Manually or automatically erasing your browsing history is a well-established way to protect your privacy and ensure that the digital footprint you leave behind is as short as possible, but it's important to recognize the limitations of this process and understand why deleting your browsing history isn't always as comprehensive as you think.
In short, records of where you've been aren't just stored on your local computer or phone, they can be found in other places as well. That's why completely erasing your browsing history is more difficult than it seems at first glance.
Modern browsers usually synchronize your browsing history.
Almost every modern browser can now synchronize browsing history across different devices: from laptop to mobile phone and back. This has its benefits – like the ability to continue browsing on another device – but it means that deleting the list of websites you've visited on one device won't necessarily clear it out everywhere.
Consider Apple's Safari, which by default syncs your online history, bookmarks, and open tabs across all iPhones, iPads, and Macs using the same Apple account. You can manage this by selecting your account name and then iCloud in Settings on iOS/iPadOS or System Settings on macOS.
Delete browsing history in Safari.
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Whether Safari sync via iCloud is enabled or not will affect how your browsing history is deleted: When you try to delete that history on your mobile device or computer, you'll see a message about what will happen on your other devices. In Safari on Mac, select History > Clear history; on iPhone or iPad, select Apps > Safari > Clear history and website data from settings.
Most other browsers work in the same way, offering both history synchronization and history deletion. For example, in Chrome on your desktop, open Settings via the three-dot menu (top right): You can control syncing via You and Google > Sync and Google Apps > Manage what you syncand clear your history with Privacy and Security > Clear browsing data.
The apps and sites you use are tracking you
In addition to all the history that your actual web browser collects, you also need to think about the data that is collected by the apps and websites that you use. If you're signed into Facebook, Meta will know about the comments you've made and the photos you've liked, no matter how much you clear your history from Edge or Firefox.
How much you can do about this really depends on the application or site. Amazon allows you to clear your search history, for example: on the desktop site, click Browsing history in the toolbar at the top, then click the gear icon (top right). On the next screen, you'll be able to delete all or part of your browsing history and block further tracking, although you won't be able to reorder items as easily and it will affect your recommendations.
Deleting data from your Google account.
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Meta lets you clear your search history on Instagram and Facebook, at least: you can take care of both of Meta Account Center page in a desktop browser. Click Your information and permissions then Search history to look back at what you were looking for. The next screen provides options for manually and automatically deleting your search history.
What are your thoughts so far?
Google runs a range of online applications as well as a web browser. You can manage all your Google data from one central location using your desktop browser: Google Account Page. Click Data and Privacy to view everything Google has collected about you and click on any type of activity to manually delete entries or set them to be automatically deleted after a certain period of time.
Your ISP always knows where you've been
The last place that copies of your Internet browsing history will be stored is on the servers of your Internet service provider, meaning whatever company you pay to access the Internet keeps logs of the places you've been for all sorts of purposes (from security to advertising). And yes, this includes sites you open while in incognito mode.
How this is handled varies from provider to provider. For example, AT&T Privacy Notice states that the company will “automatically collect a variety of information,” including “website and IP addresses,” “videos viewed,” and “search queries entered.” The company says this data will be retained “for as long as we need it for business, tax or legal purposes.”
A VPN can hide your browsing from your ISP.
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There's not much you can do about this either – it's a trade-off you'll have to make if you want to access the Internet. Some providers, including AT&T, will allow you to opt out of certain types of information sharing if you contact them directly, but you cannot prevent tracking in the first place.
What you Maybe do is to mask your browsing with a VPN (Lifehacker previously chose best paid VPNs And best free VPNs for you to try). Since all your internet traffic will go through the VPN's servers, your ISP will no longer be able to see what you're doing. However, your VPN provider will, so find one you can trust and has a no-logs policy it has been verified by a third party security auditor.
