Safari no longer clears browser history on request after update to Catalina 10.15.4

[Yoms]

Hi,

I updated to Catalina 10.15.4 this night. In Safari top left menu, I clicked on "Clear browser history..." (whole history) then quit and relaunched it. Usually, this clears everything and am therefore logged out from all websites.

But this time, no. I was still logged in all my websites including MacRumors forum. Even some websites preferences were kept such as dark mode for those websites that allow you to toggle this on and off.

I repeated the operation several times, frenetically clicking on "Clear browser history...", rebooted my MBP 2018, so on and so forth. Unsuccessfully.

I looked at Safari > Preferences > Confidentiality > "Manage website data", but it stated that no data were present, which seems logical as I cleared history. But despite this, I witness the issue.

Any clue?

Thanks for your help.

 

[bogdanw]

You could try to enable the Develop menu in Safari and Empty Caches
https://support.apple.com/guide/safari-developer/dev39df999c1/mac

 

[Yoms]

You could try to enable the Develop menu in Safari and Empty Caches
https://support.apple.com/guide/safari-developer/dev39df999c1/mac

Thanks, will try this, but is everyone having this issue?

EDIT: nope, it doesn't work.

 

[Taz Mangus]

Thanks, will try this, but is everyone having this issue?

EDIT: nope, it doesn't work.

As a test, create a new user account, login to the new user, start using Safari in the new user and see if you remove the history it works. I suspect there might be something corrupted in your user account.

 

[Ifti]

Im not having this issue - tried it a few days ago and it did clear everything and I had to log back in to websites etc......

 

[Yoms]

As a test, create a new user account, login to the new user, start using Safari in the new user and see if you remove the history it works. I suspect there might be something corrupted in your user account.

Thanks for your input. What user account? MacRumor's? If that's what you think about, then no need. I stay logged in all websites I use.

This seems pretty much the same issue as this post from @tbjohnson here:

Safari not managing website data

I've noticed the same. For me some websites stay logged in after clearing the history and website data.

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Taz Mangus]

Thanks for your input. What user account? MacRumor's? If that's what you think about, then no need. I stay logged in all websites I use.

This seems pretty much the same issue as this post from @tbjohnson here:

Safari not managing website data

I've noticed the same. For me some websites stay logged in after clearing the history and website data.

forums.macrumors.com

I was referring to your user account on the Mac.

 

[bogdanw]

On a clean Catalina install, I haven't noticed this issue. If it happened, I would save my bookmarks file ~/Library/Safari/Bookmarks.plist and delete the whole folder ~/Library/Safari
If the problem persisted, I would delete ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Safari too.

 

[Yoms]

On a clean Catalina install, I haven't noticed this issue. If it happened, I would save my bookmarks file ~/Library/Safari/Bookmarks.plist and delete the whole folder ~/Library/Safari
If the problem persisted, I would delete ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Safari too.

I'll give it a try...

 

[Yoms]

On a clean Catalina install, I haven't noticed this issue. If it happened, I would save my bookmarks file ~/Library/Safari/Bookmarks.plist and delete the whole folder ~/Library/Safari
If the problem persisted, I would delete ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Safari too.

I did and it changed nothing. I'm writing this message right now just after having erased all the folders *Safari* that I could find in ~/Library/ and I didn't need to log back into MacRumors to do so.

 

[Taz Mangus]

I did and it changed nothing. I'm writing this message right now just after having erased all the folders *Safari* that I could find in ~/Library/ and I didn't need to log back into MacRumors to do so.

When you deleted the files did you logout and log back in into your account on your computer? Try a new user account on your computer and see if the issue happens in the new user account.

 

[bogdanw]

I did and it changed nothing. I'm writing this message right now just after having erased all the folders *Safari* that I could find in ~/Library/ and I didn't need to log back into MacRumors to do so.

The idea was that those folders would be recreated with the correct permissions, so you could use Safari's menu to Clear browser history. If it still doesn't work, you can delete the history files from ~/Library/Safari and cookies file ~/Library/Cookies/Cookies.binarycookies
From Terminal, you can use these commands to remove all website data from Safari

rm ~/Library/Safari/History*
rm -r ~/Library/Safari/LocalStorage
rm ~/Library/Cookies/Cookies.binarycookies
rm -r ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Safari/Data/Library/Caches
rm -r ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari

 

[Yoms]

The idea was that those folders would be recreated with the correct permissions, so you could use Safari's menu to Clear browser history. If it still doesn't work, you can delete the history files from ~/Library/Safari and cookies file ~/Library/Cookies/Cookies.binarycookies
From Terminal, you can use these commands to remove all website data from Safari

rm ~/Library/Safari/History*
rm -r ~/Library/Safari/LocalStorage
rm ~/Library/Cookies/Cookies.binarycookies
rm -r ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Safari/Data/Library/Caches
rm -r ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari

Thanks, I did that. Actually, in a more "armageddon" way. I did the equivalent of this:

rm -r ~/Library/Safari*
rm -r ~/Library/Cookies
rm -r ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Safari*
rm -r ~/Library/Caches/*Safari*

It worked and I was logged out. But, the issue lays elsewhere.

I logged back into MacRumors forum, then I did the usual: In top left menu, I clicked on "Clear browser history..." (whole history) then quit and relaunched it. And I was still logged on MacRumors forum (that's how I reply atm). So the rm commands don't fix the issue itself.

My MBP has an issue with the TouchBar, so I will have to wipe it off before sending it for repair. I'll see with a fresh new account if the problem persists.

 

[bogdanw]

I clicked on "Clear browser history..." (whole history) then quit and relaunched it.

I have a shortcut for that

After setting the shortcut, a second entry in the menu appears

The first, Clear History... with the shortcut, deletes all, just like the rm commands.
The second, Clear History and Keep Website Data..., doesn't delete cookies

 

[Yoms]

Nice shortcuts indeed.
I'm still wondering where does this issue come from. Probably a bug, but if that's the case I shouldn't be the only one. Well, there as was this other post I quoted earlier, but other people said that they did not have the issue.
Apple, if you read this: please fix this!

 

[wertwertwert]

I have this same issue after I updated to the current os, glad to see I'm not alone. I've tried some suggested solutions and it didn't work. Hoping it's fixed with the next update.

 

[SiII5mb]

If it's any use I've had the same problem since the update too. If you delete all data in the prefs-privacy-manage website data.. - remove all, window and quit Safari, some files that are shown as being caches magically turn into cookies on the next relaunch, but at least once they've become cookies the next delete appears to remove them after the next delete/quit/relaunch. Don't forget to do a 'Clear History' AFTER deleting the website data. It must be something to do with Virtual Memory and Safari keeping cookies in ram even when you're telling it not to. I hope they fix it and don't just turn it into a feature

 

[sir42]

This is happening to me too! In fact I came onto the forum just now to see if I was alone in experiencing this, but glad to know others are seeing the same issue.

Since upgrading to Catalina 10.15.4 I've noticed that Safari is not getting rid of my cache and cookies when I select Clear History from the Safari menu. I am routinely still signed into websites after using the Clear History option.

This appears to be new behavior since upgrading to 10.15.4.

 

[simonmet]

I haven’t experienced this, but I have a similar issue with the Maps application not clearing search history. It appears to clear but then reappears moments later. Nothing I do can clear it!

Catalina really is a hot mess it seems.

 

[Analog Kid]

Perhaps unrelated, but I’ve found my iCloud accounts quietly turned Safari sync’ing back on at some point. I don’t know if that’s repopulating your history somehow? Kind of annoying as my work machine is connected to my personal AppleID, but I’d rather not have my browsing history from other devices caught up in their scans or backups.

 

[bogdanw]

Perhaps unrelated, but I’ve found my iCloud accounts quietly turned Safari sync’ing back on at some point. I don’t know if that’s repopulating your history somehow? Kind of annoying as my work machine is connected to my personal AppleID, but I’d rather not have my browsing history from other devices caught up in their scans or backups.

You could disable the services responsible for that, I think they are com.apple.SafariBookmarksSyncAgent and com.apple.SafariCloudHistoryPushAgent

 

[wertwertwert]

Unfortunately not fixed by 10.15.5... I assume for others too?

 

[betaperson]

Any solutions ??

 

[tyc0746]

double-post

 

[tyc0746]

Did 10.5.4 give you a newer version of Safari?

I'm using Safari 14, and if you tell Safari to [Clear History...], then that's exactly what it does...clears your browsing history (although I have mine set to clear every time is close the browser).

However, that option DOES NOT remove website data (cookies, caches, permissions, etc.)...that is part of [Manage Website Data].

To clear cookies, etc. you need to go to the [Privacy] tab in [Preferences] and click on [Manage Website Data], then wait a few seconds for it to populate the list of sites it has data for (slower machine with lots of sites will take considerably longer - mine takes 5 seconds for about 400 sites on a recent iMac with SSD) and then click [Remove All]. On closing and re-launching Safari this should have logged you out of your websites too.