What Safari Suggestions are and why you might want to remove them
Safari Suggestions are predictions that appear when you start typing in Safari's address bar. They include websites you've visited before, bookmarks, and sites Apple thinks you might want based on your browsing history. Safari also shows search suggestions from your default search engine — usually Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGo depending on your settings.
You might want to delete these suggestions for privacy reasons, to hide browsing history from someone else using your device, or straightforward because the predictions are wrong or outdated. The good news is that Safari lets you remove individual suggestions on the spot, and you can also clear your entire browsing history to wipe out the data Safari uses to make those predictions.
The method you choose depends on whether you want to remove one suggestion right now or clean up everything at once.
Key Takeaways
- You can delete a single suggestion by hovering over it and clicking the X that appears next to it in the address bar.
- Clearing your entire browsing history removes the data Safari uses to generate suggestions, though it also deletes your visited websites list.
- On iPhone and iPad, swipe left on a suggestion to delete it, or go to Settings to clear history.
- Disabling search engine suggestions in Safari settings stops predictions from your search engine, though Safari will still suggest bookmarks and visited sites.
Delete one suggestion on Mac
The fastest way to remove a single unwanted suggestion is to delete it the moment it appears. Start typing in Safari's address bar as you normally would. When the suggestion you want to remove shows up in the dropdown list, move your mouse over it without clicking.
An X button will appear on the right side of that suggestion. Click the X, and Safari removes it from your suggestions permanently. This works for visited websites, bookmarks, and search suggestions all the same way. The next time you type those letters, that particular suggestion will not reappear.
Delete one suggestion on iPhone or iPad
On Apple's mobile devices, the process is slightly different because you do not have a mouse. Open Safari and tap in the address bar to start typing. When you see the suggestion you want to remove, swipe left across it with your finger.
A red delete button will appear. Tap it, and that suggestion is gone. Like the Mac version, this removes just that one suggestion without touching anything else in your history or bookmarks.
Clear all browsing history to remove suggestion data
If you want to wipe out the entire foundation that Safari uses to make suggestions, you need to clear your browsing history. This is more drastic than deleting individual suggestions — it removes your entire list of visited websites — but it is the most thorough way to start fresh.
On Mac, open Safari and click the menu bar at the top. Select "History," then "Clear History." A window will pop up asking how far back you want to clear — choose "all history" to remove everything. You can also choose to clear only the last hour, today, or today and yesterday if you want to keep some older history intact. Click "Clear History" to confirm.
On iPhone or iPad, go to Settings, scroll down and tap Safari, then tap "Clear History and Website Data." Choose the time range you want to clear and confirm. Again, "all time" removes everything, but you can select a shorter window if you prefer.
Turn off search engine suggestions
Safari pulls some suggestions directly from your search engine — Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGo. If you want to stop seeing those predictions while keeping your bookmarks and visited sites, you can disable search engine suggestions in your settings.
On Mac, open Safari and click "Safari" in the menu bar, then "Settings." Click the "Search" tab. Uncheck the box next to "Include search engine suggestions." On iPhone or iPad, go to Settings, tap Safari, scroll to the Search section, and toggle off "Search Engine Suggestions."
This stops Safari from sending your partial searches to Google or your other search engine, which also improves privacy. You will still see suggestions for bookmarks and websites you have visited, but not predictions based on what the search engine thinks you might want.
Understand what clearing history actually removes
When you clear your browsing history, Safari removes three things: the list of websites you have visited, the data it uses to generate suggestions, and your autofill information for websites (unless you specifically choose to keep that). Bookmarks stay in place — clearing history does not delete them.
After you clear history, Safari's suggestions will be much shorter. You will still see bookmarks you have created, but the list of visited websites that usually fills the dropdown will be gone. Over time, as you browse again, Safari will rebuild that list and suggestions will return.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does deleting one suggestion delete it from all my devices?
No. Deleting a suggestion on your Mac only removes it from that Mac. If you use Safari on multiple Apple devices and want to remove a suggestion everywhere, you need to delete it on each device separately. iCloud does not sync your deleted suggestions across devices.
Will clearing history delete my passwords?
No. Clearing browsing history removes visited websites and autofill data, but Safari stores passwords separately in iCloud Keychain. Your saved passwords remain even after you clear history. If you want to remove a password, you have to delete it from Settings or System Preferences directly.
Can I stop Safari from showing suggestions altogether?
Not completely. Safari will always show bookmarks in the address bar dropdown. You can turn off search engine suggestions and disable other types of predictions in Settings, but the bookmark suggestions cannot be turned off entirely.
What is the difference between clearing history and clearing website data?
Clearing history removes the list of websites you visited. Clearing website data removes cookies and cached files that websites store on your device. On iPhone and iPad, the option "Clear History and Website Data" does both at once. On Mac, you can clear history separately from website data if you want.
If I clear history, will websites still remember me?
Most websites use cookies to remember you. Clearing history alone does not remove cookies, so many sites will still recognize you. If you want websites to forget you completely, you need to clear website data or cookies specifically, not just history.