How to Delete Top Hits on iPhone

Have you ever been frustrated with the top hits feature, and you’re wondering how to delete top hits on iPhone? Then, this article is for you!

When you search for any matching term or website in the address bar that you have previously visited or saved as a bookmark, the Safari browser displays the top hits suggestion. 

Unfortunately, there is no way to disable this feature explicitly. As a result, the only way to stop top hits recommendations is to clear the browsing data.

To save bandwidth, we can also stop pre-loading the Top Hits.

Modern web browsers have some handy features that make completing the intended tasks relatively simple and efficient.

Most of the time, everyone welcomes these features with open arms.

However, in some cases, it may result in a terrible experience for some users. And the Safari Browser’s Top Hits feature would likely fit in this category.

Let’s look at how to delete top hits on iPhone and Mac.

What Is the Top Hit Feature?

For the uninitiated, as soon as you type a keyword into the search bar, the browser will display its related site as the first result in the Top Hit.

It also pre-loads that page so that you don’t have to wait for it to load when you click on it.

In retrospect, all of this results in faster site loading, which saves us valuable time, so what’s the fuss about?

The issue is that you might not prefer the first results in a search result. 

However, because the browser would load it anyway, it causes a slew of problems.

To begin with, your workflow will be disrupted by search results in which you are uninterested. 

Furthermore, the automatic pre-loading of the first search results – with which you have no intention of interacting – would consume unnecessary network bandwidth. 

Not to mention that your data would now be in the hands of even more websites, the majority of which you would never have visited.

There are numerous issues with this feature, and as a result, many users are looking to remove it from their Safar browser. 

This article should help you out if you are not a fan of the top hit feature. 

How to Remove Top Hit from Safari on Mac

It is worth noting that there is no such thing as a universal toggle that would immediately disable this feature. 

There are, however, a few workarounds that have been known to work for many users. 

You can also disable top hit pre-loading to save bandwidth.

The Top Hit feature retrieves site URL suggestions from saved bookmarks/favorites, browsing history, and reading list. 

If you delete all of the previously saved data, the Top Hit suggestion will be removed.

To disable top hits in Safari for Mac, follow these steps:

Step 1: On a Mac, launch the Safari browser app.

Step 2: From the menubar, select History.

Step 3: Under the History menu, select the Clear History… option.

It will launch the Clear History dialog box.

Step 4: Select the date range to be deleted from the drop-down menu.

Step 5: To clear Safari’s history, click the Clear History command button.

However, if you want to be more aggressive, consider erasing your entire search history. This will remove all autocompleted URLs.

There is no simple way to accomplish this task, and deleting the search history appears to yield the best results when it comes to resolving this issue.

This guide will show you how to manage bookmarks/favorites and reading lists in the Apple Safari browser. When you remove a site from your Bookmarks and Reading list, it will no longer appear in the top hits list.

To disable top hits preloading, go to the Safari Preferences menu and select the Search tab. Disable the Preload top hit checkbox in the background option.

How to Delete Top Hits on iPhone and Disable Them

Similarly, we can clear Safari’s history, bookmarks, and reading lists on iPhone to disable Top Hit suggestions.

Turning off this feature on iOS requires two steps. We would recommend turning off the Top Hit feature and then deleting your search history, as detailed below:

Step 1: On your iPhone, open the Settings app.

Step 2: Choose Safari from the list and navigate to the Search section.

Step 3: Disable the Preload Top Hit toggle within that.

Step 4: Disable Top Hit Preloading in Safari iOS iPhone

Step 5: Return to the Safari settings once that is complete.

Step 6: Select the option to Clear History and Website Data.

Step 7: Confirm the deletion of history and website data.

That’s all there is to it; the combination of these two changes should be enough to keep Top Hits from appearing in Safari’s search bar.

It would be beneficial if you also thought about deleting the Safari bookmarks from your iPhone.

Conclusion

So that brings us to the end of our guide on how to delete top hits on Safari on iPhone and Mac.

The underlying problem appears to be the browser’s tendency to load the site’s root directory first, then its subdirectories.

If you prefer to go to www.xyz.com/123, it will still display www.xyz.com as the first result in the Top Hits.

On top of that, the lack of a direct way to disable this feature may enrage users even more. Safari should have an explicit option to disable the Top Hit feature under the Search section by now.

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