Do your iPhone a favor and clear your cache

 

Your iPhone's browsers, like most things, could benefit from a little maintenance. Over time, they become digitally cluttered, which can slow down page load times or sometimes cause pages to load incorrectly.

Regardless of whether you prefer Chrome or Safari or any other browser, it's a good idea to clear your cache from time to time. This will speed up your phone when you're browsing the web, whether you're using iOS 15 or the public beta of iOS 16. You can also manage your iPhone's storage to help it run faster again. Think of it like cleaning your digital countertops.

Typically, visiting a website requires your phone to download information such as images, banners, and other data. To help speed up this process, most Internet browsers cache some of this data for easy retrieval. You throw your keys on the kitchen counter because they're easy to pick up the next time you need them.

Things become less easy when your browser cache is out of date and the data being retrieved doesn't match the data actually being used on the website. Result? Slow loading speed and unusual website formatting. It's like throwing away your keys and your mail, coats, reusable cups and other items on your counter. Suddenly, you have nothing to do.

That's why clearing your cache can help: it gives sites a fresh start in your browser and frees up some space on your storage. Note that clearing your cache will sign you out of sites you're currently logged into. Still, it's usually a little bit of a pain every now and then to keep things moving quickly.

Here are step-by-step guides on how to clear your cache on your iPhone based on the browser you use.

How to Clear Your iPhone Cache in Safari

Safari is the default browser on iPhones, and you can clear your Safari cache in a few short steps. Starting with iOS 11, performing this process will affect all devices signed into your iCloud account. As a result, all your device caches will be cleared, and you'll need to sign in to everything the next time 

you use them. Here's what to do.

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone
2. Select Safari from the list of apps
3. Go to Advanced > Website Data
4. Scroll down and select Clear History and Website Data
5. Select Remove Now in the pop-up box

 How to Clear Your iPhone Cache in Chrome

Chrome is another popular browser for iPhone users. The overall process of clearing your Chrome cache requires a few more steps, and you'll need to work through the Chrome browser itself.

  

Here's how

1. Open the Chrome app
2. Select the three dots in the bottom right to open more options
3. Scroll down and select Settings
4. Select Privacy in the next menu
5. Then select Clear Browsing Data to open up one last menu
6. Select the intended time range at the top of the menu (anywhere from Last Hour to All Time)
7. Make sure that Cookies, Site Data is selected, along with Cached Images and Files. Finally, hit Clear Browsing Data at the bottom of the screen

How to Clear Your iPhone Cache in Firefox  

If you're a Firefox devotee, don't worry. Clearing the cache on your iPhone is very straightforward. Just follow these steps. 

1. Click the hamburger menu in the bottom right corner to open up options
2. Choose Settings at the bottom of the menu
3. Select Data Management in the Privacy section
4. You can select Website Data to clear data for individual sites, or select Clear Private Data at the bottom of the screen to clear data from all selected fields

What happens when you clear the cache? 

Clearing your cache causes your phone to remove locally stored website data to prevent downloading that data on each new visit. The data in your cache builds up over time and can slow things down if it gets too big. (My phone had about 150MB of data stored in Chrome when I checked.) Clearing this data gives sites a fresh start, which can fix some loading errors and speed up your browser. can However, clearing your cache also signs you out of pages, so be prepared to sign back into everything.

How often do I need to clear my cache?

Most people only need to clean their caches once every month or two. This usually happens when your browser builds up a large enough cache to start slowing things down. If you frequent a large number of sites, you should err on the side of clearing your cache more often.