Fix Safari Clear History and Data option grayed out
Written by Karolina Peistariene on
Fix the Safari Clear History and Website Data option is unavailable
It's recommended that you clear out your browser history and data from time to time to keep everything working perfectly. Doing this also clears out space on your device. So what to do when you want to do that, but the option to clear our Safari history and web data is grayed out?
There are a couple of reasons why this option is unavailable. You won't be able to delete Safari history and data if you don't have any data to delete. This reason is an obvious one, but you can forget such simple things in situations like this.
Other reasons can be Screen Time web restrictions are turned on, your device might be lagging. There's a system bug, or the settings are messed up. Go through all the solutions below from top to bottom to figure out the problem and fix it.
Video on Fix Safari Clear History and Data option grayed out
Table of Contents:
- Introduction
- Method 1. Turn off web restrictions
- Method 2. Reboot your iPhone
- Method 3. Disable Safari iCloud Sync
- Method 4. Clear our the Safari Reading List
- Method 5. Block Safari cookies
- Method 6. Delete Safari data from the Advanced settings
- Method 7. Reset all settings
- Video on Fix Safari Clear History and Data option grayed out
Turn off web restrictions
If the Screen Time restrictions are turned on, specifically web access, you won't be able to delete Safari history and website data. Disable the limits and try again.
To disable Screen Time restrictions, follow the steps below:
1. Open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down and tap on "Screen Time".
3. If asked, enter your iPhone passcode.
4. Then, tap on "Content & Privacy Restrictions".
5. To disable the restrictions altogether, toggle the switch to the left side next to "Content & Privacy Restrictions".
6. To turn off only web content, tap on "Content Restrictions" below.
7. Then, tap on "Web Content" and select "Unrestricted Access".
Reboot your iPhone
If the first solution didn't fix the problem and you still see the "Clear History and Website Data" option grayed out, we recommend restarting your device. This method most likely will help remove the issue if turning off the Screen Time restrictions didn't help.
Disable Safari iCloud Sync
Another thing you can do is to turn off iCloud Safari synchronization. You can do that from your iPhone Settings app.
To turn off Safari iCloud sync, follow the steps below:
1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap on your name at the top.
3. Then, tap on "iCloud".
4. Scroll down until you see "Safari" and toggle the switch to disable the sync.
Clear our the Safari Reading List
Saved pages on the Safari Reading List take space on your iPhone. If there's not a lot of space left, the Safari browser can start misbehaving. Clear out the reading list to delete Safari history and website data.
To delete the Safari Reading List, follow the steps below:
1. Open the Safari browser.
2. At the bottom bar, tap on the open book icon.
3. Then, tap on the glasses icon to view Reading List.
4. To remove a single page, swipe on it to the left and tap on "Delete".
5. To delete more than one page at a time, at the bottom right corner, tap on "Edit", select the pages, and tap on "Delete".
You can also try to block Safari cookies and then check if the option to delete history is available.
To block Safari cookies, follow the steps below:
1. Open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down and tap on "Safari".
3. Under "Privacy & Security", next to "Block All Cookies", toggle the slider to enable the option and confirm the action.
Delete Safari data from the Advanced settings
Try to delete Safari website history from the Advanced settings.
To delete website data from Advanced settings, follow the steps below:
1. Open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down and tap on "Safari".
3. Then, at the bottom, tap on "Advanced" and select "Website Data".
4. Scroll to the bottom and tap on "Remove All Website Data".
5. Confirm the action by tapping on "Remove Now".
Reset all settings
If nothing helps, reset all iPhone settings. This will help if you or something else messed up some settings that can be the cause of this problem.
To reset all settings, follow the steps below:
1. Open the Settings app.
2. Then, go to "General" settings.
3. Scroll to the bottom and tap on "Transfer or Reset iPhone".
4. Now, tap on "Reset" and select "Reset All Settings".
5. Enter the iPhone passcode and confirm the action.
We hope this guide provided you with the information you were looking for and successfully managed to enable the Clear History and Website Data option.
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