Facebook videos are excellent for sharing some laughs with your friends and family, introducing them to new products, or even recommending tutorials for a new hobby. It’s important to remember, however, that Facebook tracks the videos you watch and comment on.
These watched videos on Facebook can be found in your viewing history, which the algorithm uses to spit out similar content every time you browse the Facebook app or website. While this can be helpful in finding the type of media you’re interested in, it can also lead to an echo chamber of same-style content, along with targeted ads.
To help you remedy this, we’ll outline how to find and delete your Facebook video history across desktop browsers, iOS, and Android devices.
How to Find Videos You’ve Previously Watched on Facebook?
There are many reasons you want to go back to those videos you’ve watched recently. Perhaps you stumbled on a particularly entertaining or informative one that you’d like to share, but can’t seem to find again. Or, perhaps you watched a video that didn’t turn out the way you hoped it would and are now getting a lot of recommendations for similar content.
As mentioned above, websites like Facebook and YouTube use an algorithm to suggest similar content to what you’ve viewed already. It’s a veiled strategy to keep you hooked on the site. So, removing your viewing history is a way of wiping the slate clean.
Finding and deleting your Facebook video history is easily accomplished via your personal profile, although it’s buried a little deeper than most settings. Conveniently, the method for locating your watch history is identical across Android and iOS devices, so we’ll start there.
Finding and Deleting Facebook Video History on Mobile Devices
1. Finding Facebook Video History on Smartphones
- Start by opening the Facebook App and signing in if you haven’t already.
- In the top right-hand corner of the screen, tap on your profile picture/hamburger menu to open the main shortcut menu. Here you’ll see things like group shortcuts, friends, marketplace, memories, events, and so on.
- Just below the Main Menu button is a small gear icon which is located in the top right-hand corner. Tap on this to open your Settings.
- In Settings, tap on the Profile Settings option, located at the top of the page just under the Profile Header.
- Now scroll down to the header labeled Your Facebook Information, then tap on Activity Log.
- In the menu that follows, scroll to the bottom revealing a header labeled View Logged Actions and Other Activity. To the right of this header is a small down arrow. Tap on the down arrow to reveal a list of logged activities. Note: You can also view your search history from here by selecting that option.
- Search the newly revealed list of Videos You’ve Watched and tap on it. This will show you a list of your recent Facebook video history, organized by date.
2. Clearing Facebook Video History on Smartphones
Now that you’ve located your watch history, there are two ways to delete it.
- One at a Time. To remove individual items, simply locate the video in question, tap on the three horizontal dots next to it, then Tap on the Delete option when it appears.
- All at Once. At the top of the page is an option labeled Clear Video Watch History. Tapping this option will clear your video history in its entirety.
Finding and Deleting Facebook Video History on Desktop Computers
For those of us who take the time to put down our mobile devices in favor of our much larger and not-so-mobile devices, the process looks a little different but achieves the same result. Additionally, there is an alternate way of reaching this destination through the Facebook website.
1. Finding Facebook Video History on Desktop Computers
There are two methods for doing this:
Method 1
- Start by opening the Facebook website and logging in to your account.
- In the navigation menu on the left-hand side of the screen, click on the option Your Profile.
- Once there, click on the three horizontal dots in the top right, just above the What’s on Your Mind insertion box. Click on Activity Log in the menu that appears.
- Search the list that appears for the option labeled Videos You’ve Watched and click it. This will reveal the list of your recent Facebook video history.
Method 2
- Start by opening the Facebook website and logging in to your account.
- Click on your portrait in the very top right-hand corner of the window.
- In the newly opened context menu, click on the top option labeled Settings & Privacy. Then click into the Activity Log.
- From here, you’ll be able to click on the Videos You’ve Watched and delete them as needed in the steps below.
2. Clearing Facebook Video History on Desktop Computers
Clearing your viewing history on a computer looks much the same as it does on a mobile device. The only real difference is the location of the options. Again, there are 2 methods for doing this:
- One at a Time. Removing individual videos is still done by clicking the three horizontal dots on the right side of the item, then hitting the Delete option that appears.
- All at Once. The option to Clear Video Watch History is now located in the top right-hand corner of the screen, just above the most recently watched video in the list. Clicking this option will remove all items from your watch history.
Frequently Asked Questions Related to Video Watch & Search History
Now that we’ve gone through and learned how to find and delete the watched videos history on Facebook for the iOS, Android, and Desktop platforms, here are some commonly asked questions that may also interest you:
If you’ve done a lot of video searches on Facebook and want to clear this history in addition to your Facebook viewing record, here is how to do it:
a) Facebook Website / Desktop: Head to the Facebook website, log in, and go to your profile page. Tap on the 3 dots in the upper right-hand corner underneath the Edit Profile button. Then click on Activity Log and choose Videos You’ve Searched For (image below) from the options located at the top of the page. Delete using the same methods as noted above.
b) Facebook Mobile Apps / iOS and Android: Open your Facebook app and click on your profile picture/hamburger menu in the top right-hand corner. Click on the Settings and Privacy option then follow this path: settings – profile settings – activity log. Then click on the Videos You’ve Searched and delete them using the same methods as mentioned in this guide.
If you’re looking for videos that you’ve saved while scrolling through your newsfeed, here is how you do it:
a) Facebook Website – Desktop: Head to the Facebook website and log in. In the top left-hand corner underneath your profile image and name, click on the See More down arrow. This will expand the left-hand sidebar, revealing more options to choose from. Find the Save option in the list and click it. In the new Collections Window, either find your Video Collection OR scroll through the “All” and find the video you’re looking for.
b) Facebook Mobile Apps – iOS and Android: On the mobile app, simply click on your profile image/hamburger menu in the top right-hand corner, and select the Saved option from the context menu.
One way to help manage your news and media feed is to go to the Videos on Watch Facebook feature and choose the See Less option on videos within this section of the site/app. This will allow you to hide specific videos from your feed and see less similar content.
a) Facebook Website/Desktop: Open Facebook, log in, and click on the Watch Video symbol that sits across the top of the site beside the Home Button. Now scroll through all the videos in here, hitting the 3 dots and choosing to See Less (image below) for each one that you want to “see less” of on your newsfeed.
b) Facebook Mobile Apps – iOS and Android: same steps as the Facebook Desktop version. 
Finding and Deleting Facebook Video History, Learned!
While online videos remain a fantastic medium for sharing humor, skills, ideas, and information, we’ve all encountered at least one that was better left forgotten. And there are those we wish we could remember or find again.
Learning how to navigate your Facebook video history means you get the added benefit of easily finding recently viewed videos and having full control over whether you want to keep them around or wipe them away. Moreover, tailoring your viewing history in addition to your future media consumption is a great way to ensure that you only see the kind of content you actually want to see.
