Delete your Safari history in three steps

Open Safari and tap the book icon at the bottom of the screen (or the open book icon if you're already in the bookmarks view). Tap the clock icon labeled "History" at the bottom. You'll see a list of websites you've visited, organized by time — today, yesterday, and earlier.

Tap "Clear History" in the bottom right corner. A menu will appear asking how much history you want to remove: the last hour, today, today and yesterday, or all time. Choose what you want deleted, then tap "Clear History" again to confirm. Safari will immediately remove those records.

If you want to delete just one website from your history instead of clearing everything, swipe left on that entry in the History list and tap the red "Delete" button that appears.

Key Takeaways

  • Safari history is deleted through the book icon at the bottom of the screen, then the clock icon, then the "Clear History" button.
  • You can remove just the last hour, today, today and yesterday, or your entire history — choose the timeframe that fits what you need.
  • Individual websites can be deleted from history by swiping left on them and tapping Delete, without clearing everything else.
  • Clearing history does not delete saved passwords, autofill information, or bookmarks — those stay on your iPad unless you remove them separately.
  • If you use iCloud to sync Safari across devices, clearing history on your iPad will also clear it on your iPhone and Mac if they share the same Apple ID.

What gets deleted when you clear history

When you tap "Clear History," Safari removes the list of websites you've visited and the dates you visited them. This is the record that appears when you tap the clock icon. Nothing else changes — your bookmarks stay, your saved passwords stay, and your autofill information stays.

If you want to delete saved passwords or autofill data separately, you'll need to go to Settings instead. Tap Settings, scroll down and tap Safari, then tap "Clear History and Website Data." This option removes history, cookies, and browsing data all at once, which is more thorough than the in-app method but also removes login information you may want to keep.

Clearing history across all your Apple devices

If you use iCloud and sign in with the same Apple ID on multiple devices, Safari history syncs between them. When you clear history on your iPad, it clears on your iPhone and Mac too — as long as they're all connected to the same iCloud account and Safari is turned on in iCloud settings.

To check whether Safari is syncing through iCloud, go to Settings, tap your name at the top, tap iCloud, and look for Safari in the list. If the toggle is on, your history is shared. If you want to clear history on just one device without affecting the others, turn off Safari syncing first, clear the history, then turn syncing back on.

Using Private Browsing to avoid saving history

If you don't want Safari to record your browsing in the first place, use Private Browsing mode. Tap the tabs icon at the bottom right of Safari (it looks like two overlapping squares), then tap "Private" at the bottom left. The address bar will turn dark, showing you're in private mode. Websites you visit in this mode won't be added to your history.

Private Browsing also prevents Safari from storing cookies and autofill data from those sessions. When you close a private tab, that browsing session is forgotten. This is useful if you're shopping for a gift or looking up something you don't want showing up in your history, but it doesn't hide your activity from your internet provider or network administrator.

Deleting history from other browsers on iPad

If you use Chrome, Firefox, or another browser instead of Safari, the steps are different. In Chrome, tap the three dots at the bottom right, tap "Settings," tap "Privacy," then "Clear Browsing Data." Choose your timeframe and tap "Clear Browsing Data" again. In Firefox, tap the menu icon (three horizontal lines), tap "Settings," tap "Data Management," then "Clear Private Data."

Each browser stores history separately, so clearing Safari history won't touch Chrome or Firefox. If you use multiple browsers, you'll need to clear history in each one individually if you want to remove your browsing record from all of them.

Why your history might not be fully deleted

If you clear history but still see websites appearing in Safari's suggestions when you type in the address bar, those suggestions may be coming from your bookmarks, your reading list, or your iCloud tabs rather than your history. Clearing history doesn't remove bookmarks or reading list items — you have to delete those separately if you want them gone.

You can also turn off search suggestions entirely. Go to Settings, tap Safari, scroll down to "Search Engine Suggestions," and turn it off. This prevents Safari from suggesting websites based on what you've typed, though it also means you lose that convenience feature.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does clearing history delete my saved passwords?

No. Clearing history through Safari's in-app menu removes only your browsing history. Passwords stay saved. If you want to delete passwords too, go to Settings, tap Safari, tap "Clear History and Website Data," and make sure the option is set to clear everything, not just history.

Can I delete history from just one website?

Yes. Open Safari, tap the clock icon to view your history, find the website you want to remove, swipe left on it, and tap the red Delete button. This removes only that entry without touching the rest of your history.

Will clearing history on my iPad clear it on my iPhone too?

Only if you use the same Apple ID and have Safari syncing turned on in iCloud settings. If you want to clear history on just one device, turn off Safari syncing first, clear the history, then turn syncing back on.

What's the difference between clearing history and using Private Browsing?

Clearing history removes records of sites you've already visited. Private Browsing prevents Safari from recording new visits in the first place. Private Browsing is useful if you want to avoid creating a history record going forward, while clearing history cleans up what's already been recorded.

Does clearing history hide my activity from my internet provider?

No. Clearing your iPad's history only removes the record stored on your device. Your internet provider can still see what websites you visit because that data passes through their network. To hide your activity from your provider, you would need to use a VPN, which is a separate tool.