Mobile phone |
iPhone (Safari) |
- Go to the Settings app (looks like a gear)
- Scroll down and tap Safari
- Scroll down to the line that says “Clear History and Website Data”
- Tap the pop-up line “Clear History and Data”
- Tap the top left button to go back to the Settings main screen
- Close the Settings app by hitting the iPhone home button on your device or swiping up
|
Android |
See how to clear your browser history on your android phone by different browser types.
|
BlackBerry |
- In the browser, tap the overflow icon (3 dots)
- Tap Settings
- Tap Privacy and Security
- Scroll down and you'll see three buttons: Browsing history, Cookies and site data, and Cached images and files
- Select Browsing history and anything else you want to clear
- Select Clear data
- Close the Settings
|
|
Desktop or laptop |
Firefox |
- From the top menu, select the library icon at the top right (appears as three vertical lines (lines going up and down), and a fourth line tipping back onto the first three lines)
- Select “History”
- Select the “Details” line
- Check any items that are not checked which you want deleted, such as Browsing & Download History, Form & Search History, Cookies, Cache, Active Logins, Offline Website Data, Site Preferences
- From the drop-down menu, select a time range to clear
- Click the button “Clear Now”
- Close the menu and browser window
|
Chrome |
- Select the menu icon (three horizontal bars lying flat, or three vertical dots going up) at the top right
- Select “History,” then select History again
- Click “Clear browsing data” (should be on the left-hand side)
- From the drop-down menu, select a time range to clear
- Click “Clear Data” button to clear your browsing history, cookies, site date and cached images and files; You can also go to “Advanced” and select “Clear Data” to clear all passwords and autofill form data
- If any of the following are not check marked and you want them deleted, click them before you clear your data: Browsing history, Download history, Cookies and other site and plug-in data, Cached images and files, Passwords, Autofill form data, Hosted app data
- Click “Clear Data”
- A pop-up may appear telling you what data has been deleted from your history, click the “OK, Got it” button
- Close the menu and browser window
|
Internet Explorer |
- From the Tools menu at the top (which might be a gear icon)
- Click “Delete Browsing History”
- Uncheck “Preserve Favorites website data”
- Check “Temporary Internet files”
- Check “Cookies”
- Check “Form data”
- Check “Passwords”
- Check “InPrivate Filtering data”
- Click the “Delete” button
- Close the menu
You can also push Ctrl+Shift+Delete from any Internet Explorer window and the option to clear your history will pop up. Checkmark everything you would like to delete and then click on “Delete.” A pop-up may then appear at the bottom of your screen letting you know your history has been deleted. Click the “X” to close the pop-up.
|
|
Browse privately so you don’t have to clear your history
|
You can browse without leaving a computer trace with:
- Safari on iPhone
- Chrome on BlackBerry or Android
- Incognito in Chrome
- InPrivate in Internet Explorer
- Private Window in Firefox
Using these features will open a new, private window that leaves no browser history. You should turn this feature on before you begin to browse.
Safari on iPhone |
- Tap the Safari app
- Tap the double window icon box at the bottom right of the screen
- Tap “Private” at the bottom left of the screen
- Click the “+” to open a private browsing window
- When you are finished, close the windows by clicking the “X,” close the app, then reopen the Safari app and un-tap “Privacy” to return to regular browsing.
|
Chrome on BlackBerry and Android phones |
- Tap the Chrome icon to open your browser
- Tap the three dot icon at the top right corner to open your menu options
- Tap “New incognito tab”
- Be sure to close all tabs. When you close the browser the incognito tab should be gone, and the next time you open Chrome, it should be back to the regular browser.
|
Chrome incognito |
To browse incognito with Chrome:
- Right-click on the Chrome icon on your desktop or taskbar
- Click “New incognito window”
- Close the incognito window when you are finished
While browsing incognito, Chrome will not save your browsing history, cookies, site data or information entered in forms.
Important: if you download or bookmark anything while browsing incognito, these will be saved and you must clear these manually. If you delete a saved file, be sure to go into your Trash or Recycling Bin icon on your desktop and delete it from there as well.
|
Internet Explorer InPrivate |
To browse InPrivate with Internet Explorer:
- Right-click on the Internet Explorer icon on your desktop or taskbar
- Click “Start InPrivate Browsing”
- Close the InPrivate window when you are finished
While browsing InPrivate, Internet Explorer will not save data about your browsing session, history, cookies or temporary internet files.
Important: if you download or bookmark anything while browsing InPrivate, these may be saved and you must clear these manually. If you delete a saved file, be sure to go into your Trash or Recycling Bin icon on your desktop and delete it from there as well.
|
Firefox Private Window |
To browse in a Private Window with Firefox:
- Open a Firefox window
- At the top right, select the menu button (three lines lying flat)
- Click “New Private Window” or press Ctrl+Shift+P
- Close the Private Window when you are finished
While browsing in a Private Window, Firefox will not save data about your visited pages, form and search bar entries, passwords, download list entries, cookies, cached web content, offline web content and user data.
Important: if you download or bookmark anything while browsing in a Private Window, you should manually check to make sure that these downloads have not been saved to your computer. If you delete a saved file, be sure to go into your Trash or Recycling Bin icon on your desktop and delete it from there as well.
|
|