Alex Ruben
How To Clear Frequently Visited Sites on iPhone – Complete Guide
Getting rid of those annoying “Frequently Visited” sites in Safari on your iPhone can be a bit of a headache, especially if you value privacy or just want a cleaner setup. Sometimes, despite trying to tweak settings, they keep popping up or refuse to stay hidden. This guide is for anyone who’s tried the usual tricks but still sees those site icons cluttering their new tab page. After going through these steps, the goal is to have a less cluttered, more private browsing experience. And yeah, sometimes, the settings don’t cooperate the first time, but persistence helps.
Make sure your iOS is up to date — because Apple keeps tweaking things — and that you’re actually adjusting the right settings. Sometimes it’s a matter of toggling the right switch, or if that doesn’t work, messing around with some hidden options in Safari’s preferences.
How to Remove or Hide Frequently Visited Sites in Safari on iPhone
Access the New Tab Page and Find the Settings
- Open Safari. Tap that trusty compass icon. On the new tab page, you’ll see those sites you visit often — mostly annoying ads for your browsing habits.
- Tap the tabs button — that square icon at the bottom right — to bring up the new tab page if you aren’t there already.
- Scroll down a bit if needed and tap the edit button— typically found at the bottom of the frequently visited section.
This gets you into the mode where you can customize what shows up, which is where the magic—or frustration—happens. When you’re here, you can remove specific sites or turn off the feature entirely. Not gonna sugarcoat it, sometimes this feels like pulling teeth, especially if Safari balks at saving changes.
Turn Off the “Frequently Visited” Feature
- In the edit screen, you’ll see options for each site or a toggle switch for the entire section. To stop seeing these sites altogether, look for an option like Don’t show frequently visited sites or a toggle that disables them.
- On some iOS versions, this might be a little hidden. You might need to go to Settings > Safari and look for a setting called Preload Top Hit or similar, and turn it off if it influences the section.
Turning off this setting stops Safari from pulling up those sites automatically. Which, on most setups, will hide or at least significantly reduce the visibility of frequently visited sites. If it keeps stubbornly appearing, try toggling the feature off and on again, or restart Safari.
Clear Browsing Data and Restart Safari
- If the sites still pop up after disabling, it might be a caching issue. Navigate to Settings > Safari > Clear History and Website Data. Confirm you want to clear history, cookies, and other browsing data. This sometimes forces Safari to forget those cached frequently visited links.
- Close Safari completely by swiping it away from the app switcher, then reopen. Sometimes, a fresh start clears out leftover data glitches. It’s like a soft reset for the browser.
Clear cache and data can force Safari to forget those favicon-based shortcuts you’ve visited, especially if it stubbornly displays old links after turning off the feature. On some setups, this was enough to keep the section empty.
Disable ‘Preload Top Hit’ to Reduce Clutter
- Go to Settings > Safari and toggle off Preload Top Hit. This prevents Safari from auto-loading a site it thinks you’ll visit next, which can contribute to the frequently visited section.
Disabling this means Safari isn’t trying to preload websites you haven’t even clicked on, helping keep the start page cleaner and less cluttered with suggestions.
Extra Tip: Use Bookmarks for Favorite Sites
- Instead of relying on frequently visited, save important sites as bookmarks. To do this, tap the share icon (square with an arrow) in Safari and pick Add Bookmark.
- This way, your top sites stay tucked away in the bookmarks menu, and you don’t have to see those distracting icons on your new tab page.
Sometimes, it’s just easier to control what you remember and access without cluttering your homepage. Plus, bookmarks aren’t likely to swap out or reset like the autocreated site icons sometimes do.
Extra Tips & Common Issues
If those sites still stubbornly appear, double-check you actually saved the changes. Sometimes, Safari’s weird about applying the settings until you close and reopen it. On some iOS versions, you might have to restart the phone, which is annoying but sometimes necessary.
Another thing: clearing Safari’s cache and history will wipe out saved passwords and autofill info, so keep that in mind. If privacy is the actual goal, it’s worth doing occasionally, but for hiding sites, toggling the new tab settings is usually enough.
Getting rid of those constant site shortcuts in Safari can feel like a game of whack-a-mole, but with these tricks, it’s manageable. Sometimes a combination of cache clearing, disabling features, and toggling settings is needed. Be patient, and if something doesn’t stick immediately, a quick restart or closing app might do the trick.
Summary
- Open Safari, go to the new tab page, and tap Edit.
- Disable Show Frequently Visited Sites or toggle off related options.
- Clear browsing data if sites keep reappearing.
- Disable Preload Top Hit in Settings.
- Use bookmarks instead of relying solely on auto-populated site icons.
Wrap-up
Removing those visit-heavy sites isn’t always straightforward, but it’s doable. Usually, a mix of toggling settings and clearing cache does the trick. Sometimes, Safari just refuses to cooperate, but that’s Apple for you—making simple things complicated for no good reason. Hopefully, these steps cut down on the clutter and restore some privacy to your browsing.