With all those hours spent on our screens, it’s natural for the amount of cache to build up without us realizing it. I’ll explain why cache can be like a clogged shower head reducing the flow.
The problem is that the more cache you have, the more clogged your browser becomes. That means it can become super slow at producing the results you want despite having an otherwise perfectly working iPhone.
Good news. There is a way to clear out your iPhone cache, and it will ultimately benefit your speed in the end.
Click here to learn how to clear your Android cache.
What is cache?
In a nutshell, cache temporarily stores some of the data circulating on your iPhone. When you visit a website on your phone, the content from that website will be stored so that when you revisit the website later, it will perform faster.
Although the goal is to have faster performance, cache data ends up slowing your phone down because it takes up storage space on your device, slowing down your browsing performance.
How do I clear cache on my iPhone?
A warning, before clearing your cache on your iPhone, remember that once you do this, all tabs that you currently have open in your Safari app will close. Also, you will likely be logged out of any websites you’re logged into. Be sure you have your account login information and passwords stored elsewhere and ready when you want to log in again.
To clear cache on your iPhone, follow these steps:
- Open your Settings app
- Scroll down until you find Safari and click on it
- Scroll down until you find Clear History and Website Data and select that
- Confirm by tapping Clear History and Data
How do I clear my cache if I use Chrome on my iPhone?
Again, before you clear your cache in the Chrome app on your iPhone, just be aware that you may be logged out of your Google account after you perform these steps, so make sure you have your login information stored or written down somewhere. To clear cache from the Chrome app on your iPhone:
- Open the Chrome app
- Tap the 3 dots on the bottom right of your screen
- Select Clear Browsing Data
- Make sure you have Browing History, Cookies, Site Data, and Cached Images and Files checked off. Then select Clear Browsing Data
Can I search on Safari without it recording my history?
Yes, you just have to make sure your Safari app is in Private mode. To do this:
- Open your Safari app
- Tap the Tabs icon in the lower right corner
- Select the downward arrow
- Select Private and press Done
What is offloading and is it the same as clearing cache?
Offloading is similar to clearing cache. However, the two are not exactly the same. Offloading allows you to uninstall apps completely, although it does not erase any of the documents or data associated with those apps. This is helpful when your browser is slowed down due to a low amount of storage on your phone.
To offload an app on your iPhone:
- Open your Settings app
- Select General
- Tap iPhone Storage
- Select the app you want to offload
- Tap Offload App
- A prompt pops up asking you to confirm that you want to delete the app. Select Confirm
How are cookies different from cache?
Cookies are just small pieces of data that websites send to your phone, including passwords that can keep you logged into accounts so that you don’t have to keep logging in over and over again.
They also track how you browse the internet and monitor patterns in your browsing and search history. If this doesn’t sit right with you, you can always block all cookies on your device.
However, you should know that blocking all cookies also might cause some websites to not even work properly on your phone. Cookies are only meant to make your browsing experience personal to you. However, if you’d rather not have them, you can block them by doing the following:
- Go to your Settings app
- Scroll down to Safari and click on it
- Scroll down to Block All Cookies and toggle it on
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