Your Instagram search history is nothing to be ashamed of—unless it is. If you’ve performed profile searches that are embarrassing, regrettable, or incriminating, removing all trace of your questionable decisions may be the winning move.
Fortunately, destroying the evidence is possible once you know how, and you can complete the deed using either the website or mobile app.
Historical records don’t need to be permanent, and you can effectively commit digital book burning if you follow the right steps. Let’s discuss how to clear your Instagram search history using the website and mobile app.
Clear your Instagram search history on the website
If you want a simple way to clear your Instagram search history, such a method doesn’t exist. The website and mobile app both hide the feature deep within their bowels and navigating the labyrinth can be tedious.
If, however, you’re good with directions, you can clear your Instagram search history through the website using these steps:
Go to Instagram.com and sign in
Click your profile icon and choose Settings
Click Privacy and Security
Click View Account Data under Account Data
Click View All under Search history
Click Clear Search History and Clear All to confirm
That’s it. If you followed the correct path, you’ll have successfully erased the past and protected yourself from ridicule.
Clear your Instagram search history with the mobile app
For those who prefer to use the mobile application, you can clear your Instagram search history using these steps:
- Launch Instagram and tap your profile icon
- Tap the More Options (hamburger) icon and choose Settings
- Then, tap Security
- Tap Access data under Data and history
- Select View All under Search history
- Tap Clear Search History and Clear All to confirm
Depending on your phone and your version of Instagram, these steps may vary slightly. For example, on newer versions of Instagram (confirmed on iPhone), Clear Search History is available directly under the Security menu.
However, if you correctly followed each step, you’ll have succeeded at erasing history and can now pretend that none of those questionable searches ever happened.
History is written by the tech-savvy
Knowing your way around a menu system or two can be useful, especially when you need to quickly eliminate embarrassing evidence. Instagram doesn’t make erasing your search history easy, but at least it does provide the option.
When it comes to clearing private data, we should always ask the question: is it really gone? In the digital age, history may not be as easy to erase as it once was.
Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.
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