Delete History in Chrome

  1. 1

    Press Ctrl+Shift+Delete (Windows) or Cmd+Shift+Delete (Mac)

    This opens the Clear browsing data dialog directly. Alternatively: three dots menu → History → Clear browsing data.

  2. 2

    Select Browsing history and time range

    Make sure Browsing history is ticked. Choose your time range from the dropdown: Last hour, Last 24 hours, Last 7 days, Last 4 weeks, or All time. Click Clear data.

Delete History in Safari (Mac)

History menu (in the menu bar) → Clear History → choose time range → Clear History. This clears both history and associated website data. On iPhone: Settings → Safari → Clear History and Website Data.

Delete History in Firefox

Press Ctrl+Shift+Delete → select Browsing and Download History → choose time range → Clear Now. Or: three lines menu → History → Clear Recent History.

Delete History in Microsoft Edge

Ctrl+Shift+Delete → select Browsing history → choose time range → Clear now. Or: three dots → Settings → Privacy, search, and services → Clear browsing data now → Choose what to clear.

Clear History on iPhone (Chrome)

Open Chrome → tap three dots → History → Clear Browsing Data → select Browsing History → time range → Clear Browsing Data.

Clear History on Android (Chrome)

Chrome → three dots → History → Clear browsing data → Browsing history → Clear data.

Browsing history vs. cookies — what is the difference?Browsing history is the list of sites you have visited. Cookies are small files sites store to remember you (login sessions, preferences). You can clear either or both separately. Clearing history does not log you out of sites — clearing cookies does.
Incognito/Private modeIf you do not want history saved in the first place, use Incognito mode (Chrome: Ctrl+Shift+N) or Private Browsing (Safari/Firefox: Cmd+Shift+N). History, cookies and form data are not saved during these sessions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Deleting history removes it from your device and browser — but your ISP (internet service provider) and employer (if on a work network) may still have logs. Google also retains your search history separately in your Google account — delete this at myactivity.google.com. Your history is also retained by websites you have visited.
Slightly — a very large history database can slow browser searches. More significant for speed: clearing the cache (which stores downloaded page resources) makes more difference than clearing history alone. Both take seconds and are worth doing regularly.