But try to avoid slowing things down
If your preferred web browser on the iPhone or iPad fails to display sites correctly or behaves unusually, the chances are that an obsolete web cache is at play. Clearing it can help resolve the issue since the action forces the browser to fetch up-to-date site data in subsequent visits.
Read on to learn how to clear the cache on all major browsers—Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, etc.—for the iPhone and iPad.
Table of Contents
Clear Safari Cache on iPhone and iPad
If you use the native Safari browser on your iPhone or iPad, you’ve got multiple ways to delete its web cache. Go through them and pick the method that’s the most appropriate.
Clear Browser Cache via Safari
Safari’s History screen provides a built-in option to clear the entire browser cache or just recently cached site data.
1. Tap the Bookmarks icon in Safari.
2. Switch to the History tab (if it isn’t already selected by default) and tap Clear.
3. Pick a time frame to clear the browser cache. Available options include All time, Today and yesterday, Today, and The last hour.
Clear Browser Cache via Settings
Another way to clear the browser cache in Safari is to use the Settings app on iOS and iPadOS. Use it if the browser fails to load or crashes immediately at launch.
1. Open the Settings app on your iOS device.
2. Scroll down and tap Safari.
3. Scroll down and tap Clear History and Website Data > Clear History and Data.
Clear Cache By Site
If an issue is limited to a specific website, Safari provides a way to clear the cached data for that site only.
1. Open the Settings app and tap Safari.
2. Scroll down and tap Advanced > Website Data.
3. Swipe the website to the left and tap Delete.
Tip: You can also use the Remove All Website Data option at the bottom of the screen to delete the entire browser cache. Unlike the methods above, it will not delete your browsing history.
Do you keep encountering site-related issues with Safari on your Mac as well? Learn how to clear the cache, history, and cookies in Safari on Mac.
Clear Browser Cache in Google Chrome
When you use Google Chrome for web browsing on the iPhone or iPad, you can choose between completely clearing the browser cache and removing the cached data of a specific time range.
1. Open the Chrome menu (tap the icon with three dots).
2. Select Settings.
3. Tap Privacy > Clear Browsing Data.
4. Tap Time Range and pick a time frame—Last Hour, Last 24 Hours, Last 7 Days, Last 4 Weeks, or All Time.
5. Tap the categories next to Cookies, Site Data, and Cached Images and Files. Tap Browsing History if you also want to delete your browsing history.
6. Tap Clear Browsing Data.
Clear the Browser Cache in Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Firefox for the iPhone and iPad allows you to clear the entire browser cache or the just cached data for specific sites only.
Clear the Entire Browser Cache
1. Open the Firefox menu (tap the icon with three stacked lines).
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap Data Management.
4. Turn on the switches next to Cache, Cookies, and Offline Website Data.
5. Tap Clear Private Data.
Clear Cache for Specific Sites
1. Open the Firefox menu and tap Settings.
2. Tap Data Management.
3. Tap Website Data.
4. Tap to mark the site or sites you want to delete.
5. Tap Clear Items.
Clear the Browser Cache in Microsoft Edge
If you use Microsoft Edge on your iPhone or iPad, you can delete the browser cache or the cached data of pre-defined time ranges. The process is similar to clearing the cache in Google Chrome.
1. Open the Edge menu (tap the icon with three dots).
2. Select Settings.
3. Tap Privacy and security.
4. Tap Clear browsing data.
5. Tap Time Range and select a time frame—Last Hour, Last 24 Hours, Last 7 Days, Last 4 Weeks, or All Time.
6. Pick the Cookies and other site data and Cached images and data categories.
7. Tap Clear now.
Clear the Browser Cache in Opera
Clearing the cache in Opera on the iPhone or iPad is relatively straightforward compared to other browsers.
1. Open the Opera menu (tap the icon with three stacked lines).
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap Clear Browser Data.
4. Pick the Cookies and Site Data and Cached Images and Files categories.
5. Tap Clear.
Clear the Browser Cache in Brave
Brave lets you clear the entire browser cache or just the locally cached data for specific sites only.
Clear Entire Browser Cache
1. Open the Brave menu (tap the icon with three dots).
2. Tap Settings.
3. Tap Brave Shields & Privacy.
4. Scroll down to the Clear Private Data section.
5. Turn on the switches next to Cache and Cookies and Site Data.
6. Tap Clear Data Now
Clear Cache for Specific Sites
1. Open the Brave menu and tap Settings.
2. Tap Brave Shields & Privacy > Manage Website Data.
3. Swipe a site to the left and tap the Trash icon.
Try to Avoid Slowing Things Down
Completely clearing the local web cache can cause slowdowns since your browser has to re-download all site data from scratch. Furthermore, you must sign into every site that you’ve previously logged into all over again.
Since most browsers offer a lot of flexibility in managing local site data, you can prevent that by limiting how much of the cache you clear by focusing on individual sites or shorter time ranges. You can also use the built-in private modes in each browser—e.g., Safari’s Private tabs or Chrome’s Incognito mode—if you want to stop it from caching site data in the first place.
