How to recover deleted history

In order to prevent nosy friends and relatives from learning about the Internet sites you visit, always delete the browser history on your computer. Unfortunately, however, after a few days you realized that you want to retrieve the link to a particular site you had visited and, therefore, you are desperate for information on how to recover deleted history .

To immediately dispel all your doubts about it, I want to tell you that recovering the history that was deleted is a feasible operation, but not always. As we will see shortly, there are several variables to consider.

But now enough chatter! If it is your intention to find out all the steps that need to be taken to recover the history, I suggest you take five minutes of free time, get comfortable and concentrate on reading the next paragraphs. Happy reading and good luck for everything!

Index

• How to recover deleted history from PC
  • How to recover deleted history on Chrome
  • Programs to recover deleted history
• How to recover deleted history from smartphones and tablets
  • How to recover deleted history: Android
  • How to recover deleted history: iPhone
• How to recover deleted history: Google
• How to recover deleted history: Instagram

How to recover deleted history from PC

Every time you end a session on the web browser you have the active option that automatically deletes all your history or, simply, you do it manually. Unfortunately after doing it, you realized that you have to recover a very important link, so now you would like to understand how to recover deleted history from your PC , right?

No problem, below I will now show you how to recover deleted history on Chrome, if you use this web browser, or through specific third-party programs or by restoring a Windows or macOS backup. What do you say, let’s get started right away?

How to recover deleted history on Chrome

You use Google Chrome as your main web browser , on which you have enabled the automatic history cleaning option every time you close the browser. Unfortunately, now you find yourself in the position of having to retrieve some links you have visited previously, which unfortunately you are unable to retrieve through a normal Google search. For this reason you would like to understand how to recover deleted history on Chrome , right?

I have good news for you, in fact it is possible to recover the history of Google Chrome, but depending on the PC you have, Windows or macOS, you will have to act differently.

If you are using a Windows PC , the first method I want to show you is to recover deleted Chrome history on Windows using DNS cache . This is a very useful method if you simply need to view the list of domains you have visited, in fact you will not be able to restore the history directly in Chrome, but you can simply view the domains visited and if you want you can also copy them to a text file , for example through the Notepad application , so that they can also be viewed at a later time.

To take advantage of this method, touch the Win + R keys at the same time (the Win key is the one with the flag) on ​​your PC keyboard, to invoke the Windows Run application , and then type cmd in the search field that is proposed to you.

The Windows Command Prompt will appear on your PC screen , where you simply type the command ipconfig/displaydnsand press the Enter key on your keyboard. In a few seconds you will see a list with all the websites you have recently visited: if you need to save the whole list, just open the Notepad and make a copy and paste of the list.

Alternatively you can try to recover the history clears on Chrome by taking advantage of the backup features offered by Windows and macOS. In the case of Windows you will have to use the Shadow Copy function , while in the case of macOS you will have to use Time Machine : in the latter case you must have previously enabled these functions in order to use it. Read more here.

Programs to recover deleted history

Have you tried to recover deleted history on Chrome using the method I explained to you in the previous paragraph, but without success, or you are simply using a different web browser and would like to understand if there are programs to recover deleted history .

The answer is yes, but obviously the result is not guaranteed. What you can do, in fact, is download one of the many programs for the recovery of deleted files available online, scan the disk of your PC and see if, among the recovered data, there are those of your browser. The simplest solution, however, remains to restore the Windows and macOS backups.

If, on the other hand, your need is to view the history not yet cleared of all the browsers you have installed on your PC, you can rely on BrowsingHistoryView : a free software for Windows that allows you to see the history of Chrome in a single window. and other browsers, such as Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, and Mozilla Firefox.

To get it, you need to go to the official website and click on the Download BrowsingHistoryView item or the Download BrowsingHistoryView 64-bit item depending on whether you are using a 32 or 64-bit version of Windows . In a few seconds, a zip package will be downloaded containing the program inside: to use it, simply go to the Download folder of your PC, right-click on the zip file you just downloaded and from the menu that appears click on the Extract all item and then on the Extract button .

A new folder will be created in the Download folder with the same name as the zip file you just downloaded, in which you will find the program executable recognizable by the .exe extension : double-click on BrowsingHistoryView.exe to start the program.

Once opened, the program will open an Advanced Options screen that will ask you to set a time interval in which it will search for history items (by default it is set to the last 10 days) and select which web browsers to search for the history of : finish the configuration by clicking on the OK button at the bottom.

The software will start the search procedure of all the elements of the history and will return you a list, more or less long depending on the Web sites you visit, in the time frame you set. If you want to immediately visit a website among those listed, just select it with the mouse and then, from the menu at the top, click on the File item and then on the Open URL item in Web browser.

If, on the other hand, you prefer to save the entire list in a text file, so that you can also consult it later, all you have to do is select all the elements by clicking on the Edit item and then on Select All : once selected all the elements click on the Save button (recognizable by the icon of a Floppy Disk), enter a name of your choice for the file with extension .txt and click on the Save button .

If the software that I have shown you above is not for you or you are simply using the macOS operating system, I remind you that both on Windows and on Mac it is possible to restore system backups, clearly if you have previously enabled this function on your PC . By restoring a backup of a certain date, the PC will return exactly to the state it was in at that moment, so the history saved at that moment will also be restored, which unfortunately you later deleted.

If you use a Windows PC I suggest you take a look at my tutorial on how to restore Windows 10 from backup, while if you use a Mac I suggest you take a look at my tutorial on how to restore a Mac from backup.

How to recover deleted history from smartphones and tablets

Now let’s move on to the mobile side and see how to recover the history from Android and iOS / iPadOS devices. The thing is also feasible in this case.

How to recover deleted history: Android

You use your Android smartphone daily to surf the web. Precisely for this reason you prefer to always keep it in order and usually clean your web browser history often. Unfortunately now you have noticed that you have lost an important link that you had visited previously and you absolutely need to recover it. For this reason you are now wondering how to recover deleted Android history , isn’t it?

In this case I have good news and bad news, so I would say to start with the latter. Recovering deleted history on Android is practically impossible, as the history database is instantly overwritten the moment you decide to delete it. Do not despair, however, because there is still a possibility to be able to recover it, as long as you have used Google Chrome as a browser and, consequently, are using an Android device equipped with Google services. Unfortunately, this method is not compatible with HUAWEI smartphones equipped with HMS.

If you fall into this case, you can take advantage of the Google Takeout platform , accessible from any web browser, thanks to which you can recover deleted history from Android tablets and smartphones .

First of all, connect to the Google Takeout website and log in to your Google account by entering your email and password (use the same credentials used on your Android device). On the main screen you will find a list with several items already selected. In this case, however, you are only interested in the history of Google Chrome ; so tap the Deselect all button at the top right and scroll down until you find the Chrome item .

Once identified, tap on the square next to it, to select it, and then tap on the item All Chrome data included . From the selection menu that appears, deselect all items except BrowserHistory and tap the OK button at the top right.

Now scroll down to the end of the list and tap the Next step button : choose the delivery method (by default via a link sent to your email), select the Export an archive item and tap the Create export button at the bottom . Once the process is complete you will receive an email containing a link to download the complete archive of the Google Chrome history. The file that will be downloaded is in JSON format , but you can convert it into the PDF format , more convenient to consult, using any online converter such as PDFMall : just click on the Choose file button, select the JSON file you just downloaded and click the Convert Now button .

Unfortunately this is the only working method to be able to recover the deleted history on Android: my advice is to avoid all the apps on the Play Store that claim to be able to recover the deleted history, since most of them are exclusively made to get advertising clicks (or taps).

How to recover deleted history: iPhone

For some time now your iPhone has become your daily life companion, both for leisure and for work and you use it daily also to browse the Web. Often, however, you happen to delete all the accumulated history, in order to keep the browser always in order. Unfortunately, however, this time you made a mistake: you accidentally forgot to save a very important link, so you would like to understand how to recover deleted iPhone history , right?

Unfortunately, there is no practical and quick method to be able to recover deleted history from iPhone, but below I will show you two valid options that you could take advantage of.

If you use Google Chrome as a web browser on your iPhone, you can take advantage of the Google Takeout platform to recover the deleted history: to do this, just follow the same instructions in the previous chapter dedicated to Android smartphones.

If, on the other hand, you use Safari or any other web browser, unfortunately there is no immediate method to be able to recover this data, but you will necessarily have to use third-party software such as iMyfone D-Back, which however requires the use of a Windows PC or Mac to connect your iPhone to via Lightning cable . The software is capable of recovering various types of deleted data from your iPhone, including Safari history , but unfortunately it is not free. In order to use this software you will need to purchase a license, with prices starting at $ 39.95 one-time.

Before throwing yourself into the purchase of the license, however, I suggest you try the free version of the software, which allows you to perform a complete analysis of the device and get a preview of the data you could recover.

If the data that could be recovered is important to you, I suggest you take a look at my tutorial on how to recover deleted history from iPhone, in which you will find all the procedure in detail.

How to recover deleted history: Google

You recently cleared the history on your PC, but later realized that by doing this you lost a link to a Google search that you just can’t recover. For this reason you are wondering how to recover deleted Google history, so that you can recover the link that interests you.

In this case, my advice is to follow the same instructions I gave you in the previous chapter, in which I explain how to recover the history deleted from the PC, both on Google Chrome and on other web browsers installed on your PC.

How to recover deleted history: Instagram

You are a frequent user of the Instagram social network , so much so that sometimes you happen to spend hours there without realizing it. Often you try to use the search engine of this social network to try to find new users to follow, or simply posts through certain hashtags.

Since you do a lot of research, you often do a good cleaning, especially when the searches have been unsuccessful. Unfortunately, however, the last time you found an interesting profile, but you just don’t remember what it was called and especially how you found it. You are wondering how to recover deleted Instagram history, so try to find this account again.

You must know that you can see the history of searches made on Instagram directly within the application, just tap on your profile icon at the bottom right and then on the button with the three lines at the top right. From the menu that appears on the screen, then tap on the item Your activity and then on the item Recent searches. In this section you will find a list of recent searches you have made, but unfortunately, if you have previously deleted your searches, the list will be completely empty.