Clear Safari history in three steps

Open Safari on your iPad. Tap the book icon at the bottom of the screen (on older iPads, look for the history icon that looks like a clock). Then tap "Clear History" at the bottom right.

A menu will appear asking how far back you want to clear: the last hour, today, today and yesterday, or all time. Choose what you need, then tap "Clear History" again to confirm. Safari will remove your browsing history, cookies, and cached data from that time period.

If you want to clear history but keep some data — like saved passwords or autofill information — use Settings instead. Go to Settings > Safari > Clear History and Website Data. This gives you the same time options but only removes history and cookies, leaving your saved passwords intact.

Key Takeaways

  • Safari clears history, cookies, and cached data all at once when you use the quick method from the app.
  • You can choose to clear only the last hour, today, today and yesterday, or all time.
  • Chrome on iPad requires you to tap the three-dot menu, then History, then Clear Browsing Data.
  • Clearing history does not delete saved passwords unless you specifically choose to remove them in Settings.
  • Both browsers let you set them to clear history automatically every time you close the app.

Clear Chrome history on iPad

Open Chrome and tap the three horizontal lines (menu icon) in the bottom right corner. Scroll down and tap "History," then tap "Clear Browsing Data" at the top of the screen.

A popup will appear with options for what to clear. By default, "Cookies and site data" and "Cached images and files" are checked. You can uncheck either one if you want to keep that data. The time range defaults to "All time," but you can tap that dropdown to choose "Last hour," "Last 24 hours," or "Last 4 weeks" instead.

Tap "Clear Browsing Data" to finish. Chrome will remove your history and the data types you selected. Unlike Safari, Chrome on iPad does not have a separate Settings menu for this — the popup you just used is the only way to clear data in Chrome.

Set either browser to clear history automatically

If you want your iPad to clear history every time you close Safari, go to Settings > Safari and scroll down to "Clear History and Website Data." Toggle this on. Now Safari will erase your history, cookies, and cached data the moment you close the app completely.

Chrome does not have an automatic clear-on-close option built into the app itself. Instead, you can use your iPad's Screen Time settings to limit Chrome's data storage, but this is less direct. The easiest approach with Chrome is to manually clear history each time you finish browsing, or to use Chrome's Incognito mode (tap the menu icon, then "New Incognito Tab") when you want browsing that leaves no history at all.

Keep in mind that turning on automatic clearing in Safari means you will lose your history every single time you close the app — even if you close it by accident. Some people prefer to clear history manually once a week instead.

Understand what gets deleted and what stays

When you clear history in either browser, you remove the list of websites you visited. Cookies and cached data — small files websites store on your iPad to remember your preferences — also get deleted. This means you may need to log back into websites, and pages might load slightly slower the first time you visit them after clearing.

Saved passwords, autofill information, and payment methods are not deleted when you clear history through the normal method in either browser. If you want to remove those too, you need to go into your iPad's Settings and remove them separately. In Safari, this is Settings > Passwords and Autofill. In Chrome, it is Settings > Passwords.

Bookmarks are never deleted when you clear history, no matter which browser you use. Your bookmarked pages will still be there after you clear.

Clear history from a specific website only

In Safari, you can remove history from just one website without clearing everything. Open Safari, tap the book icon, then tap "History." Swipe left on any website name and tap "Delete." That single entry disappears, but the rest of your history stays.

Chrome does not have a way to delete individual history entries on iPad. If you want to hide a specific website from your history in Chrome, your only option is to use Incognito mode the next time you visit it. Incognito tabs do not save to your history at all.

Troubleshoot if the clear button is not working

If tapping "Clear History" does nothing, first try closing the browser completely and opening it again. Sometimes the button becomes unresponsive if the app has been running for a long time.

If that does not work, restart your iPad. Hold down the power button and volume button together until you see the power-off slider, then slide to turn off. Wait 10 seconds, then press the power button again to turn it back on. After restart, open Safari or Chrome and try clearing history again.

If you still cannot clear history, check that you have enough free storage on your iPad. Go to Settings > General > iPad Storage. If you have less than 1 GB free, your iPad may prevent you from clearing data. Delete some apps or photos to free up space, then try again.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will clearing history delete my saved passwords?

No. Clearing history removes only the list of websites you visited, plus cookies and cached files. Your saved passwords stay on your iPad unless you specifically delete them in Settings. If you want to remove passwords too, go to Settings > Passwords (Safari) or Settings > Passwords (Chrome) and delete them there.

Can I clear history from just one day?

Yes, in both Safari and Chrome. When you tap the clear button, a menu appears asking how far back to clear. Choose "Today" to remove only today's history, or "Last 24 hours" in Chrome. Safari also offers "Today and Yesterday" as an option.

What is the difference between clearing history and using Incognito mode?

Clearing history removes past browsing after the fact. Incognito mode (Safari calls it "Private") prevents any history from being saved in the first place. If you open a Private tab in Safari or an Incognito tab in Chrome, nothing you do in that tab gets added to your history, even if you never clear it.

Does clearing history on my iPad clear it on my other Apple devices?

Only if you use iCloud sync. If you have iCloud Keychain turned on in Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud, clearing history on one device clears it on all your devices signed into the same Apple ID. If you do not use iCloud sync, clearing history on your iPad does not affect your Mac, iPhone, or other devices.

Why does a website still remember me after I cleared history?

Some websites use methods other than cookies to remember you — like storing data in your account on their server. Clearing history only removes data stored on your iPad, not data the website keeps about you. If a website has your login saved on their end, you will still be logged in even after clearing history locally.