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How To View History in Safari on a PC, Tablet, or Mobile Device

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Lee Stanton Lee Stanton is a versatile writer with a concentration on the software landscape, covering both mobile and desktop applications as well as online technologies. Read more July 19, 2022

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Safari for iOS provides a convenient way to keep track of your browsing history. You can use it to call up web pages quickly you’ve visited. You can easily go down the rabbit hole when performing searches online. This makes it difficult to remember exactly where you found a valuable piece of information. Reviewing your browsing history can retrace your steps, saving you the arduous task of finding the data from scratch. This article covers how to see your history in Safari. Check out how to do that below.

How To View History in Safari on a PC, Tablet, or Mobile Device

How to View History in Safari on an iPhone

Safari stores your browser activity, making it possible to revisit sites at a later date. You could either view your most recent history or check out the entire list of previously visited websites. This is how to do that.

safari activity window

You have now accessed your recent history on Safari.

If you would like to view your complete Safari browsing history, here’s how to do that.

safari activity window

You’ve now accessed your Safari browsing history.

How to View History in Safari on an iPad

Safari allows users to keep track of their browsing history. This feature can then be used to revisit sites that might be of interest. You could either view recent history or peruse all your browsing data. The steps listed here detail how to do that.

safari activity window

You have now viewed the recent history on your iPad.

To view your complete browsing data, follow the steps outlined here.

safari activity window

How to View History in Safari on a Mac

Your Safari browsing history allows you to revisit sites you viewed in the past. You can even use the search tool so that you don’t have to scroll through the entire list of results to find what you are looking for. Here’s how to view your browsing history on an iPhone.

safari activity window

  • Click on it to open the page in your browser.

You can now see your history in Safari. If you signed in to your device using the same Apple ID that you use on your other Apple devices, that history would also be displayed on your Mac.

Can You View History From Private Browsing?

Private Browsing is a feature that prevents Safari from storing information on sites you have visited. It ensures there’s no record of your online activity, including passwords or autofill information. It also prevents iCloud from storing data on any tabs that you open. To provide an additional layer of privacy, Safari prevents sites and content providers from tracking you. Any cookies you might have picked up are deleted once you close the tab.

This means that Safari doesn’t store your browsing history when you activate Private Browsing. You will therefore be unable to view it in the future.

How to Clear History in Safari

If your Apple device is lagging or otherwise misbehaving, you might consider clearing your browsing data. This is how to do that.

safari activity window

Your browsing data will now be removed from your device.

Retracing Your Steps

Like many web browsers, Safari stores information on websites you’ve visited. This data can come in handy when you want to go back to a particular site. This guide shows you how to retrieve the browsing history stored on your Apple devices.

Have you viewed your browsing history on Safari? What did you think of the process? Let us know in the comments below.

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Secrets of Safari’s Activity window

One of the often overlooked features of Safari is its Activity window, hiding in plain sight in the Window menu (or just press Command-Option-A for fast access). The Activity window shows, as you might have guessed by now, activity related to the Web pages you are viewing. If you try to load a page and it stalls out with “loading,” for instance, the Activity window will show you exactly which item is causing the problem—just click the disclosure triangle next to the page in question, and you’ll see entries for every item on the page, and (if those items are loaded) their size or (if they’re not loaded) a message showing their status.

But there are more interesting things you can do with the Activity window. Are you an aspiring Web site designer, trying to learn more about CSS or JavaScript programming? One of the best ways to learn about such things is by looking at examples from other sites. Typically, that involves opening the site, viewing the source code, scanning for the CSS and JavaScript URLs, copying them, opening a new window, and then pasting the copied URL. Using Safari’s Activity window, it’s much simpler: click the disclosure triangle for the site you’re viewing, scan the list of objects for the .css or .js files, then double-click—the selected file will open in Safari.

You can use this same technique to view embedded Flash or QuickTime movies in their own windows—just find the .flv, .wmv, or .mov files in the list in the Activity window, and double-click.

Want to download something that’s on the page? Or a bunch of somethings? Just Option-double-click on any element in the window, and it will then show up in Safari’s Downloads window, and start downloading. Want to download a bunch of stuff? Make your selection (using Command-A for all, or a combination of Shift and Command clicking for subsets), press Command-C to copy the entries, switch to the Downloads window, and then press Command-V to paste the list. Bingo, everything you copied will start downloading.

But perhaps one of the neatest tricks with the Downloads window is to quickly create a set of bookmarks for your currently-open tabs. Safari in OS X 10.4 lacks a “create bookmarks folder from these tabs” feature, but the Activity window provides a workable solution. Yes, you could also install SafariStand , a Safari plug-in that provides this, and many other features. But if you’d rather not install any Safari plug-ins, try this instead.

Open the sites you wish to bookmark, each in its own tab, then open the Activity window. Leave all the disclosure triangles closed, so that all you see is the name of each site, like this:

safari activity window

Now press Command-A to select all and Command-C to copy the selection. Press Command-Option-B to open the Bookmarks window, and then navigate to the spot where you’d like to store your new bookmark collection. Create a new folder (if you wish) at that location by clicking the plus sign at the bottom of the window (the one on the right, under the Bookmark section). With the new folder still selected, press Command-V to paste the clipboard contents. That’s it—you’ve created a folder of bookmarks based on the currently loaded tab set. While not quite as simple as selecting a menu item in Firefox (Bookmark All Tabs), it’s not bad as workarounds go.

Author: Rob Griffiths

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Former Macworld Senior Editor Rob Griffiths founded Mac OS X Hints. He's now master of ceremonies at Many Tricks Software .

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2 Easy Ways to Check Your Safari Search History

Last Updated: January 17, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Rain Kengly . Rain Kengly is a wikiHow Technology Writer. As a storytelling enthusiast with a penchant for technology, they hope to create long-lasting connections with readers from all around the globe. Rain graduated from San Francisco State University with a BA in Cinema. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 146,980 times. Learn more...

Do you need to check your Safari browser history? In a few simple steps, you can easily view all the websites you accessed in the past. You can also search for specific websites in your history and clear any website data you don't want. This wikiHow will teach you how to view and delete your Safari history on iPhone, iPad, and macOS.

Things You Should Know

  • On iPhone and iPad, you can click the book icon, then the clock icon to find your Safari history.
  • On macOS, you can click the "History" tab, then "Show History".
  • You can search for specific websites and clear your history data.

Using iPhone and iPad

Step 1 Open Safari.

  • If needed, you can change your General Settings .

Step 2 Tap the open book icon.

  • If you're signed in with the same Apple ID to you use to log into your Mac, your Mac's Safari history will appear in this list as well.

Step 4 Use the search bar to find specific websites.

  • You may have to swipe down on the History page to find it.
  • The results will load as you type.

Step 5 To clear your history, tap

  • Tap a time period to delete the history from just that time period. To delete the entire log, select All time .
  • You can also swipe left on individual websites in your history, then click Delete .

Using macOS

Step 1 Open Safari on your Mac.

  • Be sure to update Safari.

Step 2 Click the History menu.

  • If you're logged into the computer with the same Apple ID you use on your iPhone or iPad, you'll also see sites you've visited on those devices.

Step 4 Use the search bar to find specific websites.

  • A list of matching results from your history will appear. Click a site to load it in Safari.

Step 5 To clear your history, click the

  • Select a time frame from the drop-down menu, then click Clear History .
  • You can also delete cookies from Safari .

Expert Q&A

You Might Also Like

Disable Private Browsing on iPhone

  • ↑ https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/search-your-browsing-history-ibrw1114/mac
  • ↑ https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201265

About This Article

Rain Kengly

iPhone/iPad: 1. Open Safari . 2. Tap the book icon. 3. Tap the clock button. macOS: 1. Open Safari . 2. Click History . 3. Click Show All History . Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How to Access Your Safari Browsing History on Your iPhone

If you're an iPhone user, you know the importance of being able to access the websites you visit. Whether it's for research or entertainment , having quick and easy access to your browsing history can be invaluable.

Unfortunately, with Safari for iOS there's no straightforward way to view your browsing history. But don't worry! We're here to show you how to access it quickly and easily on your iPhone or iPad.

To begin, open Safari for iOS on your device. Next, press and hold the back arrow button on the far left hand side of the bottom tool bar. This will bring up a menu that contains all of your recent web activity. From here, you can tap on any link to pull up that page again.

If you want to search through your browser history quickly and easily, use the Search field at the top-right corner of the window in Safari on your Mac. This will allow you to type in specific keywords or phrases which will help narrow down your results.

It's also important to note that when browsing with Safari for iOS, data such as history, cache, and cookies are stored on your device as well. This data helps deliver faster load times while also providing records of all searches performed while using Safari from an iPhone or iPad. Additionally, this data is what allows web forums to automatically populate when visited again and tailors advertisements specifically for each user based off their past browsing habits.

if you're looking for a way to access information such as websites visited from within Safari for iOS on an iPhone or iPad then press and hold the back arrow button at the bottom of the screen and look thrugh your browser history menu that appears afterwards! And don't forget about searching through it with keywords from within Safari on Mac too!

How to Access Your Safari Browsing History on Your iPhone 1

Viewing Full History on Safari for iPhone

You can view the full history of your web browser activity in Safari on your iPhone or iPad by following these steps:

1. Open Safari and tap the bookmarks icon (the open book icon) at the bottom of the screen. 2. Tap the clock icon at the top of the screen to access your browsing history. 3. Here, you will see a list of all websites that you have visited for that session, organized by date and time. You can scroll through this list to view all of your browsing history for today or any other date listed in the sidebar. 4. If you wuld like to view more detailed information about a specific website, tap on it to open up its page info window. This window will provide details such as when you visited it, how many times you've visited it, and other related data points. 5. To clear your browsing history in Safari on an iPhone or iPad, simply tap “Clear” at the bottom of the page info window and confirm this action with “Clear History” when prompted.

Viewing Browser History in Safari

To view your browser history in Safari, open the Safari app on your Mac and go to History > Show All History. This will open a window showing all of your recent browsing activity. You can search for specific websites by typing in the Search field at the top-right corner of the window. You can also use this window to view how long ago you visited a certin website, or to quickly jump back to a page you recently visited.

Does Browsing History Get Stored on iPhones?

Yes, browsing history is stored on iPhone. It is stored as part of the data that your iPhone collects when you use its web browser. This includes information such as which websites you have visited, when you visited them, and how long you spent on each site. Additionally, your web browser may store details about the webpages you visited such as images, text and oter elements of the page. This information is stored in a cache and may be used to speed up loading times for returning visitors or to tailor ads to your preferences. Finally, cookies are also stored on your device and can contain data about website visits or preferences.

Recovering iPhone Safari History

Yes, you can recover iPhone Safari history. If you have an iTunes backup of your phone, you can restore that backup to get your deleted Safari history back. To do this, open iTunes and click on your iPhone icon. Then select the ‘Restore Backup' option and choose the file that contains your deleted Safari history. You can also use third-party data recovery software to recover your lost data from an iOS device.

Deleting Safari History on an iPhone

Yes, iPhones can delete Safari history. To do this, go to Settings > Safari and tap Clear History and Website Data. This will remove all of your browsing history, cookies, and other website data from the Safari app. It won't affect any of your AutoFill inforation though, so if you've saved details like credit cards or passwords for websites in the past, they'll still be there.

Viewing My iPhone History

Your history on your iPhone is located in the Safari app. To find it, open the Safari app and tap the book icon at the bottom of your screen. This will bring up a menu showing your recent browsing history. Pull down on this History menu to reveal a bar at the top labeled “Search History” with a magnifying glass to the left of it. You can use this search bar to search for specific sites that you have visited in the past. You can also scroll throgh your full history by selecting “Show All History” from the bottom of this menu.

How Long Does iPhone Browsing History Remain Accessible?

Browsing history on an iPhone typically stays visible for the last 30 days. Unfortunately, thre is currently no way to change this behaviour in Safari on iOS, so if you need to view a longer period of time, you'll need to use a third-party app or use Safari on Mac OS. On Mac OS Safari, you can choose to Show All History and also set when history is deleted (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, manually).

Retention Period of Safari History on iCloud

Apple's iCloud stores your Safari browsing history for up to two weeks. This includes all the webpages you have visited, even if you have cleared your browser history manually. It is important to note that this data is stored in iCloud, not on your device itself. After two weeks, it may be deleted or made invisible to tools like Phone Breaker – however, it is important to remain aware that this data may still be stored in iCloud even if it is not visible on your device.

In conclusion, Safari for iPhone and iPad offers a convenient way to view your browsing history. By pressing and holding the back arrow button on the bottom toolbar, you can view all the websites you have visited in an easy-to-access menu. Additionally, search functions allow you to quickly find websites you visited in the past. Data such as history, cache, and cookies are stored on your device, which can make loading webpages faster and more tailored to your needs. Keeping track of your browsing history is a great way to stay organized and protect your privacy .

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Safari downloads and activity window keyboard shortcuts

Use keyboard commands in safari for downloads and activities.

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For more, see the original article at the link below.

Safari: Browser Window and Menu Shortcuts | Apple

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Copyright © 2012 IDG Communications, Inc.

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OS X Daily

Tips & Tricks

Troubleshooting, how to download web & flash videos to a mac with the safari activity monitor trick.

safari-icon

This should works to download any web video so long as it gets loaded into the Safari browser or cache, but you should be certain to only use this on video content that specifically allows for sharing and for such downloading for offline usage – not all movie and video content on the web has that license and it’s important for you to determine that on your own.

OK without further adieu, here are the steps he Robert provided us to download and save web video or flash files to Mac OS X:

  • Launch an independent Safari window with the video you want to download
  • Press Command+Option+A , or go to Windows > Activity to bring up the ‘Activity Monitor’ window in Safari
  • Look through the activity for “Video Name”, look for the largest file size and double click to download it

download web video

  • Find the file that you downloaded (usually named get_video or videoplayback.flv) in the Finder and edit the name so that it has a .flv file extension
  • Confirm the file extension change, and now you can watch the downloaded movie in VLC or Perian equipped QuickTime

Robert also tells us that this should work in the Windows version of Safari but I can’t confirm that. Thanks for the tip Robert!

If you want to download songs tracks from video there’s an easy way to do just that too, using an app that extracts the audio track from the video file in question.

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I think I’ve found a way to download these YouTube segmented files. In Safari turn on the Develop menu from the Preferences/Advanced. Go to Develop/Show Page Resources, refresh the YT page and wait until the ‘Other’ folder appears in the left hand panel. Select that and look inside for a series of items starting with playback. Select one of them. On the right hand panel copy the full URL listed at the top. Paste that into an address bar, then scroll along until you find a section starting &range=. Delete that section up to but not including the next & sign. This is now a link to the complete file. On the Mac I then click alt+enter and the file downloads.

i updated my Mac and now the activity feature has vanished. Does anyone know how to download videos without the use of “activity”???

Just google search Step by Step Guide on How to Download and Convert YouTube FLV, F4V, WebM to Mac format

You will find a detailed guide on how to download as well as convert YouTube to Mac format so as to play YouTube on Mac QuickTime or iTunes, edit YouTube on Mac Final Cut Pro X/Final Cut Pro/Final Cut Express/iMovie; transfer YouTube to iPod/iPhone/iPad for playback on the go. Edit/Delete Message

You can do this. Most likely, it’s a flash file that’s playing, even though it can be converted to an HTML5. ‘right’ click on the flash player or video playing to bring up flash menu settings (3rd from the bottom indicated by “… additional options”, a small window with 5 or folders or tabs appears. The middle folder has an option slider to set how much access flash has to store on your computer. Set this to unlimited. Now you should see in the activity window the file uploading, a large downloading file. Some of you haven’t seen this. You don’t need additional programs to download files that are converted to HTML5. if you command click that file, or command double click depending on your settings, the video will open in a new tab or window. You’ll notice the video is now playing in Apples native HTML5 format. Insert your cursor at the end of the address field, for those using Safari 6 you have a simplified address bar, and once it’s there press option+enter. Now you see the video downloading at the download shortcut link in the upper righthand corner.

when i download it and find it in my finder and rename then press play it says it cannot be opened bcuz the video format is not recognized. helpppp :(

P.s. It’s not just YouTube.

I have two mac pros, one has Lion and one has snow leopard.

Snow leopard wouldn’t download all files types – I think that it would open a new window to display the mp4, and never actually download the file. Like forced streaming.

Lion used to download all file types. But, since the update, it acts like snow leopard did.

I might look what benefits I got from the last Lion update (I think there might’ve been something actually useful in it), and consider if I can remove the update.

Is it just my computer? Lion was fine for downloading at first. Since updating Lion, I find that ALL YOUTUBE FILES ARE 1.7Mb, in the activity window.

They were never going to work.

My mac is happy that they are flv, and automatically associates with them.

I don’t get any error message of any description. Just a 1.7mb video file, that has no play time at all. Not a black screen, nothing.

[…] you can download Flash videos to your Mac with just Safari, but Evom is nice because it will also convert the video file for you to a format […]

This doesn’t work for me. It downloads fine, but when I try to open it (it has the .flv extension), QuickTime tells me that it can’t open an .flv file?

this method can’t be used now

my problem is i cant find the goddamn large file size in the activity window, only small ones

Same here. I think the problem is actually not a problem. In OSX Lion this is fixed. I used to be able to download on Snow Leopard. Maybe youtube had a word with apple or some …

As above posters have noted, this method doesn’t work now. Perhaps it used to. For me, double-clicking on the file in Activity Monitor doesn’t download it, it just opens a new Safari window with just the flash video in the center and plays it. No downloading possible.

As far as I can see this doesn’t work any more (used to) – if anyone has any other tricks for downloading up their sleeves please let us know.

Following the Safari download process I get to the point where I see the video playback file with the .flv extension, but when I go to play it it gives the following error response… ‘main: no suitable decoder module for fourcc `undf’. VLC probably does not support this sound or video format.’

What have I missed?

I think the issue lies with Flash. I was able to download full length videos from YouTube until yesterday when I “upgraded” to the newest version of Flash Player – 11.1.102.62. Since then, the stream is no longer seamless, but a series of fractional files 1.7 – 2.3 megs in size – depending on what’s being downloaded.

Flash Wars – the revenge of the Warnock.

I think there is a new problem with this. The activity window is now displaying an flv file 2.3 MB size and there are several of these files in the activity window. If you download any of those none will be readable. I tried different videos and all are displaying the same patterns of several fly files 2.3 MB size. I think there was a recent change in the play system on Youtube. Have anyone found a workaround on this issue? In the past it worked perfectly but now all the files I download cannot be played…. Thanks in advance for the response.

all existing methods in the article and user comments did not work. I leave a window for the video buffer from youtube. I opened the activity pane (Cmd + Opt + A) and look for the video size 603mb. when double-clicked, will open a new window. when clicked two times while pressing the OPT, the download is running. but do I have to repeat and spent many hours to download files from servers that have been cached on my computer? I prefer to use keepvid.net now.

thanks . this was very helpful

Thank u so much very helpful .

[…] Källa: OSXDaily […]

This method will work, but not for the HD version of video. I use moviesherlock – it gives me 1080 version and it can rip off mp3 from youtube! Well, knowing-how to do it with just a browser – this cool

It works! Thanks :D

You can do this using the Windows version of Safari and Firefox.

1. Go to the activity window, and find the file which is actively increasing in size.

2. Double click that file. It will open in a new Safari window.

3. Copy the path from the Safari window.

4. Open Firefox. Paste the path in Firefox

5. In Firefox, File –> Save as. You will be prompted to save the file. In my case, I saved a Vimeo file and it defaulted to .mp4.

This method by RL still works as of today with OSX version of Firefox — only difference is that it will start playing in the firefox window so just go to file .. save as and you can save the video file. Works fine.

Keepvid.com and Wantyoutube.com are the webpages I use. I’ll try this one! Thanks!

when i double click on the largest file it is not open in activity it is open with quick plug in , what to do?

will try what fray says TY

seems as of today I can no longer get this function to work. WHAT have they done aaaargh

I combined this tutorial and one from another site. This has worked every time for me:

1. Launch an independent Safari window with the YouTube video you want to download.

2. Press “Command + Option + A”, or go to Windows > Activity to bring up the ‘Activity Monitor’ window in Safari.

3. Click on the little arrow to look through the activity for “YouTube – Video Name” (or vise versa) and do one of two things: Look for the address of the file that has numbers (Ex: http://74.125.4.38 ), or look for the largest file size (usually 1 MB or more) and double-click on it to download it. If double-clicking doesn’t work (and a lot of times it doesn’t), do the following instead:

* Click on the line of the video in the “activity window” (the one with the largest file size as mentioned previously). * Click on the keys “Apple + C” to copy the file. * Open the download window (“Window > Downloads”). * Paste the file via “Apple + V”. * Your video should start downloading in the “Downloads” window.

4. Locate the file that you downloaded (it’s usually named “get_video” or “videoplayback”) and edit its name so that it has a “.flv” file extension.
(Ex: johnsparty.flv)

5. Confirm the file extension change in the window that pops up and watch the downloaded movie in either VLC or QuickTime equipped with Perian.

@Fray: This works perfectly for me on Lion OSX 10.7.1/Safari 5.1. Thank you.

I’ve been using the usual activity window and double clicking on the largest file size for years but attempting to save a HD file this way no longer worked (maybe Safari/Apple updates) but copying and pasting in the download window has worked perfectly. Thank you for posting your way around and helping out those that thought it was no longer possible.

How do you get iMovie to open the file you downloaded? Even though the extension is .flv/.mov it won’t open it.

Thanks, Paul – I was hoping that the Flash I downloaded last night would open it, but I can’t seem to get the plug-in and the movie together.

Will download VLC – that’s what MacLife mag recommends, too. Great minds . . .

VLC opens just about any video file, it’s a great app and quite powerful, plus it’s free!

With JoshWED’s tip it downloaded a treat. I’m running Lion 10.7.1 and found “videoplayback.flv” in the downloads folder, but it won’t open (“the movie’s file format isn’t recognized”).

Any way to fix that? Thanks.

You just need something to open FLV files, try using VLC

omg all you need is to hold down the option button. Thank you JOSH!

JoshWED’s trick worked…

simply holding down Option and double click.

It’ll ask to save the file.

Thank you so much, you are awesome.

STOP BEING SO AWSOME!

What if its a large file? I’ve been doing this method for a while but now I want to download a 1hr30min full length gig and when you double click it it just opens the video in a new window. Any suggestions?

Used to work but not anymore. Safari and Youtube must have banded together to “fix” the “problem”

It seems that only some youtube clips aren’t downloadable using this method. I still manage to download some clips like this, but a few just don’t work.

Maybe it’s just newer clips that have been added.

I’ve got latest safari and it’s working, though not always like it used to. Simple fix when you’re getting the “new window”: hold option and then double-click. Should download after that. I noticed this was happening when it wasn’t an flv..but an mp extension.

Thanks mate! That’s awesome – totally works now :D

It worked fine for me till two days ago. Now another window opens up with an address beginning http://o-o .. – I tried pressing option while double clicking but to no avail, I just get no response at all.

I have had the same problem. I was able to download one video successfully using this method and now I just get the new window. Any luck finding a work-around?

I found a solution… I was able to download one video using the double click method, then I kept getting the new window. All I did was hold option, then double click on the file in the activity window and it downloaded again. Then, when you look in your downloads to find the “playback” file, you change the extension on it to “.flv”, andthen you can watch in quicktime if you have perian installed.

Dude! you rock! this is the only thing that worked for me, thanks! =D

Oh finally! OPTION + double-click works perfectly.

I’m glad I don’t have to use an extension/plugin.

Alternatively, use ClicktoPlugin to force and download HTML5/.m4v content, rather than Flash.

what seems to be happening is that youtube has found a way to defeat the safari activity window trick by downloading clips in many small clips- they all seem connected when you watch it on youtube- but obviously that’s not the case when you try to extract it from safari- This is why when you watch on youtube you won’t see the video buffer as in the past.

I just successfully downloaded youtube video in Safari, and it does work! Follow these instructions explicitly: 1. Go to the activity window, and find the file which is actively increasing in size. 2. Double click that file. then look in your downloads window. You will see it is downloading. 3. When it is finished downloading, you can find the file by doing either of the following; a. find the file in your downloads folder b. click the magnifying glass in the download window to take you to the file. 4. What you find is a file called “videoplayback” which has no file extension. 5. Rename as you like and add .flv as the file extension. 6. Test the file in VLC or Adobe video player. That is what works for me. (-;

I am a novice at this, but was able to download a movie clip from Youtube per your instructions, so thanks! Any way I can burn it to a DVD? The file extensions when downloaded was html. I didn’t change it, but it played on my computer. Again, I’m a novice…

same here, stopped. does not work anymore just opens another player window with the video scaled down .

Adding ‘&fmt=18’ as mentioned above makes no diff here unfortunately .

Yeah, I also face the same problem as Boomslang. It worked perfectly before until I upgrade the OS. Anyone know how to fix this? Thanks.

I have two OS 10.6 Macs, On the one this method works 100%.

BUT on the other it also opens the video in a new window.

I’ve tried to removed Safari and re-install. This option doesn’t work. Any ideas?

it’s not working for me I have mac os 10.6 help! please!

Does not work anymore. Now a new window will pop up with a player interface. They must have fixed it. Why is there no plug in like Easy Youtube Downloader for Firefox?

What to download video from a site youtube I use service takeyoutube.com

I use firefox add-on called “Easy Youtube downloader” which works much better and more elegantly. Also another is the “Video Download Helper”.

[…] you can download YouTube videos to your Mac with just Safari, but Evom is nice because it will also convert the video file for you to a format […]

When i open the activity windows, instead of one large file, i saw afew of similar file.

When i download it, it is parts of the video… not the whole video. what should i do?

This works for me in Leopard on a G4:

1. Navigate to a YouTube video. 2. Add “&fmt=18” (without the quotation marks) to the URL and press Return. This loads a Quicktime / MP4 version of the video file. 3. Open the Activity Manager and look for the huge file. 4. Option-double-click that file. 5. It appears as videoplayback.mp4 in my Downloads folder.

For Windows, I believe that I heard Control-double-click is the equivalent.

These .mp4 files will not always transfer to an iPod. To fix that problem, I downloaded Miro Video Convertor, which is free and open source. http://www.mirovideoconverter.com/

I run the downloaded files through MVC, and they work on my iPod Video.

This trick also works for Flash videos, like the cartoons on the Vimeo videos that have downloads prohibited.

I could not find the Beavis & Butt-head videos on MTV’s website with this trick. No huge file appeared in the Activity Manager.

Thanks, I’ve been looking FOREVER on how to do this. Previous methods haven’t worked for me, but this works!

wow thanks at least someone knows what they’re talking about.

This sequence of actions does not work for me. Double – clicking an item in the Activity Window opens it in a new Safari window, by itself, but doesn’t ‘download’ it at all.

The same thing happens for me. Did you find any solutions?

I have got the same problem too? Tell me the solutions please! Actually after double-clicking an item in the activity window does not “download”. A window opens and begin to “loading”….

If you are using OS X v10.7 Lion you need to hold the ‘Option’ key down when you double click in the Activity window.

Thanks Alan. Holding down Option and double clicking in the Activity Window works for me using Lion 10.7.2

Thankyou!!! Thankyou!!! Thankyou!!! Holding down option key totally worked!

[…] Enkel nedlastning av youtube i Safari 31 mai, 2010 Arkivert under: mac — eat1 @ 10:29 pm Tags: dataverktøy Ganske enkelt å bare gjøre det direkte i Safari. Sjekk ut denne guiden […]

You have to make sure you double click the item in the activity window and it will then automatically download to your safari downloads folder.

GlimmerBlocker (glimmerblocker.org) is an advanced ad-blocker which ads a download link to all YouTube movies. No need to open the Activity window, just click ‘download’ below the movie.

Where in the Finder does one go to find this file? Stumped.

Mine Doesn’t it, just opens another window playing the video

If another window is opened, that means that the video is in mp4 format. What you should do is copy the address of the new window and paste it into the downloads window (Click in the downloads window and then press Ctrl-V to paste).

Just use keepvid.com. They offer different types of downloads as well I’ve seen, flv’s to mp4’s, different quality.

For mac without windows? Do you have a mac w/o parallels? And Keepvid.com works for you?

Keepvid.com maybe the easiest way to download YouTube videos, But to download YouTube videos with this site, it will ask you to “download Java” to your Mac. In comparison of these youtube downloading sites or free apps, I would choose Zamzar.com or enolsoft free youtube downloader hd for mac.

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5 tricks for the activity and downloads windows in safari.

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How to perform tasks that Safari's Activity Monitor used to do?

  • Thread starter HotHand
  • Start date Jul 25, 2012
  • Sort by reaction score
  • Older macOS Versions
  • OS X Mountain Lion (10.8)

macrumors newbie

  • Jul 25, 2012

I just upgraded to Mountain Lion, and I have found that Apple removed one of my favorite tools in Safari, View Activity, which would allow me to go to any web page, and with a few clicks find the direct link to the content, such as an embedded .flv file and download it. With the View Activity tool removed, is there another method to do this? I have read elsewhere that the Web Inspector allows you to do this, but I have not figured out how to download the embedded .flv file for a web page this way. BTW, I am looking for a method that does not involve a 3rd party web page that finds the link and downloads the file for you (such as all those youtube flash downloading web pages out there). I want to be able to find the link myself as I could in the old Safari. Thanks in advance.  

  • Jul 27, 2012

Yes, I noticed that too right away; and, scouted around in the ‘Develp’ menu. Must in there somewhere that we have not yet discovered. I do not think they would eliminate this feature. Seth  

macrumors member

I've been bothered by this as well. With the developer menu enabled, you can press the same key combo and get a window with "page resources," but this doesn't allow you to, say, download videoplayback.flv from youtube. I haven't had any success with any other method, and it's really distressing. Evom is a free app that claims to download youtube videos, but I haven't gotten it to work on ML either.  

Mr. Retrofire

Mr. Retrofire

Macrumors 603.

EnigMoiD said: I've been bothered by this as well. With the developer menu enabled, you can press the same key combo and get a window with "page resources," but this doesn't allow you to, say, download videoplayback.flv from youtube. I haven't had any success with any other method, and it's really distressing. Click to expand...

Activity Window gone in Mountain Lion? Yes, the Develop menu must be checked at the bottom of Advanced in Safari preferences; but, this does not bring one to easily discover where the Activity Window has gone. I found under Web Inspector clicking the ‘Images’ tool does show the video I would like to DL; but, the usual double clicking, nor option clicking does a DL. It merely opens another window and starts playing the same video, now in 2 different windows. We may be getting close. The Image tool shows as the 2nd icon in the Web Inspector’s menu bar.  

Mr. Retrofire said: Read this: https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=15330042#post15330042 Click to expand...

PatriotInvasion

PatriotInvasion

Macrumors 68000.

  • Aug 10, 2012

heisenberg123

heisenberg123

PatriotInvasion said: There has to be an app or extension that can replace the Activity Monitor. I too tried the Develop menu and Show Page Resources and it doesn't work for me. It either freezes up the page or briefly displays the listing of folders (including the "Other" folder people say the video file will live) before quickly redirecting to a weird listing of Flash mumbo jumbo Somebody please help us get the basic Activity Monitor functions back...3rd party or not! Click to expand...

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere

PatriotInvasion said: There has to be an app or extension that can replace the Activity Monitor. Click to expand...
  • Aug 17, 2012
GGJstudios said: For downloading YouTube videos, if you're using Safari and have ClickToFlash installed, right-click on the video and select "Download Video". You can also use ClipGrab or KeepVid or similar apps or sites. Click to expand...
PatriotInvasion said: There is no "download video" option with ClicktoFlash. Click to expand...

:apple:

  • Aug 25, 2012
GGJstudios said: View attachment 353457 ​ Click to expand...

Attachments

Screen Shot 2012-08-26 at 12.03.35 AM.png

PatriotInvasion said: Using ClickToFlash, this option is not available on almost every flash video I click on. Just YouTube. See screen shot Click to expand...

ScreenCap 2012-08-25 at Sat, Aug 25,11.10.12 PM .PNG

GGJstudios said: First, that option only appears before you click to enable flash on that site: View attachment 354518 ​ After you've enabled flash and the video starts, that option is no longer available. View attachment 354516 ​ Also, make sure your ClickToFlash settings include the "Download Video" menu option. View attachment 354517 ​ Click to expand...

Screen Shot 2012-08-26 at 12.33.03 AM.png

PatriotInvasion said: No dice...and I have the "Download Video" preference box checked. On the site I'm on, the download option is not available before I enable the flash video to play, or after. What am I missing? Click to expand...
GGJstudios said: Make sure your ClickToFlash is up to date and double-check all your ClickToFlash preferences. Obviously it should work, as evidenced by my screen caps. Click to expand...
PatriotInvasion said: Well, the big difference I see is that you're watching the video on YouTube, while I was watching on a different site. Click to expand...
GGJstudios said: Which site? I can test it on that one. Also, I don't know of any solution that works on every site, as there are many technologies employed to deliver content on various sites. Click to expand...
PatriotInvasion said: That video is hosted on worldstarhiphop.com (trashy video site ). ClickToFlash also does not work on ahhemmm (throat clear), a few adult focused sites either. Something Activity window was useful for Click to expand...

ScreenCap 2012-08-25 at Sat, Aug 25,11.54.02 PM .PNG

GGJstudios said: Worked fine for me: View attachment 354522 ​ Click to expand...

Screen Shot 2012-08-26 at 1.03.21 AM.png

PatriotInvasion said: Are you just control-clicking the video? I'm doing the same thing and getting the popup in my screenshot. Let me try this again... Click to expand...
PatriotInvasion said: Is this the preference you referred to? Click to expand...
GGJstudios said: I'm right-clicking, but Control-click does the same thing. Yes. You might try checking all your preferences and making sure that ClickToFlash is updated. I'm on version 2.7. Click to expand...

macrumors regular

Zephar said: Yes, the Develop menu must be checked at the bottom of Advanced in Safari preferences; but, this does not bring one to easily discover where the Activity Window has gone. I found under Web Inspector clicking the ‘Images’ tool does show the video I would like to DL; but, the usual double clicking, nor option clicking does a DL. It merely opens another window and starts playing the same video, now in 2 different windows. We may be getting close. The Image tool shows as the 2nd icon in the Web Inspector’s menu bar. Click to expand...
  • Sep 5, 2012
lotones said: Yeah, I've noticed the "download video" option in click2flash isn't consistent. Yes, you are close. Once you get the second window highlight the url in the address bar and hit option/enter. The video will start downloading. So far I've found this works for downloading video: go to page with video, pause video (if you have cllck2flash, don't load video yet) open web inspector reload page with video (if you have click2flash, load video now) web inspector will now show folder called "other"; expand it video will be loading there; double click it to open in new tab/window highlight the url of new tab.window in the address bar and hit option/enter. The video will start downloading. There may be ways to simplify this but this is what I've got so far. Click to expand...

VPNoverview.com Privacy Anonymous Browsing Everything You Need to Know About Safari Private Browsing

Everything You Need to Know About Safari Private Browsing

Chris Bluvshtein

Ever wondered what Safari Private Browsing does exactly? Chances are it might not be giving you the level of online privacy you expect. Safari Private Browsing does have some perks, including:

  • Stopping Safari from remembering the websites you’ve visited
  • Not storing any new usernames, passwords, payments cards, and other information you input into private browsing
  • Forgetting any search engine queries you’ve run
  • Allowing you to save money by avoiding marketing cookies that might inflate prices

However, this is pretty much all the privacy that you’ll get with Safari Private Browsing. This incognito mode  won’t cloak your IP address, encrypt your internet traffic, or make you safe on public Wi-Fi . Private browsing still leaves you pretty exposed to a lot of the risks that come with connecting to the internet.

For true online anonymity, you’ll need to use a VPN to change your IP address . We’re big fans of ExpressVPN, one of the fastest VPNs in the industry.

Below, you’ll find more information on how to use Safari Private Browsing on all your Apple devices, as well as more details on how this incognito mode does and doesn’t protect your privacy.

If you use a Mac, iPhone, or iPad, then chances are you’ve encountered Safari Private Browsing before. Whether you’re shopping for a partner’s gift or want to snoop on a long-lost colleague’s LinkedIn, there are many reasons why you might want to use private mode in Safari.

In this article, we answer the question, what is Safari Private Browsing ? We’ll also tell you what this handy tool can’t  do to save you any embarrassment or risk to your online security.

What is Safari Private Browsing?

Use anonymous search engine icon

There’s a little more to this method of browsing than meets the eye, but we’ll go into specifics further down in this article. The point is, for a more private experience, you can use Safari’s incognito mode . You’ll be logged out of all accounts, and Safari won’t autofill user logins, passwords, or payment information. When you turn on private browsing, Safari won’t remember :

  • Your search engine history
  • Webpages you’ve visited
  • Browsing activity or history

You should, however, be aware of a major drawback of this tool on Macs: your browsing activity likely isn’t as hidden as you might think. Websites you visit can still see who you are and what you’re doing . You can read more about this in our general incognito mode article .

With Macs, Private Browsing information is logged in a different place, as well: your Terminal archive.

Beware the Mac Terminal archive

On Macs, there’s something called the Terminal archive , and it’s as scary as it sounds — well, for fans of privacy at least. It’s a treasure trove for snoops. The Terminal archive contains all of the websites you visit , whether you’re using Safari Private Browsing or not. This is because your Mac stores static images and other files when you visit a website for the first time. This makes future visits to these sites and page loading much faster, as your Mac pulls the relevant files from the Terminal archive.

This command-line function also lets you make systemic changes to your Mac . For most users, there’ll never be a need to make any changes in the Terminal archive, and you shouldn’t if you don’t know what you’re doing. You could end up breaking something critical in your computer’s operating system if you tinker with the Terminal.

Screenshot of iOS user interface, Access Terminal app

However, it is good to know that, even when you’re using Safari’s Private Browsing mode, your online activity is logged here.

Make your Safari Private Browsing truly private

By now, you might be asking yourself: how do I clear the cache on my Mac? Well, today’s your lucky day.  Below, you’ll find a brief, step-by-step guide to clearing the cache on a Mac . Just make sure not to do anything else while inside the Terminal.

  • Open “ Finder ,” then search for “ Terminal ” in the search bar.
  • Run the  Terminal  application.
  • Paste the following text into the Terminal and hit enter: sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder

You may have to enter your Admin password to proceed. This is going to flush the DNS cache.

Remember that you shouldn’t do anything else inside of the Terminal application unless you know what you’re doing. It only takes a short command to nuke files or entire directories in this app forever! So, tread carefully.

Why You Should Use Safari Private Browsing on Macs and iOS

We can hypothesize all we want, but you’ve probably got a good idea of why you  use private browsing. According to a 2018 research study , the most common reason people use private browsing is so others that are using a shared device can’t see what they’re doing. This comes down to protecting two things from other users of your device:

  • Their personal data
  • Their browsing activity

Fortunately, these are two things that Safari Private Mode manages to do wonderfully. Below, you can read more about what else Safari Private Browsing does for you .

Online privacy

Privacy browser icon

  • Your browser won’t remember what websites you’ve visited.  Anything you browse while you’re in private browsing mode won’t be remembered by Safari. So, if you start shopping online for gifts or a product that you find embarrassing, you won’t usually have to worry about your friends or family coming across your browsing history.
  • Safari won’t suggest usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, and so   on.  You’ve probably noticed that Safari can remember usernames, passwords, credit cards, and other information when you use it for the first time. If you tell your Mac, smartphone, or tablet to remember those details, they’ll be automatically filled in the next time you visit the website. With Safari Private Mode enabled, these kinds of details won’t be stored: you won’t be prompted to save or autofill them at all.
  • Your search engine queries won’t be remembered . If you’ve been shopping for gifts or trying to self-diagnose, you probably don’t want other users of the computer to see what you’ve searched for . Normally, you’ll see suggested searches popping up in search engines like Google. Based on your past searches and clicks, some links might be colored purple instead of blue, too. In private browsing mode, these won’t appear, nor will any new searches be stored.

How to pay less with Safari Private Browsing

There’s more to private mode options than just online security. You could also save money with Safari Private Browsing, as you won’t be quoted higher prices for products you’ve already viewed. When you visit a website, cookies (small text files) are stored on your computer by your browser.

These kinds of cookies aren’t delicious or rewarding at all. Instead, they allow the site to track you and figure out that you’re interested in, for example, a particular holiday destination. This can result in you seeing higher airfares, hotel booking fees, and more. Just turn on Safari’s Private Browsing to s top cookies from being stored on your browser and avoid hiked prices.

How to Go Incognito on Safari

Incognito mode icon

Safari Private Browsing on a Mac

Using  Safari Private Browsing  on a Mac is simple. If you’re reading this on a Mac, you can skip step one in our step-by-step guide below:

  • Open Safari on your Mac.
  • Click on “ File ” in the menu bar at the top of the screen.
  • Select “ New Private Window .” This will open a new private tab, but you can open as many private tabs in your tab bar as you need.

Screenshot how to open a New Private Window on Safari

It’s that simple. Now, any new tab you open within this new private browsing window will be a private browsing tab. Give it a whirl by opening some new private tabs and navigating to a website you frequently log into. You’ll notice that your username and password aren’t suggested for autofill as they usually would be .

Also, you’ll know that you’re in private browsing, as the URL bar will have a gray background rather than the usual white. Just remember to ignore or close your existing browser window if you had any open. If in doubt, check the background color of the URL bar.

Finally, to  turn off private browsing in Safari , simply click the red cross in the corner of the browser window as you usually would.

Safari Private Browsing on an iPhone

Using  Safari’s private browsing mode on an iPhone or iPad is fairly straightforward and could increase your privacy on an iPhone . If you’re running  iOS 14 or earlier , simply follow the steps below:

  • Open  Safari on your phone.
  • Tap on the “ Tabs ” button. That’s the two small squares in the bottom-right corner of your Safari window on iPhone.
  • A new option called “Private” should appear.
  • Tap “ Private ” and you’ll be taken to a blank screen confirming that you’re using Private Browsing Mode . You’ll notice that it’s using the same gray color scheme as Safari for Mac.
  • Lastly, click on the small “ + ” (plus) icon to launch a private browsing window.

Screenshots of iOS Access Private Browsing mode

If you’re using  Apple’s latest iPhone update, iOS 15.1.1 , you’ll need to follow a slightly different (and hey, we’ll say it — more confusing) set of steps:

  • Tap on the “ Tabs ” button.
  • Tap where it says “ X Tab(s) ” – this number will reflect the number of windows you have open.
  • Tap “ Private .”
  • Now, you’re in Private Browsing mode and can click the small “ + ” (plus) icon to launch a new private window.

Screenshots of iOS Access Private Browsing mode latest Apple update

Again, turning off private browsing in Safari for iPhones or iPads is simple. Just press the same “ Private ” button that you used to enable the feature. Don’t forget, if you have multiple private tabs open, they won’t close automatically. Swipe each tab closed before you exit private mode if you want to leave no trace.

How to Set Safari Private Browsing as the Default

If you’d rather always browse privately, you can also set Safari Private Browsing as your default, so that it opens automatically whenever you open a new tab or window. Check out the step-by-step instructions below for a Mac :

  • Make sure your active application is Safari, then select “ Safari ” from your Mac’s toolbar at the top of your screen. Click on “ Preferences ” next, which can also be accessed using the keyboard shortcut “ Command ” + “ , ” (that’s Command, plus a comma).
  • Now, you should see the Privacy window for Safari. Click on the “ General ” tab.
  • Next to “Safari opens with”, select “ A new private window ” from the drop-down list.

While you  can’t automatically use Safari Private Browsing by default on mobile , there are some options for minimizing what’s remembered, stored, or recommended. Here’s how you get there:

  • Open the “ Settings ” application.
  • Scroll down until you see “ Safari ” and tap on that option.

Now, you’ll have the choice to use a number of features. You can:

  • Disable search engine suggestions
  • Disable Safari suggestions specifically
  • Turn off autofill for Safari , either for personal information, payment information, or both
  • Disable “ Favorites “, which you can save in your Safari app’s home screen
  • Turn off “ Frequently Visited Sites “, which appear below your favorites

In this menu, you can also  prevent cross-site tracking and  block all cookies on the websites that you visit. In the event that you forget to launch Safari Private Browsing, these options should give you at least a little more privacy whenever you go online.

Is Safari Private Browsing Safe?

Question mark over padlock icon

That last risk is surprisingly common on public Wi-Fi networks  too. Bear in mind that private browsing doesn’t protect you against malware (malicious software) either, nor does it protect your payment information or other personal details . For true online anonymity and to  improve your online security , you should give serious thought to using a VPN (Virtual Private Network) .

How to use a VPN with Safari Private Browsing

Using a VPN along with Safari Private Browsing should give you the online security you’re looking for. In addition to avoiding any logged browsing history or search history , you’ll be much harder to track and enjoy greater online anonymity. You can check out the many advantages of a VPN for more information. Want to get started right away? The following steps will only take a few minutes of your time:

  • Choose a VPN provider and create an account. We recommend checking out our list of the best VPNs if this is new ground for you. Alternatively, ExpressVPN is a market-leading VPN provider that we’re always happy to recommend.
  • Download and install  the VPN software onto your Mac. You can also download ExpressVPN for mobile on your iPhone. Other premium providers like NordVPN, CyberGhost, and Surfshark all offer really slick mobile apps for iOS, too.
  • Log into your account , either in the desktop software or the mobile app.
  • Choose a VPN server in a country of your choice. If you’re purely interested in online security, then the location you choose isn’t  too  important (though some will be faster than others). However, if you want to  save money on subscriptions , for example, you should give it some more thought.
  • Connect to the VPN server . When you connect, you’ll be  changing your IP address to mirror the VPN server’s IP. It’s safe, legal ( in most countries ), and best of all, it’ll give you far greater online security than simply using Safari Private Browsing alone.

Safari Private Browsing is perfect for hiding those Christmas or birthday purchases from your family before the big day. It’s also a great way to save money on flights, hotels , or other purchases. However, it won’t do much for your online security. If you want  truly private browsing , then use a VPN along with Safari private mode.

Interested in exploring other private browsers? Check out these articles below:

  • How Anonymous Is DuckDuckGo?
  • Is Vivaldi Browser Safe?
  • How to Set Up Firefox as an Anonymous Browser

Do you want to know how to enable private browsing on Safari? Are you wondering how much privacy Safari Private Browsing actually gives you? You’ll find these answers and more in our frequently asked questions below.

To turn on Private Browsing in Safari for Mac, follow these simple steps:

  • Make sure Safari is the active application that you’re using.
  • Click on  File in the menu bar along the top of the screen.
  • Click on  New Private Window to switch to private browsing mode.

To turn on Private Browsing in Safari for iPhone or iPad, the process is much the same:

  • Open the  Safari application.
  • Tap on the  Tabs icon (the two small squares in the lower-right corner of your screen).
  • Tap on  Private to switch to private browsing.
  • Click on the small  + (plus) icon to open a new private browsing tab.

Check out our full article for more information on Safari Private Browsing.

No. Safari Private Browsing, like any browser’s private mode, won’t protect you against a lot of online threats. Your IP address will still be visible to many third-party individuals and organizations. For example, your ISP will know what websites you’ve visited, and hackers could determine your location using your IP (though some private modes do limit location tracking). For true online privacy and anonymity, you’re safer using a VPN like ExpressVPN .

With Private Browsing, it’s more difficult for websites to track you, since cookies are cleared the moment you close the browser — but it’s not impossible. Your ISP (Internet Service Provider), employer, school, or college could still see your internet history . That is, unless you use a VPN along with the incognito mode.

Yes. The owner of an internet connection can absolutely check up on your browsing session if they have the right technical knowledge. Some routers can be set up to remember all URLs a device accesses. So, if you’re trying to fly under your parents’ radar, for example, they could potentially bust you using the family router, even if you’re exclusively using private browsing modes.

For true anonymity , you’ll want to use a VPN. With a VPN connection, all of your internet traffic is encrypted, which gives you far better anonymity and privacy than using private browsing on its own.

Chris Bluvshtein

Chris Bluvshtein Author

Senior journalist.

Chris is a tech journalist with many years’ experience covering online privacy and cybersecurity. He’s also a published author and works as a Product Manager for some of the most innovative software development companies.

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Hi Chris , I’m finding while using private mode in safari my sound is being cut out and I have not been able to find a way to reconnect it. I use it on a iPad with a vpn and trend anti spam for protection as much as it can in private mode. I have not been able to find any reason as to why this is happening.

Hey Wayne, I've done a bit of digging, and I've found something that might be worth a try. It seems that recent versions of Safari have a built-in feature that can prevent audio from playing when you visit a website; it's enabled by default too. Give this a try and let me know if the issue goes away: 1. Open the Safari menu and click preferences 2. Click on the websites tab 3. Look for the setting: "When visiting other websites", which has a drop-down selection beside it 4. Change this setting so that it allows websites with media to play sound. You can alternatively add individual websites to this list if you'd rather have control over which ones can play sound by default.

Hi Chris Just tried your Terminal Commands, I am running macOS Monterey The Terminal Commands Below are not working dscacheutil -cachedump -entries Host dscacheutil -flushcache

You're right. Thank you for pointing it out to us! There is a new terminal command you'll now need instead: "sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder". We've adjusted the article to reflect this. Hope this helps!

Looking for a VPN?

Take a look at our overview of the most trustworthy, fast, and safe VPN services. Extensively tested by our experts.

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Safari User Guide

  • Change your homepage
  • Import bookmarks, history, and passwords
  • Make Safari your default web browser
  • Go to websites
  • Find what you’re looking for
  • Bookmark webpages that you want to revisit
  • See your favorite websites
  • Use tabs for webpages
  • Pin frequently visited websites
  • Play web videos
  • Mute audio in tabs
  • Pay with Apple Pay
  • Autofill credit card info
  • Autofill contact info
  • Keep a Reading List
  • Hide ads when reading articles
  • Translate a webpage
  • Download items from the web
  • Share or post webpages
  • Add passes to Wallet
  • Save part or all of a webpage
  • Print or create a PDF of a webpage
  • Customize a start page
  • Customize the Safari window
  • Customize settings per website
  • Zoom in on webpages
  • Get extensions
  • Manage cookies and website data
  • Block pop-ups
  • Clear your browsing history
  • Browse privately
  • Autofill user name and password info
  • Prevent cross-site tracking
  • View a Privacy Report
  • Change Safari preferences
  • Keyboard and other shortcuts
  • Troubleshooting

safari activity window

Use Private Browsing in Safari on Mac

When you browse privately , the details of your browsing aren’t saved, and the websites you visit aren’t shared with your other devices.

Open Safari for me

Browse privately one time

When you use a private window:

Browsing initiated in one tab is isolated from browsing initiated in another tab, so websites you visit can’t track your browsing across multiple sessions.

Webpages you visit and your AutoFill information aren’t saved.

Your open webpages aren’t stored in iCloud, so they aren’t shown when you view all your open tabs from other devices.

Your recent searches aren’t included in the results list when you use the Smart Search field.

Items you download aren’t included in the downloads list. (The items do remain on your computer.)

If you use Handoff , private windows aren’t passed to your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or other Mac computers.

Changes to your cookies and website data aren’t saved.

Websites can’t modify information stored on your device, so services normally available at such sites may work differently until you use a non-private window.

Note: None of the above applies in non-private Safari windows you may have open.

Always browse privately

Click the “Safari opens with” pop-up menu, then choose “A new private window.”

safari activity window

Stop browsing privately

Delete any items you downloaded while using private windows.

Close any other private windows that are still open, to prevent other people from using the Back and Forward buttons to see pages you visited in them.

Besides using private windows, you can manage cookies and data stored by all websites and prevent cross-site tracking .

If you forget to use a private window, you can clear your browsing history .

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Tuffy Nicolas

"Activity window" in Safari no longer works to download YouTube videos. Why not? Workaround?

For years I have used Apple's recommended standard technique whenever I wanted to download a Flash video embedded in a YouTube page to my hard drive:

- Open a YouTube page and click on the video's "play" button to get it started;

- Press command-option-A to then open up Safari's "Activity Window" which lists all the components of the page;

- Find on the list the component for the loading Flash video, which is usually much larger (measured in MB rather than KB) than all the other components, and also is usually still in the process of loading, so it's easy to spot;

- Double-click the component's name on the list in the Activity Window, and voila, the video downloads to my hard drive.

This "trick" is described everywhere as THE standard way to download YouTube videos (and similar page components); and I have used it successfully for many years.

HOWEVER, sometime very recently (not sure when, exactly -- a few weeks or months ago) YouTube has changed the way its pages are coded, so that this technique no longer works. When I open the Activity Window, instead of seeing one large loading video file that's easily identifiable, I see a whole series of large files, all exactly 1.7mb big (no matter how large the file size of the actual video in question is), and they constantly increase in number -- at first there are two such files, but over the seconds and minutes more and more appear. Furthermore, many files with no named size are constantly loading and then disappearing. And here's the whole point: I've tried double-clicking on ALL of these files, dozens of ways on dozens of YouTube pages, and none of the are the video file I seek and none of them cause the file to download to my hard drive.

If I click on one the mysterious 1.7mb components, I indeed get a ".flv" downloaded to my hard drive, but it's not actually a Flash video; clicking on its downloaded file icon just brings up a blank box or an error message saying that it's not really a video file at all. I think it's some sort of "decoy" file or something to do with streaming Flash code.

To see what I mean, just go to YouTube, load any random video page, and then open Safari's Activity WIndow and try to download the video that way.

This happens on an iMac running Safari 5.1 on OSX 10.6.8, and also on a MacBook Pro running Safari 5.0.2 on OSX 10.6.5, and on a few other new-ish Macs I tested it out on, but failed to note their version numbers.

I'm presuming that this problem is not specific to my computer, but is caused by the way that YouTube altered the background code for their pages. I don't know if the glitch is an intentional attempt by YouTube to prevent downloads, or if it is an accidental "bug" of the new code. Either way:

How can I fix the problem? Is there some other lesser-known built-in way for Safari/Mac to download the new kind of YouTube videos? Or is there some reliable freeware or shareware or plug-in or extension or whatever for Safari that would enable YouTube downloading?

I tried a freeware program called "Evom" that was highly touted, but it too was thwarted by the new YouTube code and failed to extract any videos from the YouTube page, even though that's what the application was designed to do.

As a side note, I will say that I also have (though rarely use) FireFox for Mac, and the "Unplug" plug-in installed on it, and that ALSO "broke" recently and no longer has the capacity to recognize or download YouTube videos, even though previously it worked fine. This is why I think the issue is not specific to my set-up or computer, but is due to a change in YouTube's underlying code.)

Any help with an explanation, solution or workaround would be much appreciated (by me and by millions of others who I assume are facing the same problem!).

15" MacBookPro, Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on May 8, 2012 11:09 AM

Carolyn Samit

Posted on May 8, 2012 11:20 AM

Go to ~/Library/Safari

Move these files from the Ssfari folder to the Trash.

Downloads.plist

LastSession.plist

History.plist

Now go to ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari/Cache.db

Move the Cache.db file to the Trash.

Quit then relaunch Safari to test.

Loading page content

Page content loaded

May 8, 2012 11:20 AM in response to Tuffy Nicolas

May 8, 2012 11:40 AM in response to Carolyn Samit

I just now did exactly as you recommended. Result? No change.

Even after trashing the files and restarting and everything else, the Activity Window and YouTube behave exactly as they did before.

(I had actually previously tried something very similar to your recommendation, and it didn't have any effect then either.)

In case it's helpful, here's an example of what one of the mystery components that load endlessly in the Activity Window is listed as:

http://s.youtube.com/s?rendering=software&lact=102489&decoding=&rt=112.382&et=11 0.829&tsphab=1&st=69.939&tspne=0&tspfdt=262&nsiabblmin=62945.000&nsidf=2&tabsb=1 &ad_flags=0&h=360&nsiabblmean=72646.865&md=1&docid=zPxFu7taftE&bc=15194849&csipt =watch5ad&ad_event=3&el=detailpage&hasstoryboard=1&vid=72A5TVVpDgRoXDV3HvMeKPjLx BFdU61DC&fmt=34&cr=US&sd=BD075E8E6HH1336502192683396&vtmp=1&nsiabblmax=79054.000 &hl=en_US&ns=yt&nsivbblmax=774478.000&referrer=None&sidx=0&hbd=7790924&w=480&hbt =2.751&cid=6&sendtmp=1&sst=0&cfps=25.974025974025974&screenw=1440&mt=0.6&vq=auto &playerw=640&playerh=390&slots=sst~0;sidx~0;at~2_3&scoville=1&at=2_3&volume=100& art=1.842&mos=0&plid=AAS_iqoqfi0mjNc0&fs=0&nsivbblc=208&nsivbblmin=561638.000&bd =931267&allowed=1_1,1_3,2_1,2_3&bt=7.441&fvid=bNz97ILtwqc&screenh=900&len=127.92 &vw=480&nsivbblmean=668895.024&nsiabblc=208&vh=360&fexp=912001,914050,913539,919 306,907217,901802,906507

And here's one of the 1.7MB components:

http://o-o.preferred.comcast-lax1.v11.lscache8.c.youtube.com/videoplayback?range =1781760-3563519&expire=1336524839&id=ccfc45bbbb5a7ed1&burst=40&cm2=0&sver=3&upn =I_VxE0Lmh4Y&keepalive=yes&ipbits=8&algorithm=throttle-factor&itag=34&sparams=al gorithm%2Cburst%2Ccp%2Cfactor%2Cid%2Cip%2Cipbits%2Citag%2Csource%2Cupn%2Cexpire& source=youtube&signature=6F9B5B2CA58ACBA6AFE02FB8A54F1F74EE2B0F16.8E421BC37C3019 E806C22CF3E8866847D033565C&factor=1.25&ip=71.0.0.0&cp=U0hSS1VNUl9IU0NOMl9NR1ZJOm lxNTVmbm1vcDlO&key=yt1&fexp=912001%2C914050%2C901802%2C906507%2C907217%2C919306% 2C913539

May 8, 2012 11:55 AM in response to Tuffy Nicolas

Ok.. No need to post all the YouTube lnks. That as no bearing on troubleshooting.

This happens on an iMac running Safari 5.1 on OSX 10.6.8, and also on a MacBook Pro running Safari 5.0.2 on OSX 10.6.5

Update your system software on both Macs. Safari on Mac OS X 10.6.8 should be 5.1.5

And Mac OS X v10.6.5 and Safari 5.0.2 are way outdated.

Click the Apple menu icon top left in your screen. From the drop down menu click Software Update

Make sure and restart the Macs after updating the software.

May 8, 2012 12:09 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

I've experienced this exact same problem not just on my two Macs but on several other Macs as well (as experiments to see if it was specific to my computer). I didn't note down which OS versions they had, but I think they were all pretty or completely up-to-date within the 10.6 framework.

Are you recommending that I do Software Update because you know specifically that this will solve my YouTube problem, or are you just recommending it on general principles because (admittedly) it's a smart thing to do? Because it will take quite a while, and due to work I won't be able to take the time and restart the computer until late tonight or tomorrow.

Anyone else out there with more recent versions of 10.6, e.g. such as 10.6.8? If you do, have you tried the Activity Window technique for YouTube? What is the result? If it works for you, then maybe that's my problem, but if it doesn't work for you, then the problem isn't due to the Mac's OS version but rather something to do with YouTube or Flash or whatever.

Feedback in this area would help me know whether or not it's necessary right now to do Software Update, which is a hassle for me at the moment because I have several important work files open.

HamidR

May 9, 2012 11:34 AM in response to Tuffy Nicolas

Hello Tuffy Nicolas,

My first time logging in just to tell you something...(enough about my logging history

anyway, im here to tell you that it is not your software edition, nor OS version, YouTube has changed its download method, or should i say upload. I know a way you can download the videos still but im not too sure that if they have mended this method too,

here is the method -- right click on the video and make it "pop-out', then it should appear on the activity window,

I am not too sure if this was your question.

Also, before this, there was an option on Adobe associated with youtube ( an option which was to disable something, i do not remember what,) this allowed it to appear on the accitivty window, if i find this site (which was on youtube under Adobe) i will surely give it to you!

May 9, 2012 11:56 AM in response to HamidR

HamidR, your solution WORKED!

To make it clearer for everyone who might read this in the future:

- Open a YouTube video page;

- Hold down the "Control" key and single-click anywhere in the video box: a drop-down menu will appear;

- Click on the third option of the drop-down menu, which is called "Pop out."

- A new window will open, that is small and just contains the video and nothing else;

- THEN, only after having done this, press "Command-Option-A," and look for the "activity" list for this small window;

- In that activity list you will see (just as in the old days) a large video file loading. Double-click it, and it will download to your hard drive.

Problem SOLVED! Thanks. I have accordingly marked your comment as "This solved my question."

May 9, 2012 11:57 AM in response to Tuffy Nicolas

You are welcome, i m currently looking for another solution which doesent require us to use pop-out, i have done it a couple of days ago but cant remember how , will let you know if i find it!

May 9, 2012 12:20 PM in response to HamidR

HamidR... thanks for posting a solution 🙂

kiwieeyore

May 9, 2012 5:36 PM in response to Tuffy Nicolas

I tried this and it works as you say...except to the point of downloading a big file. I still get the 1.7mb files 😟

I am only trying to download music files - maybe it is this??

Any ideas from you or HamidR?

May 10, 2012 5:05 AM in response to kiwieeyore

How big is "big"?

May 10, 2012 10:32 PM in response to HamidR

Stink - today when I try the Pop Out concept, the file (music video) does pop out, but does not continue to load.

It wont play.

The activity window tells me that some 1.7mb files download, but others have 'cancelled' in red instead of the size.

Previously (above), I only got a series of 1.7mb files downloading - nothing bigger.

bob.logan64

May 31, 2012 10:50 AM in response to kiwieeyore

Yeah, doesn't work for me either. Anybody have any ideas? I don't always have internet access and it was a great learning tool for me to be able to download and check them out later.

C-Wipp

Jun 15, 2012 12:57 AM in response to Tuffy Nicolas

Hey all, YouTube is in the process of testing out HTML5. If the video you are watching is using HTML5 instead of Flash then you cannot download it from the activity window even with the PopOut technique. Luckily YouTube allows you to opt-out of all HTML5 videos and revert to watching them with Flash Player. Once you opt-out of the HTML5 you can download them through the PopOut technique and Activity Window as described above.

This is the link for HTML5 opt-out:

http://www.youtube.com/html5

All you have to do is click where it says, "Leave the HTML5 trial" and voila! All YouTube videos are now Flash and downloadable once you PopOut.

Hope this helps!

Jun 15, 2012 6:51 AM in response to C-Wipp

No, this doesn't work either. I saw no place to click "Leave the HTML5 trial." Only join the HTML5 trial and it didn't do anything.

Jun 15, 2012 6:57 AM in response to bob.logan64

Sorry, I stand corrected. Once you click the join, then leave appears. But the pop out thing does not work for me.

whatever i feel like writing about

safari activity window for all browsers.. Charles

So I've always been in love with safari's Activity window, but I often like using more common browsers for website debugging and hate jumping over to safari which typically runs the same as my standard browser firefox.  Also when troubleshooting the inevitable IE problems it's nice to see what is being referenced and where things are breaking on a http level.  Charles to the rescue!  I recently discovered this debugging program that allows you to do this kind of tracking in all your browsers which really comes in handy if you really enjoy using the activity window like I do.

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  5. Browse privately in Safari on iPhone

    Open the Safari app on your iPhone. Tap . Swipe right on the tab bar at the bottom of the screen until Private Browsing opens, then tap Unlock. To exit Private Browsing, tap , then swipe left to open a Tab Group from the menu at the bottom of your screen. The websites you have open in Private Browsing stay open, and Private Browsing locks.

  6. How to Access Your Safari Browsing History on Your iPhone

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    Content blockers are third-party apps and extensions that let Safari block cookies, images, resources, pop-ups, and other content. To get a content blocker: Download a content blocking app from the App Store. Tap Settings > Safari > Extensions. Tap to turn on a listed content blocker. You can use more than one content blocker.

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    Launch an independent Safari window with the video you want to download. Press Command+Option+A, or go to Windows > Activity to bring up the 'Activity Monitor' window in Safari. Look through the activity for "Video Name", look for the largest file size and double click to download it. Find the file that you downloaded (usually named get ...

  10. 5 Tricks for the Activity and Downloads Windows in Safari

    Open up the Activity Window and locate the file. it should be a relatively large file with something like a .mov, .mpg or .mp3 file extension. Once you have found it, simply hold Option and double-click on it. Alternatively, pressing Option-Return will download whatever item is selected in the list.

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  13. Safari (web browser)

    The first stable, non-beta version of Safari for Windows, Safari 3.1, was offered as a free download on March 18, 2008. ... in CSS. Additionally, various features were removed including Activity Window, a separate Download Window, direct support for RSS feeds in the URL field, and bookmarks. The separate search field and the address bar were ...

  14. Where can I find Safari's Activity (9.1.1…

    Safari used to have an Activity window (under the Window menu) where the user could see what the application had been doing recently. I want to find out when a particular Web page was opened in Safari, but there is no Activity window available in Safari 9.1.1.

  15. How to perform tasks that Safari's Activity Monitor used to do?

    Yes, the Develop menu must be checked at the bottom of Advanced in Safari preferences; but, this does not bring one to easily discover where the Activity Window has gone. I found under Web Inspector clicking the 'Images' tool does show the video I would like to DL; but, the usual double clicking, nor option clicking does a DL.

  16. where is the safari activity window?

    Applications and Services / Safari There's a new way to vote in the Apple Support Community! You can now upvote or downvote replies and User Tips, depending on whether or not they're helpful. Learn more about the recent changes to the way you can Vote in the Apple Support Community.

  17. Everything You Need to Know About Safari Private Browsing

    The basic principle is the same: fire up a private window in your browser, and it won't log or save any activity during the session. There's a little more to this method of browsing than meets the eye, but we'll go into specifics further down in this article. The point is, for a more private experience, you can use Safari's incognito ...

  18. macos

    The Activity Window is gone in Safari 6, but you can get most of the functionality with the Page Resources window of Web Inspector. To enable that, go to Safari's preferences, and on the Advanced tab, check Show Develop menu in menu bar: Then you can view the page's resources by clicking Show Page Resources… in the Develop menu, or pressing ...

  19. Use Private Browsing in Safari on Mac

    In the Safari app on your Mac, close the private window, switch to a non-private Safari window, or choose File > New Window to open a non-private window. To further enhance privacy: Delete any items you downloaded while using private windows. Close any other private windows that are still open, to prevent other people from using the Back and Forward buttons to see pages you visited in them.

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    Turned out the problem was a control on the page that generated Javascript to create cross-site cookies between two related sites on this project. Safari is very strict in its rejection of attempts to create cross-site cookies, and it appears this is the resulting behaviour. As soon as I removed the control, the page rendered consistently in ...

  21. Where's The Activity Window in Safari 6?

    Click the triangle to open the Other folder. 5. One of the things listed in Other should be the movie file; click on it. 6. In the right-most pane the full url of the movie willl be listed. Copy this URL just like you would've from the activity window. This has worked for me. I'd rather have the Activity window back.

  22. "Activity window" in Safari no longer wor…

    For years I have used Apple's recommended standard technique whenever I wanted to download a Flash video embedded in a YouTube page to my hard drive: - Open a YouTube page and click on the video's "play" button to get it started; - Press command-option-A to then open up Safari's "Activity Window" which lists all the components of the page;

  23. safari activity window for all browsers.. Charles

    Charles - cjgammon. safari activity window for all browsers.. Charles. So I've always been in love with safari's Activity window, but I often like using more common browsers for website debugging and hate jumping over to safari which typically runs the same as my standard browser firefox. Also when troubleshooting the inevitable IE problems ...