Clear your Safari history in three steps

Open Safari and press Command + Y (Mac) or tap the clock icon (iPhone and iPad). At the top, choose the time range you want to clear — the last hour, today, today and yesterday, or all time. Then tap Clear History. Your browsing record is gone immediately.

If you want to delete history automatically every time you close Safari, go to Safari > Settings (Mac) or Settings > Safari (iPhone/iPad), find Clear History and Website Data, and turn it on. Safari will then erase your history, cookies, and site data when you quit the browser.

You can also delete individual sites from your history without clearing everything. Open history, find the site you want to remove, and swipe left on it (iPhone/iPad) or right-click and select delete (Mac).

Key Takeaways

  • The fastest way to clear history is Command + Y on Mac or the clock icon on iPhone and iPad, then select your time range and tap Clear History.
  • You can set Safari to automatically erase history and website data every time you close the browser through Settings.
  • Clearing history removes your browsing record but does not delete saved passwords or payment methods unless you choose to clear those separately.
  • Individual websites can be removed from history one at a time without clearing your entire browsing record.

What gets deleted when you clear history

Clearing history removes the list of websites you visited and when you visited them. It also erases cookies and temporary website data that Safari stored — this includes login sessions, so you may need to sign back into accounts after clearing.

Clearing history does not delete your saved passwords, autofill information, or credit card details. If you want to remove those as well, you need to clear them separately through Settings. On Mac, go to Safari > Settings > Passwords to manage saved passwords, or Safari > Settings > AutoFill to clear autofill data.

Clear history on different time ranges

Safari lets you choose exactly how far back to erase. When you open history, the menu at the top shows four options: the last hour, today, today and yesterday, or all time. Pick the range that matches what you want to remove.

If you only want to hide recent browsing, clearing the last hour or today is faster than erasing everything. This is useful if someone else is about to use your device and you want to remove only your most recent activity.

Set Safari to clear history automatically

On Mac, open Safari > Settings, click the General tab, and look for Remove history items. Choose after one day, after one week, after two weeks, after one month, or manually. If you select anything other than manually, Safari will delete old history automatically on that schedule.

On iPhone and iPad, go to Settings > Safari, scroll down to Clear History and Website Data, and turn the toggle on. This erases history and website data every time you close Safari completely. You can also choose what data to clear by tapping Clear History and Website Data in the same menu.

Delete individual sites from your history

You do not have to clear everything to remove one website from your record. Open your history (Command + Y on Mac, or the clock icon on iPhone/iPad), find the site you want to delete, and remove it.

On Mac, right-click the site and select Delete. On iPhone and iPad, swipe left on the site name and tap the trash icon. The site disappears from your history immediately, but your other browsing record stays intact.

Clear history without affecting passwords and autofill

When you clear history through the standard menu, Safari removes browsing data and cookies but keeps your saved passwords and autofill information. If you want to keep it that way, use the quick clear from the history menu — it does not touch passwords or payment methods.

If you want more control, go to Safari > Settings > Privacy on Mac (or Settings > Safari > Privacy on iPhone/iPad) and look for options to manage what data gets cleared. Some settings let you choose whether to erase cookies, cache, and browsing history separately.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does clearing history delete my saved passwords?

No. Clearing history removes your browsing record and cookies, but your saved passwords stay in Safari. If you want to delete passwords too, go to Settings and manage them separately through the Passwords section.

Can I recover history after I clear it?

No. Once you clear history, it is permanently deleted and cannot be recovered from Safari. If you need to find a website you visited, you may be able to search your email for confirmation messages or receipts from that site.

What is the difference between clearing history and clearing cookies?

History is the list of websites you visited. Cookies are small files websites store on your device to remember your preferences and login information. Clearing history also clears cookies, but you can manage cookies separately if you want to keep some while deleting others.

Will clearing history speed up Safari?

Clearing very old history may free up a small amount of storage space, but it will not noticeably speed up Safari's performance. Safari's speed depends more on your internet connection and the websites you visit than on how much history you have stored.

Can I clear history on just one tab in Safari?

No. Clearing history always removes your entire browsing record across all tabs and windows. You can only delete individual sites one at a time if you want to keep most of your history.