How to clear search history

How to Clear Your Google Search History

Delete your activity in an app or on the desktop

What to Know

Follow these instructions to learn how to delete your Google history from your Google account, from the Google Chrome web browser, from the Google iOS or Android app, or from the Google app.

Clearing your Google search history doesn’t mean Google deletes your search data. Google still keeps records about how and when you use certain features, even when you delete the details of your activity.

How to Delete the Search History From Your Google Account

If you regularly use Google Search while signed in to your Google Account, such as on a personal laptop or desktop computer, it’s easy to delete your search history.

Visit myaccount.google.com in a web or mobile browser, and sign in to your Google account if you’re not signed in.

Select the Data & personalization category on the left, then scroll down to Activity and timeline. Select My Activity (enter your password or two-factor authentication if you have the extra verification setting turned on).

To clear all your Google search history, select the three vertical dots at the top of the screen to the right of the search field, then select Delete activity by.

Select All Time in the Delete Activity box.

Choose which services to delete activity from, or Select All to select all categories. Select Next.

In the confirmation box, select Delete to delete your Google activity permanently.

To delete individual Google search activity items, scroll through your My Activity page (or use the search function) to find the search item you want to delete. Then, select the three vertical dots in the upper-right corner of the item, and select Delete.

Clear Google Search History From Your Chrome Web Browser on a Computer

If Google Chrome is your main web browser, you can clear your Google Search history from within the browser.

Open the Chrome web browser on a desktop or laptop computer.

Select the three vertical dots in the upper-right corner of the browser.

Select History from the drop-down menu, then select History from the submenu.

To clear all your search history between a specific time and the present, select Clear browsing data on the left side of the screen.

To clear individual search items, go back to the History tab and scroll through your search items, or use the Search history field at the top to find the item you want to clear.

On the following tab, select the Time range drop-down menu and choose All time to clear your history. Optionally, clear the check boxes next to the items you want to keep.

Select Clear data.

Select the three vertical dots to the right of an item you want to clear, then choose Remove from history.

Clear Google History from Your Chrome Web Browser on Android

If you mainly use Google Chrome from your Android, you can clear your search history from within the browser.

Open the Chrome web browser app on your Android device.

Tap the three vertical dots in the upper-right corner, then tap History.

If you want to clear your entire search history, tap Clear browsing data. Alternatively, if you want to clear individual search items from your history, scroll down to find the item, or tap the magnifying glass to search for an item, and then tap the X to the right of the individual item to clear it.

If you’re clearing the entire history, tap the Time range drop-down arrow and select All time. Optionally, clear the check boxes next to the items listed below if you prefer not to clear them.

Tap Clear data in the lower-right corner.

Clear Google Search History From Your Chrome Web Browser on iOS

If you use Google Chrome on an iPhone or iPad, you can clear your search history from within the browser.

Open the Chrome web browser app on your iPhone or iPad.

Tap the three horizontal dots in the bottom menu.

Tap History in the submenu.

To clear all of your search history, tap Clear Browsing Data at the bottom.

On the following tab, choose a time range from the menu. To remove all of your history, leave it at All Time.

Make sure Browsing History is checked. If it’s not, tap it to add a check mark. Optionally, tap to check or uncheck any of the items below.

Tap Clear Browsing Data and then tap it a second time to confirm you want to clear the data.

Clear Individual Items

Sometimes there are items in your history that you want to keep for a while or specific items you want to remove. To clear individual search items, follow these steps:

On the History tab, tap Edit in the lower-right corner.

Scroll down or search for an item you want to clear, then tap the circle beside it to add a check mark.

Tap Delete in the lower-left corner.

Tap Done in the upper-right corner.

Clear Google Search History From the Google App on Android and iOS

If you use the official Android Google app for all your searches, clear your search history from the app by going to More > Search activity and then using the steps listed above to delete your activity.

Set up Auto-Delete to Clear Google Search History

You can use Google’s auto-delete controls to clear your search history, along with web and app activity, using a web browser or the Google mobile app. Here’s how.

From a web browser, go to the Web & App Activity page.

Select Auto-Delete.

Choose the Auto-delete activity older than option and pick a time frame from the drop-down menu. You can choose to delete activity older than three months, 18 months, and 36 months.

Select Next.

Select Confirm to save your changes.

How to delete browsing and search history on Mac

What is browsing history

Browsing history is a stored list of web pages you have visited. This means every time you visit a website or download a file, information about this action is recorded.

Web browsing history is tied to your web browser. The browsing history is stored on your computer, and it is possible to synchronize it between multiple devices. For example, if you visit the cnn.com website on your iMac and then visit msn.com on your MacBook, then your browser will keep the information about both visits in its browsing history.

If you want to clear your web browser’s history, including the web pages you have visited, caches, cookies, saved passwords, etc., you will need to remove the web history files from your disk.

What is web search history

Web search history is a stored list of search queries you have made via a search engine.
The search history is stored in a search engine, such as Google, and it is usually tied to your Google account. In short, Google search history is stored on the Internet, so if you want to clear search history, you need to go online and do this in your Google account.

How to delete Google search history

Google is the most popular search engine and the preferred choice of most users for surfing the Internet. For this reason, we begin this tutorial on clearing search history with the example of Google.

Complete the following steps to delete search history from Google:

Now the search history stored within Google has been deleted.
Please note that the search history is also stored in browsing history. Keep on reading to learn how to clear browsing history.

How to clear browsing history on Google Chrome

Google is working to ensure the network security of its users, so you can rely on the Chrome browser. But, keep in mind that it’s a good habit to clear your browsing history from time to time to protect your private information.

To clear history on Google Chrome, take the following steps:

How to clear browsing history in Firefox

Firefox is a popular open-source web browser, developed by the Mozilla Foundation. If you don’t want the Firefox browser to keep a complete history of all the information you have typed into the search bar, as well as into forms displayed on web pages, then you should manually remove this data.

To clear history in Firefox, do as follows:

How to clear browsing history on Safari

Safari is the web browser created by Apple, which comes preinstalled on Apple devices such as Macs, iPhones and iPads.

To clear history on Safari, complete the following steps:

Using this method, you can remove the history of web pages you’ve visited, your recent searches, web page icons, items you’ve downloaded, websites that have asked for your location, etc.

How to clear browser cache

Browser caching helps you quickly open recently visited pages without having to reload them. However, caches are stored in your computer and take up precious disk space.

You can find web caches on your disk and manually delete them, but it will take some time. Therefore, we recommend using the special application, App Cleaner & Uninstaller, regularly to easily delete browser caches.

Follow these steps to clear browser cache on your Mac:

With the App Cleaner & Uninstaller application, you can safely delete these unneeded files from your computer in just a few clicks. Moreover, if you want to uninstall a web browser completely, including its history, caches, logs and other service files you can do that with App Cleaner.

How to remove a web browser completely

Using App Cleaner & Uninstaller, you can completely remove unneeded applications and their service files to get enough free space on your Mac and make it more productive. Also, you can use the app to clear applications caches, log, cookies.
You can download App Cleaner & Uninstaller from the Nektony official website for free.

How to Clear Search History in Chrome

Google Chrome on Windows 10 and macOS provides you with options to delete browsing history, cache, sign-in data, and cookies, but Google has another “database” that’s unfamiliar to many people, known as ‘My Activity.’

What is Google My Activity?

Google’s ‘My Activity’ is a special collection of your browsing and activity history that is often related to Google.

Originally, ‘Web History’ was a second “database” tool that was used to store your browsing and internet activity for Google to utilize and deliver a better experience. That tool eventually got eliminated and redirected to ‘My Activity,’ which originally stored search data that Google used to present better search functionality and experiences. Now, items that were stored in the old tool are merged into ‘My Activity.’ However, only the items related to Google in some way get stored there. Therefore, Google’s ‘My Activity’ tool gets used to improve personal Google experiences and includes many user elements related to Google.

Now, your ‘My Activity’ pages reflect more than just searches. The collection also includes pages you click from searches, Google product pages, Google Play activity, YouTube history, map information, and more. This article shows you how to clear that search history on iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows 10, but be aware that deleting information in ‘My Activity’ can alter the customized/personalized services and information presented to you by Google.

How does Google “My Activity’ Work?

If you’ve ever started a search on a particular topic and then performed more searches with minimal words, you may have noticed that Google displays results related to the original search. For instance, searching for ‘blue cars’ yields results for blue cars. After that, searching for ‘tinted windows’ yields blue cars with tinted windows (plus ads related to the terms), and all you did was a search for tinted windows.

Google’s stored search information for each session helps Google Search display what it thinks you might be looking for. It’s never 100% correct or accurate, but it does make a difference and simplifies your search efforts. Google data also helps it display appropriate ads, videos, images, and more.

How to Delete Chrome Search History on a PC or Mac

When it comes to deleting Chrome search history, you have a couple of options. You can delete everything in Google’s ‘My Activity’ or delete specific URLs. Here’s how to manage the information that Google stored about you.

Option #1: Delete Everything

If you’d like to delete all Google-related history (browsing, cache, search, etc.), the process is rather simple. This is not the same as deleting your website history. As previously mentioned, you are managing data stored by Google that is related to Google in some way.

Option #2: Delete a Specific URL

Sometimes, you may have a need to delete just one URL in Google ‘My Activity’ and don’t want to delete everything. Here’s what you do.

Aside from navigating through your ‘My Activity’ information to delete specific URLs, there’s a search activity box where you can look for a specific activity to delete. This might save you some time.

If you’d prefer not to save URL/website history at all, there’s a way to turn it off completely, which is found at the top of your Google My Activity Page, Here’s what you do.

Now Google won’t be saving your search history. However, Chrome will still track your cookies, browsing history, and other data.

How to Delete Chrome Search History on Android

As is the case with Chrome for Mac and Windows 10, you can’t clear your search history directly from the browser options, and you’ll need to do that on your Google account.

Delete Everything

Open Chrome and go to My Activity. Tap on three horizontal dots in the top right corner.

Step 1

Step 2

Select “Delete Activity by.”

Step 3

Choose “All Time” and then de-select any data you’d like to keep. Once your selections are made click ‘Next’ in the lower left-hand corner.

Step 4

Now confirm the deletion and wait for a few seconds. Your entire history will be deleted.

Delete a Specific URL

Step 1

Open Chrome and go to My Activity. Scroll down and find the link you want to remove.

There are predefined options that will let you erase the search history in the current day or create a custom range.

Step 2

Tap on the “x” icon next to it. Be careful, as there is no confirmation window.

How to Delete Chrome Search History on an iPhone

Deleting Chrome search history on the iPhone is similar to doing it on an Android phone. Still, there’s a slight difference.

Delete Everything

Step 1

Open Chrome, Safari, or any other browser and go to My Activity.

Step 2

Tap on the three horizontal dots before selecting “Delete Activity by “

Step 3

Choose “All Time” and then de-select any data you’d like to keep. Once your selections are made click ‘Next’ in the lower left-hand corner.

You’ll be notified that all your search history will be deleted. Confirm it.

Delete a Specific URL

Step 1

Go to My Activity. Scroll down and check the list of your search entries. You may also use the search.

Tap the three horizontal dots next to the entrance you want to erase.

Step 2

Select delete and the link will be removed without a confirmation screen.

Note that once you delete your search history on Google, it can’t be recovered.

Additional FAQ

Can I automatically clear Chrome search history when I close Chrome?

Although Chrome supports automatic clearing of your cookies each time you exit the browser, you can’t do the same with your cache and search history by default. There is a workaround solution for Windows and Mac, as you may visit the Chrome Web Store and install the Click&Clean extension.

After you do so, click Click&Clean on the toolbar and then select Options. In the Extras section, choose to delete private data when Chrome closes. Be aware that this action will remove your search history and everything else, including browser cache and cookies. If you only want to delete your search history, you’ll have to do it manually.

Unfortunately, you can’t use Click&Clean on an iPhone or Android since Chrome for mobile devices doesn’t support extensions. The only options are to clear it manually on your Google Account or to disable search history.

Where Do I View My Search Browsing History?

If you want to see every search you’ve made in Chrome, you’ll need to visit Google My Activity homepage and log in. Once there, you’ll see the list of all recent web searches. You can explore them using Item or Bundle view options or the search box at the top of the screen. This is valuable if you want to delete a specific entry or every search you’ve done since you created your Google account.

Can my search history be recovered after it’s been deleted?

Even if you’ve accidentally or purposely deleted your search history, there are a couple of ways to recover them.

If you have a Google Account, visit Google My Activity. This page will show your every Chrome activity, including browsing history and search history. However, there are limitations to this method, as you can’t import your search history back into your browser. Even so, you can use the system recovery options as an alternative.

1. In Windows 10, click “Start “and then type “Recovery.”

2. Choose “Open System Restore.”

3. In the following Windows, click on “Choose a different restore point.”

4. Choose to restore to the date before you deleted your search history.

5. Restart the computer, and your search history will be recovered.

Know that System Restore will revert all other changes you made in other programs, not only in Chrome. However, you won’t lose your files.

Is my search history saved when using incognito mode?

With incognito mode, you’ll need to use a VPN to hide your location. However, Chrome doesn’t track your activities when you’re incognito, including cookies, browsing history, and search history. Instead of disabling the search on your Google account, you can use incognito mode if you don’t want your activities tracked. Incognito mode is available for both desktop and mobile versions of Chrome.

Where do I download my Google search history?

In 2015, Google introduced the option to download all the data it collects. That includes YouTube searches, Android profile settings, emails, location history, and Chrome. Here is how to do it:

1. Visit Google Takeout and login if needed.

2. You’ll see the complete list of data. Everything is selected by default, but there is a “Deselect all” button. Check Chrome and then choose “All Chrome data included.” Now select which browser data you want to download.

3. Google will display a warning, informing you that downloading your data on a public computer is risky. (Also, be aware that some countries may have laws that limit the use of this option.)

4. Click “Creative Archive.”

5. Once everything is ready, you’ll get an email with a link to download your Google search history archive.

If you decide to download everything, the file may be very large(multiple GB), depending on how long you’ve been using your Google account. Google Takeout is an excellent way to back up your data offline and keep it in a safe place.

Take Control of Your Search History

Whatever device you’re using, deleting Chrome search history is only a few clicks or taps away. Unfortunately, it can’t be done automatically by default, and the extensions only offer limited help. You can also disable search history in a few straightforward steps and turn in on quickly when needed.

Is Chrome your primary browser on both desktops and mobile platforms? How often do you need to delete your search history?

How to Clear Search History – Delete All Browsing Data in Chrome

Your browsing history can come in very handy when you want to look up something that you have already viewed on the internet.

Maybe you read an interesting article online and want to reference it again, but forgot to bookmark it. Well, you can have a look at your Chrome history and you’ll find it there.

How Does Browser History Work?

While surfing the web, Chrome (like all other modern browsers) keeps track of your digital footsteps. This means it collects data on your preferences, searches, and history.

When using Google Search in Chrome, your search queries are saved. Next time you look for something similar, Google makes relavent suggestions.

It does this to enhance your browser experience by speeding up page load time, for intuitive web navigation, and to autofill forms (which again saves time).

Or Chrome can use all your information and the links you clicked on to target you with personalised Google Ads.

Browser History Privacy Concerns

This can raise privacy and security concerns. You may not want to leave traces of your previous searches, visited websites, and all web activity that includes sensitive data on your computer.

It’s always a good idea to clean up of your search history and browsing data from time to time. This includes caches and cookies, too, for an optimal browsing experience and safer surfing.

This artcile shows you how to delete all of your Chrome search history and browsing data for whatever operating system you’re using.

With just a few clicks and some easy steps you’ll get rid of the internet history kept in your Chrome account.

It’s worth mentioning that if you have set up your Chrome account to be in sync with all other devices you have (whether that’s a laptop, phone, tablet etc) you will also have to delete your history on them.

Howe to Delete Your Chrome History

In a few quick steps, you can delete everything all at once.

First things first, open your Chrome browser application.

On the top right hand corner there are three tiny dots next to your profile picture:

After clicking on them, a menu appears.

From that menu, select «History» and then «History» again.

You can also use a keyboard shortcut:

This opens up a new tab with all your browsing history, with the most recent at the very top.

Next, to delete all of it, on the left hand side select «Clear browsing data».

You are then brought to another menu in the center of the screen, which looks something like:

There are two tabs » Basic» and «Advanced».

In the Basic tab, at the top of the pop up, you have the option to select a time and date frame. You can clear data from the last hour, 24 hours, 7 days, 4 weeks, or from all time.

To delete the entire browser data history, make sure all three checkboxes are checked – «Browsing History», «Cookies and other site data», and «Cached images and files».

Click on the time range dropdown menu and select «All time«.

Lastly, select «Clear data».

All history, cookies, and cache are now gone from your machine.

Chrome now won’t show the pages you’ve previously visited, as all traces are gone. It will also not autocomplete URLs in the address bar or keywords during searches.

To go that extra step and get a bit more specific, you could select the «Advanced Tab» and then check/uncheck according to your needs. If you want a clean slate and to start afresh, make sure to check all boxes.

Again, select the time frame you want. If you want to get rid of everything, choose «All time» and then «Clear Data».

Chrome now will not show files you downloaded (it won’t delete the actual downloaded files – they live on your computer’s hard drive). It will not have the data to automatically fill in forms. It will not have saved passwords and login information. And it won’t know what your language settings are or your location information or the different site settings.

What are cookies and caches?

Chrome stores cookies from visited websited and cached files.

Cookies recognize who you are.

For example, when you look up the temperature for today, cookies know to show the city where you live. Other cookies are responsible for the personalized ads that keep popping up. If you keep searching for shoes, you’ll get ads from different online shoe stores.

They also hold onto login credentials, preferences, and sensitive auto-fill form information (like name, address, and phone number).

Caching stores images and graphics from websites you’ve visited again and again by downloading a local copy. This makes for faster access and the browser loads super fast.

Once the cache has been deleted, pages may take a bit longer to load because the browser has to pull images from the web instead of locally. But this can fix page loading errors and is the first step to fixing browser issues.

How to Avoid Constantly Deleting Your History

You don’t need to repeat the process mentioned above all the time – you can limit what data Google can collect from you.

You can disable your search and location history in Google settings. This is particularly useful when you’re sharing a computer with others, if you’re using a public computer, or if you’re taking extra care of your privacy.

How to Use Incognito Mode to Securely Browse the Web

Chrome has a safer and more private option for browsing the web. Incognito is a private mode offered by many modern browsers.

Using Incognito mode, Chrome will not store the sites you have visited in your browsing history and your activity is kept private.

When the window is closed, all browsing history activity, searches, cookies and caching from that session are automatically deleted and not saved. The browser won’t know what you’ve been up to.

However, keep in mind that if you log into a site using login information, the site will recognise you and record your activity.

To open a new window in Incognito, go to the three little dots next to your profile picture in Chrome, click on them, and from the dropdown menu select «New Incognito Window»:

And ta-da! Chrome opens up a new window that does not track your browsing activity or load information from previous searches or forms you’ve filled.

Conclusion

In this article, we learned how to delete all of our brorwsing data from Chrome in a few simple steps. I also shared a couple suggestions to make your browsing activities a bit more secure.

How to clear your Google search history from your Google Account and on various web browsers

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When you delete your Google search history, you remove all sorts of information that could be used by shady characters. Beyond the funny videos, news stories, trivia, and other content, think of how many times you have searched for an address, a phone number, information about an employer, and other data that could help a hacker steal your identity, find you in person, or produce other unwanted outcomes.

From your Google Account settings, you can also control the types of searches Google saves in the first place.

Note: Google as a company will still maintain data on much of your search history, logging how often you search for certain topics, for example. While perhaps disquieting, at least know that any data it maintains even after you delete your search history will never be openly displayed on your computer or mobile device.

Here’s how to clear your Google search history from your Google Account and on web browsers like Safari and Google Chrome.

How to clear your Google search history from your Google Account on a computer

To fully delete your Google search history, you need to do so directly from your Google Account. Simply clearing your browser history won’t erase all the info that Google tracks and saves to your account. Here’s how to delete past search history and future search history from your Google Account.

To delete past Google search history:

1. Open any browser, go to Google.com, and log in to your account.

2. Once you’re signed in, click the Google apps icon in the top-right corner of the Google home page. The icon looks like a square mosaic containing nine small squares.

3. In the drop-down menu, click Account.

4. Click Data & privacy from the sidebar menu on the left side of the screen.

Quick tip: You can also click Manage your data & privacy in the Privacy & personalization tile in the center of the page, which will take you to the same screen as clicking the Data & privacy tab.

5. At the bottom of the History settings section, click My activity.

6. To delete search activity one by one, click the «X» icon in the top-right corner of the activity listing, and select Delete in the pop-up.

7. To delete multiple or all search history at once, click the Delete button, located underneath the search bar.

8. In the pop-up, you can choose which content you want to delete: Last hour, Last day, Always, or Custom range.

To turn off Google’s ability to track your future search history:

1. Open any browser, go to Google.com, and log in to your account.

2. Once you’re signed in, click the Google apps icon in the top-right corner of the Google homepage. The icon looks like a square mosaic containing nine small squares.

3. In the drop-down menu, click Account.

4. Click Data & privacy from the sidebar menu on the left side of the screen.

5. In the History settings section, click Web & App Activity.

6. At the top of the next page, click the blue sliding bar beside Web & App Activity to turn off tracking.

7. In the pop-up, scroll to the bottom of the page, and click «Pause.»

Now the sliding bar beside Web & App Activity should be grayed out, instead of blue.

8. You can also turn off your Location History and YouTube History. Return to the Data & privacy page and, underneath the Web & App Activity option, click Location History or YouTube History. Follow the same process above to click the blue sliding bar on each respective page to turn off tracking.

How to delete your Google search history from your Google Account on a mobile device

1. Go to Google.com in your mobile browser and make sure you’re logged in to your Google account.

2. Tap the three horizontal lines at the top left of the Google homepage.

3. Tap the words Your data in Search.

4. On the next page, scroll to the bottom of the Your Search history section and select Manage your Search history.

5. On the next screen, you can delete activity listings one by one by tapping the «X» icon in the top-right corner of each listing. To mass delete your search activity, tap the blue Delete button at the top of your search history. In the pop-up, you can choose to Delete today, Delete custom range, or Delete all time or turn on Auto-delete.

How to delete your browser search history on a computer

For added security and privacy, you can also delete your browser history, which will include any Google searches tracked directly through your browser.

On Safari:

1. Start by opening the Safari browser. On the task bar at the top of the screen, click the word History.

2. At the bottom of the drop-down menu, hit Clear History.

3. Select the range of stored searches you wish to delete: the last hour, today, today and yesterday, or all history.

4. Click Clear History.

On Google Chrome:

1. Start by opening the Chrome browser, and at the task bar at the top of the screen, click History.

2. Click Show Full History in the drop-down menu.

3. In the web page that opens up, click Clear browsing data on the left side of the screen.

4. On the next screen, select from the Time Range menu how much of your search history you wish to expunge, and make sure to note the boxes below that allow you to customize what you remove, from browsing history to cookies to cached images.