This is irritating, clearing my browser history deletes all cache, cookies and logins within all my devices. It's a problem because I have to login again back to the websites on each device. Is there a work around this?
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Why does clearing your history delete all cookies and cache and logins too?
- Thread starter venividivigor
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There is no work around at the moment. For what it's worth cache, cookies and logins ARE part of your history.
Not True! Go to Settings - Safari - Advanced - Website Data. Delete the offending sites. Cookies and logins remain.
Well, OP didn't say what information he wanted deleted or not. All I'm confirming is that the feature he's referring to deletes all 3 and there is no way to pick and choose. Your option is another feature area.
I thought he mentioned he was concerned about logging in on his device? I don't think that the path I described has the cookies, which has his login information. I tried it on my phone by deleting the facebook data and I was still logged in.
I think he just wanted his browsing history (cache and URLs) to be cleared but not logins and cookies. (which makes sense)
Yosemite brought this feature first..... clearing history there deletes login on sites etc.....the only solution was to manually go to show history, cmd+a all links and delete them..... iOS 8 and Yosemite had the same safari browsing history.... i hope the same will happen when Capitan launches so i will be able to delete safari history from the Mac without loosing login codes on sites. No workoaround on Safari fro iOS yet 
If we are talking about technicalities of word definitions, the sure, you can certainly think of it that way. If we are talking about how things have been implemented in regards to browsers across all kinds of different ones on different operating systems and over many years, then generally (if not even more than that), history is limited to essentially the list of places that were visited and times they were visited.
Sure. But again, the generally accepted and used definition of history refers to the list of places visited and dates/times of those visit (it doesn't extend to similar information that is part of something else like cookies)?
Are we really trying to pedantically split hairs on what has been a well established and accepted definition of history when it comes to browsers?
Can you answer the question, "why are you deleting your browsing history?"
If the answer is "to hide browsing history from others", than I think that others in this thread have made a good point. Simply deleting the URLs from your browser history will give you a false sense of security, since records of cookies and website data will provide a secondary history of nearly all websites you've visited.
If your answer is something else, maybe there is a different solution to your problem.
I do agree that this interface is simplified compared to other browsers, but I think it makes sense now why they do it.
If the answer is "to hide browsing history from others", than I think that others in this thread have made a good point. Simply deleting the URLs from your browser history will give you a false sense of security, since records of cookies and website data will provide a secondary history of nearly all websites you've visited.
If your answer is something else, maybe there is a different solution to your problem.
I do agree that this interface is simplified compared to other browsers, but I think it makes sense now why they do it.
No man, you're right. Desktop browser history clearing is usually temporary files and URL. You have to select cookies and logins yourself.
I like clearing my history (by that I mean -the list of websites I visited). I'm very OCD and I don't like seeing long messy URL's and old things I've searched for when I type in the URL bar.
In iOS 8, after every time I was done browsing, I'd go into bookmarks -> history and cleared my history and I would maintain my logins. So when I start browsing again on any device, I'll already be logged into Facebook, Youtube, Google, MacRumors, etc.
Now in iOS 9, when I finish browsing on one device and I clear my history, it wipes ALL the data on all my devices and I have to relogin on every website, which is frustrating because every time I login into my iCloud and Google I receive email notifications {spams} notifying me I logged in.
Not true in iOS 9 anymore.
Ultimately that doesn't really matter as clearing history has been a fairly established functionality across all kinds of browsers and all kinds of operating systems for years and years now. If suddenly things just randomly change to make it so that that action now does much more than just clear history, when both features existed just fine before and still exist in most browsers, there are bound to be questions about it (and not from the side of questioning users why they expect something to work the way it has always worked and still works on other browsers).
I think RabidMacFan makes a good point and this is the kind of reasoning Apple typically applies. It makes sense to clear all related website data when you clear your history. Clearing history is first and foremost a privacy feature by design and due to the nature of cookies (long persistence, cookies even from websites you never directly visited), it is a good choice to clear that data as well without making things unnecessarily complicated. Now there is just this one button that clears the data for you and makes the function more effective in what it was designed to do.
Safari was also one of the first browsers that blocked third-party cookies by default, something which went against established functionality. Sometimes it is legitimate to challenge the rules and practice if you have a good reason for doing it. Cookies can persist for years just by visiting a website once. Users shouldn’t have to keep track of this. When you want to remove a part of your browsing history then you likely want to remove the rest as well. That’s a reasonable assumption.
Safari was also one of the first browsers that blocked third-party cookies by default, something which went against established functionality. Sometimes it is legitimate to challenge the rules and practice if you have a good reason for doing it. Cookies can persist for years just by visiting a website once. Users shouldn’t have to keep track of this. When you want to remove a part of your browsing history then you likely want to remove the rest as well. That’s a reasonable assumption.
When options exist to separately clear history, cookies, data, etc. all along why just change so that there's one option suddenly to clear it all? I mean perfectly fine to have one option that is a "clear all" type of option, but why remove the separate ones that have been there all along and are still traditionally there? Even with the cookie blocking change, there are still options to change that to behave just like it did before if one desires. But the answer of course is basically the same as it usually is--it's Apple and they decide what's better (at least in their view) or at least what's there.
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But now the functionality is consistent in both Settings and Safari itself and there’s no potential confusion anymore about what it does. To me it’s a reasonable assumption that the user likely wants to remove other website data along with the history entries, particularly if privacy is a key reason for doing it. Why would you do it otherwise? I’ve never done it for that exact reason. The reason the OP gave is valid, but perhaps a bit exceptional. We all know that Apple doesn’t typically cater to exceptional use cases. I see this as an improvement, not just a change in functionality. It’s still far short from a good cookie manager, but a definite improvement for user privacy.
I addressed it earlier in a reply: it doesn't matter why someone might want to do it when the functionality has been a standard part of browsers for years and years. It's certainly fine to combine things to make it all better/simpler, as in providing a "clear all" type of option, but that shouldn't come at a cost of dumping the existing separate functionalities out the window because now there's one that does it all at once. Sure, for some that works, and that's fine, but for others that might not be the case (whatever their reason might be), why should they suddenly no longer have a very basic function that is standard across browsers simply for the simplicity of one that does everything that might work for some other people? Again, it's up to Apple and we'll have to live with it, but that doesn't mean that it's better across the board and that it couldn't have been done better, especially where previously existing and perfectly valid and accepted and standardized functionalities are in play.
I suppose I have nothing to add aside from what I said earlier. I can’t think of a particular reason why you would want to keep caches and cookies aside from the specific case of the OP, so it makes sense for Apple to align functionality with what most users want to do. Nobody said it’s perfect and it’s definitely unfortunate that not everyone can be catered to. Agree to disagree, the OP’s question has been answered anyway.
I'm not sure it's what most users would want to do--perhaps some, sure, but I'm not sure that's the case for most, especially given that it's not how most browsers have been doing it for years and years. And, as far as catering to everyone, it can be done with having the "all" option along with separate ones that were already there before, all without much confusion or really much effort. It's one thing to always have a feature or add a new one that doesn't cater to everyone (even though even then having options for it all would be good), but it's another when previously existing options are taken away. But, again, it's Apple, and they decide, and we can basically just discuss it expressing our opinions, and ultimately either agree or essentially agree to disagree, as you mentioned.
Browsers change all the time. Firefox added tabs to browser windows, Chrome fused the address bar and search bar, Safari reversed the default setting for cookies. These things were atypical in their time as well. Sometimes it’s acceptable to accommodate a changed practice. I can’t think of a compelling reason for separating history from website data when you want to clear your history. There’s nothing against it, but it doesn’t seem like a necessary feature and considering Apple’s usual insistence on keeping the interface straightforward, I can accept that this is what Apple thinks is a good change.
Well, as I mentioned, change is one thing, removal of basic options is another. What Apple did with the "all" option is certainly great, but it didn't have to come at the cost of removing other existing options. That way it's all there and people can use what they wish to use and it doesn't require much work to do that. Apple has certainly done that with many things over the years, sometimes to reverse them later, sometimes to finally bring some options that weren't there before, etc. Having the option for something is certainly the better of the alternatives.
Ok, if OP sees this post, I think he will be very happy. I was looking at the El Capitan features list and one of the features of Safari is Clear history, not cookies. But how could this be? I don't see this functionality anywhere.
So I used the safari help and typed in Help, and right there, I found it! Clear History and Keep Website Data...
To see the choice, all you need to do is hold the option-key and click on the Safari menu in the menu bar. Now everyone can be happy!
So I used the safari help and typed in Help, and right there, I found it! Clear History and Keep Website Data...
To see the choice, all you need to do is hold the option-key and click on the Safari menu in the menu bar. Now everyone can be happy!