Is Your Phone Feeling Slow? Try Clearing the Cache

Whether you have an older iPhone or last year’s iPhone 15 Pro Max, your device is likely to slow down a little as you use it, especially when using the web browser.

This doesn’t just apply to iPhones; virtually any device with a web browser, including desktops, laptops, and tablets, can suffer from this. Let’s discuss the why and how and then discuss how to quickly fix it. Sometimes, it can make a big difference in your device's performance.

What is Browser Cache?

First, let’s get this out of the way—how do you pronounce the word cache?

Is it cash, like the stuff in your wallet, or is it pronounced cash-shay, sort of like sashay, the square dancing move?

We asked around, and our favorite typed response from a tech was the following:

“It’s pronounced cache.”

Thanks for clearing that up!

(Hint: according to the dictionary, it’s actually pronounced cash)

Anyway, what the heck is it?

Cache is extra data that a program might store to work faster. It’s sort of like sticking a slip of paper in the different sections of a recipe book so you can flip back and forth to them faster, except with cache, it actually makes a copy of some of the data it might need and keeps it.

Of course, once your recipe book has two dozen bookmarks, it becomes cluttered and harder to find everything again. That’s what happens after a long time with cache, too. Your cache could start getting so big that it really doesn’t help speed things up and instead just takes up precious storage space.

Cache Isn’t the Same as Cookies

Website cookies are often in the same category as cache, but cookies store very specific user data, as opposed to data from the website you are visiting. Cookies tell the browser that you previously logged in and, depending on the site, keep you logged in. Clearing out your cookies can often give you a fresh start and sometimes speed things up, but keep in mind that clearing your cookies will log you out of most sites and reset many of your preferences for sites you visit often.

How to Clear Your iPhone Browser Cache

Let’s break down the next sections based on the phone type and the various popular web browsers you might be using:

How to Clear Your iPhone Cache in Safari

Most iPhone users probably use Safari, Apple’s now-proprietary and default browser on iPhones and iPads. If you have iOS11 or later, keep in mind that clearing your Safari cache will affect every device signed into your iCloud account. This will log you out of everything, and you’ll need to sign back into your accounts.

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Select Safari from the list of apps.
3. Go to Clear History and Website Data. 
4. Choose Clear History and Data in the pop-up window.

How to Clear Your iPhone Cache in Google Chrome

If you use Google Chrome as your default browser on iOS, you can clear your browser cache through Google Chrome.

• Open the Chrome app.
• Tap the three-dot menu, typically on the bottom right of your screen.
• Go to Settings along the top menu bar.
• Scroll down to Privacy and security and tap it.
• Tap Clear Browsing Data, which will open another menu. Here, you can choose the intended time range. Select All Time to delete all of your cache. Ensure that Site Data and Cached Images and Files are selected, and then tap Clear Browsing Data at the bottom of the screen.

How to Clear Your Android Browser Cache

Android is a suburb OS for smartphones and tablets, but because every device manufacturer and carrier can customize the operating system, the default browser might be different depending on what device you have. For instance, Google Pixel phones use Chrome as the default browser, while Samsung devices have an Internet app. Most Samsung owners tend to make Chrome their default browser eventually, but let’s cover our bases just in case:

How to Clear Your Samsung Internet Browser Cache

If you have a Samsung device and you use the stock Internet browser, simply called Internet, then here’s how you clear the cache:

• Open the Internet app.
• Tap the 3-bar menu at the bottom right of your screen and then tap Settings.
• Scroll down and tap Sites and downloads and then go to Manage website data.
• Tap the Trash can icon. You can now choose what sites you want to clear the cache for. You can also simply tap All at the top of the list.
• Tap the Trash can icon that says Delete all at the bottom of the screen.

How to Clear Your Android Cache in Google Chrome

Most Android users are probably using Google Chrome as their default browser. Here’s how you clear your cache.

• Tap the three-dot icon, typically on the top right of your screen (but it depends on the device)
• Tap Settings from that menu.
• Scroll down to Privacy and security and tap it.
• Tap Clear Browsing Data, which will open another menu. Here, you can choose the intended time range. Select All Time to delete all of your cache. Ensure that Site Data and Cached Images and Files are selected, and then tap Clear Browsing Data at the bottom of the screen.

Hope this helps!