“When was the last time you cleared your cache?” That’s usually the first thing you’re asked when you complain about your iPhone being slow. So, you just go to settings and choose “clear cache” and hope for the best.
But, iPhone cache exists in multiple layers all over your phone. Some cache is system-based and is managed by iOS, and the other is app-based and is managed by each app individually. To clean up all your cache, you need to use different techniques for each kind.
So, what happens if you don’t clear your cache? You already know it reduces your phone’s speed. But did you know it can reduce app launch speed when cache exceeds 1GB per app? What’s worse is that accumulating that much cache can also decrease your battery life by up to 30%, as reported by some users. And it’s not like you’re going to get notifications on your iPhone to tell you exactly what to do to fix the issue…
Clearing your cache is more than just the inconvenience of deleting and reinstalling apps. In this blog, we’ll not only tell you how to clear the cache on your iPhone with various techniques, but also how to do it effectively, increasing your app speed and protecting your battery life.
Table of Contents
TL;DR
There are two types of cache on your iPhone: system-based cache and app-based cache. Each type has different cleaning methods. You can delete system cache from your iPhone settings, while app cache is managed by each app individually and can only be deleted through them.
You can delete cache on Safari by going to Settings > Safari > Advanced > Website Dataand choosing the data you want to delete, such as browsing history and offline Reading Lists.
For social media, streaming, and productivity apps, if they don’t have the option of deleting cache in-app,p then you have two options: either to offload the binary app and keep your data or delete the app altogether and save storage space.
A Network Settings Reset can be used to clear the network cache, which may cause wifi slowness. To clear network cache go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Network Settings. This will require reconnecting all your Bluetooth devices and wifi networks again.
To reset keyboard cache, go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Keyboard Dictionary. This helps fix glitches in your keyboard prediction feature.
Leverage automatic cache-clearing features on the iPhone with regularly scheduled manual cleaning for maximum optimization.
Clearing your cache doesn’t only free up space on your iPhone, it also protects your sensitive information and privacy.
Understanding iPhone Cache Systems
Your iPhone is a pretty smart device. It uses various caching mechanisms to make operations faster and smoother, but over time, and with use, these temporary files accumulate, which might cause your device to slow down. Not all system cache on your phone is available for your access. Some data is too important for you to accidentally delete, so your iOS keeps it hidden in protected system partitions.
The elusive “Other” storage category often contains cache gigabytes that iOS cannot categorize clearly. This can include streaming media artwork, Safari caches, and temporary files from messaging apps. Besides system caches, individual apps also manage their own cache files, which can include everything from image thumbnails to offline content.
Understanding the difference between system-level cache and app-level cache is a crucial point in understanding how to manage your cache data and what you can and cannot offload. It’s important to offload unused apps or at least clear cache on your iPhone regularly to optimize your phone’s performance.
Now, let’s dive in further about the difference between system cache and app cache and which one you can clear for better performance.
System vs. App Cache: What's the Difference?
As we said, there are two types of cache data on your iPhone: system cache and app cache. System cache is managed by the iPhone system, aka iOS. It includes data like DNS records, keyboard predictions, and Spotlight search indexes. On the other hand, app cache is managed by—you guessed it, the apps. This data includes your browser history, media previews, and offline content.
Let’s talk more about system cache. System cache is often stored in protected areas of your iPhone that are not easily accessible by users. Clearing it usually requires restarting your phone or using specific settings, such as resetting your network settings.
Alternatively, app cache exists within each individual application’s sandbox environment. Which means that to clear app cache, you need to do it app-by-app, whether by deleting and reinstalling said app or using the built-in “clear cache” option if available.
The iPhone system is well known for its strict security and privacy controls, and that is one of the main reasons why cache data is very layered, and clearing it requires using different methods. All for your safety! In all cases, before attempting to clear your iPhone's cache, it's important to understand how to protect your device. Learn about the best iPhone glass screen protectors that can safeguard your device while you perform maintenance tasks.
Here is a table showcasing every cache type on your iPhone, who manages it, and where you can clear it.
Safari's Complex Caching System
Cache data on Safari is not just one single entity, it’s a complicated and sophisticated system. Safari’s cache stores multiple data types, including but not limited to website files, cookies, browsing history, and offline Reading Lists—each impacts performance and privacy.
All these different types of cache on Safari can be cleared individually; however, understanding the importance of each type is key. For example, webpage rendering data speeds up loading, while Reading List content creates persistent caches, even if they’re not being used.
"Apple today announced the launch of CarPlay Ultra, featuring deep integration with vehicle systems and customizable widgets, demonstrating how Apple continues to expand its ecosystem integration across devices," according to MacRumors. This type of cross-device integration makes cache management increasingly important as your digital footprint extends beyond just your iPhone to your entire Apple ecosystem.
The Mystery of "Other" Storage
The “Other” category on the iPhone piques the interest -and annoyance- of many users as it can consume significant space, often without a clear explanation. But typically it includes data such as streaming artword, partially downloaded files, and messaging app data that happens to linger on your phone even after being deleted. These files don’t fall under any specific category, making them harder to track and clear.
While we can’t find the exact sizes of caches that will negatively impact your phone, this category is known to take up valuable space over time. To help manage this, learning how to clear your app cache on iPhone is a practical step that can improve storage efficiency.
App Offloading vs. Cache Clearing
New apps drop every day and we love trying them—we know you do too! But when your iPhone starts to act up because its storage is too full, it’s time to clear up some space. Now, you have two options: offloading apps or clearing the cache. To choose the best one, you need to know the difference.
App offloading is when you delete the app binary from your phone but keep all your user data and settings intact. This option is perfect for applications that you don’t use frequently but would still like to keep your data for when you need to redownload the app.
Cache clearing is less impactful, it deletes all the temporary files such as history or media thumbnails but ultimately keeps the app and the rest of the data on your phone. This option is good for apps that you use frequently but accumulate too much unnecessary data.
For example, Sarah noticed her 128GB iPhone was running low on storage. Looking at her storage breakdown, she found that social media apps were consuming over 5GB, mostly in cache files. Rather than deleting Instagram completely, she offloaded it, which preserved her login information and preferences while freeing up space. When she reinstalled the app later, she could immediately pick up where she left off, but with a fresh, cache-free installation.
When maintaining your iPhone's performance, it's also important to consider how you're protecting it physically. Check out our comparison of Rokform vs Otterbox phone cases to find the best protection while managing your device's cache.
Strategic Cache Clearing Techniques
Like everything else in life, when clearing cache, you need to pick your battles. Instead of relying on the common “delete and reinstall” method, strategic cache clearing focuses on selecting the apps that accumulate the most cache, typically social media, streaming, and productivity apps.
Clearing cache from high-impact apps, especially those you use frequently or are known for storing large amounts of data, should always be your priority. This way you can empty up space without losing your personal data, login information, user settings, and overall app convenience.
Learning how to clear the cache on iPhone directly and indirectly allows for smarter and less disruptive storage management on your iPhone.
Safari's Multi-layered Cache Management
We’ve already established that the iPhone has a sophisticated multi-layer cache management system, and this applies to Safari. Safari stores a lot of cache, including browsing history, cookies, and website files. Managing Safari’s cache usage doesn't require you to just wipe it all away. Instead, you can wipe out data from the last hour, day, or week, letting you keep long-term data safe.
For more precise control, you can go to Settings > Safari > Advanced > Website Data and delete cache on a site-by-site basis. This is especially useful for clearing data from heavy or problematic websites while keeping your overall browser preferences and saved info intact.
Safri directly impacts your device's speed and security; that’s why you should regularly clear any unnecessary cache. Regular cache maintenance will help load your pages faster, protect your privacy, and keep your data safe and secure.
Selective History Deletion Techniques
Since browsing history is part of your Safari cache, you need to delete unneeded data as frequently as you can. The great thing is you do not need to lose all your browsing history to make a difference. Safari gives you the option to delete your history based on time (last hour, today, and yesterday). All you need to do is go to Settings > Safari and use the time-based options.
You can also select specific sites to clear by navigating to Settings > Safari > Advanced > Website Data and deleting any past activities you want. Selective history clearing will help maintain your browser speed, delete any sensitive work information while keeping all your saved passwords and frequently visited websites intact for you.
Managing Safari Reading List Cache
Safari’s Reading List saves articles and any media included for offline usage. This feature, while great for having something to read whenever, accumulates a ton of cache. Whether you’re actively reading those saved articles or just totally forgot about them, they’re still there, and so is their data. Reading List cache can consume 50-100MB per saved article with images, potentially accumulating to 1 GB+ for active users
To clear your unused Reading List cache, you need to identify it in Settings > Safari > Advanced > Website Data by looking for entries with "ReadingList" in the name, then deleting what you don’t need. You can toggle off the “Automatically Save Offline" in Safari settings to prevent future cache accumulation.
App-Specific Cache Clearing Strategies
We have so many apps on our phones, and each app category stores cache in a unique way so a one-size-fits-all approach to clearing cache won’t be optimal. For example, social media apps can store 1-2GB of cached images and video, which makes them a prime target for regular cache clearing.
Streaming apps, on the other hand, can be a bit different. They don’t just store downloaded content and artwork but also viewing history and algorithmic data all stored separately. Clearing different caches from your streaming apps can solve glitching errors without having to delete your downloads.
Finally, productivity apps such as Google Docs, Sheets, or Procreate store document previews and search indexes, which require in-app tools to manage cache clearing.
The more complex our modern apps become, the more intricate our cache-clearing methods need to be. "Remove temporary data from your iPhone to fix loading issues or connection errors," advises AboutChromebooks, highlighting how important regular cache maintenance has become as modern apps become increasingly complex and data-intensive.
Here is a table showcasing how much cache data each app category can accumulate in a period of time and how frequently you need to clear it for optimal operation:
Social Media App Cache Management
We’re all obsessed with our social media apps and can’t live without them. Among their many negative and positive impacts, social media apps can produce 1-2GB of cache on a regular basis, per app! For example, TikTok users have observed the app consuming over 30GB of storage due to cached videos and data.
Social media cache is usually managed by the app's own settings. You can find them under “Account”, “Storage”, or “Privacy”. If you cannot find them in-app, then the only way to get rid of the cache is to offload the app and redownload it. This method, however, might cause you to lose your downloaded content and some saved preferences.
While managing your iPhone's cache, you might notice your device getting warm. Learn about the differences between LED and OLED displays and how they affect heat generation and battery consumption on your iPhone.
Streaming App Cache Optimization
Streaming apps such as Netflix, Spotify, YouTube, and more store incredible amounts of cache in the form of downloaded content, artwork, viewing history, and algorithms. They can quickly take over your iPhone’s storage if not cleaned regularly.
The only way to clear your Netflix cache is, unfortunately, to delete your downloads. On the other side, Spotify is more user-friendly, where you can just go to Settings > Storage > “Clear Cache” and you’re done without losing your downloaded content. As for YouTube, each cache, history, and offline video is stored separately, so you need to clear them one by one for maximum efficiency.
Advanced Cache Clearing Methods
You cleared all your app cache and now want to go deeper into your iOS system? There’s some system-level cache data that typical clearing methods cannot touch. They require advanced techniques that clear cache build-up over time, which might affect your iPhone’s performance.
Some of the advanced techniques that can help you clear the cache on iPhone are temporarily disabling features like Siri or Keyboard Dictionary. This method clears cache during the rest process without erasing your preferences permanently.
These methods, while not always obvious and straightforward, can help clear lots of unnecessary cache data that slows down your device and might cause glitches in the future.
Network Settings Reset as Cache Clearing Tool
Executing a Targeted Network Reset
To perform a network reset, go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Network Settings. You’ll need to enter your device passcode, and your iPhone will restart automatically. For example, Michael had persistent connection issues with some apps despite having strong Wi-Fi. After performing a network reset, his issues were resolved, thanks to the cleared DNS cache.
Post-Reset Network Optimization
Now that you’ve reset your network settings, don’t clutter your wifi connections again and only connect to the necessary ones. Consider manually setting faster DNS servers (like 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8) and disabling unused system-level network services in Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services for a faster, optimized performance.
Keyboard and System UI Cache Clearing
Your keyboard and system UI also store a significant amount of cache in the form of your typing predictions, habits, and emoji uses. With time, this cached data might become corrupt and affect the smoothness of your typing experience or the accuracy of the predictions.
Keyboard and System UI cache can’t be cleared through standard memory or storage management tools. To reset this cache, go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Keyboard Dictionary. Type your device passcode, and then all learned words and predictions will be deleted along with the corrupt cache.
If you have been noticing keyboard predictions that make no sense, then this cache clearing will be very effective for your overall typing experience.
Using iPhone Storage Analysis Tools
As we said, your iPhone is pretty smart. It includes a powerful built-in storage analysis tool that you can find under Settings > General > iPhone Storage. There you can find a breakdown of all the apps on your phone, their sizes, and how much cache, under “Documents and Data”- they hold.
Interpreting Storage Recommendations
iOS can also perform a brief scan and give you recommendations on which apps you can offload or images you can delete based on your usage. This helps you reduce your cache and optimize your phone’s storage use without losing any important data or apps.
For example, clearing the cache of a bloated social media app can free up more space than deleting a small utility app. And once your storage is optimized, your device performs more efficiently. This includes apps like GPS navigation tools, which rely on background data handling and benefit from a cleaner cache environment.
App-by-App Storage Review
The app review section in iPhone Storage is a great tool to help you compare actual app sizes to their “Data and documentation” size. If the cache data and documentation size far exceed the actual app size, then this is a strong indication of cache accumulation.
In this case, you have two options to clear the cache: either offload the app binary and keep your data, or delete the app altogether and free up space. It’s important to note that not all “Data and documentation” is considered useless cache. For an app like notes, for example, these are literally your notes, and if you delete the data and documentation, you lose them. So, just carefully evaluate the data before taking action.
Cache Clearing Automation and Maintenance
To get the best out of cache clearing, you need a routine that combines both iOS automatic overnight cache clearing with manual cleanups. Overnight cache clearing is very effective but only operates under specific circumstances. Your iPhone needs to be plugged in, locked, and connected to wifi for several uninterrupted hours. Even though this process clears a bunch of cache overnight, it doesn't touch on app-specific cache that you need to clear manually.
So, how do I clear cache on iPhone? To fully manage storage, you’ll still need to learn more using a combination of system tools, app settings, and occasional resets.
Creating a Cache Clearing Schedule
Weekly Cache Maintenance Routine
With apps that turn over large amounts of cache, such as Safari and social media apps, a weekly cache clearing routine is best. Clear Safari browsing data via Settings > Safari > Clear History and Website Data, and check apps like Instagram and TikTok for built-in cache-clearing tools. Don’t forget to check photo and video editing apps, which usually store large amounts of temporary file cache.
Weekly maintenance will typically take less than five minutes but it will save you lots of performance headaches.
Here is a weekly cache maintenance checklist to make the job easier:
Clear Safari browsing history for the past week
Clear cache in frequently used social media apps (Instagram, TikTok, Facebook)
Check recently used photo/video editing apps for "Clear Cache" options
Review streaming apps and clear watch history if needed
Force close all background apps and restart device
Monthly Deep Cache Cleaning
Other apps and systems take time to accumulate cache or are less simple to deal with, so a monthly cleaning schedule will suit them better. Once a month go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage, and identify apps where Documents & Data exceeds 500MB. Clear out unused offline content, reset the keyboard dictionary if typing lags, and perform a network settings reset if needed.
This might take you a bit over 5 minutes, but it’s worth it as your phone will run much smoother afterwards. When you’re done with clearing your cache, explore our guide to the most protective phone cases to keep your optimized iPhone safe.
Here is a monthly deep cache cleaning template to help you get started:
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Storage Review:
Check Settings > General > iPhone Storage
Identify apps with Documents & Data > 500MB
Target the top 5 largest cache consumers
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System Cache Clearing:
Safari: Clear all history and website data
Keyboard: Reset dictionary if experiencing prediction issues
Photos app: Clear search cache in app settings
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Network Optimization:
Consider network settings reset if experiencing connectivity issues
Review and remove unused VPN profiles
Check for iOS updates that might include cache management improvements
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Media App Maintenance:
Clear offline content in streaming apps not used in past 30 days
Remove downloaded podcasts you've already listened to
Check music apps for cached playlists you no longer use
Third-Party Solutions and Their Risks
You can find many third-party apps that claim to clear cache on your iPhone, but many have limitations due to iOS's tight security. These cleaner apps are usually not allowed any access to your device and can’t clear the cache from other apps or iOS systems. What they do instead is create large unnecessary cache files to try and trick iOS into cleaning them along with the rest of the cache.
We don’t recommend using these apps as some of them may require excessive permissions to your system and cause potential privacy and security risks
Troubleshooting Cache-Related Performance Issues
Diagnosing App-Specific Sluggishness
Resolving Keyboard Lag Issues
For keyboard lag, prediction cache corruption is usually the culprit. To restart the keyboard or reset the keyboard dictionary, go to Settings > General > Reset. You can also briefly switch to a third-party keyboard and back to refresh the system keyboard without losing saved typing patterns.
Camera App Cache Troubleshooting
If your camera is lagging or giving you some filter bugs, then the problem is usually rooted in its own cache. You can force close the camera app, restart your iPhone, or adjust settings such as Grid or Smart HDR to reset your camera settings without deleting any photos.
Addressing "iPhone Storage Full" Warnings
Managing Messages Attachment Cache
Messaging apps, for example, will store photos, GIFs, and videos even after the conversation has been deleted. To manage this, go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage > Messages, then review and delete large attachments by type. Videos typically take up the most space.
While managing your iPhone's storage, you might be considering upgrading to a newer model. Check out our comparison of iPhone SE vs iPhone 15 to help you decide if upgrading would better address your storage and performance needs.
Battery Drain Linked to Cache Processes
Background Activity Analysis
To identify cache-related battery drain, analyze which apps show high background activity despite minimal active use. These apps often have corrupted caches, causing repeated processing attempts. Apps that have background activity higher than 20% despite limited screen time are usually the culprits. These apps would probably include streaming, messaging, and social media apps.
For instance, a user reported that the Home Assistant app accounted for approximately 80% of their iPhone's battery usage, despite minimal active use. After uninstalling the app, their battery usage returned to normal levels. To identify such issues, go to Settings>Battery and review “Battery Usage by App”. Clear the cache of the ones with high usage or consider offloading them altogether.
Privacy Implications of Cache Clearing
Forensic Persistence of Cleared Data
Standard iOS cache clearing doesn’t erase data at the physical level. Instead, it marks storage blocks as available for reuse, leaving fragments of data that are recoverable with forensic tools.
If your device is lost or inspected, this residual data could be exposed. Users with sensitive information should consider cryptographic deletion via Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Erase All Content and Settings to ensure every single piece of data is deleted.
Cross-App Cache Contamination
iCloud Synchronization of Cache Elements
Final Thoughts: Protecting Your iPhone Inside and Out
How to Clear Cache on iPhone
An iPhone is no cheap buy, and we know you want to protect it inside and out. Regular cache clearing using all the methods we discussed will help keep your iPhone safe from privacy leaks and optimize its performance.
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Remember that an expensive iPhone deserves proper physical protection. Rokform cases provide military-grade drop protection while offering unique functionality through the RokLock™ system and MAGMAX™ magnets. These features allow you to mount your iPhone securely while performing maintenance tasks like cache clearing. Visit Rokform to find the perfect protection for your iPhone model and get it geared up!
