Every time you search the web, your browser is keeping track. Is this a good or bad thing? It’s actually a little of both. Don’t worry, we’ll explain.
Asurion Experts care about your digital security and can teach you everything you need to know about your favorite devices, whether you’re curious about internet cookies or how to privately browse the web. Here’s our guide on how to delete search history on your iPhone or Android device.
What’s search history?
Search history, also called browser history, is a chronological list of websites you’ve visited on a browser, like Chrome®, Safari®, or Firefox®. This list is handy if you want to quickly find a website you’ve previously searched, but there’s a downside: someone with access to your mobile device can also see your entire search history.
What’s the difference between clearing search history and clearing your cache
While search history is a record of websites you’ve visited, your cache stores temporary files from your online activity, so your device will load the pages faster when you revisit the sites.
To protect your privacy, it’s important to clear your cache and search history at least every month or so. And make sure to delete your search history before you sell or give away your device.
Check out our guides on how to clear your cache on Android™ and iPhone®.
How to clear your browsing history on Chrome
Here’s how to clear your search history on the Chrome app:
On Android
- Open the Chrome app on your Android phone.
- Tap More (three dots) > History > Clear browsing data.
- At the top, choose a time range. To delete your entire browsing history, select All time.
- Check the box next to Browsing history.
- Tap Clear data at the bottom right of your screen.
On iPhone
- Open the Chrome app on your iPhone.
- Tap More (three dots) > History > Clear browsing data.
- Select Browsing History. It may be checked by default.
- Uncheck any individual items you don’t want to delete.
- Tap Clear Browsing Data, then tap Clear Browsing Data again.
- At the top right, tap Done.
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How to clear your browsing history on Safari
Here’s how to clear the history on your Safari browser:
- Open Settings > Safari on your iPhone.
- Tap Clear History and Website Data.
- When you have no history or website data to clear, the Clear History and Website Data button turns gray (it won’t respond when you tap on it). The button will also be gray if you have web content restrictions set up under Content & Privacy Restrictions in Screen Time.
How to clear your browsing history on Firefox
Here’s how to clear your search history on Firefox:
On Android
- Open Settings > Firefox on your Android phone.
- Under Privacy and security, tap Delete browsing data > Browsing history.
- Tap Delete browsing data.
On iPhone
- Open the Firefox app.
- Tap Menu (three lines) > History > Clear Recent History.
- Select a custom range from the menu. To delete your entire browsing history, select Everything.
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FAQs
- On your computer, open Chrome.
- At the top right, select More .
- Select History. History.
- On the left, select Delete browsing data.
- Select how much history you want to delete. To delete everything, select All time.
- Check the boxes for the info you want Chrome to delete, including Browsing history. ...
- Select Delete data.
Manage Search history saved to your Google Account
- On your Android phone or tablet, open the Google app .
- At the top right, tap your Profile picture or initial. Search history.
- Choose the Search history you want to delete. You can choose: All your Search history: Above your history, tap Delete. Delete all time.
Browsing history: Deleting your browsing history deletes the following: Web addresses you've visited are removed from the History page. Shortcuts to those pages are removed from the New Tab page. Address bar predictions for those websites are no longer shown.
Can anyone see my history after I delete it? ›
Once you delete it from your device, it's typically removed from your local storage and cannot be accessed by your ISP. However, if your ISP has previously stored your browsing history, deleting it from your device will not remove it from its records.
Can police see your deleted search history? ›
Can police recover deleted internet history? Yes, simply by contacting your internet service provider. They are obligated by law to store records of your online activity.
Is it better to delete or clear history? ›
If you want to keep your device more private and keep your browser running smoothly, quickly clearing your device's browser history can help. There's no fixed or recommended time for deleting your browsing history, cache, and cookies. It's all relative to your system's storage space and personal preferences.
How often should you clear browsing history? ›
That's why it's so vital to utilize a password manager and have different passwords for each of your accounts. If one is compromised, your other accounts won't necessarily be at risk. It's best to delete your search history at least twice a month to reduce the chances of getting hacked.
When you delete browsing history, is it really gone? ›
Does clearing history delete everything? A lot of data is generated as you browse the internet, and clearing your history only deletes the record of addresses you've visited that are stored locally on your device. It doesn't remove your Google search history, or other data stored on remote servers.
How do I clean up search results? ›
How To Remove Results From Google Search
- Contact the Website Owner. ...
- Submit a Legal Removal Request. ...
- Utilize Google's Removals Tool. ...
- Send Feedback to Google. ...
- Bury the Result With Quality Content. ...
- Hire an Online Reputation Management Service.
Even though the folder is gone from the direct view of unwanted people, but the documents still exist and can easily be found with a bit of extra effort. In technical terms, your deleted browsing history can be recovered by unauthorized parties, even after you cleared them.
This is because after someone deletes the search history on a device, it only wipes it off from the device while retaining it on the router. Additionally, parents may be able to access deleted browsing history if they have enabled parental control features or monitoring software on the device itself.
How do I delete all my activity? ›
How do I remove Google activity by date or product?
- On your Android phone or tablet, go to myactivity.google.com.
- Scroll down to your activity.
- Filter your activity. You can filter by both date and product at the same time. ...
- Delete activity. To delete all activity you filtered for: Next to the search bar, tap Delete.
Clearing this data on a regular basis can not only improve the performance of your device and your browser, but it can also protect your privacy.
How do I permanently delete my search history? ›
Go to Google's My Activity page (make sure you're logged into your Google account). Click the Delete button below the “Search your activity” field. Choose the time period you'd like to delete your data. All time will delete all your Google history.
Where does deleted search history go? ›
If you delete your search history from your browser only, it may still be stored on your Google Account. Delete your search history and activity from other Google services from your Web & App Activity page.
Is your search history ever permanently deleted? ›
Google accounts created after June 2020 automatically clear web and app searches after 18 months. For accounts created before then, Google retains Web & Activity data indefinitely by default; in theory, Google would have your search history from when you first opened your Google account.
How do I delete my secret search history? ›
Click on the three dots icon in the top right corner of the screen. Click on "History" from the drop-down menu. In the history tab, click on the "Tabs from other devices" option. On the next page, select the incognito tab you want to delete history from.
How do I clear my search history cache? ›
To clear your cache in Google Chrome
- Click the Menu in the upper right.
- Choose History.
- Choose "Clear Browsing Data."
- The most effective setting is to clear all browsing history for All time and to clear browsing history, download history, cached images and files, and cookies.
