Does the iPad Store History & Temporary Internet Pages?

By Ashley Poland

Browser experiences on iPads and computers are similar.
i Justin Sullivan/Getty Images News/Getty Images

The Internet data stored on your iPad has nothing to with your iPad settings -- it's something that changes from browser to browser. The three major browsers for iOS are Safari, Chrome and Opera Mini. You can clear the saved data for those browsers, but you cannot stop them from storing data. However, some browsers offer a private mode that does not save data.

Safari Mobile

The default browser on the iPad is the mobile version of Safari. Safari mobile does save your data as you browse; this includes your history, your cookies and your cache. You can choose to clear this data at any time from the iPad's settings menu. You can also opt into private browsing, if you don't want the browsing data stored.

Alternative Browsers

Safari isn't the only browser for the iPad -- in fact, many modern browsers have created mobile equivalents for iOS. After Safari, the most commonly used mobile browsers for iOS are Opera Mini and Chrome. These browsers, like Safari, also save your personal data in the form of history, cache and cookies.

Why Save That Data

Maintaining your personal data -- especially a browser cache and cookies -- speeds up your browsing experience. Instead of loading every single piece of a website, the cache saves specific data to the iPad to load it back up later. By clearing this data, the browser is forced to load every element, slowing down performance.

Clearing Data

The method for clearing your cache varies between browsers. If you use Safari, go to "Settings," tap "Safari" and choose the options for clearing your history and data. In Chrome, tap the Menu button and select "Settings" and select "Privacy" to clear your browsing history. In Opera, you can go into the Privacy Settings to clear your browsing history.

Private Browsing

If you would rather not have the iPad keep track of your history and data, Safari has the option to enable private browsing. You can flip this on in the Safari section of the Settings page. This feature is also available in the settings for Chrome.

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