How to Clear Cache on Android (And When You Should) | MakeUseOf

Your Android phone’s limited storage can fill up quickly. One cause of this is that the apps you use regularly create new files to store information.

These temporary data files are known as a cache, and a fair chunk of your Android phone’s storage space might be filled up with cache files. Let’s take a look at what temporary app files are and how to clear cache on Android.

What Is Cached Data?

Your phone uses the temporary data stored in cache files to quickly recall associated information when you open an app. For example, Spotify might cache your most frequently used playlists so it doesn’t have to load their song lists each time you open them. Chrome might cache a large image on a website that you visit regularly, so it doesn’t have to download the image every time you open the page.

A cache file is only useful to the associated program; Spotify has no use for Instagram’s cache, for example. In many cases, once an app decides the stored temporary information is no longer useful, it discards the accompanying cache files. Websites, apps, and games all make use of cache files to offer you a quicker browsing experience.

Cache isn’t only used by your Android phone—it’s also a function of desktop browsers and other software. Without cache, your device would have to reload images and other elements every time you accessed them, which is inefficient.

How to Clear the Cache on Android Devices

On modern versions of Android, you need to delete the cache files for each app individually. Note that you rarely need to delete all cache across your device. In most cases, clearing the cache from a few problematic apps can resolve storage or performance issues.

Follow these steps to clear cached data for an Android app. We’ve used stock Android 11 here; your device may look a bit different.

1. Open Settings and select Storage.
2. In the resulting list, tap the Other Apps entry. This will take you to a list of all the apps installed on your phone.
3. Choose the app whose cache you want to clear. To see which apps are taking the most space, tap the three-dot menu in the top-right and choose Sort by size. We’ll use Chrome as an example.
4. On the app’s info page, tap the Clear Cache option.

That’s all you need to do to clear the cache files for any app on your Android phone.

Note that if you tap Clear Storage instead, you’ll remove all data from the app. This essentially resets it to a fresh state, like you just installed it from the Play Store.

Older Android versions gave you the option to delete all cached files at once by going to Settings > Storage > Cached Data. From there, simply tap OK when you see the option to delete all cache files. Unfortunately, there’s no built-in way to clear all the cache on modern versions of Android.

What Happens After Clearing Cache?

After you clear the cache files, you’ll regain some storage space and the app will continue to work as normal. However, since you erased the data used to smooth out performance, some elements will load more slowly next time you use the app.

While it may take some extra time to browse around at first, over time, the app will build up cache again based on your usage. Clearing cache shouldn’t log you out or cause any other major changes. You won’t lose data like game progress, browser bookmarks, or similar.

If you’d like a more thorough removal process, see out guide to wiping cache and data on Android.

Benefits of Clearing Cache

Cache files are important, and you typically don’t need to mess with them. However, it’s sometimes useful to manually remove cache files from your Android phone.

Here are a few ways that clearing the cache on Android can be helpful:

• In the short term, clearing cache helps you save storage space on your phone. But this is a temporary solution, since new cache files are created all the time as you use apps.
• Sometimes, old cache files can become corrupted. When this happens, apps may run into performance problems. Deleting faulty cache files can solve these issues.
• In theory, old cache files can pose security and privacy threats. Web pages cached in your browser may contain sensitive information. If an unauthorized person accessed these files, they might be able to use them to obtain private details.
• If a browser or other app refuses to fetch the latest version of a page, clearing cache can force it to update.

Should You Clear Cache Regularly?

Now that you know the benefits of clearing cache, you might think you should manually clear the cache on a schedule. But this is actually counter-productive. Remember that cached files serve the useful purpose of speeding up access to content you use regularly.

That is why it’s not a good idea to frequently delete old cache files by hand. Android already has a built-in mechanism for erasing unused files that works pretty well. The main occasions for manually deleting cache files arise when:

• An app’s cache files are corrupted, causing the app to misbehave.
• You want to delete files containing personal information to protect your privacy.
• You’re running out of storage space on your phone and don’t want to delete your videos, pictures, and apps. Remember that this is a short-term solution; you’ll need to use other ways to free up Android storage space eventually.

Should I Use Android Cleaner Apps?

There are a lot of apps on the Play Store that claim to clear unused photos, videos, and cache files on your phone quickly and safely. While they can sometimes provide a useful service, these apps are usually not worth using for a few reasons:

• They often make false claims, like that clearing cache files will dramatically increase the speed of your phone.
• The apps take up more space on your phone, and can even slow down performance by constantly running in the background.
• Often, they’re full of ads and in-app purchases.

Take care if you decide to use Android cleaner apps. If possible, avoid them altogether. Most Android phones already feature some kind of smart storage that removes old files, rendering third-party apps unnecessary for this purpose.

Check out our guide to speeding up Android to find out what really works and what’s a sham.

Deleting Cache on Android Quickly and Easily

Clearing unused cache files on Android is a decent way to free up space temporarily or troubleshoot app issues. But it’s not something you should do often, or through unreliable third-party apps. Use it only as a specific tool when needed for device performance.

Meanwhile, if you’re on an old Android phone with very little space, there are other steps you can take to maximize your device’s storage.

About The Author

Ben Stegner
(1598 Articles Published)

Ben is a Deputy Editor and the Onboarding Manager at MakeUseOf. He left his IT job to write full-time in 2016 and has never looked back. He’s been covering tech tutorials, video game recommendations, and more as a professional writer for over six years.

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