How to Clear the Browsing History in Chrome for iPad

Deleting cookies and much more

What to Know

  • Select three dots in upper-right corner > Settings > Privacy. On the Privacy screen, select Clear Browsing Data.
  • Then, select a time range for data to delete > Clear Browsing Data > select categories to clear > Clear Browsing Data.

This article explains how to clear browsing history, cookies, cached images and files, saved passwords, and autofill data in Chrome for iPads with iOS and iPadOS 12 and later. Preserving this data makes for a convenient browsing experience, especially when it comes to saved passwords; however, it can pose privacy and security risks.

Chrome Privacy Settings

If you don't want to store one or more of the five types of data on your iPad, the Chrome for iOS app offers a way to delete data permanently with a few taps.

How to Delete Browsing Data From an iPad

Follow these steps to remove Chrome browsing data from your iPad.

  1. Open the Chrome app on your iPad.

  2. Select the Chrome menu button (three horizontally-aligned dots), located in the upper-right corner of the browser window.

    The More menu in Chrome for iPad
  3. Select Settings in the drop-down menu.

    Settings in Chrome for iPad
  4. Select Privacy.

    Privacy in Chrome settings on iPad
  5. On the Privacy screen, select Clear Browsing Data.

    The Clear Browsing Data heading
  6. At the top of the Clear Browsing Data screen, select a Time Range for the data you want to delete. The options are:

    • Last Hour
    • Last 24 Hours
    • Last 7 Days
    • Last 4 Weeks
    • All Time

    Only items that the iPad acquired or visited during the specified time period are cleared. All Time is the best choice if you want to clear all the private browsing data from the iPad.

    The Time Range item
  7. On the Clear Browsing Data screen, select each of the categories of data that you want to clear by placing a check mark next to it. After making your selections, select Clear Browsing Data at the bottom of the screen and confirm the deletion. The data clears from the devices you synced to Chrome.

    The Clear Browsing Data command

Types of Browsing Data You Can Clear

The five types of private browsing data you can select to clear are:

  • Browsing History: Your browsing history is a record of the websites you visited in Chrome. It is accessible from the Chrome History interface or through the autocomplete feature in the browser's combination address and search bar.
  • Cookies, Site Data: A cookie is a text file placed on your iPad when you visit some sites. Each cookie tells a web server when you return to a web page. Cookies remember settings that you have on a website and important information such as login credentials.
  • Cached Images and Files: Chrome for iPad uses its cache to store images, content, and URLs of recently visited web pages. The browser can render pages faster on subsequent visits to the site by using the cache.
  • Saved Passwords: When entering a password on a web page, such as when logging in to your email account, Chrome for iOS asks if you want the browser to remember the password. If you choose yes, it's stored on the iPad and then populated the next time you visit that web page.
  • Autofill Data: In addition to passwords, Chrome stores other frequently entered data, such as a home address, on your iPad.
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