How to clear the cache, history, and cookies on an iPhone to free up space and improve speed
- 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.
- Visit Insider's Tech Reference library for more stories.
Your iPhone holds two major data caches: One for Safari, and another for all the rest of your apps. Clearing these caches can free up space on your iPhone, improving speed and performance by removing unnecessary app data.
Here's how to clear both caches on your iPhone.
How to clear the cache, history, and cookies in Safari
When you clear your iPhone's Safari cache, it means all the files, images, passwords, and scripts from websites you've visited recently will be wiped.
To clear Safari's cache:
1. Open the Settings app and tap Safari.
2. Scroll down and tap Clear History and Website Data.
3. Your device will ask if you really want to clear Safari's data. Confirm your choice.
Alternatively, you can clear just your cache but keep your history and cookies by opening this menu, tapping Advanced at the bottom, then Website Data, and finally Remove All Website Data.
How to clear your iPhone's app cache
To clear the cache for your iPhone apps, you'll need to offload them. Offloading an app will free up storage space the app uses while still keeping its documents and data. 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 page to load a list of all your apps. Once it's generated the list, select the app you want to clear and tap Offload App.
You can also delete the app if you don't need it anymore, which will clear up even more space.