If you are unable to clear browsing history on iPhone due to “Clear History and Website Data” option being is grayed-out. You can find below the steps to fix this problem.
I spent over 2 hrs. last night trying to delete my browser history in safari, how can I delete it?? The clear history option in settings is grayed out and will not function, anyone? Help? – David126 on Macrumours
The frustration as expressed by this user is understandable, considering the fact that the solution to this issue lies in the most unlikely place.
Who would assume, guess or imagine that blocking Adult Content or blocking certain websites on iPhone could make the option to “Delete Website History and Data” inaccessible on your device.
Enable Clear History & Website Data Option on iPhone
If you Can’t clear browsing history on iPhone due to “Clear History & Website Data” option in iPhone Settings being grayed out, it is most likely due to the Screen Time feature on your device being set to block Adult Content or certain websites.
Hence, all that is required to enable the option to Clear History and Website Data back on on your iPhone is to remove the restrictions placed on Adult Content or certain websites on your iPhone.
Go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Content Restrictions > Web Content > on the next screen, select Unrestricted Access option.
After this, go to Settings > Safari > scroll down to “Privacy & Security” section and you will find “Clear History and Website Data” option enabled back on your device.
Once the option to Clear History & Website Data is available in the Settings Menu, you will be able to Clear your browsing history at any time on your device by tapping on this option.
After clearing browsing history, you can go back and enable the restrictions on Adult Content and block websites on your device (as it was before).
- How to Delete “Documents and Data” on iPhone and iPad
- How to Automatically Clear History in Safari on Mac
How to close all tabs on iPhone is easy but why would you do that? Actually, you should definitely close all tabs on iPhone periodically as a best practice.
If you do a lot of searches with Safari on your iPhone, you have undoubtedly found yourself with a collection of opened tabs every now and then. Sometimes you don’t even notice how many you have opened until you’re ‘buried’ in them and that usually happens when your phone is slowing down and you’re checking on the reasons why.
Why Is My Phone Battery Bad? Here Are Some Tips For Improving Your Smartphone’s Battery Life
Here’s a few tips and tricks to help you avoid drowning in all the opened tabs.
How to close all tabs on iPhone: Safari tip
To close the tabs, you have to press the ‘x’ of every single one of them, or drag it to the left. That’s useful if you want to keep a limited number of them open in case you might still need them.
But what if you want to close all tabs on iPhone at the same time?
First, open Safari, click the bottom left button and go to ‘tab view’ mode.
Click on the Private button > Close all. This will close all the tabs you have previously opened but keep in mind that it will also keep you in Private mode. Switch back to the normal mode to exit.
You can use this method not only on the iPhone but on the iPad as well.
There is also the Settings App that can help you out: open it, then tap Safari, which is somewhere in the middle of the list that will appear.
Next, go to Clear History and the next time you open the Safari app, all your tabs should be gone.
How to reopen a closed tab on iPhone
So you did a whoopsie and forgot one of the tabs you closed was one that you actually still needed? Not a problem, there is a way for you find it and reopen it.
First, open Safari. Then tap the tabs icon, you can find it in the lower-right side of the screen. You will need to long-press the ‘+’ icon on the bottom left, which will show you a list of recently-closed apps.
All you need to do next is scroll until you find the page you were looking for and tap on it, which will reopen it in a new tab.
Safari can hold quite a number of recently closed tabs so even if you have to go a bit further back, your chances of finding the page you lost are pretty good.
Hopefully this will help you out if you’re trying to clean up your phone a little. It’s always a good idea to close your tabs since they can slow down your iPhone.
Here’s How To Transfer Your Data From an iPhone to an Android
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How to Close All Tabs on iPhone? Tips On How To Clear Your iPhone
Even though you can offload a great deal of what’s stored on your iPhone to iCloud and other services like Google Photos, there are still many things that need to be kept on your iPhone, such as the apps you use every day.
Contents
- What is the cache on your iPhone?
- How to clear your browser cache on an iPhone
- How to offload apps on your iPhone
- How to clear your cache in Chrome
- How to clear your cache in Edge
- How to clear your cache in Firefox
- Other ways to clear cached data from your iPhone
Apple has designed iOS to do the best it can at managing the space on your iPhone behind the scenes to ensure you always have room to take selfies, download songs, and otherwise use your device normally. But running out of space is still possible, especially if you’ve opted for an iPhone with only 64GB or 128GB of storage (or you simply prefer to keep everything on your device rather than using cloud storage).
When that happens, you may start seeing warnings and errors pop up encouraging you to free up some more space. Your device may also slow down significantly as iOS shuffles things around to try and work within the limited space it has available.
When this happens, there are several things you can do to free up space on your iPhone, but one of the quickest ways to reclaim storage is to clear out the temporary cached data that’s stored by many apps, including browsers like Safari and Chrome.
Andy Boxall/Digital Trends
What is the cache on your iPhone?
During its normal course of operation, your iPhone stores quite a bit of temporary data under the hood. Much of this data is kept on your device to speed things up and reduce the amount of data that needs to be repeatedly downloaded over your cellular or Wi-Fi data connection. This data is referred to as “cached” data, as it’s information from elsewhere that’s been copied to an area on your device where it can be reused for faster access.
The most common type of cached data lives in your web browser. Since we often revisit dozens of the same websites every day, browsers like Safari and Chrome store local copies of webpages and their static elements like logos and graphics, so they don’t need to download them again every time you go back to the same website. That’s not the only way caches are used, though; many third parties also cache other types of data locally for similar reasons. For instance, Facebook and Instagram will cache social media posts you’ve recently viewed, and Google Docs keeps a cache of anything you’ve been working on recently — even though the actual docs are saved in the cloud.
Each app does its best to manage how much data gets cached, but even so, some of them can grow pretty large over time. Apple’s built-in apps are generally better at this — they’ll start discarding unnecessary data when your iPhone gets critically low on space — but third-party browsers like Chrome aren’t nearly as diligent, nor are other apps that have their own caches in place.
Christine Romero-Chan / Digital Trends
How to clear your browser cache on an iPhone
Most iPhone owners use Safari as their primary browser, making this the place where most of your cached data is stored. Even if your browser of choice is Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or something else, it’s still a good idea to check the instructions below, as many third-party apps still use the underlying Safari engine when opening websites.
Step 1: Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
Jesse Hollington / Digital Trends
Step 2: Scroll down and select Safari.
Jesse Hollington / Digital Trends
Step 3: Choose Advanced at the bottom of the next screen.
Jesse Hollington / Digital Trends
Step 4: Select Website Data.
This will show you a list of all the sites that store cached information, cookies, and other data in Safari on your iPhone, sorted in descending order by the amount of space each one takes. The number at the top shows the total amount of space taken up by all cached sites.
Jesse Hollington / Digital Trends
Step 5: Select Remove All Website Data and confirm by selecting Remove Now from the pop-up that appears.
Note that this will remove all cached data and cookies for all sites. This includes any sites where you’ve saved your login status, so you’ll need to sign in to those again the next time you visit them.
Jesse Hollington / Digital Trends
Step 6: Instead of removing everything, you can also choose to remove the data for only specific websites. To do this, swipe from right to left on a website you would like to remove until the Delete button appears, and either tap that button or continue swiping to delete the data for the selected website.
Jesse Hollington / Digital Trends
Step 7: You may have noticed a Clear History and Website Data option in the Safari settings. This option can also be used to remove all website data; however, it’s a more drastic approach as it will also remove your browsing history from your iPhone and every other device signed in using the same iCloud account — such as your Mac or iPad. Since browsing history doesn’t take up much space, there’s no reason to do this for performance reasons; it’s more of a privacy feature.
How to offload apps on your iPhone
While they aren’t “cached data” in the strictest sense of the term, apps that are installed on your iPhone that you aren’t using use regularly take up space in the same way. Each app is a copy of something that’s available elsewhere — on the App Store in this case — which means there’s no need to keep it on your iPhone if you seldom open it. For example, you may only use apps for seasonal shopping and vacations once or twice a year, yet they’ll take up space on your device year-round.
Of course, if you don’t use an app at all, you can simply delete it, but the downside is that removes all of the app’s data from your device. Fortunately, Apple provides a way to “offload” your apps to free up space without affecting any of their data or even taking it away from its place on your home screen. This is especially handy for games, which are often large apps with relatively small amounts of stored data; offloading these frees up a lot of space without affecting your in-game progress.
Step 1: Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
Jesse Hollington / Digital Trends
Step 2: Select General.
Jesse Hollington / Digital Trends
Step 3: Select iPhone Storage.
A list of all the apps installed on your device will appear, with the total storage being taken up by each one. This includes the app itself as well as all the data that are stored with it.
Jesse Hollington / Digital Trends
Step 4: Select an app from the list that you would like to offload. This will show you a detailed view breaking down how much storage is being used by the app itself (App Size) and how much is being used by the data stored by it (Documents & Data).
Note that only the storage listed beside App Size will be freed up by offloading an app.
Jesse Hollington / Digital Trends
Step 5: Select Offload App and confirm by choosing Offload App again when the pop-up appears. Alternatively, you can choose Delete App if you want to completely remove the app and all of its data from your iPhone. Note that some of Apple’s built-in apps, like Photos and Messages, cannot be offloaded or deleted.
Jesse Hollington / Digital Trends
Step 6: You can also set your iPhone to offload apps automatically if you haven’t used them in a while. You may be shown a recommendation to enable this when you go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage, which will also show how much space you’ll save by doing so. You can find the setting under App Store in the iPhone Settings app.
Jesse Hollington / Digital Trends
Step 7: A few words of caution about offloading apps: Firstly, when you want to use the app again, it’s automatically downloaded from the App Store. This means you need to have a data connection, which will need cellular data if you’re not on Wi-Fi. You may want to think twice about offloading apps that you think you may need to use in a pinch.
Secondly, there’s a small chance that the app could be removed from the App Store, in which case you may not be able to re-download it. This is quite rare and usually only happens when Apple turfs an app for violating the App Store’s rules or a developer deliberately pulls their app from the App Store. That second case isn’t common, but it does happen occasionally.
Jesse Hollington / Digital Trends
Primakov/Shutterstock
How to clear your cache in Chrome
Like most third-party apps, clearing your cache in Chrome is accomplished through the settings within the app.
Step 1: Open Chrome on your iPhone.
Step 2: Select the three-dot icon located in the bottom right corner.
Jesse Hollington / Digital Trends
Step 3: Select Clear Browsing Data.
Step 4: Choose Time Range if you’d prefer to clear only recent browsing data, or leave it set to All Time to clear everything.
Jesse Hollington / Digital Trends
Step 5: Deselect any items you don’t want cleared. For example, if you’re simply trying to free up space, you probably don’t need to remove browsing history, saved passwords, or autofill data.
Step 6: Select Clear Browsing Data again located at the bottom, and then select it again from the pop-up to confirm.
Photo by Alan Truly
How to clear your cache in Edge
If Microsoft Edge is your preferred browser, you can clear your cache there in much the same way as in Chrome.
Step 1: Open Edge on your iPhone.
Jesse Hollington / Digital Trends
Step 2: Select the three-dot icon located in the bottom center.
Jesse Hollington / Digital Trends
Step 3: Select Settings.
Jesse Hollington / Digital Trends
Step 4: Choose Privacy and Security.
Jesse Hollington / Digital Trends
Step 5: Select Clear Browsing Data.
Jesse Hollington / Digital Trends
Step 6: Choose Time Range to select how much browsing data you want to clear. This defaults to just the last hour, but you’ll probably want to set it to All Time to free up as much storage as possible.
Jesse Hollington / Digital Trends
Step 7: Select or deselect the items you want to be cleared.
Jesse Hollington / Digital Trends
Step 8: Choose Clear now from the bottom of the screen and select it again from the pop-up to confirm.
Primakov
How to clear your cache in Firefox
The steps for clearing your cache in Firefox on your iPhone are a bit different, but they’ll ultimately accomplish the same thing.
Step 1: Open Firefox on your iPhone.
Step 2: Select the three-line menu button in the bottom right corner.
Jesse Hollington / Digital Trends
Step 3: Choose Settings from the pop-up menu.
Jesse Hollington / Digital Trends
Step 4: Scroll down and select Data Management.
Jesse Hollington / Digital Trends
Step 5: Ensure the switches are toggled on beside the categories of data you’d like to clear.
Jesse Hollington / Digital Trends
Step 6: Choose Clear Private Data and then select OK to confirm.
Christine Romero-Chan / Digital Trends
Other ways to clear cached data from your iPhone
Although your web browser(s) are the most common places you’ll find cached data, they’re not the only ones. As we mentioned earlier, many individual apps also keep their own caches, and while these tend to be relatively small in most cases, there are exceptions. Apps that store large caches usually provide a way of clearing out that data, although how to do this varies with each app.
You can see a list of how much storage each of your apps is taking up by going into the iPhone’s Settings app and selecting General > iPhone Storage. If something on that list seems excessive, it may be worth opening the app up and poking around inside to see where you can clear out the cache or otherwise free up some space by removing downloaded content from apps like Music, TV, Podcasts, or YouTube.
For cloud-based apps like Google Drive, Google Photos, Dropbox, and Evernote, you can remove the app from your iPhone entirely and then reinstall it from scratch. These apps store all your data on their respective cloud-based services, so you won’t lose anything by deleting them except for your personal settings — and of course, any superfluous cached data they’ve been holding onto.
Unfortunately, freeing up space in third-party apps is a largely manual process. For security and privacy reasons, iOS uses a technique called “sandboxing,” which prevents apps from getting at each other’s data. This means you won’t be able to find any “system cleaner” apps for the iPhone (or iPad) the way you can for a Mac or Windows PC. Any third-party app that claims it can clean or optimize your entire iPhone is misleading; most of the valid apps for this on the App Store are designed for specific purposes like cleaning up duplicate photos or contacts or ridding you of spam emails. While these served a purpose once, these are mostly things that you can do yourself with the built-in features in iOS 16.
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While taking a close look at the breakdown of the storage consumption, have you ever wondered what is the System Data (formerly called Other data) on iPhones and iPads and how to clear it to recover your precious storage? If the answer is yes, you are not alone to have hit this path and got taken aback to figure out how much space this mysterious section has hacked on your iOS device. Whether you are on a cleanup drive to declutter your iPhone or eager to sort out this riddle for good, let me show you how to clear System Data storage on iPhone/iPad with ease.
If you’re annoyed due to the ever-growing system data on your iPhone or iPad, fret not. We have 6 effective methods to clear iPhone system data with ease. However, before trying out all the means and ways to delete the System Data on iOS or iPadOS, let’s first understand what is it all about.
As always, you can use the table of contents below to quickly navigate through this article.
Table of Contents
What is System Data on iOS and iPadOS?
To make the task of tracking storage consumption on iPhone and iPad a straightforward affair, iOS presents a pretty neat storage section that breaks down the consumption for users to know how much each category (apps, media, photos, iOS, and more) has captured. The colored section of each category can determine the amount of space each one of them has occupied.
If you are wondering what the “System Data” section includes, you should know that it comprises everything that doesn’t fall in the bracket of the predefined categories. According to Apple, the storage category consists of non-removable things such as offline translation languages, fonts, dictionaries, Siri voices, logs, cache, local keychain data, CloudKit Database, and more. Long story short, it’s a cluster of a variety of miscellaneous data that exists on your iOS device.
Note: It’s worth noting that System Data was previously called Other Data. People using iOS 14 or earlier can still find the previous name. If you are one of them, you can check out our detailed guide on how to clear other data on iPhone. However, people using iOS 16 should keep following the steps below.
How to View System Data on iOS and iPadOS
There are two ways to view System Data on your iOS or iPadOS device.
On iPhone or iPad
1. Head to the Settings app.
2. Select the general option and then tap on iPhone storage to view the breakdown.
On Mac/Windows PC
1. Connect your iPhone or iPad to a Mac or Windows computer and launch Finder/iTunes.
2. Select the device and check out the storage consumption bar located at the bottom of the screen.
How to Clear System Data on iPhone and iPad
Luckily, there are multiple ways to delete the System Data on iPhone and iPad. While it would have been much better if there existed a dashboard to view and clear all the categories of system data quickly, there are viable workarounds that get the job done.
1. Clear App Cache
It’s recommended to clear the cache of apps from time to time. Else, the huge pileup of cached data starts creating problems like random crashing, freezing, unexpected sluggishness, and even draining more battery. Fortunately, most apps let you delete the cache right from inside their settings. All you need to do is head on over to an app and check out its settings for the option to clear the cache.
In the screenshot below, you can see the option to delete the cache of the Spotify app under the Storage section. This way, you can save space on your device.
If you’re still not able to clear out enough space on your iPhone, you can offload apps to free up some additional storage. This ability deletes the unused apps but keeps their documents and data. With iOS 16, the unused apps get offloaded automatically once the option is enabled. For this,
1. Head to the Settings app and select General. Tap on the Storage option. There, you will find the option to offload apps. Just Enable it.
To stop offloading apps, you can to Settings -> App Store -> disable the Offload Unused Apps option. In addition to this, you can choose to delete or reinstall existing apps, which can help in clearing some space for you.
2. Clear Browsing History and Website Data
Another reliable way to prevent the System Data from capturing a lot of unnecessary storage is to delete the browsing history and website data on a regular basis. Though saved history makes it more convenient to access frequently-visited websites and saves you time, you shouldn’t keep the website history for far too long.
Personally, I prefer to get rid of the browsing history every once in a while. It not only lets me keep the browser clutter-free but also safeguards my privacy. Besides, it also plays a vital role in helping the browser run smoothly. Clearing the browsing history of all the popular web browsers such as Safari, Chrome, and Firefox is pretty easy. Let me show you how it’s done:
Clear Safari Browsing History
If you want to clean up Safari caches, navigate to the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad -> Safari -> Clear History and Website Data.
Clear Chrome Browsing History
For Chrome, open the app -> tap on the three-dot icon at the bottom -> choose History -> tap on Clear Browsing Data. After that, choose the time range and hit Clear Browsing Data again.
Clear Firefox Browsing History
Launch the app -> tap on the menu button (three tiny horizontal lines) in the bottom right corner of the screen -> tap on History. Following this, select Clear Recent History and then choose Everything in the menu to wipe out the entire history.
3. Delete Large Message Attachments
It’s always good to remove the message attachments that are no longer required so that they don’t end up occupying the iPhone or iPad’s storage. Apple’s Message app provides a simple way to keep track of message attachments and remove them with ease. Here’s what to do:
1. Go to the Settings app on your iPhone/iPad.
2. Select General and then iPhone/iPad Storage.
3. Now hit the Messages option. Under the Documents section, you should see different categories like Top Conversations, Photos, and Videos. Now, head into the respective category and then delete the useless attachments.
For those who don’t know, WhatsApp has a similar way of managing media and deleting unnecessary files to save up storage. You can follow our guide on how to manage storage on WhatsApp to further free up your device’s space.
4. Reduce Message History
Apart from getting rid of the unnecessary message attachments, you can also choose to remove the history of the text messages from time to time, so that you are able to maintain your iPhone or iPad’s space. For this,
1. Get to the Messages section via Settings, and select the Keep Messages option.
2. From there, choose to go for 30 days or 1 year instead of Forever. You will now be prompted with an option to delete older messages. If you are okay with this, go ahead and make the changes. This way, you can delete your message frequently.
5. Update Software
Not too long ago, iOS/iPadOS 13 faced one rare issue that prevented the system from freeing up storage on iPhone and iPad. The problem was so rampant that Apple had to release a software update to fix the issue. So, if your device storage is full and it’s mostly consumed by System Data, try updating the software.
1. Head to the Settings app and select General. Select the Software Update option.
2. Now, download and install the latest version of iOS/iPadOS.
6. Restore Your Device As New
If the aforementioned steps haven’t really helped, I would recommend you restore your device as new. While it’s a big step for deleting the System Data on iPhone and iPad, it’s the way to go, especially when you want to have a clean slate. But before trying out this method, make sure to back up your device via iCloud or iTunes. Once done, follow the steps below:
1. Head over to the Settings app. Select General and then Reset. Once on the screen below, choose Erase all content and settings. Once your device has been erased, follow the set-up assistant to set up the device.
Alternatively, you can use iTunes to restore your device. Simply, connect your iPhone to a computer and launch iTunes (macOS Mojave or earlier or Windows)/Finder (macOS Catalina or later). Now, select your device and then hit Restore iPhone/iPad. After that, follow the prompts to complete the process.
FAQs
Is clearing the cache harmful?
Clearing cached data is not harmful. In fact, it allows you to get rid of the “junk” system files that only end up occupying the device’s extra space and slowing it down.
Why does System Data on iPhone keep increasing?
System Data (or Other data) on iPhone can quickly occupy a lot of storage space. While a lot of this is due to things like caching, logs, and temporary file storage, there are other reasons as well. If you watch a lot of streamed video content on your iPhone, that can quickly eat into your iPhone’s storage space as well by adding to System Data.
Delete System Data on iPhone and iPad With Ease
So, that’s how you can track down and delete the mysterious System Data on your iPhone and iPad. Considering that this part takes significant storage space, we wish Apple looks into this and comes up with a more centralized way of managing and clearing system data. Until that happens, take advantage of these effective ways to keep your iOS device decluttered. Once your phone is fast, check out these best iOS 16 features and have fun. Do you have any related questions or feedback? If yes, make use of the comments section below.
Our iPhones keep us organized and help us to stay on top of our busy lives. But in keeping us organized, iPhones can get a little cluttered.
Clearing your app cache can help — and you don’t even have to delete the app to do it.
Clearing App Cache on an iPhone Without Deleting Apps
App cache is mostly temporary files. Over time, these temporary files can start to take up a lot of storage space on your iPhone and slow things down.
Some apps let you manually clear your cache from the Settings page or the Settings app. But other than that, the most common way people clear app cache on their iPhones is by deleting and reinstalling the app.
If you don’t want to lose your settings and log back into your accounts, there are ways to clear app cache on an iPhone without deleting the app in question.
- Restart your iPhone
- Open the app in your iPhone’s settings
- Open the app’s Settings page
- Offload the app
Restart Your iPhone
Restarting your iPhone won’t clear all your app cache, but it will remove quite a few temporary files.
- Press and hold the lock button on your iPhone.
- When the power slider appears, slide it to the right to turn your phone off.
- Wait for your iPhone to turn off completely, then press the lock button again to turn it back on.
This will clear the bulk of your cached data.
Open the App in Your iPhone’s Settings
Some apps allow you to clear cache from the iPhone Settings app. This isn’t available for most apps, but it’s worth checking to see if it’ll work for the app you’re using.
- Open your iPhone’s Settings.
- Scroll down until you find the app you want to clear.
- Select the app and see if you find an option to “Reset Cached Content,” “Clear Cache,” or anything similar.
Open the App’s Settings Page
Some apps have an option on their Settings page that lets you clear the app cache. A few of the iPhone apps with this option include:
- Spotify
- Snapchat
- TikTok
Open the app, then find the Settings page. Some apps list this at the bottom of the main Settings page, while others hide it in the “Data” section.
Offload the App from Your iPhone
Deleting and reinstalling an app on your iPhone removes all your data from it. If you have an app you don’t use often but need to free up some space, offloading it is a great alternative.
Offloading deletes the app from your phone but saves your data in the cloud. Here’s how you can offload an app on your iPhone:
- Open the Settings app.
- Tap “General.”
- Select “iPhone Storage.”
- Find and select the app in question, then tap “Offload App.”
The app icon will stay on your home screen, but you’ll see a cloud icon next to the name. Whenever you’re ready to use the app again, just tap on it and wait for it to reinstall.
You can also set your iPhone to automatically offload “unused apps.” However, it’s not exactly clear what Apple considers “unused.”
Some users have reported their iPhones offloading apps after just two days, while others have apps they haven’t used in weeks still loaded on their phones.
As long as you don’t mind waiting a few seconds for certain apps to reinstall, follow these steps to set your iPhone to automatically offload unused apps:
- Open your Settings app.
- Select “App Store.”
- Scroll to the bottom and toggle “Offload Unused Apps” on.
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Why Should I Clear the App Cache on My iPhone?
If you’re like most people, you probably don’t clear your app cache very often. But there are some pretty good reasons to do it every now and then.
Clearing the app cache on your iPhone can:
- Free up space on your device
- Improve app performance
- Fix app crashes and other issues
- Take control of your app data
Other Ways to Speed Your iPhone Up
If you’re trying to clear your app cache to increase your iPhone’s speed and help it work more efficiently, consider:
- Deleting some photos
- Deleting hidden apps
- Updating your iOS
- Using a cleaning app
Delete Some Photos
We all have a lot more unnecessary photos in our Camera Rolls than we’d like to admit.
It might take a while, but deleting all those screenshots and blurry pictures can free up a lot of space on your phone, making everything run much smoother.
Delete Hidden Apps
Hidden apps are apps that are loaded onto your iPhone but don’t appear on your home screen. iPhones come pre-installed with many hidden apps, some of which include:
- Voice Memos
- Freeform
- Translate
- Compass
- Measure
Even though these apps might not appear on your home screen, you can still find them in your App Library.
Scroll all the way to the right on your home screen, past your last page of apps. Here, you’ll find the App Library.
Press and hold the app you want to delete until the menu pops up. Then, press “Delete App.”
Update Your iOS
Each iOS update comes with bug fixes and security updates to optimize your iPhone. Updating can even help solve problems like your iPhone overheating while charging.
If you haven’t updated your iOS in a while, check for and install any available updates:
- Open your iPhone’s Settings app.
- Select “General.”
- Tap “Software Update.”
- Wait for your iPhone to check for available updates. If there is one available, download and install it.
Every update takes up a little bit of storage on your phone. If you don’t have enough storage to update, free up some space and try again.
Use a Cleaning App
There are some third-party apps that can help clear junk files from your iPhone, including cache files.
Just be careful which app you download to do this. Read the reviews, and check the Privacy section of the App Store listing. You want to be 100% sure what the app will do with your data.
I recommend Smart Cleaner. They offer a three-day free trial of their Premium cleaner, which you can use once to fully clean your iPhone, then cancel your subscription and wait for it to expire.
FAQ: Clearing the App Cache on an iPhone
What is an App Cache?
Every app stores temporary data within itself. This data is known as “app cache.” App cache is stored to load certain elements faster and improve your experience using the app.
Over time, however, this data builds up and causes glitches and slow performance. This is why clearing your app cache periodically is a good idea.
What is the Difference Between Cookies and Cache?
Apps and devices store resources and elements in their cache to reduce loading times. Cache is only stored in the browser or app you’re using.
Cookies, on the other hand, are used in web browsers to remember user preferences, such as usernames and passwords.
In addition to being stored on the browser, cookies are stored in the website’s server.
Here’s how you can delete your cookies for Safari:
- Open the Settings app.
- Tap “Safari.”
- Scroll down and select “Advanced.”
- Tap “Website Data.”
- Press “Remove All Website Data.”
And here’s how to do it on Google Chrome:
- Open Google Chrome on your iPhone.
- Tap the three dots in the bottom-right corner.
- Scroll to the right on the menu at the top and press “Settings.”
- Scroll down and select “Privacy and Security.”
- Tap “Clear Browsing Data.”
- Check “Cookies, Site Data” and tap “Clear Browsing Data.”
Will Clearing My App Cache Log Me Out?
In most cases, clearing your app data will not log you out of the application. App cache only stores app resources, such as images and videos.
How to Clear Cache on Your iPhone’s Web Browser
The two most common web browsers people use on their iPhones include Safari and Google Chrome.
Here’s how you can clear your app cache for Safari:
- Open the Settings app.
- Select “Safari.”
- Tap “Clear History and Website Data.”
If you use Google Chrome, open the app on your iPhone and follow these steps:
- Tap the three dots in the bottom-right corner.
- Scroll all the way to the right on the top menu and tap “Settings.”
- Scroll down and select “Privacy and Security.”
- Tap “Clear Browsing Data.”
- Check “Cached Images and Files” and press “Done.”
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