Is your iPhone running out of storage or feeling slower than it used to? One of the quickest fixes is learning how to clear cache on iPhone. Cached files pile up quietly in the background — website data in Safari, temporary files in apps, and system data you never see. Clearing them can free up gigabytes of space and make your phone feel faster again. This guide shows you exactly how to do it, step by step, without losing anything important.
Unlike Android phones, the iPhone does not have a single “clear all cache” button. You need to clear the cache in a few different places: Safari, individual apps, and sometimes the system itself. The good news is that each step takes less than a minute, and none of them delete your photos, messages, or personal files.
What Is Cache and Why Does It Build Up?
Cache is temporary data that apps and websites store on your phone to load faster next time. When you visit a website, your browser saves images and files so the page opens quicker on your next visit. Apps do the same thing with thumbnails, login sessions, and downloaded content.
This is helpful at first, but cache grows over time. A social media app you use every day can build up several gigabytes of cached data. Websites you visited once months ago may still be sitting in Safari’s storage. When your iPhone runs low on free space, it can slow down, apps can crash, and you may not be able to take photos or update iOS. Clearing the cache regularly prevents these problems.
Clearing cache is different from clearing cookies, though the two are related. Cookies are small files that remember who you are on a website, while cache stores the website’s files for speed. If you want to understand the difference better, see our guide on how to delete cookies in Chrome, Safari, and Firefox.
Check Your iPhone Storage First
Before clearing anything, it helps to see what is using your space. Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage. Your iPhone will take a moment to calculate, then show a color-coded bar and a list of apps sorted by size.
Tap any app to see a breakdown: the app itself, plus its “Documents & Data,” which includes cached files. If an app’s documents and data are much larger than the app itself — for example, a 200 MB app holding 3 GB of data — that app is a good candidate for cache clearing. This screen also shows recommendations from Apple, such as offloading unused apps, which we will cover below.
How to Clear Safari Cache on iPhone
Safari is usually the biggest source of cached website data. Clearing it is simple and takes seconds.
Clear Safari History and Website Data
Go to Settings > Apps > Safari (on older iOS versions, this is under Settings > Safari). Scroll down and tap Clear History and Website Data. Choose a time range — the last hour, today, or all history — and confirm.
This removes your browsing history, cookies, and cached files for the selected period. It will sign you out of websites, so make sure you know your important passwords or have them saved in a password manager before you do this. Your bookmarks and reading list are not affected.
Clear Website Data Only (Keep Your History)
If you want to keep your browsing history but still free up space, there is a more targeted option. Go to Settings > Apps > Safari > Advanced > Website Data. Here you will see how much data each website has stored. Tap Remove All Website Data at the bottom to clear it, or swipe left on individual sites to remove them one by one.
This is a good middle ground: your history stays, but the stored files that take up space are gone. Websites will simply reload their files fresh the next time you visit.
How to Clear App Cache on iPhone
iOS does not give you a button to clear an individual app’s cache the way Android does. Instead, you have two options: offload the app or delete and reinstall it.
Offload Unused Apps
Offloading removes the app itself but keeps its documents and data. Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage, tap an app, and choose Offload App. The app icon stays on your home screen with a small cloud symbol, and tapping it reinstalls the app with your data intact.
You can also turn on automatic offloading under Settings > App Store > Offload Unused Apps. Your iPhone will then automatically offload apps you have not opened in a while when storage runs low.
Delete and Reinstall Heavy Apps
Offloading does not clear an app’s cached data — it keeps it. If an app is holding gigabytes of cache, the only way to remove it is to delete the app completely and reinstall it from the App Store. Go to iPhone Storage, tap the app, and choose Delete App, then reinstall it.
Before doing this, make sure your important data is backed up or synced to an account. For example, check that your chats are backed up in WhatsApp settings, and that photos are synced to iCloud. Reinstalling gives you a fresh copy of the app with zero cached data.
Clear Cache Inside Individual Apps
Some apps include their own cache-clearing option in their settings. Social media and browser apps often have a “Clear cache” or “Storage” section. Open the app, look in its settings menu, and check for anything mentioning cache, storage, or data usage. This is the gentlest option because it clears temporary files without touching your login or personal data.
Clear System and “Other” Storage
In iPhone Storage, you may notice a category called System Data (labeled “Other” on older iOS versions). This includes system caches, Siri voices, logs, and temporary files. You cannot clear it directly, but a few steps help keep it small.
First, restart your iPhone. A simple restart clears many temporary system files. Press and hold the side button and either volume button, slide to power off, wait a few seconds, then turn it back on. Second, keep iOS updated: go to Settings > General > Software Update. Updates often clean up old system files. Third, if System Data is extremely large (tens of gigabytes) and nothing else helps, backing up and restoring your iPhone through a computer can reset it — but treat this as a last resort.
How Often Should You Clear Cache?
For most people, clearing Safari data every month or two is enough. Check iPhone Storage every few months and deal with any app whose data has grown unusually large. You do not need to clear cache every day — cache exists to make things faster, and clearing it too often just means your phone re-downloads the same files.
A good habit is to check your storage whenever your iPhone warns you that space is running low, or when an app starts crashing or behaving strangely. Clearing that app’s cache by reinstalling it fixes a surprising number of glitches. Pair this with a regular backup habit — iCloud backup under Settings > [your name] > iCloud > iCloud Backup — so that even if you ever need to delete and reinstall an app, your important data is always safe and easy to restore.
More Ways to Free Up iPhone Storage
Clearing cache is a great start, but if you need even more space, a few extra steps can help. Photos and videos are usually the biggest storage users. Turn on iCloud Photos under Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Photos, and choose “Optimize iPhone Storage.” This keeps smaller versions on your phone and full-resolution copies in iCloud, often freeing up many gigabytes.
Old messages can also pile up. Go to Settings > Apps > Messages and change “Keep Messages” from Forever to 1 Year or 30 Days. Large attachments are another hidden space hog: in iPhone Storage, tap Messages or WhatsApp to review and delete big videos and files you no longer need. Finally, downloaded music, podcasts, and offline maps can take gigabytes — remove downloads for content you have already enjoyed or can stream instead.
What Clearing Cache Will Not Do
It is worth knowing the limits. Clearing cache will not delete your photos, videos, messages, contacts, or notes. It will not remove apps you installed. It will not fix a cracked screen or a dying battery, and it will not make an old iPhone as fast as a new one — though it can make a noticeable difference when storage is nearly full.
Also, clearing cache will not protect you from online scams or viruses. If you are worried about security rather than storage, read our guide on what phishing is to learn how scammers trick people, and our explanation of what a firewall does to understand how your devices stay protected.
FAQs About Clearing Cache on iPhone
Will clearing cache delete my photos?
No. Clearing Safari data, offloading apps, or reinstalling apps does not touch your photos, videos, messages, or contacts. Your personal files are stored separately from cached data. The one exception is if you delete an app that stores files only inside the app without syncing them anywhere — so check for backups first with apps like WhatsApp.
Why is there no “clear all cache” button on iPhone?
Apple designed iOS to manage cache automatically in the background, and the system clears temporary files on its own when storage runs low. The manual steps in this guide are for situations where you want to free up space immediately or fix a misbehaving app, rather than waiting for the system to handle it.
Does clearing cache make my iPhone faster?
It can, especially when your storage is almost full. iPhones need some free space to work smoothly, and a full phone slows everything down. Clearing several gigabytes of cache often makes apps open faster and reduces crashes. But if your phone is slow for other reasons, like an old battery or outdated iOS, cache clearing alone will not fix it.
Will I be logged out of apps if I clear cache?
Clearing Safari website data will log you out of websites in Safari. Offloading an app keeps you logged in. Deleting and reinstalling an app will log you out of that app, so make sure you know your login details first. Clearing cache inside an app’s own settings usually keeps you logged in.
How much space can clearing cache free up?
It varies a lot. Safari data might be a few hundred megabytes. A heavy social media or video app can hold several gigabytes of cached data. Most people free up somewhere between 1 GB and 5 GB by going through the steps in this guide. Check iPhone Storage before and after to see your own results.
Is it safe to clear cache on iPhone?
Yes, it is completely safe. Cache is temporary data by design, and apps and websites simply re-download what they need. The only inconvenience is being logged out of some websites and apps, and pages loading slightly slower the first time you revisit them while the cache rebuilds.
Conclusion
Knowing how to clear cache on iPhone is one of the most useful maintenance skills for any iPhone owner. Clear Safari’s website data from Settings, offload or reinstall apps that have grown too large, check the storage screen regularly, and restart your phone now and then to keep system data in check. None of these steps risk your photos or messages, and together they can free up gigabytes of space in minutes.
Key takeaways: check iPhone Storage first to find the biggest space hogs, clear Safari data every month or two, reinstall apps with huge cached data, and remember that clearing cache is safe and will not delete your personal files. Make it a routine, and your iPhone will stay fast and roomy for years.
