4 Simple Ways to Clear History in Safari on Desktop or Mobile

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Delete your internet history in Mac or iOS
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You can delete all of your web browsing history or specific entries on both the macOS and the iOS versions of Safari. This will also delete its cookies and cache. This can come in handy if you're on a public computer, or if you need to remove a certain website from your browsing history. Here's how to clear history in Safari using your Mac, iPhone, or iPad.

Removing Safari Browser History

To clear Safari history on a Mac, click History at the top and select Clear History . Select all history , and then click Clear History . On iPhone or iPad, open the Settings app and select Safari. Tap Clear History and Website Data and select All history .

Method 1
Method 1 of 4:

Using Mac (All History)

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  1. 1
    Open Safari. You can quickly delete all of your browsing history using this method. If you want to delete a single entry, see the next section instead.
  2. 2
    Click History . You can find this in the top toolbar. [1]
    • If you're using an older version of Safari or Mac, you may need to click Safari instead.
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  3. 3
    Click Clear History… . This is at the bottom of the drop-down menu. A pop-up menu will open.
  4. If you'd rather delete all history within a certain time frame, select the last hour , today , or today and yesterday instead.
  5. All of the history, cookies, searches, and other data from the range you selected will be deleted.
    • Note that this will delete history across all devices connected to your iCloud account if Safari is synced.
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Method 2
Method 2 of 4:

Using Mac (Single Entries)

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  1. 1
    Open Safari. Use this method to delete select websites from your history.
  2. This is the tab in the top toolbar. A drop-down menu will open.
  3. This is the option at the top.
    • You can also press CMD + Y to open this window.
  4. You can use the search bar in the upper-right corner, or expand the dates to browse through all your entries.
  5. Right-click on the entry you want to remove and select Delete . If you have a single-button mouse or trackpad, hold Control and click to open the menu. Repeat for any additional entries you want to remove.
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Method 3
Method 3 of 4:

iPhone and iPad (All History)

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  1. If you want to delete all of your browsing history, you'll need to do it from the Settings app instead of Safari.
    • If you want to delete a single entry, skip to the next section .
  2. 2
    Tap Apps . If you're using iOS 17 or older, skip this step. [2]
  3. 3
    Tap Safari . You'll see this in the list of apps.
  4. 4
    Scroll down and tap Clear History and Website Data . This is near the bottom of the page.
  5. 5
    Select All history . If you'd rather delete all history within a certain time frame, select Last hour , Today , or Today and yesterday .
  6. 6
    Tap Clear History . This is the red button. All of your history, cookies, and other browsing information will be deleted.
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Method 4
Method 4 of 4:

iPhone and iPad (Single Entries)

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  1. If you just want to get rid of a couple of entries, you can delete individual history entries from within the Safari app.
  2. It looks like an open book.
  3. This is the tab with the clock icon. You may already be on this tab.
  4. This will reveal the "Delete" button.
  5. Repeat this for any other history entries you want to delete.
    • When you're finished, tap Done in the top-right corner.
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Expert Q&A

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  • Question
    Does clearing Safari history free up storage?
    Luigi Oppido
    Computer & Tech Specialist
    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.
    Luigi Oppido
    Computer & Tech Specialist
    Expert Answer
    Sure it does, but less than people think. Browsing history does not take up a lot of space. This was important back in the day, where hard drive storage was scarce, but not anymore. Cleaning the history is only a matter of personal preference or security, when you're using a shared or public computer.
    Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
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  • Question
    Why is my clear button gray?
    Community Answer
    You may have Parental Controls on a setting where you are unable to do that. Your parents will have to unlock that feature in System Preferences.
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      References

      1. ↑ https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/clear-your-browsing-history-sfri47acf5d6/18.0/mac/15.0
      2. ↑ https://support.apple.com/en-us/105082

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