Why Can't I Clear My History on Safari? Troubleshooting Guide & Fixes

Safari is one of the most popular browsers, with a significant proportion of iPhone and iPad users making it a primary browser. More browsing equals increasing Safari history, caches, and cookies. When it becomes substantial, you’ll experience a slowdown in browser performance. However, in many cases, the clear browsing history setting greys out. “Why can’t I clear my browsing history on Safari?” is a common issue that may occur due to sync settings, restrictions, or more.

There can be many reasons, such as family restrictions, iCloud syncing, software bugs, or device management policies. This guide provides insight into the potential reasons and shares troubleshooting tips to help resolve the issue. It also shares a safe way to view Safari browsing history remotely.

Part 1. Why Can't I Clear My History on Safari?

When there’s no Safari browsing history available, the setting turns grey. There might be other reasons as to why you can’t clear the search history, which are as follows:

• Screen Time Restrictions: If a parent or guardian has set up a Screen Time on an iPhone or iPad, you won’t be able to clear the Safari search history.
• iCloud Syncing: If your Safari history syncs with all your Apple devices via iCloud, you must disable the syncing to clear the history on your iPhone or iPad.
• Software Bug: Occasionally, a bug in Safari might prevent you from clearing the history.
• Device Management Policies: Mobile Device Management (MDM) set up at your school or work might prevent you from deleting the history. Access Settings > General > VPN & Device Management to determine if that's the case. There shouldn’t be any profiles there.

Part 2. How to Fix the “Can't Clear Safari History” Problem?

It’s easy to clear Safari search history, provided there aren’t any issues, as mentioned earlier. If the settings have greyed out, try one of the following fixes.

1Turn Off Restrictions

If you have web content restrictions set up on iPhone and iPad, you won’t be able to clear the history. To remove that and delete history on the iPhone, follow the steps in order:

Step 1. Access the Settings app on your iPhone and navigate to “General.”

Step 2. Scroll down to access the “Screen Time” option and type in your passcode if prompted.

Step 3. You need to turn off the screen time to clear your Safari search history and website data. You must access Settings > Screen Time > Turn off App & Website Activity.

Step 4. Go back to the Safari app under the Settings list. If necessary, you can now delete any Safari history.

2Stop Syncing Safari Over iCloud

If there aren’t any Screen Time restrictions and you cannot delete the Safari history, look into your iCloud sync settings. If you use iCloud, it might sync data across all your devices, from reading lists to bookmarks and browsing history. Typically, it doesn’t raise any problems, but sometimes items might reappear in your browser history. To fix it, follow the steps in order:

Step 1. Access the “Settings” app on your iPhone and tap on the Apple ID profile.

Step 2. Click on iCloud, scroll down to access Safari, and toggle it off.

Step 3. If Safari is already toggled off, turn it on > click Merge > turn it off again.

Step 4. Repeat the same steps on other iCloud-connected devices, including Mac and iPad. Then, erase the Safari browsing history on each device.

3Block Cookies

Clearing Safari cookies on iPhones might not delete data like site ID, login information, and passwords. So, the only option is to block or limit the cookies. However, this “option no longer exists with iOS 17 update.” If your iPhone supports iOS 16 or previous versions, follow the steps in order:

Step 1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone and tap Safari > Block Cookies.

Step 2. Set the option to “Always” or “From third parties and advertisers.”

4Hard Reset Your iPhone

If none of the above options works, and you still can’t clear the history on your iPhone, the only way out is to hard reset. To manually reset an iPhone, you can force restart, or factory reset it.

Force Restart

Force restart means manually turning the iPhone on and off. This can potentially resolve multiple issues, such as slow performance, freezing, or unresponsive apps. It can also fix other software bugs that might affect apps like Safari.

Step 1. Press and quickly release the volume up button.

Step 2. Press and quickly release the volume down button.

Step 3. Press and hold the side button for a few seconds until the Apple logo appears. Then, release the side button.

Factory Reset

Factory reset means erasing all data, including files, apps, documents, etc. This returns the device to its original state, potentially fixing the Safari issue. Here’s how you can do it:

Step 1. Launch your iPhone's “Settings” app and tap “General.”

Step 2. Navigate and tap on Transfer or Reset iPhone > Erase All Content and Settings.

Step 3. To perform the factory reset, click “Continue” and enter the screen passcode if prompted.

The above method can potentially fix your issue, but it has a major limitation. For example, it deletes all the data on your device, including contacts, photos, messages, and videos. So, if you haven’t created a backup, the data will be permanently lost. Also, a sudden interruption during a hard reset may lead to data corruption.

5Reset Network Settings

If you don’t wish to erase each data on your phone, try resetting the network settings. It will completely erase all saved network passwords, WiFi networks, data settings, and other network preferences.

Step 1. In your iPhone's “Settings” app, tap “General.”

Step 2. Scroll down the tabs to find and tap on Reset > Reset Network Settings. This essentially returns your phone’s network to factory defaults but keeps your data intact.

Part 3. How to View Someone's Safari History Remotely

Third-party apps are required to view someone’s Safari history remotely. These are typically suitable for parents who want to view their kids’ browsing history on Safari and other social media applications. For example, you can use KidsGuard Pro.

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KidsGuard Pro is a top-rated cell phone monitoring app for parents designed to track internet browsing history. Whether you use Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or another browser, KidsGuard Pro provides detailed information in 100% secrecy. This means you won’t be discovered. Its installation is simple, and it takes a few minutes to set up and bind the devices. Once the setup is complete, the app lets you monitor the target phone in real-time. It's helpful features include:

FAQs about Clearing My History on Safari

Why does it not allow me to clear my search history?

If Safari doesn’t let you clear your search history, there are many reasons: iCloud syncing settings, screen time restrictions, or simply because no history is left to delete.

How do I delete Safari history with restrictions?

If restrictions are applied to Safari, you need to remove it first. You need to access Settings > Screen Time > Turn off App & Website Activity. Then tap “Clear History and Website Data” to delete the Safari history.

Why is my browsing history not deleting?

If your browsing history is not deleting, screen time restrictions are applied, your browsing history is synced to multiple devices, or the browser might have a software glitch.

Why is my search history still showing after deleting?

If your search history still shows after you delete it, you’ve only cleared the local browsing history, not the one synced to iCloud. It’s crucial to stop the syncing and delete the history.

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