How to Clear History in Firefox

Steps to Clear Firefox History on Desktop

• Launch the Firefox browser and click the menu icon in the top-right corner (three horizontal lines).
• From the drop-down menu, select History to view your browsing records.
• Click Clear recent history from the options available.
• Ensure the History checkbox is selected. Choose additional data types if needed.
• Click Clear to remove your browsing history and any other selected data.

Watch the When dropdown: it defaults to Last Hour, not Everything. Change it to Everything before clicking Clear, or you will only wipe the past hour of data.

To erase all data for a single website instead of your entire history, right-click any entry in the History list and choose Forget About This Site. Firefox removes all browsing records, cookies, cache, and saved forms for that domain in one action.

Steps to Clear Firefox History on Android and iPhone

Android Devices

• Launch Firefox and tap the menu (three dots icon) in the top-right corner.
• Select History from the dropdown menu.
• Tap Clear Browsing Data at the top of the screen.
• Choose the types of data you wish to clear, including history, cache, and cookies.
• Select a time range, then tap DELETE to finalize.

iPhone Devices

• Open Firefox and tap the menu (three lines icon) in the bottom-right corner.
• Tap History from the bottom menu bar.
• Tap Clear recent history and select a time range from the options available.
• Confirm the action to clear your browsing history for the selected period.

Steps to Clear Firefox History With Keyboard Shortcuts

The keyboard shortcut method opens the same Clear Recent History dialog but skips the menu navigation entirely. It is the fastest option for routine cleanups. To refresh Firefox to a clean state quickly, combine this shortcut with a browser restart.

• Press Ctrl + Shift + Delete (Windows/Linux) or Command + Shift + Delete (macOS) to open the Clear Recent History dialog.
• Press the Tab key to navigate to the When dropdown and select the desired time range.
• Press Tab again to reach the data-type checkboxes, use the arrow keys to reach History, and press Space to select it.
• Press Enter to clear the selected data.

The shortcut clears history across your entire Firefox profile - if you have multiple windows open, they all share the same history store, so one shortcut clears them all simultaneously.

How to Clear Firefox Cache and Cookies

Firefox stores three distinct types of local data that affect privacy and performance:

• Browsing history - a log of every URL you visited
• Cache - saved copies of page assets (images, scripts, stylesheets) that speed up repeat visits
• Cookies - small files that websites use to track sessions, preferences, and logins

Clearing only the browsing history leaves your cache and cookies intact, which can still expose you to tracking. To clear all three in one pass:

• Press Ctrl + Shift + Delete (Windows/Linux) or Command + Shift + Delete (macOS) to open the Clear Recent History dialog.
• In the Time range dropdown, select Everything.
• Under What to clear, check the boxes for Browsing & Download History, Cookies, and Cache.
• Click Clear Now.

To clear only the cache without touching history or cookies, see the full steps in our guide to clear Firefox cache. To manage which sites can set cookies, see how to disable cookies in Firefox.

Active Logins is another option in the same dialog. Selecting it logs you out of sites using HTTP basic authentication, but not cookie-based logins - most modern web apps fall in the latter category, so you may remain signed in to those even after clearing active logins.

How to Auto-Clear Firefox History on Close

Instead of clearing history manually, Firefox can wipe selected data automatically each time you close the browser. This is useful on shared devices or in high-privacy workflows where you need a clean slate every session.

• Open the menu (three lines) and select Settings.
• Click Privacy & Security in the left sidebar.
• Under History, open the dropdown and choose Use custom settings for history.
• Check the box for Clear history when Firefox closes.
• Click the Settings button next to that checkbox to choose which data types get cleared on close (history, cookies, cache, active logins, etc.).
• Click OK to save your preferences.

Firefox will now automatically clear the selected data types every time the browser closes.

Two caveats: Auto-clear only runs on a normal browser exit - a crash or force-quit will not trigger it. If Firefox is configured to use automatic private browsing mode, the auto-clear on close setting will be unavailable in Privacy & Security settings.

Conclusion

To clear Firefox history, press Ctrl + Shift + Delete, select your time range, check History, and click Clear Now. For a full privacy reset, add Cookies and Cache to the same selection. For shared or high-privacy devices, enable auto-clear on close so it happens automatically every session.

For QA teams testing in Firefox, browser state management goes beyond manual cleanup. TestMu AI's real device cloud runs each test session on a fresh Firefox profile across 10,000+ real devices and OS combinations, eliminating cached-state issues without any manual clearing.

To configure Firefox WebDriver for TestMu AI's cloud grid, see the Selenium WebDriver testing docs. For broader cross-browser automation strategies, explore our cross-browser testing guide or our roundup of cross-browser testing tools.