How to clear your iPhone's cache to free up space and make it run faster

• You can clear the cache, history, and cookies on your iPhone to improve its speed and performance. 
• Clearing your iPhone's app cache can also free up extra storage space.
• When you clear your iPhone's cache, you might get logged out of some websites and apps.

Your iPhone, like every kind of computer, relies on data caches to store important information and respond quickly to your commands. 

Clearing the browser or app cache can free up space on your iPhone and – especially if you're having performance issues – sometimes improve speed and performance by removing unnecessary app data.

Here's how to identify caches on your device and clear out some of the biggest culprits on your iPhone. 

What is a cache?

A cache is a storehouse for temporary data that helps websites, browsers, and apps load faster. A browser cache stores information that keeps you logged into websites, for example, so you don't need to sign in every time you visit a site. Most of the time, caches help devices run faster.

After visiting a lot of websites or using various apps, your cache can take up a lot of storage space. To help your device run smoothly, it's a good idea to clear your cache every so often. Doing so can also help mitigate cybersecurity risks, because your cache can contain data that can potentially compromise your privacy and security. 

How to clear cache on iPhone

To clear the cache for your iPhone apps, you'll need to offload them, which frees up storage space the app uses while still keeping its documents and data intact. When you reinstall the app, your data will be recovered.

1. Open the Settings app and tap General, then select iPhone Storage.

2. Wait for the list of all your apps to load. Once the list appears, find the app you want to clear and swipe it to the left. 

3. Tap Offload App. If you prefer, you can delete the app instead, which permanently deletes the app's data from your iPhone.

When you open the list of all your apps, you might see a menu called Offload Unused Apps. Tapping Enable will let your iPhone automatically offload apps that you haven't used in a while.

How to clear the cache, history, and cookies in Safari on iPhone

Even if you have installed an alternative browser on your iPhone, odds are that you've used Safari to surf the web at least a few times. And visiting even a single website can cause your browser to store cookies and other data that consume storage space on your phone. That data can sit on your device indefinitely. If that's the case, you can clear your iPhone's Safari cache, which will delete all of the files, images, passwords, and scripts from websites you've visited.

To clear Safari's cache:  

1. Open the Settings app and tap Safari.

2. Tap Clear History and Website Data.

3. In the popup window, tap Clear History and Data.

How to clear the cache, history, and cookies in Google Chrome on iPhone

If you use Chrome on your iPhone, you can clear the cache with just a few taps:

1. Start the Chrome app.

2. Tap the More icon (it looks like three dots) at the bottom-right of the screen.

3. In the pop-up window, tap History. 

4. Tap Clear Browsing Data.

5. If you don't want to clear the entire cache, tap Time Range and choose the period of time you'd like to wipe from your iPhone. 

6. Make sure that there's a checkmark beside both Cookies, Site Data and Cached Images and Files.

7. Tap Clear Browsing Data.

How to clear the cache, history, and cookies in Firefox on iPhone

Firefox has its own cache, which you can quickly clear in the browser's Settings page. If you're using a desktop browser, you can find our detailed guide to clearing Firefox's cache, but here is how to do that on iPhone:

1. Start the Firefox app. 

2. Tap the More icon (it looks like three lines) at the bottom-right of the screen.

3. In the pop-up menu, tap Settings. 

4. In the Privacy section, tap Data Management. 

5. In the Clear Private Data section, make sure all the options are on by swiping the buttons to the right (if you want to preserve files you've downloaded from the internet using Firefox, you can turn off Downloaded Files).

6. Tap Clear Private Data and then confirm you want to do this by tapping OK. 

How to clear the cache, history, and cookies in Edge on iPhone

If you enjoy Microsoft Edge in Windows, you can install and use a version of the browser on your iPhone as well. You can follow our guide to clear Edge's cache on your desktop browser as well as clearing the cache on the iPhone:

1. Start the Edge app. 

2. Tap the More icon (it looks like three dots at the bottom center of the screen).

3. In the pop-up menu, tap Settings. 

4. Tap Privacy and security. 

5. Tap Clear browsing data.

6. Tap Time range and then select All Time, then tap the Back button. 

7. Make sure that all the options you want to clear are selected and then tap Clear now. Confirm you want to do this by tapping Clear now again in the pop-up window. 

FAQs

Are cookies and cache the same?

No, they're not. Cookies are small files that store information about your online activity and can contain passwords and personalization information. 

While many cookies are beneficial – such as those that help you stay logged into frequently used websites – other third-party cookies track your activity across different websites. This may include potentially private information such as search history and things you've clicked on.

A cache, on the other hand, stores data files that your browser or app is expected to use frequently. This can speed up the performance of your phone by not needing to repeatedly download the same data over and over again. 

What is the difference between clearing cache and offloading?

Clearing your cache removes stored data that helps websites and apps open faster, while offloading temporarily uninstalls an app without deleting any of the documents and data associated with that app. 

Both methods can help speed up iPhones that are slowed down by low storage.