A browser is not a VPN. Erasing a session does not hide your IP address from sites you visited or from your network operator. Tracking protection is list-based and not absolute: known ads, analytics, and social trackers from bundled lists are blocked on the device, but no blocker catches everything. Private Browser Incognito is rated 17+ for unrestricted web access and is intended for adults.
Clear history is a maintenance task. You open a settings pane, pick a time range, confirm a few checkboxes, and hope the right stores were included. One-tap erase is a different control. In Private Browser Incognito the trash action closes every tab and destroys the session: cookies, cache, and site data. There is nothing left to mop up because there was never a history file. The session lived in memory. Erase ends it.
That sounds simple, and it is, until you mix it up with two other buttons that look adjacent. The encrypted download vault is supposed to survive a browsing wipe. Panic code is supposed to go further. This article names those three jobs so a fast tap does the job you meant.
Session destroy is not clear history
A conventional browser writes records, then offers to delete them. The list existed between the visit and the tap. Recently closed tabs, website data, and other panes can still hold related traces. Clearing history is a deletion of something that was already stored. Timing is the whole problem: visit, list, delete.
A forgetful browser never creates the list. Every tab is a private session in memory. There is no browsing history feature. Cookies and caches still exist so the page you are using can stay signed in and load without refetching every asset. Those stores are session-scoped. They are not promoted into a long-lived history database. For the missing-file design, see A Browser With No History File at All.
Erase is the explicit end of that session. It is not a filter on a log. You do not choose last hour or all time. You throw the session away. If you still needed a tab, it is gone. That is the honest trade: a session you can destroy on purpose cannot also be a session we can restore later.
What the tap actually destroys
One-tap erase closes every open tab. It destroys cookies, cache, and site data for the session. The page you were reading is no longer in the app. Form fields, session logins, and cached scripts go with it. There is no recycle bin. Erased data cannot be recovered, by you or by us. There is no support email that puts a tab back.
Closing a single tab is not erase. Dismissing a page removes that page from the screen. Other tabs, and the cookies those tabs need, can still be alive. App Lock with a six-digit passcode and Face ID can hide the remaining session from someone who picks up the phone. Lock does not delete. Erase deletes.
Force-quitting the app is also not a substitute we document as erase. Memory sessions end when the process is gone, but the control you can rely on is the erase action. Use the control that is designed to destroy, not an operating-system gesture you hope is equivalent.
A quick action that does not need the UI
The useful erase is the one you can reach when you are about to hand the phone over. Private Browser Incognito ships a home-screen quick action for erase so you do not have to open the browser first, look at the tabs, and then find the trash control. The point of a quick action is speed without a preview.
Stealth Suite adds an Auto-Erase timer if you want the session to die after you leave the app. That is a policy for forgetfulness, not a panic. You set a delay. The session expires without another tap. Auto-Erase is still session destroy: cookies, cache, site data, tabs. It is not a vault wipe.
Erase remains free. Auto-Erase is part of the optional suite. If a Stealth Suite subscription lapses, protections you already enabled keep working. The free erase button does not depend on a subscription in the first place.
The vault survives erase on purpose
Downloads that went into the encrypted vault are a separate store. Session erase does not empty that store. The vault is AES-256, with no plain copy on disk, excluded from backups. Files you chose to keep are supposed to outlive a browsing wipe. Mixing the two would make erase unusable for anyone who also saves a file.
If you expected one tap to mean the whole app forgets every byte, read the vault note before you rely on it. The vault is optional Stealth Suite. The session wipe is free. For how that store is built, see An Encrypted Download Vault on iPhone.
Cookies and cache are not vault files. They live only for the session, which is why erase can take them. The longer explanation of those short-lived stores is Cookies and Cache That Live Only for the Session. Treat cookies as tools for the tab you are in, not as a second history file you forgot to clear.
Panic is a different control
Panic code is not erase with a louder name. It is a Stealth Suite feature: one code at the lock screen silently wipes tabs, the entire vault, and the break-in log, then opens what looks like a fresh start. That is the control for when the vault should die too. It is irreversible. It is easy to confuse with erase if you only remember “wipe.”
Self-destruct is adjacent and also not the everyday trash button. After too many wrong codes, saved tabs are destroyed, and optionally the vault with them. Break-in log timestamps failed unlocks. Optional Intruder Photo can capture who tried, encrypted on the device. Camera permission is asked when you enable that feature, never at the lock screen. None of those are one-tap erase.
Use erase when the browsing session should vanish and the files you saved should remain. Use panic when everything behind the lock, including the vault, should vanish. If you only need the app shut, App Lock is enough and does not destroy anything.
Permanent by design
People ask whether erased browsing data can be recovered. No. That is not a limitation we will patch. A forgetful browser that could undelete would be a different product. Copy a URL before you tap if you still need it. The 17+ rating still applies: this is a real browser. Erase does not unwind a request that already left the phone. Sites you visited still saw the traffic. Your network operator still saw destinations. The tap only ends what the app still held.
There are no accounts and no app server for browsing. The App Store privacy label is Data Not Collected. We cannot restore a session we never received. That is the useful half of having nothing on a server. The other half is the callout: erase is local. It is not a VPN, and it is not a rewrite of someone else’s logs.
| Control | Tabs and session data | Encrypted vault |
|---|---|---|
| One-tap erase (free) | Destroyed | Left intact |
| Home-screen quick action | Same as erase | Left intact |
| Auto-Erase timer | Destroyed after you leave | Left intact |
| Panic code | Wiped | Wiped, with the break-in log |
If a comparison chart lists “clear data” without saying which stores die, it is not finished. Erase everything in one tap means the browsing session. It does not mean the vault, and it does not mean the network forgot you. Used for the first job, it is the control a forgetful browser is for.
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Frequently asked questions
What does one-tap erase delete in a private browser?
It closes every tab and destroys the session: cookies, cache, and site data. There is no history file to clear because the engine never writes one. Erased data cannot be recovered, by you or by us. That is session destroy, not a time-range cleanup in Settings.
Is erase the same as clearing Safari history?
No. Clearing history deletes records that were already written. One-tap erase ends an in-memory session that never had a history file. You are not picking last hour or last week. You are throwing the session away. The vault, if you use Stealth Suite, is a separate store and is not emptied by session erase.
Can I erase private browsing data from the home screen?
Yes. Private Browser Incognito includes a home-screen quick action for erase, so you do not have to open the app first. The result is the same wipe: tabs closed, session data destroyed. Use it when you are about to hand the phone over and you do not want to unlock the session just to throw it away.
Does erase delete files in the encrypted vault?
No. Session erase does not clear the encrypted download vault. Downloads that went into the vault are AES-256, with no plain copy on disk, and excluded from backups. Erase is for the browsing session. Panic code, which is part of Stealth Suite, is the control that can wipe tabs, the vault, and the break-in log together.
Can erased browsing data be recovered?
No. Erase, Auto-Erase, the panic code, and self-destruct permanently destroy data by design. There is no recycle bin and no support path that puts a tab back. If you needed the page, it is gone. A session you can throw away cannot also be a session we can restore.