Step-By-Step: How to Delete Your Browsing History on Android & iOS

Our online footprints can reveal more than we want to share, making privacy protection paramount.

Each time we browse the web, our browsers track our activities, creating a detailed history that can expose our interests and habits.

While this history can enhance user experience, it also presents significant privacy risks. Therefore, it is essential to clear your web browser history regularly.

Here’s why:

1. Protect Your Privacy: Clearing browsing history safeguards sensitive personal information from unauthorised access.
2. Prevent Tracking: It reduces online tracking by cookies and monitoring technologies, giving you greater control over your browsing experience.
3. Improve Browser Performance: Regularly deleting history and cached data can speed up your browser, resulting in a smoother online experience.

Managing your browser history can be daunting, as each browser has specific methods for clearing this data. This article aims to simplify the process of managing your online privacy. We will guide you through the steps to clear your browsing history, cache, and cookies on popular browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Brave on Android and Safari on iOS devices.

Moreover, we’ll discuss how to manage your search history on platforms like Google, Maps, and YouTube, which will help you keep your online activities organised and secure across various applications.

How to Delete Browser History on Android

Each browser has a way to clear the browsing history, which is the list of web pages you’ve visited.

In the subsequent section, we will discuss clearing history on some popular Android browsers.

But first, a few important notes:

• Browsing history differs from search history, which we’ll cover later in this article.
• Clearing browsing history typically removes it only from your phone. Browsing data collected by Big Tech may still be stored on their servers.
• Incognito mode doesn’t stop companies from tracking your activity; it only hides it from other device users.

Now, let’s look at how to delete local browsing history from some of the most widely used Android browsers:

Delete Chrome Browsing History on Android:

• Open Chrome.
• Tap the three-dot menu (Settings).
• Tap History.
• Select Clear Browsing Data.
• Delete Firefox Browsing History on Android:
• Open Firefox.
• Tap the three-dot menu (Settings).
• Tap History.
• Select Clear Browsing Data.

Note: Firefox only allows you to delete all history simultaneously, unlike some browsers offering time-specific options.

Delete Opera Browsing History on Android:

• Open Opera.
• Tap the “Easy setup” button (radio dial icon).
• Scroll to Privacy & Security.
• Tap Clear next to Browsing Data.

How to Delete Google Search History on Android

Google is the most widely used search engine, accessible in all browsers. Unfortunately, it also tracks almost everything you search for.

While Google allows you to delete your search history, it’s often only removed from your device, and Google may still store the data elsewhere.

With this in mind, here’s how to clear your Google search history:

• Delete Google Search History:
• Open your web browser and go to google.com.
• Tap Settings.
• Tap Search history.
• Select the history you want to delete. You can:
• Clear all history.
• Clear history from a specific day or time range.
• Clear history for a specific activity.

Note: You can also access search data by tapping Your data in Search under the Settings menu on google.com.

Delete History from Individual Apps on Android

Other apps on your phone may also store history related to your activity. Below are instructions for clearing the history of two popular Google apps:

Delete Google Maps History:

Google Maps records your search history, including recently searched locations.

To delete this:

• Open the Google Maps app.
• Tap your Google profile picture.
• Select My Data in Maps.
• From here, you can:
• Clear Location History.

Pro Tip: Pause Location History to temporarily stop Google from tracking your locations.

Delete YouTube History:

Like Google Search and Maps, YouTube tracks your activity. You can delete both search and watch histories:

• Open the YouTube app.
• Tap your Google profile picture.
• Select My Data on YouTube.
• Manage two options:
• YouTube Search History.
• YouTube Watch History.

How to Clear Browsing History on a Galaxy Device

Deleting browsing history on a Galaxy device differs slightly from standard Android methods. Here’s how to do it.

Clear Browsing History in Chrome

Clearing your browsing history can help if you’re shopping for a surprise gift or want to keep your searches private.

• Open Chrome and tap the three vertical dots (More options).
• Tap Settings, then tap Privacy and Security.
• Select Clear browsing data.
• Choose your preferred settings or use the Time range drop-down menu to specify how much data to delete.
• Tap Clear data. If you have a large amount of data, it may take a moment to fully clear.

Clear Browsing History in Samsung Internet

If your Samsung Internet browser is acting up or you want to clear your history, follow these steps:

• Open the Samsung Internet app.
• Tap the three horizontal lines (Menu), then tap Settings.
• Tap Personal browsing data.
• Select Delete browsing data and choose which data to clear.
• Tap Delete data, then tap Delete to confirm. It may take a moment if any data is stored.

How to Delete History on iOS

Here’s how to manage your Safari browsing data, block cookies, and use content blockers to enhance your privacy.

Clear History, Cache, and Cookies

To delete all your browsing history, cookies, and cache:

• Go to Settings > Safari.
• Tap Clear History and Website Data.

Note: Clearing this data won’t affect your AutoFill information. If the button is grey, it could mean there’s no data to clear or web content restrictions are enabled in Screen Time.

Quick Tip: To browse without leaving a history, enable Private Browsing in Safari.

Clear Cookies and Cache, but Keep Your History

If you want to clear cookies and cache while keeping your history:

• Go to Settings > Safari > Advanced > Website Data.
• Tap Remove All Website Data.

Note: No data must be cleared if the grey button and restrictions are enabled.

Delete Specific Websites from Your History

To remove a particular website from your Safari history:

• Open the Safari app.
• Tap the Bookmarks icon, then tap the History icon.
• Tap Edit, select the websites you want to delete, and tap Delete.

How to Block Cookies on iOS

Websites use cookies to remember you. To block cookies entirely:

• Go to Settings > Safari > Advanced.
• Turn on Block All Cookies.

With that being said, Blocking cookies may prevent some websites from working correctly, such as logging in or using certain features

Wrap it Up

Managing your browsing history, cache, and cookies is crucial for maintaining privacy and optimising your device’s performance. Whether using Android or iOS, each browser and app provides simple options to clear your data, ensuring your personal information remains protected. From Chrome and Firefox to Safari and YouTube, understanding how to manage and delete your browsing and search history empowers you to take control of your digital footprint. Regularly clearing this data helps safeguard your privacy and keeps your device running smoothly, offering you a better and more secure online experience.