What clearing Safari actually does
Clearing Safari removes three separate things: your browsing history (the list of sites you visited), your cookies and cached website data (files websites store on your Mac or iPhone to remember you and load faster), and your autofill information (saved passwords, credit card numbers, and form data). You do not have to clear all three at once — Safari lets you pick which ones to remove and how far back to go.
Most people clear Safari to free up storage space, remove tracking cookies before selling a device, or erase a record of where they have been. The process takes under a minute and does not affect your bookmarks, reading list, or iCloud Synced tabs unless you specifically delete those too.
Key Takeaways
- On Mac, go to History menu, click "Clear History", choose your time range, and select what to delete — history alone takes seconds.
- On iPhone or iPad, open Settings, tap Safari, scroll to "Clear History and Website Data", and confirm your choice.
- Clearing cache and cookies removes files websites use to track you and remember login information, but does not delete your passwords stored in iCloud Keychain.
- If you want to clear data regularly without doing it manually, you can set Safari to clear history automatically when you quit the app on Mac.
Clearing Safari on a Mac
Open Safari and click the History menu at the top of the screen. Select Clear History from the dropdown. A window will appear asking how far back you want to clear — choose "the last hour", "today", "today and yesterday", or "all history".
Below that, you will see checkboxes for what to remove. Leave all three checked if you want to clear everything: Cookies and other website data, Cache, and History. If you only want to delete your browsing history and leave cookies alone (so you stay logged into sites), uncheck "Cookies and other website data". Click Clear History to finish.
To make this happen automatically every time you close Safari, go to Safari menu, then Preferences, then the Privacy tab. Check the box that says "Remove all website data when quitting Safari". From then on, your history and cache will clear themselves without you doing anything.
Clearing Safari on iPhone or iPad
Open the Settings app and scroll down to find Safari. Tap it. Scroll down to the bottom of the Safari settings and tap Clear History and Website Data. A confirmation message will appear — tap it again to confirm.
This clears your history, cookies, and cached data all at once. There is no option to pick and choose on iPhone the way there is on Mac, and there is no time-range option — it clears everything. If you want to clear data automatically, go back to Settings, tap Safari, and toggle on Privacy-Preserving Ad Measurement and Hide IP Address to reduce tracking, though these do not clear your history automatically.
The difference between history, cookies, and cache
Your browsing history is the list of websites you visited. Clearing it removes that list from Safari's history menu and search suggestions. This does not affect whether websites know you visited them — it only hides the record on your device.
Cookies and website data are small files websites store on your device to remember you, keep you logged in, and track your activity. Clearing these logs you out of most sites and removes tracking data, but websites can still see you visited them if you go back. This is the most important thing to clear if you are concerned about privacy or selling your device.
Cache is temporary files websites read to your device so they load faster the next time you visit. Clearing cache frees up storage space but makes websites load slightly slower on your next visit. On a Mac with plenty of storage, clearing cache is optional — on an older iPhone with limited space, it can help noticeably.
Clearing Safari without losing your passwords
If you clear cookies and website data, you will be logged out of most sites, but your saved passwords stay safe. Safari stores passwords in iCloud Keychain, a separate encrypted system that does not get deleted when you clear your browser data. The next time you visit a site, Safari will offer to fill in your password automatically.
If you want to delete a specific saved password instead of clearing everything, go to Safari Preferences on Mac (or Settings > Passwords on iPhone), find the site, and delete it individually. This is useful if you have changed a password and want to remove the old one, or if you are selling your device and want to remove passwords for accounts you no longer use.
What to clear before selling or giving away your device
Before you hand over a Mac or iPhone, clear Safari history, cookies, and cache. On Mac, also go to Safari Preferences, Privacy tab, and click "Manage Website Data" to see what sites have stored data — you can remove individual sites or click "Remove All" to clear everything at once.
On iPhone, after clearing history and website data, go to Settings > Safari > Advanced > Website Data and tap "Remove All Website Data" for a second pass. This removes tracking cookies and login data that the first clear might have missed. Your passwords in iCloud Keychain will remain unless you specifically delete them, which is fine — the new owner will not be able to access them without your Apple ID.
Clearing Safari on a shared device
If multiple people use the same Mac, each person has their own Safari history and cookies. Go to System Preferences, Users & Groups, and make sure each person has their own user account. When you log in as yourself and clear Safari, you only clear your own browsing data — other users' histories stay intact.
On a shared iPhone or iPad, there is only one Safari history for everyone who uses the device. If you need privacy on a shared device, the best option is to use Private Browsing mode, which does not save history, cookies, or cache at all. Tap the tabs icon at the bottom right of Safari, tap "Private" at the bottom left, and browse normally — nothing gets saved when you close the tab.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does clearing Safari history delete my bookmarks?
No. Clearing history, cookies, and cache does not touch your bookmarks or reading list. Your bookmarks stay exactly where they are. If you want to delete bookmarks, you have to do that separately through the Bookmarks menu.
Will clearing Safari log me out of everything?
Clearing cookies and website data will log you out of most sites because those files store your login session. You will need to log back in the next time you visit. Your saved passwords remain in iCloud Keychain, so Safari can fill them in automatically.
How much storage space does clearing Safari actually free up?
It depends on how much you browse and how long it has been since you last cleared. Cache can range from a few hundred megabytes to several gigabytes on an older device. On a modern Mac with plenty of storage, clearing Safari rarely frees up enough space to matter — on an iPhone with 64GB, it can help noticeably.
Can I clear Safari history from a specific website only?
On Mac, go to History menu and look through the list — you can click on individual sites to visit them, but you cannot delete a single site from history directly. The easiest way is to clear all history for a specific time range. On iPhone, there is no way to delete individual sites — you have to clear everything or nothing.
What is the difference between clearing Safari and using Private Browsing?
Private Browsing prevents Safari from saving anything in the first place — no history, no cookies, no cache. Clearing Safari removes data that has already been saved. Private Browsing is better for ongoing privacy; clearing is better for removing old data after the fact.