How to check Facebook browser history and close it

Main points

• Facebook Link History allows you to track and recall sites you’ve visited through the Facebook mobile app.
• Enabling link history allows for quick website calls, but also means Facebook will use the data for targeted advertising.
• Link history can be enabled or disabled in the Facebook app’s settings menu, but Facebook may retain the data for up to 90 days.

Web browsers keep a history of all site visits so you can easily find and revisit them later.

But with Facebook’s in-app web browser, many links clicked from the social platform never actually make it into the browser history on Safari, Chrome, or Firefox. That means finding the link you clicked days ago in the Facebook mobile app is a near-impossible task—or at least it seems like it. In early 2024, Meta began rolling out Facebook Link History, a way to track the websites you’ve visited while using the social platform’s mobile apps.

What is Facebook link history?

If you’ve ever wanted to return to a page you visited from Facebook, Link History is the easiest way. This feature is similar to history in web browsers like Chrome or Safari. But you need to enable link history first. Otherwise, Facebook won’t keep a record of the pages you open within the app. Therefore, to recall your Facebook browser history later, you need to turn on this feature.

As with most Facebook features, turning on browser tracking comes with trade-offs, so you may want to disable it later.

When you turn on the link history feature, you’ll be able to quickly recall sites you’ve visited from the mobile app, but Facebook will also use that information to serve more targeted ads. Part of learning how to view your Facebook browser history is deciding whether the added tracking is worth a quick recall of the previous site – although Facebook tracks you across sites in a number of ways.

How to enable Facebook link history

Link history is turned off by default

Facebook’s link history is turned off by default, so if you want to easily recall links you’ve visited from the social media app, you’ll need to turn it on first. Some users may receive a pop-up suggesting turning the feature on, but other than that, the feature is an opt-in feature. Sorry, this won’t help you remember links to interesting sites you visited a week ago, but if you enable the feature now, you’ll avoid the same trap in the future.

There are two ways to open Facebook browser history. Both methods require the Facebook mobile app, as link history is not available when accessing the platform in a web browser. Any website visited from facebook.com will open in that browser, not Facebook’s browser, so no link history is required outside of the mobile app.

1. Open the Facebook app.
2. Click menu icon In the lower right corner.
3. scroll to Settings and privacy and click the arrow to expand this menu.
4. tap Link history.
5. choose Allow link history.

You can also dig into the settings menu to turn link history on and off – you’ll find more related tools here, too.

1. Open the Facebook mobile app.
2. Click menu icon In the lower right corner.
3. Scroll down and click Settings and privacy Expand submenu.
4. tap set up.
5. under prioritytap browser.
6. Click the switch next to Allow Link History to turn history on and off.

How to turn off Facebook link history

Facebook’s link history is as easy to close as it is to open. However, Facebook may retain this data for up to 90 days after you turn this feature off.

1. Open the Facebook application.
2. Navigate to the menu by clicking the menu icon or profile picture in the lower right corner.
3. tap Settings and privacy.
4. tap set up.
5. Scroll down under “Preferences” and click Browser.
6. beside Allow link history, Click the switch to turn it off.

Facebook also lets you clear your entire link history list at once, or remove individual websites from the list. This allows you to delete your link history, but if you don’t turn the feature off, Facebook will still save new links you visit.

1. Within the Facebook app, navigate to the menu by clicking the menu or profile picture icon in the lower right corner.
2. tap Settings and privacy.
3. tap Link history.
4. To clear an individual site, click the X next to the list you want to delete.
5. To clear your entire Facebook browser history, click “Clear All.”

How to find your Facebook browser history

With link history enabled, you can find a list of websites you’ve visited in the past 30 days in the app’s built-in browser using a shortcut in the settings menu:

1. Open the Facebook application.
2. Click menu icon Or your profile picture in the lower right corner.
3. tap Settings and privacy Expand submenu.
4. choose Link history.
5. Click the link you want to visit again.

How does Facebook use link history data?

While turning on Facebook’s link history makes it easier to recall sites you’ve visited from the mobile app, it’s also another way Meta collects marketing data. Meta doesn’t have the best reputation when it comes to user privacy. When you open link history, you’ll see a note explaining that the data will be used to improve features like targeted advertising. This means that if you browse for running shoes in Facebook’s in-app browser, you may soon start seeing ads for running shoes on Facebook and Meta’s other apps, such as Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp. This applies not only to links clicked from the Facebook feed, but also to any subsequent pages viewed in the Facebook browser.

However, Facebook has long logged the links you click on within its mobile apps. Critics of the new link history tool worry the option will add to confusion because link history isn’t the only way Facebook tracks web browser activity. Even beyond the Facebook app itself, some websites already use Meta Pixel, an ad tracker that shares the site’s information with Meta.

While link history can be disabled at any time, Facebook notes that it can take up to 90 days to delete the data. Once link history is turned on, users can only access their history for 30 days, suggesting Facebook retains advertising data longer than data for personal use.

People concerned about privacy may wish to turn off link history.If you want to save your browser history instead of a link to Facebook, when visiting a website in the Facebook app, tap the “…” menu and then tap Open in system browser. This will open the site in your default web browser instead of Facebook’s in-app browser, and save the link to your browser history. For example, if you use an iPhone, the process will take you to Safari and the link will become part of your Safari history.