How to Clear Safari Reading List on iPhone, iPad, & Mac

Do you make use of the Reading List feature in Safari to save web pages for later? In that case, you may want to clear the list every now and then once you’ve read them. It’s kind of similar to why anyone would want to clear their browsing cache and history once in a while.

Safari’s Reading List allows users to conveniently save and organize web pages so that they can read later either online or offline. Typically, people use it to store written content, like some of our articles for instance. These Reading List items sync with iCloud, meaning they’re accessible across all of your Apple devices. Hence, it’s necessary to keep this list updated frequently and make sure the content you’ve read already no longer shows up. Read along to learn how you can remove items from and clear the Safari Reading List on iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

How to Clear Safari Reading List on iPhone & iPad

First, we’ll take a look at the necessary steps that you need to follow to remove Reading List items on your iPhone or iPad. So, without further ado, let’s get started:

1. Launch Safari from the home screen of your iPhone or iPad.
   
   
2. Now, tap on the bookmarks icon from the bottom menu, as shown in the screenshot below.
   
   
3. This will take you to the Bookmarks section. Just tap on the glasses icon to view your Reading List. Now, tap on “Edit” located at the bottom-right corner to proceed.
   
   
4. Simply select the web pages that you want to remove and tap on “Delete” to remove them from your Reading List.
   
   

As you can see, it’s pretty easy. However, there’s no “Delete All” option that empties your list with a single tap.

How to Clear Safari Reading List on Mac

Now that you know how to update your reading list on iOS/iPadOS devices, let’s take a look at the steps required for macOS systems. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Launch Safari on your Mac from the Dock and click on the bookmarks icon located at the top-left corner of the window, as shown below.
   
   
2. This will open a new pane within Safari. Make sure you’re in the Reading List section before you proceed to the next step.
   
   
3. Now, Control-click or right-click on any of the items in your Reading List to bring up the context menu. Now, click on “Clear All Items” which is the last option.
   
   
4. When you’re prompted by Safari to confirm your action, click on “Clear” and your Reading List will be empty.
   
   

There you go. Now you know how to keep your Reading List updated on all your Apple devices.

If you only wish to remove one item from your Safari Reading List on your Mac, you can do so by simply using the option “Remove Item” from the context menu. It’s located just above “Clear All Items” if you failed to notice it in the above steps.

Typically, you would only need to remove the Reading List items on one of your devices, since the changes you make are updated across all of your devices almost instantly with the help of iCloud. Having said that, if you have iCloud disabled for some reason, you will have to update them individually.

Are you fairly new to using Safari Reading List? If that’s the case, you may or may not be familiar with the offline access feature that it has to offer. This feature may come in handy when you’re traveling and you cannot stay connected to LTE all the time. So, if you’re interested, feel free to check out how to use the feature, and also how to save Reading List items offline on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

Did you clear your Reading List from Safari? Do you use the Safari Reading List feature on your iPhone, Mac, or iPad? Let us know your thoughts on this.