How long does Chrome keep browsing history?

Chrome keeps your browsing history for 90 days. Google's Chrome help says your History "lists the pages you've visited on Chrome in the last 90 days." Chrome's own code deletes anything older. Edge is built on the same code, but Microsoft does not publish a number. Safari on a Mac keeps history for up to a year, or less if you choose. Firefox sets no age limit for most pages. It deletes your oldest visits only when its history grows too big, and never the last 7 days. A copy synced to your Google Account is a separate record, with its own clock.

What browsing history means here

Browsing history is the list your browser keeps of the pages you opened. Each entry has the date and time of the visit. You see it on the History page. You also see it when you type in the address bar and the browser suggests a site. The list is a file on your own device.

Three other records get called history too. Cookies are small files a site stores to know you next time, and how long cookies last has their limits. Your Google Account can keep a copy on Google's servers. Your internet provider keeps its own logs. This page is about the list on your device, and the copy it syncs.

Every browser's clock in one table

Two browsers use a date. One uses a size limit. One lets you choose.

One visit, followed through four browsers

Take one visit and walk it through each rule. Suppose you open a recipe site once, on March 1, and never go back. Sync is off.

In Chrome, the visit stays until it is 90 days old, around the end of May. Then Chrome counts it as old and deletes it. Edge runs the same code, so you would expect the same date. Microsoft just does not say so.

In Safari on a Mac, on the longest setting, the visit can stay until about next March.

In Firefox, it depends on how much else you browse. Under the limit, nothing removes the visit, even years later. Pass the limit and the oldest visits go first, so March 1 goes before anything newer.

Now change one detail. Suppose the recipe link was very long, over 255 characters. Firefox calls a single visit to a link that long "exotic." It deletes it at 90 days, the same as Chrome.

Why "90 days" and "forever" both get repeated

For Chrome, 90 days is right. The "forever" answer comes from two places.

First, synced history mixes devices. Chrome Help says that if you sign in and sync, "your History also shows pages you've visited on your other devices." A page from your phone can show up on your laptop. That looks like a longer memory.

Second, your Google Account can keep its own copy. Under Web & App Activity, Google Account Help describes a box labeled "Include Chrome history and activity from sites, apps, and devices that use Google services." Tick it and your browsing is saved in your account too. That copy follows the account's auto-delete setting, which may be set to never. How long Google keeps your search history sets out those options and what deleting takes. The browser list ends at 90 days. The account copy can last for years.

For Firefox, the 90 day figure spreads because it is in Firefox's code. But it applies only to the exotic visits above. Most history has no date limit at all.

Chrome and Edge: a fixed 90 days

Chromium is the open source code that Chrome is built from. In it, a constant named kExpireDaysThreshold is set to 90. The comment above it reads: "The number of days old a history entry can be before it is considered 'old' and is deleted." When history loads, Chrome starts its cleanup with that number. It is fixed in the code, with no setting to make it longer.

Some pages never go into History at all. Chrome Help lists Chrome's own pages, such as chrome://settings, and pages opened in Incognito mode. Deleting also reaches past one screen: history you delete in Chrome "is also deleted on your devices" that are signed in and sync history.

Edge is the harder case. Microsoft says it relaunched Edge in 2020 "on the Chromium base with additional software tweaks." Its help page explains how to clear history "stored on a single device, across all synced devices, and in the cloud." It does not say how long any of those copies last. So 90 days is what the shared code sets. Microsoft has not said whether its tweaks change it.

On a work or school computer, an administrator can make it shorter. Microsoft's Browsing Data Lifetime policy tells Edge to delete history older than a set number of hours. Microsoft's own example uses 24. Old data goes 15 seconds after the browser starts, then every hour. One catch: "If Sync is enabled, this policy has no effect." A work laptop can be watched in other ways too, as what your employer can see on a work device explains.

Firefox: a size limit, not a date

Firefox keeps history in a database it calls Places. Its code aims to keep that file near 75 MiB, a little over 78 million bytes. It turns that size into a page limit. It divides the size by the average space each page takes. Worked through at 700 bytes, the typical size the code falls back on, that comes to about 112,000 pages. Your own limit may differ, because Firefox measures your real average.

Under the limit, nothing is deleted for age. Over it, Firefox removes the oldest visits first. The code skips "any visits added in the last 7 days, to protect users with thousands of bookmarks from constantly losing history."

The 90 day rule covers visits the code calls "less useful to the user." There are three kinds. Links over 255 characters you opened once. Downloads. Hidden pages you opened once without typing them. Firefox deletes these after 90 days, however big your history is. Pages you reach through a redirect, a link that forwards you to another address, are kept out of this rule.

You can set your own limit. The code reads a setting named places.history.expiration.max_pages. You can change it on Firefox's about:config page.

Safari: up to a year, and your choice

Apple's guide says "Safari remembers the websites you visited for as long as a year." To keep it for less, open Safari, choose Settings, then General. Use the menu called Remove history items. Apple's own words for it: "Choose when to remove items from the history."

The phone is less clear. Apple's guide for Safari 18 said "some iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch models keep browsing history for a month." The current guide drops that line. It never named the models.

With iCloud set up for Safari, your history is shared across your Apple devices. Clear it on a Mac and it is removed "from all of them," Apple says.

Where these numbers stop

• Other Chromium browsers. Brave, Opera and Vivaldi are built on Chromium too. Each maker can change the code, and this page checked only Chrome and Edge.
• Sites and networks keep their own records. Apple says clearing Safari history "doesn't clear any browsing histories kept independently by websites you visited." Ad networks follow you with cookies, pixels and fingerprints. How long ISPs keep your browsing history covers your provider.
• Private windows sit outside it. Pages opened in one are not saved to history. Still, a private window only hides your browsing on your own device.
• Managed devices. Chrome Help notes that on a work or school Chromebook, "your network administrator can turn off browsing history."
• Code changes. These figures are from the source code and help pages as they read in November 2026.

How to set the clock you want

1. Chrome: you cannot keep history past 90 days, but you can delete it sooner. When you delete, pick a time range or All time. If you sync, it goes from your other devices too.
2. Your Google Account: in My Activity, open Web & App Activity. Untick "Include Chrome history" if you do not want a longer copy, then check the auto-delete setting. In the UK and EU you can also ask what is held, using your data rights.
3. Safari: in Settings, General, set Remove history items to the shortest window you can live with.
4. Firefox: clear history from the History menu, or set places.history.expiration.max_pages lower. The last 7 days stay either way.
5. Edge: Microsoft's help page shows how to clear history on one device, on all synced devices, or in the cloud. Clear each copy you want gone.
6. On a shared computer: use a private window, so nothing is written to history.