Spring is coming around, which means people will be packing away their winter clothes, decluttering common areas and generally tidying up their homes. My recommendation: Don't forget your iPhone.
Your iPhone could do with a bit of digital dusting, especially your browser cache. That cache stores website data for faster retrieval, which can keep things a little snappier when everything matches up. But over time, page elements might change: The site might add new images, change layouts and so on -- and that's when problems can pop up.
Clearing your phone's browser cache will slow down your next visit to any individual website because it no longer has that site's data preloaded, but it also clears out the digital clutter. Just like physical cleaning, it means putting a little effort up front to make things neater going forward.
Whether you use Chrome, Safari or other browsers on your iPhone, it's good to clear your iPhone's browser caches every month or two. Yes, even if you're rocking the new iPhone 16E and running iOS 18. (If you want to get your phone to run faster, try managing your iPhone's storage.)
Clearing your cache usually involves clearing website cookies, too. Cookies work similarly to browser caches, except they store information about user data, rather than data on the website itself. Clearing your cookies gives you a chance to reset those preferences, which could improve your browsing experience. Note that clearing your cache and cookies will log you out of sites, which means you'll have to log into them again and reset any preferences. The upfront investment of that time can lead to a smoother experience down the road, and it can be a useful fix if you've recently changed settings that aren't being applied properly.
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, following this process will affect all devices signed in to your iCloud account. As a result, all your devices' 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 Apps > Safari.
3. Scroll down to History and Website Data and choose Clear History and Website Data.
4. Choose Clear History and Data in the pop-up box -- you can chose anywhere from the last hour to all history.
Then you're set!
How to clear your iPhone cache in Chrome
It's easy to clear your iPhone cache in Chrome.
Chrome is another popular browser for iPhone users. Google has simplified the process for clearing your Chrome cache, making it much faster to clear your data.
1. Open the Chrome app.
2. Select the three dots in the bottom right to open more options.
3. Swipe over to Settings in the top menu bar.
4. Scroll down and tap Privacy and security.
5. Tap Delete browsing data to open up another menu. Select the intended time range at the top of the menu (anywhere from Last 15 minutes to All time). Make sure that Cookies and Site Data are checked, along with Cached Images and Files. Finally, hit Delete 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 straightforward. Just follow these steps.
1. Press 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. To clear everything, choose Web Site Data at the top of the menu and then Clear All Web Site Data. Alternatively, you can choose to clear just your browsing history, cache, cookies, offline web data, tracking protection or offline files.
What happens when you clear the cache?
Clearing your cache removes the website data your phone stored locally to prevent having to download that data upon each new visit. The data in your cache builds over time and can end up being an issue if that data winds up out of date. (My phone had about 150MB of data stored in Chrome when I checked.) Clearing that data gives sites a fresh start, which may fix some loading errors. But clearing your cache also signs you out of pages, so be prepared to sign in to everything again.
How often do I need to clear my cache?
Most people only need to clear their caches once every month or two. That's generally the point when your browser will build up a cache large enough 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.