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Delete your browsing data, cookies, and call history on your iPhone
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Your iPhone history is usually used to make things easier for you, such as tracking down a website you've visited or finding a call you missed. If you're worried about someone seeing something they shouldn't, you can delete your web browsing and search history, call and message logs, keyboard autocorrect dictionary, Siri interaction data, or even erase everything completely. This wikiHow will show you easy ways to clear your iPhone's history to preserve your privacy.
Things You Should Know
- To clear your Safari browsing history, go to Settings > Safari > Clear History and Web Data.
- To clear your call history, open the Recents area of the Phone app, tap Edit, and then tap Clear.
- Use the Google app to delete your search history.
Steps
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Open the Settings app . You'll be clearing your Safari browsing history and cookies from the Settings app, not from the Safari app. [1] X Research source
- In the future, you can use Safari's Private Browsing mode to visit websites without saving them to your history.
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Scroll down and tap "Safari." You should find this in the fifth group of options.Advertisement
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Tap Clear History and Website Data . A window will pop up asking you to confirm. [2] X Research source
- If this button is grayed-out, there's either no history saved, or the option is restricted in Screen Time . You can reenable Clear History and Website Data in Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions Web Content by disabling all website restrictions.
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Confirm that you want to delete the history. Your Safari browsing history, cache, and cookies will be deleted. Your browsing history will also be deleted on any other devices you are signed into with your iCloud account.
- Your AutoFill information (e.g., contact info and saved credit cards) will not be deleted.
- Alternatively, you can delete the cookies without clearing your history. Navigate to Settings > Safari > Advanced > Website Data . Select Remove All Website Data .
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Open the Chrome app. If you use Chrome on your iPhone, you can clear the browsing history from within the Chrome app itself. [3] X Research source
- If you don't want Chrome to add the websites you visit to your history, you can browse privately in incognito mode .
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Tap the Menu button (â‹®). This will show a pop up menu with additional options.
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Tap History . It has a clock icon next to it.
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Tap Clear browsing data . A menu with browsing data options will appear.
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Choose the browsing data to delete. In the selection menu, choose what information you want to clear. You can select your browsing history, cookies, cached files, and more!
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Tap Clear browsing data . This will delete all of your selected browsing data.
- Note that this will delete the Google Chrome browsing data for any synced devices as well.
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Open the Phone app . You can delete your call history so that none of your calls appear on the Recents list.
- In addition to clearing your entire call history, you can also delete individual received or sent phone calls from your call log.
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Tap the Recents tab. This will display a list of recent calls that you've made and received.
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Tap Edit in the upper-right corner. Red minus signs will appear next to each call in the log.
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Tap Clear to delete all of the entries at once. If you want to delete the whole list, tap "Clear" in the upper-left corner. This only appears after you've tapped "Edit." All of the entries in the Recents tab will be deleted.
- If you just want to delete a single entry instead of clearing your entire call log, tap the red minus sign next to the call you want to clear.
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Open the Messages app . You can delete text message conversations using the iPhone Messages app.
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Tap the Edit button. This can be found in the upper-left corner.
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Tap Select Messages . This is at the top of the pop-up menu after tapping Edit.
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Select each conversation that you want to delete. Tap the checkbox for each conversation that you want to remove. You can select multiple conversations.
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Tap Delete after selecting conversations. All of the selected conversations will be deleted without confirmation.
- If you're signed in to another device, such as an iPad or Mac, using the same Apple ID, your iMessage history will be cleared from that device as well.
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Change your message history settings. By default, Messages will store all of your messages forever. You can change these settings to only keep messages for a year or for 30 days, which can free up space and reduce clutter:
- Open the Settings app.
- Select Messages .
- Tap Keep Messages .
- Select how long you want to store messages for. This will automatically delete messages that are older than the new setting.
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Open the Settings app . If you use Siri to search the web or handle tasks, you can easily clear your Siri history in your Settings. [4] X Research source
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Tap Siri & Search . You'll find this in the third group of settings.
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Tap Siri & Dictation History . It's toward the bottom of the screen.
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Tap Delete Siri & Dictionary History and confirm. This clears your Siri history.
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Open the Settings app ( ). If you want to get rid of words added to your iPhone's autocorrect dictionary, you can do so from the Settings app.
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Select General . A list of your general iPhone options will open.
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Tap Transfer or Reset iPhone . This will take you to the reset page.
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Tap Reset . Various reset options will appear.
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Tap Reset Keyboard Dictionary . You'll be asked to confirm. All of the custom words and shortcuts that you have saved will be deleted.
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Open the Google app. If you use the Google app to search Google, you can clear your search history through the app. [5] X Research source
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Tap the profile button. It’s the profile picture in the top right of the app.
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Tap Search history . This will open a new page with options for your search history.
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Tap Delete . This button is located above your search history.
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Select a time range. If you want to delete the entire history, select “Delete all time.”
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Select Google products. Check the boxes next to the Google products you want to delete your history from. Then click Next .
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Tap Delete . This will confirm the deletion of your Google search history.
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Use this option if you want to completely erase your iPhone. This will delete all of the history and data on the iPhone, and you'll be prompted to set it up as new when the process is complete.
- If you sync your data to iCloud, erasing your iPhone will not erased that synced data. Once you sign back in with your Apple ID, all synced data will reappear.
- For example, if you use iCloud to sync your iMessages (the default option), those messages will reappear on your iPhone after you sign back in with your Apple ID after erasing your phone.
- If you sync your data to iCloud, erasing your iPhone will not erased that synced data. Once you sign back in with your Apple ID, all synced data will reappear.
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Open the Settings app . If you're sure you want to erase everything on your iPhone, open the Settings app.
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Tap General . Your iPhone's general settings will open.
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Tap Transfer or Reset iPhone . This will take you to the reset page.
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Tap Erase All Content and Settings . You'll be asked to confirm that you want to completely delete everything.
- You may need to enter your Apple ID password or iPhone passcode.
- This will restore your device to the factory settings, deleting all of the information and settings.
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Set up your iPhone. Once the reset is complete, you'll be taken through the initial setup. You can set up your iPhone as new, or restore an iTunes or iCloud backup.
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Community Q&A
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QuestionWhen I search for a person on Facebook, my phone won't let me delete it. Why?Community AnswerThis may be because you are using the Facebook app and that Safari does not interact with the app's searching system.
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QuestionHow do I delete the history from my iPhone, like the stuff that is behind the home screen?Community AnswerTap the home button 2 times to open the menu, then swipe up on any open app or game to close it out.
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QuestionHow do I clear recent notifications on my iPhone 7?Community AnswerGo to the home page and pull your finger down from the top of the screen to the bottom. A notification bar will pop up that shows all of your notifications. Tap the "X" at the top right and then press "Clear." Do that to all of the notifications you want to clear.
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