Manage Predictive Text and Browsing History on Your Phone

Predictive suggestions, a keyboard’s learned dictionary and browser history are separate features. Turning suggestions off does not necessarily delete learned words, and clearing browser history does not reset the keyboard.

This guide explains those distinctions using the workflows in our Japanese edition. Menu names depend on the keyboard, operating system and language settings; screenshots from that edition use Japanese labels.

Open Settings, then General and Keyboard, and look for the predictive-text setting. You can also open keyboard settings from the globe or emoji key on the keyboard. Turn prediction off if you want to hide suggestions rather than reset learned words.

Third-party keyboards have their own settings. Check which keyboard is active before changing a setting and test it in a blank message.

The Reset Keyboard Dictionary option is separate from the prediction switch. Find it under the iPhone reset options in Settings. It clears custom learned words, so read the confirmation screen before continuing.

If you use Gboard or another keyboard, its learned data may be managed separately. Resetting one keyboard does not necessarily clear the others.

Android settings depend on your keyboard. For Gboard, open its settings and check Text correction for suggestion controls. Dictionary or privacy options manage learned words. Samsung Keyboard has separate predictive-text and personalized-data settings.

Avoid clearing the whole app’s storage just to hide the suggestion strip: it may also remove preferences. Choose the setting that matches the specific data you want to change.

In Chrome, use the browsing-data controls and choose a time range and data types. History, cookies and cached files are separate choices. Clearing cookies can sign you out of websites.

Safari offers history and website-data controls in its settings. Read the selected options before confirming. If browser sync is enabled, check whether the action affects other signed-in devices as well.

Check the recipient and suggested words before sending a message. If a keyboard keeps suggesting an unwanted word, remove that suggestion where the keyboard supports it or reset the appropriate learned dictionary.

Using a separate browser profile can keep different browsing contexts apart. Private browsing has a different purpose from clearing previously stored history, and it does not reset the keyboard.