Clearing Safari favorites removes the bookmarks you have saved in your browser
Safari stores your favorite websites in a list you can access from the address bar or a dedicated menu. Clearing favorites deletes all of them at once. If you want to keep some bookmarks but remove others, you can delete them individually instead — Safari also lets you organize favorites into folders so you do not have to clear everything.
The steps differ slightly depending on whether you use Safari on a Mac, iPhone, or iPad. On a Mac, the process takes about 30 seconds. On iPhone and iPad, it is even faster because the menu structure is simpler.
Key Takeaways
- Clearing all Safari favorites at once requires going to the History menu on Mac or the Edit menu on iPhone and iPad, then selecting the option to clear browsing data.
- You can delete individual favorites without clearing everything by right-clicking a bookmark on Mac or swiping on iPhone and iPad.
- Safari syncs favorites across your devices if you use iCloud, so clearing them on one device may affect the others.
- Clearing favorites is different from clearing your browsing history — favorites are bookmarks you saved, while history is a record of sites you visited.
How to clear all favorites on Mac
Open Safari and click the History menu at the top of the screen. A dropdown list appears. At the bottom of that list, click Clear History. A window pops up asking what time period you want to clear — the dropdown menu shows options like "the last hour," "today," "today and yesterday," or "all history."
Change the dropdown to all history if you want to remove everything. Below that dropdown, you will see a checkbox labeled Remove all website data. Leave this unchecked if you only want to clear favorites. Click the blue Clear History button. Your favorites are now gone.
If you want to clear only recent favorites and keep older ones, select a shorter time period from the dropdown instead of "all history." Safari will only remove favorites you saved during that window.
How to clear all favorites on iPhone and iPad
Open the Settings app on your device — it is the gray icon with gears. Scroll down and tap Safari. Near the bottom of the Safari settings, tap Clear History and Website Data. A menu appears showing options for what to clear.
The default setting clears history from "the last hour." If you want to remove all your favorites, tap the time period at the top and select all time. Then tap the blue Clear History and Data button at the bottom. Your favorites are now removed from your device.
Deleting individual favorites instead of clearing everything
If you want to keep most of your favorites and remove only a few, you do not need to clear everything. On Mac, open Safari and click Bookmarks in the menu bar, then click Show Bookmarks. Your favorites appear in a sidebar on the left. Right-click any favorite you want to remove and select Delete. Repeat for each one you want to remove.
On iPhone and iPad, open Safari and tap the Bookmarks icon — it looks like an open book at the bottom of the screen. Tap Favorites at the top. Find the favorite you want to remove, swipe left across it, and tap the red Delete button that appears.
What happens to favorites synced across devices
If you use iCloud on your Mac, iPhone, or iPad, Safari syncs your favorites across all your devices automatically. This means if you clear favorites on your Mac, they will also disappear from your iPhone and iPad within a few minutes. The same applies in reverse — clearing favorites on your phone will remove them from your computer.
You can turn off syncing if you want to keep different favorites on different devices. On Mac, go to System Settings, click Apple ID, then iCloud, and uncheck Safari. On iPhone or iPad, go to Settings, tap your name at the top, tap iCloud, and toggle off Safari. After you turn off syncing, clearing favorites on one device will no longer affect the others.
The difference between clearing favorites and clearing history
Favorites are websites you manually saved by clicking a bookmark icon. History is an automatic record of every website you visited, whether you bookmarked it or not. Clearing favorites removes only the sites you chose to save. Clearing history removes the record of everywhere you have been, but your saved favorites stay in place.
If you want to remove your browsing history without touching your favorites, use the same Clear History menu on Mac or Clear History and Website Data on iPhone and iPad, but select a time period instead of clearing everything. This removes the history log while leaving your bookmarks untouched.
Organizing favorites into folders to avoid clearing everything
Instead of clearing all your favorites at once, you can organize them into folders and delete only the folders you no longer need. On Mac, open Bookmarks and click Show Bookmarks. Right-click in the sidebar and select New Folder. Name the folder and drag favorites into it. To delete the folder later, right-click it and select Delete.
On iPhone and iPad, open Safari, tap Bookmarks, then tap Edit in the bottom right. Tap New Folder, name it, and tap Done. You can then move favorites into the folder by tapping and dragging them. To delete a folder, tap Edit, tap the red minus sign next to the folder, and tap Delete.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I undo clearing my favorites after I do it?
No, clearing favorites in Safari cannot be undone. Once you click the final confirmation button, they are permanently removed. If you synced your favorites to iCloud before clearing them, you might be able to recover them through iCloud.com, but this depends on how long ago they were deleted. If you are unsure, write down the websites you want to keep before clearing.
Will clearing favorites also clear my passwords and login information?
No, clearing favorites does not remove passwords. Passwords are stored separately in Safari's password manager. If you want to clear passwords, you must do that through a different menu. On Mac, go to Safari > Preferences > Passwords. On iPhone and iPad, go to Settings > Passwords.
Why do my favorites keep coming back after I clear them?
This usually happens because iCloud is syncing your favorites back from another device. If you cleared favorites on your Mac but your iPhone still has them, iCloud is restoring them. Turn off Safari syncing in iCloud settings on all your devices, then clear favorites again, and they should stay gone.
Can I clear favorites from just one folder without clearing everything?
Yes, you can delete individual folders or favorites without clearing your entire list. On Mac, open Bookmarks > Show Bookmarks, right-click the folder you want to remove, and select Delete. On iPhone and iPad, tap Bookmarks, tap Edit, tap the red minus sign next to the folder, and tap Delete.