How do I restore the history for the Chrome browser? Do I need to root the device to access the history file and roll it back to a previous time? I was told that there is the possibility that this wasn't a complete delete since that isn't the case with SQL databases.
I wrote a post in the Google product forums for Chrome regarding how to export my Android's Chrome browser's format in a readable format with clickable links/time accessed, etc.
Unfortunately, the advice I was given was essentially, "try sync again." I had tried this several times which did not result in the phone's history getting synced to my account. Because the email I was using was an institutional email, I tried signing into a different email, which instead led to my browser history becoming inaccessible or deleted. I am not sure which. Usually, when I just sign out of the Google account in Chrome, the browser history is restored.
I had found a few threads regarding the location of the history data and others asking how to restore lost tabs and history (e.g. how can I fetch Chrome history in Android 6 Marshmallow? How to export Android Chrome browser history in a file? Retrieve history from Google Chrome on Android, Export Chrome for Android's history) but they either only have a few, general replies, or none at all.
In case it's relevant:
- Phone model: Samsung Galaxy S5 Active (SAMSUNG-SM-G870A Build/MMB29M)
- Chrome version: 59.0.3071.125
- Android version: 6.0.1