Google Chrome is one of the most widely used web browsers. This is not only true for Windows PCs or Android phones, but many users prefer to use Chrome on their Apple devices as well. Google Chrome has many useful features and you can even sync your browsing data across platforms, making your workflow a lot more convenient.
While Chrome is fast and reliable most of the time, you may experience from time to time that your browser is getting slow. This may be due to the cache and cookie being used over time. It is a good idea to regularly clear cached data and residual files from your browser. Here’s how you can clear cache and cookies on Google Chrome for the web, Android, and iPhone.
How to clear your browser’s cache on a mobile device
Clearing your mobile browser’s cache can help resolve a variety of issues, including problems browsing your library website, signing in, or downloading titles.
Android
- Open your browser.
- Android browser: Go to Menu > More > Settings or Menu > Settings > Privacy & Security.
Chrome: Go to Menu > Settings > Privacy. - Android browser: Tap Clear cache, Clear history, and Clear all cookie data as appropriate.
Chrome: Tap Clear browsing data at the bottom of the screen, leave the defaults selected (browsing history, cache, and cookies), then tap Clear.
iOS
- From the home screen, go to Settings > Safari.
- Toward the bottom of Safari’s settings screen, tap the button for Clear History and Website Data, then tap Clear History and Data to confirm.
What is Android cache?
Apps on your device download temporarily either when you launch them for the first time or continue using them. These files may include images, scripts, videos, and other multimedia.
It’s not just apps. Websites also store a lot of cached data on your device. This is done to improve performance and reduce load times. Since temporary files are already stored on the device, the app or webpage may load and perform faster.
For example, a website will store visual elements in a cache so that they do not need to be downloaded every time you visit the website again. This helps in saving both time and data.
There are two caches in your Android phone that you need to clear. App cache is where all the temporary files needed by apps are stored. Chrome cache is where websites store their files.
Chrome is the default web browser on Android devices, so we’re using it here as a browser cache. Other browsers will have their own cache.
Caching can save a lot of time, as internet quality and speed are not the same everywhere. But the irony is that when apps are loading a lot of data on your phone, it eventually slows down especially when the minimum amount of storage is spare.
Why should you clear app cache?
The primary reason for one to clear the application cache would be to free up storage, which can have an impact on the performance of the phone. But clearing data is a much more dramatic step that is usually reserved for when an app is buggy or fails to start. This can be the result of an app update going wrong, resulting from corruption of previous cache files, server-side changes, misbehaving software, or a new OS update to Android.
Some apps that are poorly written or not well sandboxed can pose a security threat if they store sensitive user information in their cache and data. In such a situation, it is wise to clear both of them.
If you just want to make your device feel faster, you have lots of other great options to speed up your Android phone. These tips will generally serve you better than clearing the cache, as it will eventually grow back to its previous size at some point in the future.
Advantages of Clearing Cache
Cache files are important but rarely used. However, it is sometimes beneficial to manually delete cache files from your Android phone. Clearing the cache on Android can help in the following ways:
In near future, deleting cache helps to save phone storage. But this is just a temporary fix as programs constantly create new cache files.
The cache files may be corrupt. As a result apps may face performance issues. Deleting the faulty cache files can help.
These files can compromise security and privacy. For example, your browser’s cached sites may contain sensitive data. In addition, unauthorized users can use these files to obtain personal information.
Clearing the cache may allow the browser or even other software to get the latest website version.
also read: Best multiplayer games for 4GB RAM PC
