There are plenty of reasons to clear the browsing history and data for Safari on your iPhone or iPad. It’s normally a simple thing to do, but lots of readers have had trouble recently. Either the button is grayed out, or it doesn’t get rid of every website.
We’ve trawled the web and spoken to lots of users to put together this troubleshooting guide. It’s got all the solutions you should need, broken down into quick-to-follow steps.
So, if you can’t clear the browsing history or website data in Safari on your iPhone or iPad, you’ve come to the right place. Read on to find out what to do!
Contents
Quick Tips
These quick tips should let you clear the browsing history in Safari. For more details, read the full post below:
- Turn off Content & Privacy Restrictions on your device.
- Stop syncing Safari over iCloud and clear the data from each device.
- Delete everything from your Reading List, including pages you’ve already read.
- Tell your device to Block All Cookies in Safari.
- Restart, Reset, or Restore your device.
Related:
- How to get rid of Safari pop-up scams
- Protect Your Privacy and Security on Safari
- How to view web content and clear it on Apple Watch
- Can I make Safari faster on my iPhone, iPad, or Mac?
- Safari not working? How to troubleshoot your problems
How do I clear Safari history and website data on my iPhone and iPad?
For those who don’t already know, let’s quickly explain how to clear Safari history and website data from your device. These instructions work for any iOS or iPadOS device: iPhone, iPad, or even iPod touch.
How to Clear History and Website Data from Safari:
- Go to Settings > Safari > Clear History and Website Data.
- Confirm you want to Clear History and Data.
- The button turns gray after you clear the data.
Clear History and Website Data from Safari in the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
If you want, you can go to Advanced > Website Data from the bottom of the Safari settings. This screen allows you to view or remove the website data for individual websites, but it isn’t necessary if the steps above worked.
Also, take note that clearing the history and website data from Safari doesn’t affect AutoFill information. So even if the steps above worked, your login name and password still fills in automatically for saved websites.
Follow this guide to remove your AutoFill information.
Why can’t I clear Safari history and website data on my iPhone or iPad?
If the steps above didn’t work, you’re in the right place. There are lots of reasons you could be unable to clear data from Safari. Try each of the troubleshooting steps laid out below to find out what’s causing the problem.
Turn off your Content & Privacy Restrictions
It’s possible Content & Privacy Restrictions on your device are keeping you from clearing Safari browsing data. These restrictions are typically used to enforce age limits and protect children from harmful content.
You can edit the Content & Privacy Restrictions from your Screen Time settings, you may need to use a Screen Time passcode to do this, if you have one. In iOS 11 and earlier, you find restrictions in the General settings.
What to do if you don’t know your Screen Time passcode.
How to turn off Safari restrictions in iOS 12 or later, or iPadOS:
- Go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions.
- If prompted, enter your Screen Time passcode.
- Turn off Content & Privacy Restrictions entirely or change the following setting:
- Content Restrictions > Web Content > Unrestricted Access.
Make sure Web Content has Unrestricted Access in your Content & Privacy Restrictions.
- Content Restrictions > Web Content > Unrestricted Access.
How to turn off Safari restrictions in iOS 11 or earlier:
- Go to Settings > General > Restrictions.
- If prompted, enter your Restrictions passcode.
- Disable Restrictions or change the following setting:
- Allowed Content > Websites > All Websites.
- Allowed Content > Websites > All Websites.
You should now be able to clear history and website data from Safari using the steps outlined earlier.
Stop syncing Safari over iCloud
If you use iCloud, it syncs your bookmarks, reading list, and browsing history across all your Apple devices. It shouldn’t cause any problems, but iCloud sync occasionally leads to items reappearing in your iPhone or iPad browsing history.
To fix it, you need to stop Safari from syncing over iCloud, then clear the history and website data from each of your devices independently. After you’ve done this, you can turn Safari sync on again.
If iCloud sync is already turned off for Safari, turn it on and choose to Merge your data, then turn it off again.
How to stop syncing Safari over iCloud on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch:
- Go to Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud.
- Scroll down and turn off Safari, then tap Keep on My iPhone.
- Now go to Safari settings and tap Clear History and Website Data.
With iCloud sync turned off your bookmarks, reading lists, and browsing histories aren’t updated across devices.
How to stop syncing Safari over iCloud on a Mac:
- On macOS Catalina and later: Go to System Preferences > Apple ID > iCloud.
- On macOS High Sierra and earlier: Go to System Preferences > iCloud.
- Untick the box next to Safari.
- Now open Safari and from the menu bar, go to:
- Safari > Clear History… > Clear All History.
- Safari > Preferences > Privacy > Manage Website Data… > Remove All.
You can choose to sync Safari over iCloud again after successfully clearing your history and data.
Delete Everything from your Safari Reading List
Items saved to your Safari Reading List may keep appearing in your browser history automatically. This even happens with webpages you’ve already read, as they may still be hiding in the Reading List.
Remove everything, including the read items, from your Safari Reading List. Then clear the Safari history and browsing data from your iPhone or iPad again.
How to delete items from the Safari Reading List on an iPhone or iPad:
- Open Safari on your iPhone or iPad.
- Tap the book icon at the bottom of the screen.
- Tap the glasses icon to view your Reading List.
- If possible, tap Show All in the bottom-left.
- Swipe left to delete items one at a time.
- Or tap Edit and select multiple pages to delete them together.
Your iPhone or iPad uses cookies — small files stored on your device — to save data from websites you visit. It’s possible that some persistent cookies are the reason you can’t clear the browsing history in Safari on your iPhone or iPad.
Cookies include a site name and a user ID, used to track your browsing activities on a website amongst other data. Cookies get stored on a per-browser basis. So your cookies from Safari, Chrome, or Firefox are different and don’t affect each other.
How to Block All Cookies for Safari on iOS 11 or later, or iPadOS:
- Go to Settings > Safari.
- Turn on the option to Block All Cookies.
- Confirm you want to Block All.
If you Block All Cookies some websites won’t work as well on your iPhone or iPad.
How to block cookies for Safari in iOS 10 or earlier:
- Go to Settings > Safari.
- Turn on the option for Do Not Track.
- Next to Block Cookies, select Always Block.
Choose to Always Block cookies and website data on your iPhone or iPad.
Restart, Reset, or Restore your device
If none of these tips have worked so far, it’s time for some basic troubleshooting suggestions. Restart your device. If that doesn’t work, reset your settings. And if that doesn’t work, restore the device to factory settings.
These steps get progressively more extreme, with the final step erasing all content and settings from your device. Make a new backup of your iPhone or iPad first! Also, make a note of your Wi-Fi network ID and password.
See if you can successfully clear the browsing history in Safari after each step, before proceeding to the next one. You may want to take a look at our Reader Tips first.
How to restart an iPhone or iPad:
- If your device has Face ID: Press and hold the Side button and either volume button.
- If your device doesn’t have Face ID: Press and hold the Side button or Top button.
- Slide to power off then wait 30 seconds before turning your device on again.
Wait at least 30 seconds for your iPhone to fully turn off.
How to Reset Network Settings on an iPhone or iPad:
- Go to Settings > General > Reset.
- Tap Reset Network Settings, then enter your passcode if prompted.
- Your device will forget Wi-Fi networks and passwords.
- Confirm you want to Reset Network Settings.
Work through each Reset option in the settings to see if any help you clear website data and browsing history from Safari.
How to Reset All Settings on an iPhone or iPad:
- Go to Settings > General > Reset.
- Tap Reset All Settings, then enter your passcode if prompted.
- You won’t lose any apps or content, but all your settings will return to their default state.
- Confirm you want to Reset All Settings.
How to Restore an iPhone or iPad:
- Make a backup of your device first, or you will lose all your content and data.
- Go to Settings > General > Reset.
- Tap Erase All Content and Settings, then enter your Apple ID and passcode if prompted.
- This erases everything from your device: apps, photos, contacts, and more.
- Confirm you want to Erase Device.
Reader Tips
One of our readers let us know about a complex but effective solution that has helped a lot of users. Give this one a try, if nothing else has worked!
Make sure you follow each step in order:
- Go to Settings > Safari.
- On iOS 11 or later, or iPadOS: Turn off Block All Cookies.
- On iOS 10 or earlier: Set Block Cookies to Allow from Websites I Visit.
- Tap Clear History and Website Data.
- Scroll down and go to Advanced > Website Data.
- Tap Show All Sites and make a list of all the websites that remain.
- Now visit each site in Safari and complete the following steps:
- With the website open in Safari, switch back to Settings.
- Go to Settings > Safari > Advanced > Website Data.
- Find the open website and swipe left to delete it.
- Tap the back arrow in the top-left of the screen twice.
- Swipe up from the bottom, or double-click the Home button, and close Safari.
- Go back to Settings > Safari > Advanced > Website Data.
- Look for the website again and swipe to delete it one more time.
- Swipe up from the bottom, or double-click the Home button, and close Settings.
- Repeat these steps for every website you can’t clear.
I hope these tips got you the help you need to clear the browsing history and website data from Safari on your iPhone or iPad. If it didn’t, let us know in the comments and we’ll see if there’s anything else we can do.
In the meantime, you might want to check out this post about how to make Safari faster!
Or if you have other Safari-related issues, take a look at our comprehensive guide on Safari problems for iOS and macOS.
Dan is a freelance writer based in South West England.
He spent two years supervising repairs as a Genius Admin for Apple Retail and uses that knowledge to keep our troubleshooting guides up to date.
Long before that, Dan turned to Apple products from a musical background. Having owned iPods for years, he bought a MacBook to learn sound recording and production. It was using those skills that he gained a first-class Bachelor of Science in Sound Technology.
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I stumbled across the issue that no matter what I did the “Top Hits” always appeared. This was very annoying.
What I did to remove these websites was go to “Settings”, “Restrictions”, entered passcode then scrolled down to “Allowed Content” and selected “Websites”.
There are 3 options but Default was set to “All Websites”. I tapped on “Specific Websites Only” and found the list of the annoying websites that kept popping up. I then had to click on each websites name and web address and tap the grey “x” to delete.
After I did this I have not seen these in my top hits or recommended list when typing in the adresss bar.
Make sure you set back to “All Websites “ otherwise you won’t be able to use private mode surfing.
I found the answer to clear the website data for good.
First some preparations:
– Ensure that iCloud bookmark sync is properly enabled and working on all your connected devices
– In the iCloud settings of any iOS device, remove all leftover links to devices that you no longer have.
Now, hold your breath, we are going to fix the history problem:
– Open iOS Safari
– Tap on the bookmarks icon
– Tap on the „reading list“ (the glasses icon)
– Notice the „show all“ button all the way down on the bottom of the screen, tap it
– Boooom. Mind blown, this is where are the nasty bookmarks live that you could not delete
– Now spend several minutes deleting one after the other until you are done
So what is this? Item on the reading list can either be temporary, disappearing after reading or they can be persistent, staying there even after reading. And guess what the index of the address bar is digging up, when you enter search terms.
I think I found the real solution.
Do these first:
– ensure that iCloud bookmark sync is properly enabled and working for all your i-devices and PCs
– in the iCloud settings, remove all old devices that you no longer have
– in ios/general/restrictions, set all iOS restrictions to Off
now, fix the history problem:
– open ios safari
– click the bookmarks icon
– now go to the „reading list“ (the glasses icon)
– notice the „show all“ button on the left bottom, click it
– Those bookmarks you could not delete up show up here!
– spend several happy minutes deleting them manually, one after the other, and you are done
I for myself was unaware so far that an item on the reading list will not disappear after reading, it will stay in the reading list and just be marked as read. And I think most of you guys though the same…
(MODERATOR:) I found that same guy’s solution on discussions.apple.com under exactly “Why can’t I delete website data in iOS 10.3?” (his handle is Drocmirage) His method definitely works because I had to use it again, and IT WORKED.., so long as you remember to also Clear History and Website Data AGAIN and BEFORE reopening Safari after bullet point # 6, and step #9 in his 10-step Apple Discussions post. Bottom line: his method did work for me, as long as you understand this missing step after bullet point 6.
I do think his 10 steps in Apple Discussions were slightly clearer.
Hope this is helpful.
Thank You Scott for the detailed analysis. Our readers will surely find this clarification helpful.
About that “Awesome Reader Tip”.., I found there is a missing step: Under the bullet points following “Then visit each site on Safari..” The original tip says to close out Safari, then Settings in that order (bullet points 5 & 6). NOW HERE’S THE PROBLEM: The next time you open Safari, it just opens the last page visited before you closed Safari (which is the page you were trying to delete its cookie, thereby REINSTALLING the darned persistent cookie you thought you permanently deleted!) It’s at this point that I had to tinker, but what I think worked was to MAKE SURE YOU Clear Website Data (again) in Settings BEFORE launching Safari again, (this way it won’t reopen the last page visited that followed bullet point #5).
This guy posted this same tip somewhere else (Apple Discussions, maybe??), and I think he had it exactly right there. I’m still trying to find it though! He left out one step here, which I think follows bullet point #6 (where you closed Safari and Settings in order).
I’ll write back if I find where he posted ALL the correct steps.. PESKY thing, isn’t it!!
To Moderator (important!) : after MUCH trying, reading everything here, iMore and Apple support discussions……, the guy’s multi-step solution (3rd bullet point under “reader tips” above) finally SEEMS TO HAVE WORKED on my iPhone 7 Plus iOS 10.3.3 !!! It’s the tip where he say’s it’s quite involved but you have to follow every step exactly or it won’t work.. I tried his tip and it finally got rid of that pesky cookie that nothing seemed to be able to delete! Thought other users could benefit (may want to include in main article so more readers know about it..)
Hi Scott,
Thanks for the heads-up on what worked following the reader tip. As you suggest, we’ll move it into the Main Article, since you’ve demonstrated it works! Thanks for letting us know and very glad your iPhone’s Safari App history is gone.
SK
You need to go to icloud in settings and if safari is turned on, turn it off. If it is off, turn it on, then press ‘merge’. Then, turn it back off again, and press delete safari. This will clear the top hits.
HI Ninja,
Thanks for sharing a great tip! We appreciate it and will add it into the article for other folks to give a try.
Awesome.
Liz
I did purchase a new iPhone 8 Plus
The problem still exist… the websites show no memory but they CAN’T be deleted… my wife has an LG phone that deletes websites- wonder why the iPhone can’t offer the same?
This information will clear the memory but will not remove or delete the website.
Thanks for trying…
A nice comment , It doesn’t work. Why won’t Apple address this issue? They are not going to waste there time, just come out with something new . We will be left with devices they don’t care about.Just saying”……
A nice comment , It doesn’t work.
Buy the new iPhone for a thousand dollars and see if you have the same problem! Ha!
Nothing has worked. I give up on my privacy.
Hi Ashwin,
Sorry to hear that. We’ll continue posting new tips as they come in. This certainly is a persistent and pesky problem.
Cheers,
Liz
Had this problem for what seems like a year now so I’ve learned to live with it. I stopped stressing over because I’m comforted in the fact that I will be getting an Android soon and will NEVER get an iphone or any apple product again. Good riddance. And don’t get me started on Apple’s Setting Time Zone Location Service Bug. Ugh. This thing activates every hour despite the fact that it’s disabled. Big battery drain. I’ve resorted to disabling location service completely. It’s the only way to stop it.
Safari not deleting website data, already contacted Apple support and restoring entire iPhone only helps temporarily as soon as you start searching safari again the issue starts all over again. Was so excited today to see there was a new update, stupid me thinking they were going to fix this issue so many of us are having on the iPhone 6, 6s. These devices are costly to say the least and you would think Apple would want to help their customers solve and fix these issues, nope. I see now why all my kids do not own iPhones anymore. Sad Apple, very sad, if the issue does not get resolved I will not be an iPhone user much longer myself.
Safari sucks apple is worthless spent two hours on phone with tech no results no fix won’t be buying these worthless products again
I’m about done with Apple! Every time they update it gets worse. Now I have this issue too. They are lacking in testing. BUGS BUGS BUGS
I have 3 websites I can’t delete. I have never used or set up ICloud and it’s turned off.
I called Apple support and ended up completely wiping out my phone. I lost everything…….. but the website data was gone! Now I have 3 more that won’t go away
So I have found how to fix this, go to settings>general>reset>reset all settings. After reloAds go to settings>safari> Clear history and website data, fixed, I’ve even gone to webapages that were stuck in their and I’m able to clean them out now. I haven’t seen anyone else post this answer anywear yet.
Hi Scott,
Thanks for sharing the method that worked for you with all of us. This particular problem is super frustrating and seems to stick around for awhile, including through a few of the recent iOS 10 updates. So I know this tip will be put to a lot of use!
Cheers,
SK
Iphone 6 will not delete website data from Walgreens. Tried advanced, on/off, hard reset, reset network, and every tip above but it will not remove it.
Ever since Trump and the Republican Congress pushed through his awful internet usage sharing bill that makes it legal for companies such as internet providers to gather and sell your browsing history and personal website data to anyone who wants it. I think Apple must be selling users website data. Or saving the user’s private data with the intent of selling it to the highest bidder like an auction.
I tried looking up something on my Iphone SE and now I have all these websites in my Website Data area. They stay there, even after I tried everything in your article. Nothing helped.
I can delete history and some website data, but the same 5-6 websites are constantly there. They may not take up any room on my device (it says 0bytes) but I just don’t want them there. Is there anything else? Is it a bug problem? I upgraded and now it’s givimg me problems. 🙁 I enjoyed my Iphone, but now it’s just giving me a whole host of problems. It’s not helping anyone else, it seems. Where’s the solution?
KC,
I’m sorry your experiencing issues with your iPhone. It must be very frustrating indeed.
One thing to check is if you have Safari enabled in iCloud. If so, it syncs across all devices. That means it’s supposed to delete websites from history across the board. But at times it doesn’t work and instead puts BACK history. So try disabling iCloud Safari syncing on all your devices and computers. Then follow these steps with each device and see if that clears up the problem.
If so, toggled iCloud Safari back on for all devices and computers. And if not, let us know.
Keep us posted.
Cheers,
Liz
This is a well known and lame defect in the Safari app so here is my easy fix… albeit totally bailing on Safari.
1. Download the Firefox web browser. It’s free from the App Store and set it up the way you want.
2. Turn Safari off. I.e. From the iPhone home screen>settings>general>restrictions>enable restrictions>four-digit pass code>safari>turn “off”.
3. This will automatically remove the Safari icon from the iPhone tool bar. That’s nice because you can simply drag the Firefox icon there. Now your our back in business with a more secure browser.
4. Of course you can always turn Safari back on when/if it gets fixed… but you may have decided you don’t want it. It’s nice to have options!
Hope this helps
I have a problem with these same two companies. Plus a couple others. And I’ve tried various solutions. Nothing has worked.
I have the same problem with Mac Safari. The update last week fixe this same problem with iPhone 6.
Perhaps rather than send these problem to the community maybe all of should email Apple. Eventually they may address it
I am unable to delete website data.Even after deleting it the website name comes back in advance.
all other website data contents are getting deleted except one.It comes back.
Please guide.
Regards,
Nilesh
Hi Nilesh,
Since you’re are having a problem with one particular website, go into the Advanced settings (Settings > Safari > Advanced > Website Data > Edit > and clear the data for just that one problematic site. Or Select Remove All Website Data” to clear everything out.
Also, check iCloud > Safari and if the sync button is toggled ON, toggle it off. If toggled ON, it’s most likely syncing with another device or Mac that has that same website in its history.
Cheers,
SK
This new update is Not deleting my iPhone 6 Plus website data it lets it on I can’t get it off my phone
Still unable to clear EBAY and AUTOTRADER…………………..
Same problem here! W T F Apple ?
Does anyone have a solution?
Can’t delete history from safari the clear button is showing grey same when I try in settings