How to clear the cache on an iPhone? 

Sometimes, you may experience performance or connectivity issues on your iPhone. The most common advice you will see online is “Clear your phone’s cache.”

This suggestion may seem very general, but it is often the immediate solution. Although the cached data improves your overall browsing experience, it could often be the reason why your iPhone underperforms.

This guide will explain how cache works, why you need to delete it, and how to clear cache data on an iPhone.

Why Do You Need To Clear The iPhone’s Cache?

The mobile apps generate cached copies of the files they use to boost your iPhone’s performance. The files are already stored locally and ready to load instead of being downloaded every time the apps connect online.

For example, when you visit a website, your browser downloads the web page’s static contents, such as HTML files, CSS files, and JavaScript files. Those resources are then saved in the browser cache. Therefore, next time you visit the same web page, your browser doesn’t need to download the same files repeatedly. It directly loads the cached copies, significantly reducing the loading time.

However, the generated cached data can expire, become corrupted, or grow and clutter your device’s storage space with time. In such cases, your phone may work noticeably slower, or apps may unexpectedly crash.

For web browsers, in particular, expired cache or cookies may prevent you from loading a website and using its features properly.

On the other hand, multimedia apps may generate a significant amount of data from your previous sessions, exhausting your internal storage. This will inevitably result in poor performance of your phone.

Therefore, it is highly recommended to periodically check your storage and keep the cache well-managed for all apps and especially browsers.

How To Clear The Browser Cache on an iPhone

Safari is the default browser for iOS devices. Hence, it is the most used one on iPhones and iPads. To clear the Safari cache and cookies, open the Settings icon on your device and navigate to the Safari section.

Scroll down to Clear History and Website Data and tap on it.

Your iPhone will ask you if you want to delete all browsing data one final time. Confirm your choice with the button Clear History and Data.

This action will delete all browsing history, website cookies, and temporary files.

If you prefer to clear only the cookies, but keep the history, choose Advanced back on the Safari page in Settings.

On the Advanced page, tap on Website Data. On the next screen, select Remove All Website Data to clear the data for all websites or delete the data for a specific site.

How To Clear The App Cache on an iPhone?

If you have many apps that you don’t use frequently, you may consider clearing their data. All apps’ data is deleted from the Settings page on an iPhone.

Tap on the Settings icon and then choose General.

Tap on the section iPhone Storage. Shortly, all apps and their storage usage will be listed. Choose the app for which you wish to clear the cache.

In this example, we will use the app Weather. Tap on its icon to open the options for data management.

On the next page, select the Offload app button. Keep in mind that offloading an app will uninstall it. However, all its documents and settings will remain. Thus, reinstalling the app from the App store later will reinstate all settings and information you had before offloading it.
If you want to delete the app completely, use the button Delete App.

How To Clear The Cache on Google Chrome?

Another widely used browser on an iPhone is Google Chrome. If this is your preferred browser, you may consider clearing its cache.

Open the Google Chrome app by tapping on its icon. Then tap on the three dots menu in the lower right corner and select Settings.

On the following screen, select Privacy and then Clear Browsing Data.

You can specify the time frame for which you want to clear the data. To make sure that all cached content is deleted, in Time range, select All time.

You can then select what data types to delete. Most often, performance problems are caused exclusively by cached files and cookies. Check the boxes for Cached images and files and Cookies, Site Data, and then confirm the deletion with the button Clear Browsing Data.

How To Clear Browser Cache on Mozilla Firefox?

If your primary browser is Firefox and you want to clear its cache, tap on the Firefox icon. Select the hamburger (three lines) icon in the lower right corner.

In the popup menu, tap on Settings. On the following screen, select Data management.

Similarly to Chrome, you will be given options for data types to delete. Check the boxes for Cache and Cookies and confirm the action with the button Clear Private Data.

Summary

Most often than not, expired or corrupted cache and increased data and storage usage can cause various problems. When your iPhone is not performing well or you have trouble loading a website, one of your first instincts should be to clear the cache and cookies.

This guide outlined how cache works and how to clear the app data on your iPhone.

In a similar way, you can clear the cache and cookies on Android phones. Read this guide on how to clear cache and cookies on Android.

For desktop browsers, read this tutorial on how to clear cache in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and other browsers.