I cannot clear the history for Safari browser, even though App configuration profile is applied - Unified Endpoint Management Community

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Participant

1 day ago

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@wilma Have you tried applying the configuration profile through the Deploy Custom Configuration policy? It might work that way.

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wilma

Participant

1 day ago

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@harold Tried that but still no effect. The key is getting created with the configured value, but the history remains as is.

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elle_reed

Hexnode Expert

22 hours ago

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Hello @wilma and @harold , As the app configuration profile is applied to Safari, the Remove History Items option under the Safari Browser Settings updates to the value given in the key created under the profile. This indicates that the setting is applied via the UEM and would appear greyed out. However, it does not trigger immediate deletion of history older than the specified time in the key.

As a workaround, please utilize the Script policy under Configurations to delete the browser history older than the specified number of days that match the key value in your profile. Configure the policy to deploy the below provided script periodically to delete Safari browser history and cache.

#!/bin/bash
# --- CONFIGURATION ---
# Match this to your XML Profile setting (e.g., 7 days)
DAYS_TO_KEEP=7
# ---------------------
# 1. Detect currently logged-in user
# MDM scripts run as root, so $HOME usually points to /var/root. 
# We must detect the actual console user to find the correct Library folder.
loggedInUser=$( scutil <<< "show State:/Users/ConsoleUser" | awk '/Name :/ && ! /loginwindow/ { print $3 }' )
if [ -z "$loggedInUser" ] || [ "$loggedInUser" == "root" ]; then
    echo "No active user session found. Exiting."
    exit 0
fi
echo "Running maintenance for user: $loggedInUser"
# 2. Define Paths based on the detected user
USER_HOME="/Users/$loggedInUser"
HISTORY_DB="$USER_HOME/Library/Safari/History.db"
BACKUP_DB="$USER_HOME/Library/Safari/History.db.bak"
CACHE_DIR="$USER_HOME/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari"
# 3. Force Close Safari
# Essential to prevent database corruption or the browser overwriting our changes from memory.
echo "Closing Safari..."
pkill -x Safari
sleep 2
# --- PART A: HISTORY DATABASE CLEANUP ---
if [ -f "$HISTORY_DB" ]; then
    echo "Processing History Database..."
    # 4. Create a Backup (Restored from Apu's logic)
    cp "$HISTORY_DB" "$BACKUP_DB"
    # Ensure the user owns the backup, not root
    chown "$loggedInUser":staff "$BACKUP_DB"
    echo "Backup created at: $BACKUP_DB"
    # 5. Calculate Timestamps
    # macOS Core Data timestamp = Seconds since Jan 1, 2001 (UTC)
    # Unix timestamp = Seconds since Jan 1, 1970 (UTC)
    # Difference = 978307200 seconds
    CURRENT_UNIX_TIME=$(date +%s)
    CORE_DATA_OFFSET=978307200
    SECONDS_TO_KEEP=$((DAYS_TO_KEEP * 86400))
    CUTOFF_TIME=$((CURRENT_UNIX_TIME - SECONDS_TO_KEEP - CORE_DATA_OFFSET))
    echo "Deleting history entries older than $DAYS_TO_KEEP days."
    # 6. Modify the Database
    # Delete visits older than the cutoff
    sqlite3 "$HISTORY_DB" "DELETE FROM history_visits WHERE visit_time < $CUTOFF_TIME;"
    # Vacuum to reclaim disk space (prevents DB fragmentation)
    sqlite3 "$HISTORY_DB" "VACUUM;"
    # 7. Restore Permissions
    # Critical: Since this script runs as root, modifying the file might change ownership to root.
    # We must give it back to the user, or Safari will crash/be unable to save new history.
    chown "$loggedInUser":staff "$HISTORY_DB"
    echo "History database cleaned."
else
    echo "History database not found at $HISTORY_DB. User may not have launched Safari yet."
fi
# --- PART B: CACHE CLEANUP (Restored from Apu's logic) ---
if [ -d "$CACHE_DIR" ]; then
    echo "Clearing Cache files older than $DAYS_TO_KEEP days..."    
    # Find files in Cache directory modified more than X days ago and delete them
    find "$CACHE_DIR" -type f -mtime +$DAYS_TO_KEEP -delete    
    echo "Old cache files removed."
else
    echo "Cache directory not found at $CACHE_DIR."
fi
echo "Maintenance complete."
exit 0

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#!/bin/bash

# --- CONFIGURATION ---

# Match this to your XML Profile setting (e.g., 7 days)

DAYS_TO_KEEP=7

# ---------------------

# 1. Detect currently logged-in user

# MDM scripts run as root, so $HOME usually points to /var/root.

# We must detect the actual console user to find the correct Library folder.

loggedInUser=$( scutil <<< "show State:/Users/ConsoleUser" | awk '/Name :/ && ! /loginwindow/ { print $3 }' )

if [ -z "$loggedInUser" ] || [ "$loggedInUser" == "root" ]; then

echo "No active user session found. Exiting."

exit 0

fi

echo "Running maintenance for user: $loggedInUser"

# 2. Define Paths based on the detected user

USER_HOME="/Users/$loggedInUser"

HISTORY_DB="$USER_HOME/Library/Safari/History.db"

BACKUP_DB="$USER_HOME/Library/Safari/History.db.bak"

CACHE_DIR="$USER_HOME/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari"

# 3. Force Close Safari

# Essential to prevent database corruption or the browser overwriting our changes from memory.

echo "Closing Safari..."

pkill -x Safari

sleep 2

# --- PART A: HISTORY DATABASE CLEANUP ---

if [ -f "$HISTORY_DB" ]; then

echo "Processing History Database..."

# 4. Create a Backup (Restored from Apu's logic)

cp "$HISTORY_DB" "$BACKUP_DB"

# Ensure the user owns the backup, not root

chown "$loggedInUser":staff "$BACKUP_DB"

echo "Backup created at: $BACKUP_DB"

# 5. Calculate Timestamps

# macOS Core Data timestamp = Seconds since Jan 1, 2001 (UTC)

# Unix timestamp = Seconds since Jan 1, 1970 (UTC)

# Difference = 978307200 seconds

CURRENT_UNIX_TIME=$(date +%s)

CORE_DATA_OFFSET=978307200

SECONDS_TO_KEEP=$((DAYS_TO_KEEP * 86400))

CUTOFF_TIME=$((CURRENT_UNIX_TIME - SECONDS_TO_KEEP - CORE_DATA_OFFSET))

echo "Deleting history entries older than $DAYS_TO_KEEP days."

# 6. Modify the Database

# Delete visits older than the cutoff

sqlite3 "$HISTORY_DB" "DELETE FROM history_visits WHERE visit_time < $CUTOFF_TIME;"

# Vacuum to reclaim disk space (prevents DB fragmentation)

sqlite3 "$HISTORY_DB" "VACUUM;"

# 7. Restore Permissions

# Critical: Since this script runs as root, modifying the file might change ownership to root.

# We must give it back to the user, or Safari will crash/be unable to save new history.

chown "$loggedInUser":staff "$HISTORY_DB"

echo "History database cleaned."

else

echo "History database not found at $HISTORY_DB. User may not have launched Safari yet."

fi

# --- PART B: CACHE CLEANUP (Restored from Apu's logic) ---

if [ -d "$CACHE_DIR" ]; then

echo "Clearing Cache files older than $DAYS_TO_KEEP days..."

# Find files in Cache directory modified more than X days ago and delete them

find "$CACHE_DIR" -type f -mtime +$DAYS_TO_KEEP -delete

echo "Old cache files removed."

else

echo "Cache directory not found at $CACHE_DIR."

fi

echo "Maintenance complete."

exit 0

‍
Please note that the script will forcefully close Safari, so make sure to deploy the script outside the active hours of the device. Closing Safari is necessary to successfully delete history.

Regards,
Elle Reed,
Hexnode UEM

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wilma

Participant

19 hours ago

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@elle_reed I just finished the deleting Safari history older than 7 days, like I intended. It was quite easy to setup the Script policy too.

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harold

Participant

16 hours ago

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@wilma I think the script will be better for more granular control, rather than applying a configuration profile.

I cannot clear the history for Safari browser, even though App configuration profile is appliedSolved

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