How to Delete Favourites from Safari on iPhone, iPad, and Mac

Safari's Favourites are the bookmarked sites that appear the moment you open a new tab or click into the address bar — a shortcut list meant to save you time. Over time, that list fills up with outdated links, old logins, and sites you no longer visit. Cleaning it up is straightforward, but the exact steps depend on which device you're using and how your Safari is configured.

What Are Safari Favourites (and How They Differ from Bookmarks)?

Before deleting anything, it helps to understand what you're actually removing. Favourites in Safari are a specific subset of bookmarks stored in a dedicated "Favourites" folder. They appear as icons on the Safari start page and as suggestions when you tap or click the address bar.

A regular bookmark lives in your bookmarks library but won't show up in the address bar suggestions or the start page grid unless it's specifically saved to the Favourites folder. Deleting a Favourite removes it from that prominent display — it doesn't necessarily delete your full browsing history or any other saved data.

If iCloud sync is enabled across your Apple devices, changes you make to Favourites on one device will propagate to all others signed into the same Apple ID. That's worth knowing before you start deleting.

How to Delete Favourites from Safari on iPhone and iPad 📱

1. Open Safari and tap the address bar to reveal the Favourites grid beneath it — or tap the Bookmarks icon (the open-book icon) in the toolbar.
2. If using the Bookmarks route, tap the Bookmarks tab (flag icon), then navigate to the Favourites folder.
3. Tap Edit in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
4. Tap the red minus (–) circle next to any Favourite you want to remove, then tap Delete to confirm.
5. Tap Done when finished.

Alternatively, you can long-press any Favourite icon directly in the address bar suggestions panel and tap Delete from the context menu that appears — often the fastest method for removing one or two items.

Editing Favourites Directly from the Start Page

On iOS 15 and later, Safari's start page shows Favourites as tappable icons. Long-press any icon and select Delete from the pop-up menu. This works for quick one-off removals without navigating into the bookmarks menu at all.

How to Delete Favourites from Safari on Mac 💻

Method 1: From the Bookmarks Menu

1. Open Safari and click Bookmarks in the menu bar.
2. Select Edit Bookmarks (or press ⌥⌘B).
3. In the sidebar or main panel, locate the Favourites folder.
4. Right-click any item inside it and select Delete, or select the item and press the Delete key on your keyboard.

Method 2: From the Sidebar

1. Click the Sidebar icon in the Safari toolbar.
2. Select the Bookmarks tab.
3. Expand the Favourites folder.
4. Right-click an entry and choose Delete.

Method 3: Directly in the Favourites Bar

If you have the Favourites Bar visible (View → Show Favourites Bar), you can right-click any item in that bar and select Delete directly. This is the quickest path on a Mac for individual removals.

Deleting Multiple Favourites at Once

There's no native "select all and delete" function in Safari's Favourites — Apple hasn't built a bulk-delete option into the standard interface. Your options for clearing larger numbers of Favourites more efficiently:

On a Mac, you can hold ⌘ to select multiple bookmarks in the Edit Bookmarks view, then press Delete to remove them all at once — a useful shortcut if you're doing a larger cleanup.

What Happens to Synced Favourites?

If iCloud Bookmarks sync is active (Settings → [Your Name] → iCloud → Safari on iPhone; System Settings → Apple ID → iCloud → Safari on Mac), deletions will sync across devices within a few minutes. This is usually what you want — but if you only want to remove a Favourite from one device, you'd need to turn off iCloud Safari sync on that device first, which has broader implications for all your bookmarks and browsing data.

Variables That Affect Your Experience

The steps above cover the standard process, but a few factors can change what you see:

• iOS/macOS version — the interface layout for Safari has shifted across versions, so button placement may look slightly different on older operating systems.
• Screen size and orientation — on iPad, Safari can behave more like the desktop version depending on your settings, meaning Mac-style options may appear.
• Managed or restricted devices — on school or work-issued devices, bookmarks and Favourites may be locked by a device management profile, preventing edits.
• iCloud sync status — whether sync is on or off determines whether a deletion is local or global across your Apple ecosystem.

The process itself is consistent across personal Apple devices running recent software, but your sync configuration and device management setup will determine how far a single deletion reaches.