How to clear your Android phone cache - the 30-second routine every user should be doing

As Google prepares to release Android 17 in the coming months, you may be wondering how to get your phone ready. Or maybe your Android phone or tablet is starting to feel sluggish and could use a tune-up before you even think about installing the next major release. One simple place to start is clearing the cache, which can free up storage and help resolve minor performance hiccups.

Over time, cached data can pile up, become outdated, or occasionally get corrupted. Restarting your phone can help, but a targeted cache clear is the quickest way to troubleshoot slowdowns and odd app behavior without upgrading hardware. In this guide, I'll show you how to clear your Android device's cache.

If you're an Apple user, here's how to clear the cache on an iPhone. What you'll need: Any Android device. Steps may vary slightly by manufacturer and Android version, but the general process is consistent across most newer phones.

I'm using a Google Pixel 8 running Android 16. On Android, cache must be cleared on a per-app basis. While this can be tedious, it helps prevent accidental data loss and broader performance issues.

To find which apps are using the most space and clear their cache, open Settings, go to Storage, and tap Apps. (If you don't see Apps, use the search bar in Settings to find it.) Now simply tap an app you've installed and select Clear cache. I recommend you avoid system apps like Google Play Services, and do not tap Clear storage unless you want to fully reset the app and erase all its data.

Repeat this process for any apps that use a lot of space, starting with data-heavy apps such as social media or streaming services. You can see how much storage each app uses listed beneath its name. For example, Google Photos is using 1.24GB of space on my phone.

You can clear Chrome's cache using steps 1 through 3 above, but Google's mobile browser also includes built-in tools for removing browsing data, such as cached images and files. If you choose to delete "cookies and site data," you'll be signed out of most sites. Deleting "browsing history" only removes the list of sites you've visited.

I don't recommend deleting saved passwords or autofill data. After clearing browser and app caches, restart your phone to clear temporary system files. Many Android users notice immediate performance improvements after a restart because it refreshes memory, clears temporary system files, and often resolves background glitches.

Think of cache as temporary files, such as images, scripts, and other resources, that help apps and websites load faster. Clearing cache removes those temporary files from your device without affecting your personal app settings or login credentials. For example, in the Facebook app, cached data may include saved profile pictures, photos, and videos.