Google Chrome is a very handy and useful browser. That said, it also tracks your browsing history across devices unless you’re in incognito mode. This can be a good thing; For example, if you go looking for something on your computer and then have to leave, you can continue where you left off on your smartphone. That said, there are always times when you just want to delete your history. Anyway, let’s see how to delete your history on Google Chrome.
Read more: Remove a Google account from Chrome
THE SHORT ANSWER
To clear your Chrome history on Android, open Chrome and tap the button at the top. Tap History > Delete browsing history. Select the Browsing history check box and then press clear data.
To clear your Chrome history on iOS, open Chrome and select the ᐧᐧᐧ button at the bottom right. Tap History > Delete browsing history. Select Browse Historyand then press Delete browsing history.
To clear your Chrome from the desktop, open Chrome and click the button at the top right. Click History > Delete browsing history. Select Browsing history > clear data.
IMPORTANT SECTIONS
How To Delete Your Chrome History (Android)
Open Chrome and tap the button at the top of the screen. It is on the far right.
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In the next drop-down menu, select the tab marked with History.
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In Historyselect the button with the text Delete browsing history.
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In Delete browsing history, you can clear your browsing history and more. You can specify how far back you want to go with regard to what you want to delete. You can choose last hour, last 24 hours, Last 7 days, past 4 weeksor Always.
Below the Base tab, found at the top, you have three options:
- Browsing historywhich “clears the history of all synced devices.”
- Cookies and Site Datawhich “signs you out of most sites” but does not sign you out of your Google account.
- Cached images and files, which, if you couldn’t guess, means clearing your Google Chrome cache. This frees up space, although it warns that “some sites may load slower on your next visit”.
Below the Advanced tab, you can choose to clear three more things:
- Saved passwords
- Autofill form data
- Site Settings
You can choose these options and put a check next to them to clear them. When you’ve selected everything you want to delete, press the clear data button in the lower right corner.
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How to Delete Your Chrome History (iPhone)
Clearing your Google Chrome browsing history on iOS is also very easy. Select the ᐧᐧᐧ button in the lower right corner.
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In the next pop-up menu, select the tab marked with History.
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On the History tab you will find a Delete browsing history button at the bottom left. Select this.
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The last step is to fill in the Delete browsing history screen. Choose the Time frame for which you want to delete your browsing history. You can use the last hour, Last 24 hours, Last 7 days, past 4 weeksor Always.
Select what to clear for the selected time range. Options include:
- Browsing history
- Cookies, site data
- Cached images and files
- Saved passwords
- Auto-complete data
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When you are done selecting your Time frame and everything you want to remove, select the Delete browsing history button at the very bottom. You will get another chance to cancel after pressing this; select Delete browsing history again to finish clearing your selections.
How to Delete Google Chrome History (Desktop)
Open Google Chrome on your PC or Mac and click the button in the top right corner next to your profile picture.
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Then go down to History and open it in full screen by clicking the tab. Alternatively, if you are a PC user, you can: Ctrl + H in Google Chrome to access your History page. If you are a Mac user, you can choose: ⌘ Command + Y in Google Chrome.
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On the History page, you will see your complete browsing history. Click Delete browsing history on the left to continue.
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Finally, you will be taken to the Delete browsing history screen. Enter the Time frame for which you want to delete your Google Chrome browsing history. Your options include the last hour, last 24 hours, Last 7 days, past 4 weeksand Always.
Then select what you want to delete. On the Base tab, you can clear Browsing history, Cookies and other site dataand Cached images and files. On the Advanced tab, you can also delete Passwords and other login information, Autofill form data, Site Settingsand Hosted app data.
The important thing here is that at least you have Browsing history checked, as your main goal is to clear your browsing history.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. To do this, go to your Google account and click the Data & Privacy tab on the left. Scroll down to History Settings, then select My Activity. You can view all your web activities here.
Start typing on a computer what you want to search for. If a URL appears that you don’t want, hover your mouse over it and click the x button on the far right to remove the suggestion. Alternatively — and this works for non-URL suggestions too — you can hover over anything that appears in the top bar and then press Shift+Delete.
Deleting your browsing history is not quite the same as deleting cookies or deleting history stored by websites. For example, deleting your Chrome history won’t affect YouTube when you’re signed in; you need to delete your youtube history separately.