Deleting your search history on an iPad can be helpful for maintaining privacy or freeing up storage space. The iPad stores search history and suggestions to make searches faster, but this isn’t always desirable. Fortunately, deleting your search history is straightforward, though the exact steps depend on the version of iOS you’re using.
In this article, we’ll provide a complete guide to deleting your search history on any iPad model, running any recent version of iOS. We’ll cover clearing your search history in Safari and other apps, deleting Siri search history, and disabling search history collection. With a few quick steps, you can delete every trace of your search history on your iPad.
Clearing Safari Search History
Safari is the default web browser on all iPad models. It maintains a record of your web searches, visited pages, favorites, and more. Here’s how to delete your Safari search history on an iPad:
iPadOS and iOS 13 or Later
If your iPad runs iPadOS or iOS 13 or later:
1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap Safari.
3. Choose “Clear History and Website Data”. This will delete your search history, browsing history, cookies, and other Safari data.
iOS 12 or Earlier
For iPads running iOS 12 or earlier:
1. Open Safari.
2. Tap the Bookmarks icon.
3. Scroll down and tap “Clear History”.
4. Select “Clear” to confirm deleting your search and browsing history.
This will completely wipe your Safari search and browsing history on any iPad model with iOS 12 or earlier.
Deleting Search History in Other Apps
In addition to Safari, you may have searched within other apps on your iPad. Many apps maintain their own search history that can be cleared:
Chrome
If you use Google Chrome for web browsing on your iPad, you can delete its search history:
1. Open the Chrome app.
2. Tap the three dots in the bottom right corner.
3. Go to History > Clear Browsing Data.
4. Choose the desired time range, then select “Clear data”.
This will wipe your Chrome search and browsing history.
YouTube
To clear search history in the YouTube app:
1. Tap your profile picture.
2. Go to Settings > History & privacy.
3. Choose “Clear watch history” and confirm.
Maps
Deleting your Maps search history:
1. Open the Maps app.
2. Tap your profile picture in the top right.
3. Select “Clear history” to wipe your recent searches.
Follow similar steps to clear search histories in other apps like App Store, Messages, Mail, etc. Refer to the app’s settings to find where its search history is stored.
Clearing Siri Search History
Siri maintains a record of your voice searches and interactions. Here’s how to delete them:
iOS 13 or Later
On iOS 13 or later:
1. Go to Settings > Siri & Search.
2. Select “Delete Siri & Dictation History”.
iOS 12 or Earlier
On iOS 12 or earlier:
1. Open Settings > Siri.
2. Choose “Delete Siri History”.
This will wipe your Siri search and command history on any iPad. Siri will no longer have a record of past interactions.
Disabling Search History
For optimal privacy, you can disable search history collection entirely:
Safari
1. In Settings, go to Safari > Privacy & Security.
2. Turn off “Siri & Search Suggestions” or “Quick Website Search”.
This prevents Safari from keeping any record of your searches going forward.
Siri
1. Go to Settings > Siri & Search.
2. Turn off “Learn from this iPad”.
Spotlight Search
1. Go to Settings > Siri & Search.
2. Turn off “Learn from this iPad” under “Spotlight Suggestions”.
With search history disabled across Safari, Siri, and Spotlight, your iPad will no longer record searches. However, this also means search results won’t be personalized or improved over time.
Manually Deleting iPad Storage
Deleting your search history also frees up storage space on your iPad. For maximum free space, you can also manually delete unnecessary files:
– Offline iTunes content
– Apps you no longer use
– Messages with large attachments
– Saved photos and videos
– Cached and temp files
Use the Settings app and your iPad storage tools to manually remove content. This complements deleting search history by freeing up even more space.
Conclusion
Clearing your iPad’s search history provides more privacy and storage space. Safari, Siri, and individual apps all maintain search histories that can be deleted. For ongoing privacy, disabling search history collection prevents your iPad from recording searches in the first place.
With this guide, you can completely wipe your iPad’s search history across all apps. Follow the steps for your iOS version to delete search histories from Safari, Chrome, Siri, and other apps. Disabling search history collection also stops your iPad from saving searches long-term.
Combined with manually deleting unused files, these steps allow you to reclaim storage space and increase privacy. Your iPad will have no record of past searches or queries. Going forward, limit search tracking by disabling search history collection in Settings whenever possible.
| iOS Version | Steps to Clear Search History |
|---|---|
| iOS 13 or later |
|
| iOS 12 or earlier |
|
| Search Type | Steps to Disable History |
|---|---|
| Safari | Settings > Safari > Turn off Siri & Search suggestions |
| Siri | Settings > Siri & Search > Turn off Learn from this iPad |
| Spotlight | Settings > Siri & Search > Turn off Spotlight Suggestions |
Summary of Steps
To recap, here are the key steps covered in this guide to delete your iPad’s search history:
Deleting Existing Search History
– Clear Safari history in Settings (iOS 13 or later) or within the Safari app (iOS 12 or earlier)
– Delete Siri history in Settings > Siri
– Clear search history for individual apps like Chrome, YouTube, Maps, etc. in each app’s settings
– Manually delete unused files and cached data to free up additional storage space
Disabling Future Search History
– Turn off Siri & Search Suggestions in Safari settings
– Disable Learn from this iPad for Siri and Spotlight Suggestions in Settings
Following these steps will remove all traces of past searches and prevent your iPad from saving any future search history. Your iPad will no longer record or learn from searches, providing greater privacy at the cost of personalized suggestions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does deleting Safari history also delete Siri history?
No, clearing your Safari history only deletes data within the Safari app itself. To delete your Siri history, you must do so separately in the Siri settings.
Will deleting search history free up space on my iPad?
Yes, deleting your search history can free up a small amount of storage space on your iPad. For even more space, manually remove unused apps, media, and cached files.
What if Siri is no longer making good recommendations after I disabled search history?
Siri relies on past usage data to improve suggestions over time. If you disable search history, Siri’s recommendations may be less personalized. You can re-enable search history collection if you want Siri to learn from you again.
Is there a way to automatically delete search history every few days?
Unfortunately no, there is no native setting on the iPad to automatically clear search history on a schedule. You will need to manually clear it regularly if you want to prevent accumulation.
Will deleting search history impact other devices signed into my Apple ID?
No, clearing search history is device-specific. It will delete data only on your iPad itself, not any other devices sharing your iCloud account.
In Conclusion
Maintaining privacy is important. Following this guide, any iPad user can cleanly delete their search histories across multiple apps and prevent further tracking. While this comes at the cost of personalized recommendations, it provides peace of mind your search activities aren’t being unnecessarily monitored or stored.