When you browse the web, your browser keeps a record of the sites you visit, called your browsing history. This history lets you quickly revisit pages, search for previously viewed content, or clear old entries if needed. By default, the macOS Safari browser saves your history for 30 days. You can view, search, and manage your browsing history directly from the History menu in Safari.
Change How Long Safari Retains Browsing History
On macOS, you can adjust how long Safari retains your browsing history:
- Open the Safari app.
- Go to Settings (or Preferences on older macOS versions)
- Select the General tab.
- Select from the Remove history items drop-down list how often your web browsing history is to be cleared. Options include daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, yearly, or manually.
- Close Settings.
Safari uses iCloud to keep your browsing history the same on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Mac computers that have iCloud set up for Safari. Your Mac can keep your browsing history for as long as a year, while some iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch models keep browsing history for a month.
