Image: Maria Diaz/ZDNET.
How many tabs are open on your mobile browser right now? Go ahead, check it out. You might be surprised!
The French spend more than three hours a day, on average, on their smartphone. Which means that for more than three hours, their smartphone retrieves and saves data from cache and cookies, sometimes leading to storage issues on the device.
But what is cache? How to empty it? And for what benefits? Answers below.
What is cache?
Cache is the temporary storage of certain data, such as which parts of a website you last visited, for example. Browser cache is the content of a website that is stored on your phone during a browsing session to help the browser run faster the next time you visit that page.
However, cache data can slow down your phone’s overall browsing performance because it takes up storage space on your device. In this article, we mainly focus on clearing web browser cache, but you should know that there are other types of cache, including mobile app cache and CPU cache.
How do I clear my iPhone cache?
You will learn how to clear the cache on your iPhone. To do this, you will simply need your iPhone and the Settings app on it.
Warning: by deleting the cache, you will erase private data, which may cause all your open tabs in Safari to close. You may also be logged out of all the sites you were logged in to, forcing you to log in again the next time you open them.
1. Open the Settings app
To delete Safari cache data, open the application Settings on your iPhone. It is also possible to do it directly from Safari, but there are more options from the iPhone settings.
Image: Maria Diaz/ZDNET.
2. Find the Safari app
Scroll down the Settings and Apps list to Safari, then click it to access the app settings.
Image: Maria Diaz/ZDNET.
3. Clear history
At the bottom of the Safari Settings page, select Clear history, site data.
Image: Maria Diaz/ZDNET.
4. Confirm Deleting Browsing History
A new window appears. Select All history (or the period of your choice) and click on Clear history.
That’s it, you have cleared the cache and deleted the Safari cookies. Cached images and browser history were also deleted, leading to your logout from all websites. Your autofill data should be kept on your device.
Your iPhone now lets you close all tabs or keep them open when you reopen Safari, a feature that wasn’t available until recently.
Image: Maria Diaz/ZDNET.
FAQs
How to clear Chrome cache on iPhone?
If you use Google Chrome more than Safari, it may store a significant amount of data on your device, which can also slow down performance.
To clear Chrome cache, open the Google Chrome app and follow these steps:
- Click on the three dots at the bottom right.
- Go to Settings > Privacy & Security.
- Click on Clear browsing data.
- Select All data (or the desired period).
- Select the items you want to delete: you can clear cookies and browsing data by choosing Cookies/site dataclear the cache with Image/file. hiddenor choose to delete the Saved passwords or the data of Autofill.
- To confirm the deletion of the selected items, click Clear browsing data at the bottom of the page, then again on Clear browsing data.
- After deleting data, tap OK at the top right of the page to return to Chrome.
If you choose to clear your browsing data and cache in Google Chrome, your open tabs will not be closed. However, they will be refreshed and you will be logged out from all the websites you were connected to.
How to browse Safari on iPhone without saving history?
Rather than clearing your iPhone’s cache regularly, you can also choose to browse Safari without saving browsing history. To do this, you will need to use private browsing:
- open Safari ;
- click on the tabs icon, bottom right;
- select Privatethen press + to open a new tab in private browsing.
If the private browsing option is not available, go to Settings > Safari and activate Also use in private browsing.
How to clear the cache of an application on iPhone?
To clear an app’s cache, you can either choose to unload it or delete and reinstall it.
Unfortunately, iOS apps don’t have uniform settings that would allow you to clear each app’s cache. However, some applications allow you to clear their cache in their settings. This is particularly the case with TikTok. Amazon offers to delete browsing history, while the Reddit application allows you to clear local history.
What is the difference between “clearing cache” and “unloading” an app on iPhone?
Yes. Unloading an app means uninstalling an app without deleting the documents or data associated with it. This action can be useful if your iPhone is slowed down due to lack of storage.
To unload an application, go to Settings > General > iPhone Storageselect the application of your choice from the list then click on Download the app. If you download it again, you will resume the application where you left off.
Is there a difference between cookies and cache?
Yes. Cookies are data files that websites send to your phone. For example, things like saved passwords to keep you logged in, or browsing preferences on a given website based on your last visit.
Although they seem harmless, cookies can also be used to track your browsing. They monitor your browsing and search history, and even track what you clicked on or hovered over. If you’ve ever done a quick, seemingly innocuous search on Amazon, and then were bombarded with ads for that product across all your apps, you owe it to cookies.
Can you block iPhone cookies?
On iPhone, it is possible to block Safari cookies, but this is not necessarily recommended. By completely blocking cookies, you will prevent your browsing from being tracked, it is true, but you also expose yourself to the risk that certain websites will not work correctly. If you like to benefit from personalized navigation, cookies will be useful to you.
If you still prefer to block Safari cookies, follow these steps:
- go in Settings > Safari ;
- at the very bottom of the page, click Advance ;
- activate Block all cookies.
If you use Google Chrome, there are also third-party extensions to help you block cookies and trackers. This is particularly the case for Ghostery and Disconnect.
How to check storage status on iPhone?
In your iPhone settings, you can monitor available and occupied storage space, as well as what’s taking up most of your storage space – usually photos, videos, and music. You can also view the storage consumption of each app, including temporary data.
To view this data, follow the steps below:
- go to the Settings > General > iPhone Storage ;
- Select the app whose storage data you want to view from the apps list.
It is unfortunately not possible to clear the iPhone’s third-party app cache for third-party apps through this menu, but it allows you to view the overall status of your storage and delete or unload apps if need.
The section Recommendations also offers you solutions to optimize your iPhone’s storage, for example deleting unused applications.
Source: ZDNet.com