Too much cache can reduce your iPhone performance and make the device lag. This can make your iPhone apps freeze or stuck when you are using them. However, if it ever crosses your mind to clear the device cache, then you can revive the device and end the lagging issue, so in this guide, you will learn how to clear cache on iPhone.
However, there is no single-to-do button or action button to clear cache on your iPhone. But the fastest way to get this done is via individual apps on your iPhone such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, etc.
Clearing caches on your iPhone can drastically improve the performance of the device and free of clogs that slow down the phone. Meanwhile, this isn’t a one-time exercise, you need to cultivate the habit of clearing the caches on your iPhone each time you note that the performance is degrading.
What is the iPhone cache?
iPhone creates a cache whenever you use the phone. Files are created by applications and contain data that applications use when running.
You may have heard about a cache related to your web browser. The web browser contains temporary files that speed up download sites. This is a common type of cache, but all kinds of apps and iPhone OS also have a cache.
Why clear the iPhone Cache?
It contains the files you need, and in some cases, speeds up your phone. However, there are two main reasons for clearing the iPhone’s cache.
First, cached files take up storage space on the iPhone, and over time, they are collected. If you want to free up storage space on the iPhone, clearing the cache is one way to do this. Some of this is done automatically by iOS, but you can also do it manually.
Another reason to clear an iPhone’s cache is that cached files sometimes slow down the phone or cause things to behave in ways you don’t want.
There are many types of cache on the iPhone. As a result, there is no single step you can take to clear all types of cache.
How to Clear Cache on iPhone
The Safari browser should come to mind when talking about how to clear cache on iPhone as the default browser. However, doing this will erase all your search histories from the browser with a single click.
Here are the steps to take to clear cache on Safari on your iPhone.
- Open the “Settings” app on your iPhone.
- Scroll down and hit the “Safari” browser’s icon.
- Scroll to “Privacy & Security” and tap “Clear History and Website Data.”
- Select the “Clear Timeframe” and hit “Clear History.”
How to Clear Your iPhone Cache on Chrome
Apart from the default you can also use the “Chrome” browser. If yes, you need to clear the app cache. Here are the steps to take.
- Open the “Chrome” browser on your “iPhone Home Screen.”
- Hit the “three dot” at the bottom right.
- Tap “Clear Browsing Data.”
- Choose the “Timeframe” under “Clear Browsing Data.”
- Select what to clear from the page such as cookies, site data, cached images and files.
- Click on “Clear Browsing Data.”
- Hit “Clear Browsing Data” from the popup.
How to Clear Instagram Cache iPhone
You need to offload the Instagram app on your iPhone to clear the cache. Once offloaded you then need to download the app again from the App Store. Here are the steps to take.
- Open the “Settings App” on your iPhone.
- Tap “General.”
- Scroll down and hit “iPhone Storage.”
- Locate and tap “Instagram.”
- Hit “Offload App.”
- Tap “Off App” from the popup.
The steps above will delete the Instagram app from your iPhone and its cache but will keep all your documents and data on the app so that when you reinstall the app the documents and data will be imported.
How to Reinstall Offloaded Apps
Here are the steps to take to reinstall offloaded apps on your iPhone
- Launch the App Store app on your iPhone or iPad.
- Click the Today tab if it is not already selected.
- Click on your circular profile image in the upper right of the screen today to access the Account Settings screen
- Click Purchases.
- Click on My Purchases.
- On the purchased screen, click the Not on this iPhone tab.
- Scroll through the list of purchased applications to find the application you want to restore, then click the cloud download icon next to it to re-download and install.
As is, iOS still lacks a direct way to clear the app cache. For example, you may sometimes want to keep an app, but you can delete documents and data. Hopefully, Apple will include an equivalent option in a future version of iOS, but until then, the methods outlined above are your best options for clearing cruft from your iPhone.