How to Delete Your Viewing History in VLC

Everything that you do with your electronics leaves a digital footprint. If you watch a lot of videos using VLC, they will leave a trace as your recently watched history. Anyone with access to your device can quickly check this history to know what content you have been watching. Thankfully, you can clear your recently watched VLC history irrespective of the device you use to avoid prying eyes from going through it. Follow this guide to learn how.

How to Clear VLC Watch History on Windows

VLC is among the most preferred media players on Windows. It’s free, supports all file types and codecs, and packs several useful features. However, it’s not perfect. The media player reopens the unfinished video you’ve last played and saves your watch history, which might not be ideal if you are conscious about your privacy. 

While clearing VLC’s watch history is simpler than hiding or deleting your Amazon orders, you must also prevent the media player from recreating your viewing history. 

Follow the below steps to see how you can clear your recently viewed history in VLC on Windows and prevent the app from saving it further. 

1. Launch VLC on your Windows computer and click Media in the upper left corner. 
2. Click Open recent media from the menu. 
3. Hit the Clear button to delete your watch history. 
   
4. Now, click Tools and select Preferences from the menu.
   
5. Uncheck the Save recently played items box. 
6. Hit Save. 
   

This method will clear your VLC watch history and stop the app from saving it further. However, there is still a chance that VLC has saved your watch history as a cache on your computer. Clear the app’s cache for your complete peace of mind.

1. Open Windows Explorer on your computer. 
2. Search %APPDATA% in the address bar at the top. 
   
3. Find the VLC folder and delete it. 
   
4. Empty your Recycle Bin. 

After this, there won’t be any digital trace of your VLC watch history on your computer. 

How to Delete VLC Watch History on Mac

Since the Mac version of VLC is almost identical to Windows, deleting your watch history is nearly the same. You can also prevent it from saving your data going forward. Here’s what you need to do: 

1. Launch VLC on your Mac and click File. 
2. Select Open Recent from the menu and hit the Clear menu button.
   
3. Click on VLC from the menu bar at the top and Select Settings from the menu. 
   
4. Press Show all on the bottom left. 
   
5. Select Main interfaces and choose macosx. 
6. In the Behavior section, uncheck the box next to Keep Recent Items. 
7. Hit the Save button. 
   

Like Windows, you must clear the cached VLC data to erase your viewing history. 

1. Access Launchpad and select Terminal. 
2. Enter the command defaults delete org.videolan.vlc. 
   
3. Access the Finder menu from the top menu bar and select Go from the drop-down menu. 
4. Select Go To Folder. 
   
5. Type User/(your username)/Library/Preference within the search bar and hit return. 
   
6. It should open a folder. Move all the files that say org.videolan.vlc to Trash. 
   
7. Empty the Trash to remove those files from your Mac permanently.

That’s it. Now, there shouldn’t be any record of what you watched on VLC left on your Mac. 

How to Erase Your Recently Viewed History on VLC for Android 

Deleting your VLC watch history on an Android phone is pretty straightforward. Let’s see how you can do it.

1. Launch the VLC app on your Android phone. 
2. Tap the Menu bar at the top left. 
3. Press Settings and select Advanced. 
   
4. Select Clear playback history and hit Clear History. 
   

While this method will erase your current playback history from the device, you still need to ensure that the app won’t start collecting the data again. To do that, follow these steps:

1. Open VLC and tap the Menu bar. 
2. Select the Settings option from the menu. 
3. Search History Playback and deselect the box next to it. 
   

Once unchecked, it will stop saving your watch history on the phone. However, like on a PC, your phone also creates a cache. Thankfully, removing VLC’s cache from your Android phone is as simple as clearing the cache of Apple Music and other similar apps. For this, navigate to Settings > Apps on your Android phone, find VLC, and clear its cache from here.

Alternatively, you press and hold the VLC shortcut from the apps menu > App info > Storage & cache and press the Clear cache button. 

How to Remove VLC Watch History on iPhone

Unfortunately, you can’t delete your VLC watch history on an iPhone. It doesn’t allow you to clear your recently viewed history like other platforms offer. However, you can lock VLC behind a passcode to prevent snoopers from easily accessing this information.

1. Open the VLC app on your iPhone
2. Tap on the Settings option in the bottom right corner. 
3. Navigate to the Privacy section and enable the Passcode Lock toggle. 
   
4. Enter a passcode. 
   

After this, every time VLC is opened, it will ask for the passcode to access the app. 

Don’t Leave a Trace of What You Watch

VLC’s watch history is useful if you quickly want to resume viewing a movie you fell asleep while watching. However, removing your viewing history is important if you use a shared device or see things you don’t want other people to know about. Whether it’s your device or VLC watch history, your privacy should always be under your control.

Do you want to use VLC like a pro? Then, learn these essential VLC shortcuts. 

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