Tips to delete racy mobile content

The initial story was interesting enough: A youth group creates an app to educate students about expunging old juvenile offenses from their records.

But in bringing up the app for a Chicago TV news segment, the demonstrator inadvertently showed a link to a porn site on the mobile device’s browsing history. Some sharp-eyed viewers couldn’t resist bringing it up. And the adult-themed site has some advice for mobile users who want to keep their viewing history discreet.

The demo for WGN-TV’s segment on the student-created app, called Expunge.io, did not belong to any of the people interviewed or anyone from WGN, station news director Greg Caputo tells AOL Jobs.  The demonstrator’s typed search on the smartphone revealed links to the owner’s previously visited websites, among them an adult website called Pornhub.

A chastened WGN took the story down from its own site and off YouTube, though you can see the segment here on Mediaite.

Pornhub has taken notice and its tech team has some suggestions. Says company vice president Corey Price in a statement:

“We have had the pleasure of watching the WGN debacle make headlines around the country, and while we wholeheartedly appreciate the exposure as a result of the demo phone in question, we’d like to offer up a little help to users looking to hide their dirty laundry a bit better moving forward.

That said, we’ve had our tech team devise the following steps to give unbeknownst surfers some first-hand knowledge about how to delete their mobile browser history in the spirit of keeping things discreet, and perhaps a bit less embarrassing for mobile enthusiasts.”

For iPhones:

  • Ensure your phone is powered on – head into the “Settings” menu on the home screen
  • Scroll down and tap on “Safari”
  • Scroll down into the subsequent menu and you’ll find two options: “Clear History” and “Clear Cookies”
  • Tap on all of these to clear them out

For Android phones:

  • Ensure your phone is powered on – open the mobile browser
  • Press the “Menu” key, followed by “More”
  • Continue on to the ‘Setting’ button and scroll down to ‘Privacy Settings’
  • Click on “Clear History”
  • Press “OK” (repeat for “Cache,” “Cookie History” and “Form Data”)

 

 

 

 

 

Mikva Challenge decided to create an app to “educate young detainees and parents” and help them understand a process called expungement, under which juveniles can petition the courts to clear their records. The app is called Expunge.io.