How to Recover Deleted History in Google Chrome

Have you ever accidentally deleted your browsing history in Google Chrome? Do you wish you could recover a list of the sites you’ve visited?

Fortunately, there are multiple ways to recover your deleted history. This article shows you how to do it on your desktop, iPhone, and Android device.

We’ve compiled a list of step-by-step methods to help you recover your Chrome browsing history. Not all of them may work for you, so you should try each one. Hopefully, one of these methods will get the job done.

How to Recover Google Chrome Deleted History on Windows 10/11

Use a Browser to Check Your Google Activity for Deleted History

If you’re using Google Chrome, you’re most likely logged into your Google account at all times. When using another browser like Firefox or Safari, you may need to log in. If you check your browsing activity within your Google account, you will find the websites you’ve visited in the past.

Keep in mind that this process enables you to view your browsing activity. Any browsing history you accidentally deleted in this section will remain deleted from Google Chrome.

1. Open any browser and go to your Google account.
   
2. Click on Data & Privacy in the vertical sidebar.
   
   
3. In the Things you’ve done and places you’ve been tab, click Web & App Activity.
   
   
4. Now, click on Manage all Web & App Activity.
   
   

The results are similar to your browsing history. You can also see what keywords you’ve used to search for in the past.

Note: If the setting Include Chrome history and activity from sites, apps, and devices that use Google services on the Activity controls page is unchecked, you won’t be able to access your Chrome history with this method.

Use Windows’ Restore Previous Versions’ Option to Recover History

If you can’t access your browsing history by checking your Google account activity, you can restore your browsing activity within Windows Explorer.

1. Open Windows Explorer and go to Local Disk (C:), the usual default location for app installations.
   
2. Now, open the Users folder.
   
3. Next, go to [Username] (the name of your user profile).
4. Click on the View tab, then ensure the Hidden Items checkbox is checked.
5. Open the AppData folder.
   
6. Now, navigate to Local.
   
7. Next, right-click on the Google folder.
   
8. In the pop-up menu, select Properties.
   
9. Click on the Previous versions tab in the dialog box.
   
10. Select the previous version you want to restore and click Apply.
11. Finally, click OK.

You’ve now restored your browsing history to the previous version.

Use PC Data Recovery Software to Obtain Deleted History

If you don’t have a prior browsing version, you can recover your history using a data recovery program. This method requires you to download and install a third-party app.

1. Go to the Recuva download page and click the Download button to get the free version.
   
2. Open the folder where you’ve downloaded Recuva and launch the installation.
   
3. Select Run Recuva. Follow the on-screen instructions using the Recovery Wizard.
   
4. Select All files and then click Next.
   
5. Select the specific location using this path: C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Local\Google.
   
6. Click Next.
   
7. Click on Start and wait for Recuva to recover deleted files from the specified location.
   
8. Browse the files to find the data you need to recover. The history JSON file should be listed. If not, try a Deep Scan. in the above steps.
   
9. Check the boxes next to each file you want to restore (history for this process), then click on Recover.
   
10. Choose the location to save the recovered file(s), then click OK. Selecting a different drive (or partition at the least) is best. Never choose the exact location the file previously existed.
    
11. A completion report screen appears. Click OK to close the window.
    
12. Open Windows Explorer, navigate to your predefined recovery folder, then copy the history file.
    
13. Paste the history file into the C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default folder.
    

4. Use Windows DNS Cache to Restore History

Another way to restore your Google Chrome history is by restoring DNS Cache using the Command Prompt.

1. Press the Windows key + R together to open the Run program, type in cmd, then click OK.
   
2. Now, type ipconfig/displaydns and press Enter.
   

With this method, you’ll gain access to your recent browsing history. A drawback to this process is that you can only see the domains you’ve visited rather than exact web pages.

How to View and Recover Google Chrome Deleted History on iPhone

Before you download any third-party app to extract the file with your Chrome browsing history, there is a simple way you can view it. Viewing is essential to confirm that your Chrome history actually disappeared.

View Chrome History on iPhone

If you’ve signed in to Google Chrome with your Google account the first time you launched the app on your iPhone, you can access your browsing history from within your Google account. This process is critical to confirm that you actually lost your Chrome history. After confirming that your browsing history is missing, you can move on to recovering it in the next section. Here’s how to view your existing Chrome history on iPhone/iOS devices.

1. Open the Chrome app on your iPhone.
   
2. Type in My account and then tap go.
   
3. Click on the first search result and then tap Go to Google Account or Manage your Google Account if you’re already logged in.
   
4. Tap Web & App Activity at the top of this new page.
   
5. Scroll down and tap on Manage all Web & App Activity.
   
6. Next, scroll down and review your web activity.
   
   

While viewing the “My Activity” screen, you’ll find your browsing history. If you’re logged in on other devices with the same Google account, you’ll see your browsing activity on those devices.

Recover Chrome History on iPhone

There aren’t many options when it comes to recovering Chrome history on iPhone/iOS. After all, it is a Safari-targeted device. If you search online for how to recover Chrome history on iPhone or iOS, you’ll find several websites stating how to do it. However, those websites all copy each other’s information, and content tends to get mixed up.

In other words, a website may show steps to recover Chrome history using iPhone, but they got it confused with information on removing them from Safari. Even though they say Chrome, it is actually Safari steps.

As for iOS and iPhone ways to recover Chrome history, you can use a third-party data recovery app that allows scanning iPhones utilizing a PC, such as iBeesoft iPhone Data Recovery. If you accidentally deleted your Chrome history, a data recovery tool may recover lost data from the internal storage on your iPhone or other iOS devices.

Aside from third-party iPhone recovery tools, you also have iCloud at your fingertips, assuming you used it to back up your iPhone’s data.

Recover Chrome History on iPhone using a Recovery Tool

1. On your computer, go to the iBeesoft iPhone Data Recovery download page (it may not work under a VPN). Choose Windows or the macOS version.
   
2. Now open up the downloaded file, and follow the on-screen instructions.
   
3. Connect your iPhone to your computer.
   
4. When the Trust this Computer? prompt on your iPhone appears, tap Trust.
5. Launch iBeesoft iPhone Data Recovery on your computer.
6. Select the Recover from iOS tab. You’ll find your iPhone here.
   
7. Now, click Scan.
   

Once the scan process is over, find the file that contains your Chrome browsing history, which should be titled history.

How to Recover Google Chrome Deleted History on Android

The methods for recovering your deleted Chrome history on iPhone also apply to Android devices. If you signed in to Chrome the first time you launched the app, you could access your browsing history through your Google account.

1. Open the Chrome app on your Android.
   
2. Type in My account and tap go.
   
3. Click on the first search result and log into Google with the correct account if you aren’t already. Then, tap on Manage your data & privacy.
   
4. Tap on Web & activity.
   
5. Tap on Manage all Web & App Activity.
   
6. Scroll down and view your web activity.
   

Here, you’ll find the browsing history of your Google account across all devices, including your Android device.

Note: If you haven’t signed in to your Chrome browser or don’t want to, you’ll have to use a recovery tool like EaseUS MobiSaver For Android.

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Whether or not you do it intentionally, deleting your browsing history prevents you from finding web pages you’ve visited in the past. Now you know how to recover your deleted browsing history. Not all the methods we described may work for you, so remember that your Google account keeps track of your browsing history. You can access your Google account on any device and find the web page you need.

Apart from this, we’ve shown you how to view and delete your search history. You can remove individual web pages or your entire browsing history with a few taps or clicks.

How did you recover your deleted history in Google Chrome? Did you find another viable method? Let us know in the comments section below.

Recover Deleted Chrome History FAQs

How can you recover Chrome History on Windows?

At the beginning of this article, there are four ways you can recover your Chrome history. These include checking your Google account activity, restoring the previous version of your Google folder, using a data recovery tool, and using the DNS cache.

You can apply either of these methods to your Windows PC and recover your Chrome history. Feel free to scroll up to the beginning of this article and see which way works for you the best.

How do I check Google Chrome history after I deleted it?

If you’ve already deleted your browsing history in Google Chrome, you can still access it via your Google account. The only requirement is that you need to have been signed into Chrome with your Google account during the browsing history period.

1. Go to your Google account.

2. Click on Data & personalization in the vertical sidebar.

3. In the Activity controls section, click Web & App Activity.

4. Click on Manage activity.

You can check your browsing history here. If you have more devices linked to your Google account, you’ll see the browsing history on all devices.

How do I delete search history on Google Chrome?

If you don’t want to recover your browsing history but want to delete it, you can do so within the browser. Since we’ve explained how to recover your Chrome browsing history on PC, iOS, and Android, we’ll show you how to delete your search history on all three devices.

Delete Search History on Windows

1. Open your Chrome browser.

2. In the top-right corner of the screen, click on the horizontal ellipsis (three vertical dots).

3. Hover your cursor over History.

4. Click History in the extended menu.

5. Click Clear browsing data in the left sidebar.

6. Select the time range you want to delete from your browsing data.

7. Check Browsing history and click Clear data.

Delete Search History on iPhone

1. Launch the Chrome app.

2. In the bottom-right corner of the screen, tap on the horizontal ellipsis (three horizontal dots).

3. Tap History.

4. Tap Edit and select the sites you want to delete from your browsing history.

5. Tap Delete.

Note: If you want to delete your entire browsing history, tap Clear Browsing Data… after step 3.

Delete Search History on Android

1. Launch the Chrome app.

2. In the bottom-right corner of the screen, tap on the horizontal ellipsis (three horizontal dots).

3. Tap History.

4. Tap the small x icon to remove a web page from your history.

Note: If you want to delete your entire browsing history, tap Clear Browsing Data… after step 3.