(10 Ways) How to Recover Deleted Safari History on Mac/iPhone/iPad

Deleted Safari history causes inconvenience when we try to visit a precious website or collect some used URLs. However, very often, we may accidentally delete, even erase all of the Safari history on our iPhone, iPad or Mac. It is frustrating, but relax, we can find them back.

To address this issue, here we’ll get you covered with 10 solutions on how to recover deleted Safari history on Apple device. There’s always one suitable for you.

Key Takeaways

• When you delete history on Safari, it won't be gone forever, it might be still on other sync device, in a backup or somewhere on your device, depending on where and how you've deleted the history from your Safari.
• It is lucky that we can recover deleted history on Safari, via an earlier history, check local or iCloud backup, even use 3rd-party data recovery software to restore.
• The solutions to recover deleted Safari history on Mac are different from those on iPhone or iPad, but both stem from same principles: via backup or using professional software.
• To recover deleted Safari history on Mac, we can use Cisdem Data Recovery, check Safari cookies,  search within iCloud backup, restore from Time Machine; to recover deleted Safari history on iPhone/iPad, we can use iOS data Recovery tool, search in Safari app, check iPhone settings, restore on www.icloud.com, recover from iCloud backup or via iPhone Backup.

 Cisdem Data Recovery

Recover Deleted Safari History on Mac Easily

• Restore deleted Safari history, Safari bookmark, Chrome history, Chrome bookmark, etc.
• Recover deleted downloads from Safari, Google Chrome, Firefox and so on
• Recover 200+ files: video, audio, photo, document, email, archive ,etc.
• Fix damaged videos and photos
• Recover unsaved Word, Excel, PowerPoint documents
• Recover data from iCloud directly
• Preview files before recovering
• Recover files to local folder or Cloud platforms
• Create backup from disk and restore files with disk image

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If You Delete History on Safari, Is It Gone Forever?

No, it is not nessarily gone forever. It depends on where and how you've deleted the history.

If you deleted the history for the last hour, or last 24 hours, you might still find an earlier history on your device.

If you've deleted all the history from your device, though there is no way navigating you to the history, the file is still there on your device, until there is new data overwriting them. So, you should stop writing data to your device, and act quickly to do the data recovery as soon as possible.

Even, if you have enabled iCloud sync across your devices, but disenabled the sync before the history deletion, then the history is still there on other devices that share the same iCloud account.

Can You Recover Deleted History on Safari?

Yes, we can.

First up, we should check earlier history on our device, there might be a history saved on our Mac or iPhone/iPad for the last weeks or months. And there is a search function to filter your history quickly.

Also, we should know that Safari history is saved in a file named as History.db, which stores visited URLs, titles, time, etc. As long as we can find or restore this file, we can put it back to the defaulted location:~/Library/Safari/ and restore the Safari history.

In the case that you've backed up your Mac or iPhone/iPad data, there is a copy for the History.db file that saved via Time Machine or iCloud backup.

If you do not have any backup, there is 3rd party data recovering program designed to retrieve deleted History.db from your device, from a Mac, also from iPhone/iPad.

Recover Deleted Safari History on Mac

Regarding Safari history recovery on Mac, we have gathered 4 methods at your disposal, by which you can choose to restore disappeared Safari history on Mac with or without Time Machine backup.

#1 Restore Deleted Safari History without Backup Using Cisdem

Assuming that you did not have a backup on your Mac or in the cloud, we can search and retrieve the history file via a dedicated data recovery program. 

We will recommend a piece of dedicated data recovery software --- Cisdem Data Recovery for Mac. Designed with modern user interface, advanced scanning engine, and high recovery rate, this top-ranked program is capable of restoring 200+ file types, including deleted or lost history files of different browsers like Safari, Google Chrome, Firefox, also documents, photos, videos, audios, emails, archives, etc. 

Better yet, users take little technical knowledge to deal with any tricky data loss situations: emptied Trash Bin, mistaken deletion, formatting, system crash, virus infection, power surge, firmware damage, human error, etc. Cisdem Data Recovery is always here to offer the most suitable recovery solutions.

How to recover deleted Safari history on Mac without backup?

1. Free download and install Cisdem Data Recovery for Mac.
   Free Download macOS 10.15 or later
2. Launch it, choose Hardware Disk, select your Macintosh HD volume and click on Search for lost files to start scanning.
3. After scanning, type “history.db” in the search bar, and check the file information to locate a wanted history.
4. Select the deleted history file you need and tap on Recover button, choose a destination and click Save.
5. Then copy the recovered History.db file into ~/Library/Safari folder or overwrite the current file. The history will be recovered in your Safari app.

Also, you can check this video from Cisdem Official, starting from 02:05,

#2 Check Safari Cookies

Apart from using software, another approach you can try is checking cookies of Safari browser to find the missing history. Cookies are those mini files websites use to store certain data including URLs. But bear in mind that this method is not guaranteed to work out. That’s because the cookies you’ve found might get corrupted sometimes or not store your browsing history at all. Anyway, it’s worth a shot.

1. Open Safari on your Mac.
2. From the top left menu, select Preferences.
3. Go to Privacy tab > Manage Website Data.
4. Now you can see a list of websites that you have visited in Safari earlier. Scroll down to verify if the deleted Safari history is present.

#3. Via iCloud Sync

Suppose you have Safari sync initialed in iCloud across your Mac and iPhone/iPad, there’s an opportunity to recover the deleted Safari history from iOS to Mac. Since the original browsing history data are still in your mobile, it’s achievable to force iPhone/iPad to overwrite Safari history in iCloud and replace the one from Mac by iCloud Sync.

1. On your iPhone or iPad, head over to Settings > Apple Profile > iCloud.
2. Under the Apps Using iCloud section, hit on Show All.
3. Scroll down to find Safari > switch the toggle button next to it > choose Keep on My iPhone.
4. Tap on Merge.

Until now launch your Safari on Mac, the deleted Safari history will be synchronized and recovered automatically.

#4. Restore from Time Machine Backup

Time Machine is known to be a useful utility that creates incremental backups of files that can be restored at a later date on macOS system. If you’ve got into the habit of running Time Machine constantly on Mac, congratulations, your deleted Safari history could be resumed simply via Time Machine.

1. Quit Safari if it’s open. Connect your Time Machine backup hard drive with Mac.
2. Click Time Machine icon from menu bar > select Enter Time Machine.
3. Use Up/Down arrow to locate a version of the History.db file which contains your deleted Safari browsing history. Then click Restore to finish the recovery.

4. Navigate to Finder > Go > Go to Folder. Enter ~/Library/Safari into the box > click Go button.

5. Replace the History.db file with the one you recovered via Time Machine backup. 
6. Relaunch Safari app, your history will be back in Safari on your Mac.

Recover Deleted Safari History on iPhone/iPad

When it comes to deleted Safari history recovery on iPhone or iPad, we can get through the problem with or without backup.

#5 Recover with iOS Data Recovery Tool

For those Safari users who need to regain their deleted browsing history but have no backup in hand, we will recommend them to make use of an iPhone data recovery tool, recover in Safari app directly, recover from iPhone Settings, or recover on iCloud web. Let’s dive into the details.

Among numerous iOS data recovery programs in the market, you’d better try Cisdem iPhone Data Recovery --- UltData at first. It’s a professional recovery tool coming to rescue your various types of data, including Safari history, Safari bookmarks, messages, contacts, call history, reminders and more. Recovering lost files only takes a few clicks with user-friendly operation.

How to recover deleted Safari history on iPhone without backup?

1. Download, install and launch UltData on your Mac/PC.
   Free Download macOS 10.10 or later Free Download Windows 11/10/8/7
2. Choose Recover Data from iOS Devices.
3. Connect your iOS device to your computer via USB cable, choose the data type you need to recover, and click Scan. Here you should tick Safari Bookmarks and Safari History from System Data section.
4. After the scan, preview files selectively, find your deleted Safari history and click Recover to Mac/PC.

#6. Recover in Safari App

In the event that your history was deleted from Safari very recently, one simple trick is to find it directly in Safari app of your iPhone. Here’s the guide on how to recover deleted history in Safari.

1. Open Safari on your iPhone.
2. Tap the book tab at the bottom of your screen.
3. Under the clock icon, check the search history to see if your deleted one is present.

#7. Recover from iPhone Settings

Without any backup, another straightforward way to restore history on Safari is recovering from Settings on iPhone/iPad. One obvious shortcoming is that this solution is feasible only if you haven't cleared the browser cache or cookies. If you fit the bill, continue to take the steps.

1. Go to Settings > Safari on your iOS device.
2. Continue to select Advanced > Website Data.
3. From the website list, you may find your deleted Safari history on iPhone/iPad.

#8. Restore on www.icloud.com

Does iCloud store deleted Safari history? If you have previously switched on the iCloud syncing of Safari on iPhone/iPad, the answer is definitely yes. By navigating to icloud.com, you can recover your deleted Safari bookmarks back within minutes.

1. Visit icloud.com on your browser and log into your Apple account.
2. From the top right corner of your page, click the profile icon > select iCloud Settings.
3. Go to Data Recovery > choose Restore Bookmarks section.
4. Select the Safari bookmarks that you want to restore > click Restore button.

#9. Recover from iCloud Backup

Things will become much easier once you have made any backups of Safari browsing history prior to the deletion on iPhone/iPad. Likewise, the recovery process can be carried out with or without the aid of computer.

Usually, iOS device users prefer iCloud Backup for protecting their data. If you’d like to finish the Safari history recovery on iPhone/iPad alone, a feature named “Restore from iCloud Backup” on iOS will be put into handy use. Since this belongs to a complete restoration that will reset all your current settings and files, remember to back up the existing iOS data before trying this method.

1. Navigate to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone.
2. Tap on Erase All Content and Settings > Continue.
3. Enter your Apple ID password to start the erasing.
4. Wait for a while, your iOS device will restart and get to Apps & Data screen. Next choose “Restore from iCloud Backup”.
5. Sign into iCloud with your Apple account.
6. Select the exact backup created before you lost your browsing history on Safari. Then the deleted history files will show up again on your iPhone/iPad.

#10. Restore from iPhone Backup

Alternatively, assuming you have ever backed up your iPhone or iPad on the computer, this approach is for you. Restoring Safari history from iPhone backup will erase the original data as well, thus you’re supposed to make a full backup preparation before starting to do the recovery.

1. Connect your iPhone to Mac via an USB.
2. Open Finder app, go to Locations, and click on your iPhone.
3. Click on Restore Backup. Select a backup that contains the deleted Safari history.
4. Click Restore.
5. Then relaunch Safari app on your iPhone to check if the history is back.

Wrap-up

Don’t freak out when realizing your Safari history missing somehow. In this page we’ve hopefully rounded up several practical recovery tips under given scenarios. No matter where you deleted the Safari browsing history: on Mac or on iOS device, you can pick at least one helpful solution here.