How to Clear Search History on iPhone: Safari and Google

Your searches leave a trail in more places than the browser. Safari keeps its own list, Google keeps a copy in your account if you're signed in, and the iPhone's search screen remembers which apps and sites you've opened. Clearing one doesn't clear the others, so here's how to tidy each of them.

Wiping Safari's browsing and search list

1. Open Safari and go to your start page, or tap the Tabs button and open a new one.
2. Tap the Show Bookmarks button, then the History button.
3. Tap More, then Clear History.
4. Below Clear Timeframe, choose how far back to go. If you use Safari profiles, pick one profile or All Profiles.
5. Tap Clear History.

You can do the same from Settings > Apps > Safari > Clear History and Website Data. Either route removes the sites you visited and your recent searches from the iPhone.

If you've set up separate Safari profiles, say one for work and one for personal browsing, that profile choice matters. Picking a single profile clears just that profile's history and leaves the other one alone, which is useful if you want to tidy your personal searches without losing the client sites you return to every day. Pick All Profiles when you want everything gone. It's worth checking which profile you're in before you start, because the History list you see belongs to that profile only.

What Safari removes when you clear it

Apple's personal safety guide lists what goes when you clear Safari history. It's worth knowing because it's more than just the list of pages:

Removed	Not removed
Webpages you visited and frequently visited sites	Files you downloaded (only the download list goes)
Recent searches	History kept by the websites themselves
Icons and snapshots of webpages	History saved in other apps
Sites that asked to use your location or send notifications	Activity saved in your Google Account

Removing a single site instead of everything

If there's one page you'd rather not see in your history, you don't have to wipe the lot:

1. In Safari, go to your start page and tap the History button.
2. Tap More, then Select Websites.
3. Select one or more websites.
4. Tap the Trash button.

Stopping recent searches from showing

If your worry is that someone glancing at your phone sees what you last searched for, you can hide them rather than deleting them every day. Go to Settings > Apps > Safari and, below Search, turn off Show Recent Searches. The search field will stay empty when you tap into it.

Deleting Google searches saved to your account

This is the one people miss. If you use the Google app or search on Google while signed in, your searches can be saved to your Google Account as well as on the phone. Clearing Safari won't touch them. Google's help page for iPhone gives these steps:

1. On your iPhone, go to myactivity.google.com.
2. Above your activity, tap Delete.
3. Tap All time, then Next, then Delete.

To remove one search, scroll to it and tap Delete on that item. You can also filter by date and by product at the same time, which is handy if you only want to remove a week of searches.

If you'd rather not do this by hand, Google has an auto-delete option. Open your Google Account, tap Data & privacy, scroll to History settings, choose the activity setting, tap Auto-delete and pick how long to keep your activity.

The catch with private windows and offline devices

Two details from Google's help page are worth knowing. First, if you sign in to your Google Account inside a private browser window, your searches may still be stored in that account, so Private Browsing on its own doesn't keep them out of My Activity. Second, if you delete items on one device, they can still appear on devices that are offline until those devices reconnect.

Safari's Private Browsing is still useful for what happens on the phone. Apple says the details of your browsing aren't saved and aren't shared across your devices while you use it.

Tidying the iPhone search screen

The search you get by swiping down on the Home Screen is Spotlight. It suggests apps, contacts and websites based on what you use. You can control what it shows:

• Hide an app from search results: go to Settings, tap Search, scroll down, tap the app and turn off Show App in Search.
• Stop location-based suggestions: go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services and turn off Suggestions & Search.

What I'd do

If you share a phone or hand it over to clients for demos, I'd do three things once: turn off Show Recent Searches in Safari, set Google's auto-delete so old searches drop off on their own, and use Private Browsing for anything you'd rather keep to yourself. That's a lot less hassle than remembering to clear everything each week. If notifications give away more than your searches do, my guide to hiding names in WhatsApp notifications on iPhone closes that gap, and if you record tutorials for clients, here's how to screen record on iPhone without your history on show.

Frequently asked questions

Does clearing Safari history delete my Google search history?

No. Searches saved to your Google Account are separate. Delete them at myactivity.google.com.

Can I delete one search instead of everything?

Yes. In Safari's History, tap More, then Select Websites. In Google's My Activity, tap Delete on the single item.

How do I stop Safari showing recent searches?

Go to Settings, Apps, Safari and, below Search, turn off Show Recent Searches.

Does Private Browsing keep my searches out of Google?

Not if you sign in to your Google Account in the private window. Google says your searches may be stored in that account.

Are downloaded files deleted when I clear history?

No. Apple says the list of downloads is cleared, but the files themselves aren't removed.