else. When you enter Safari's Private Browsing mode , the iPhone doesn't store your browsing history. To browse without recording the history, tap the Safari app > Tabs icon > [number] button > Private .

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