Is your iPhone acting like it’s stuck in a vat of molasses? You know the feeling. You tap an icon, and there’s that agonizing split-second delay before anything happens. Or worse, Instagram just decides to quit on you in the middle of a scroll. Usually, the first thing people scream is "my battery is dying!" but honestly, it’s probably just digital gunk. Your phone is basically a hoarder. It keeps every tiny bit of data from every website you’ve visited since 2022. If you're wondering how do you clear cache on iPhone, you aren't just looking for a button to press—you're looking to reclaim your sanity.
The weird thing about iOS is that there isn't one giant "Delete All Trash" button. Apple likes to keep things tidy, sure, but they also hide the broom. Cache isn't just one thing. It’s Safari data, it’s "Other" system storage, and it’s the massive pile of temporary files hidden inside apps like TikTok or Spotify.
The Safari situation is the biggest culprit
Safari is a data sponge. Every time you load a page, your phone saves images and scripts so it doesn't have to download them again later. Great for speed, terrible for your 64GB storage limit. To fix this, you’ve gotta dive into the Settings app. Don't look for the Safari app icon on your home screen; go to the actual system Settings. Scroll way down until you see Safari.
Once you’re in there, look for "Clear History and Website Data."
Wait. Before you tap that, you should know it's a "scorched earth" policy. It logs you out of everything. If you don't remember your password for that random forum you use once a year, maybe think twice. If you want to be more surgical, scroll to the very bottom of the Safari settings, tap Advanced, then Website Data. This lets you see exactly which sites are eating your space. You’ll be shocked. Why is a news site you visited once three months ago holding onto 50MB of data? You can slide left on individual sites to delete them one by one. It takes longer, but it keeps your important logins intact.
Why "Offloading" is better than deleting
Most people think they have to delete an app to clear its cache. That’s a headache because then you have to set everything up again. Apple actually built a middle-ground feature called Offloading. It’s tucked away in Settings > General > iPhone Storage.
When you offload an app, the "code" of the app is removed, but your personal data and documents stay put.
Think of it like this: you’re taking the furniture out of a room but keeping the floor plan. When you reinstall it, everything is exactly where you left it. This is huge for apps like games that take up 2GB but have a cache that’s spiraled out of control. If you see an app in that list that says "Last Used: October 2023," just offload it. You aren't losing anything.
The TikTok and Spotify loophole
Third-party apps are notorious for ignoring your iPhone's general storage rules. They build their own little empires of cached data. If you spend three hours a day on TikTok, that app is storing every single video you’ve watched in a temporary folder so it can replay them instantly.
For these, you actually have to open the app itself.
- Open TikTok and go to your profile.
- Hit the three lines (the "hamburger" menu) at the top.
- Go to Settings and Privacy.
- Find Free up space.
You’ll likely see hundreds of megabytes in the cache. Clear it. It won't delete your drafts or your videos. It just clears the "pre-loaded" junk. Spotify is the same. In the Spotify settings under "Storage," there’s a dedicated "Clear Cache" button. It’s separate from your downloaded music. Clearing this won't remove your offline playlists, but it will stop the app from stuttering when you're trying to find that one specific 80s synth-pop track.
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What is System Data and can you actually kill it?
If you've ever looked at your storage bar and seen a massive grey section labeled "System Data" (it used to be called "Other"), you know true frustration. This is the catch-all category. It’s Siri voices, local logs, keychain data, and system resources.
The annoying truth? You can't just "clear" it with a tap.
Apple’s official stance is that the system manages this automatically. Translation: "Trust us." But sometimes it glitches and swells to 20GB for no reason. One trick that actually works is a "Force Restart." It’s the classic IT move. Volume Up, Volume Down, then hold the Side Button until the Apple logo appears. This forces the OS to re-index its files and often dumps temporary logs that were stuck in a loop.
Another weirdly effective method involves the TV app. If you try to "rent" a massive 4K movie that is larger than your available space, iOS will frantically start scrubbing its own internal cache to make room for the download. You don't actually have to buy the movie—just initiate the process. It’s like a jump-start for the phone’s self-cleaning routine.
The nuclear option: Backup and Restore
Sometimes, no matter how many times you ask how do you clear cache on iPhone, the "System Data" just won't budge. If your phone is still sluggish and the storage is full of ghosts, you might need to do a full reset.
This isn't as scary as it sounds if you use iCloud. Back up the phone, wipe it to factory settings, and then restore from that backup. This process forces the iPhone to only download the essential files. All the "trash" and corrupted cache files that have been lingering since your iPhone 8 upgrade will finally disappear. It’s the only way to get a truly "clean" install.
Step-by-Step Action Plan
To get your iPhone back to peak performance, follow this sequence:
- Audit your Browser: Go to Settings > Safari > Advanced > Website Data and wipe out the top offenders.
- Target Social Apps: Open TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat. Use their internal "Clear Cache" settings found in their respective privacy or storage menus.
- Check Messaging: Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage > Messages. Review Large Attachments. Those "funny" videos your uncle sent in 2021 are eating your RAM.
- The Power Cycle: Perform a hard restart (Volume Up, Volume Down, hold Power) to clear the kernel cache.
- Check for Updates: Sometimes "cache" issues are actually just bugs in iOS that Apple patched two weeks ago. Go to Settings > General > Software Update.
Regularly performing these steps every few months prevents the "Storage Full" warning from ever appearing. Most users find that clearing the Safari cache and the TikTok cache alone recovers nearly 3-5GB of space instantly. If you're still seeing lag, check your "Battery Health" in settings; if it's below 80%, the "lag" might be the processor throttling, not a cache issue at all. Balancing your storage is about knowing what to keep and what to let go.