While your web browser's cache and cookies are meant to speed up your browsing experience, these files can sometimes cause problems. If websites aren't loading properly or you're having sign-in trouble, deleting these cached files can help fix these issues. Fortunately, it's easy to delete the cache and cookies Chrome, Safari, Edge, and Firefox easily on any device—even on your Android, iPhone, or iPad. This wikiHow article will teach you how to clear cache and cookies in the most popular web browsers on your computer, phone, or tablet.
Things You Should Know
- Chrome on a computer: Go to ⋮ > More Tools > Clear browsing data. Select "All time," check the "Cache" and "Cookies" boxes, and click "Clear data."
- Chrome mobile app: Go to ⋮ > History > Clear Browsing Data. Select both "Cache" and "Cookies" and tap "Clear Browsing Data."
- In Safari on a Mac, you'll need to enable the Develop menu to clear your cache.
Steps
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Click the three-dot menu in Chrome ⋮ . You'll see these three vertical dots in the top-right corner of your Chrome browser window. A menu will appear. [1] X Research source
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Click Clear browsing data… . It's on the menu. This opens a window with data-clearing options. [3] X Research source
- You can also press Ctrl (or "CMD" on Mac) + Shift + Del to clear your browsing data.
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Select a time range. To clear your entire cache, select All Time . Otherwise, you can choose a different time period from the menu. [4] X Research source
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Check the boxes next to "cookies" and "cached images" . If the box is already checked, you can skip this step.
- If you only want to clear the cache and not your cookies or browsing history, uncheck both other options before you continue.
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Tap the three-dot menu in Chrome. If you're using Chrome on your Android, tap the three vertical dots ⋮ at the top-right. On an iPhone or iPad, tap the three horizontal dots … at the bottom right.
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Tap History on the menu. If you're using an iPhone or iPad, you may have to swipe across the icons to find this option. [6] X Research source
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Tap Clear browsing data… . It's in the lower-left corner of the screen on an iPhone or iPad and at the top of the screen on an Android. [7] X Research source
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Select both the "cookies" and "cached images" boxes . If there's already a checkmark next to this option, you can skip this step. [8] X Research source
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Tap Clear Browsing Data . It's at the bottom of the screen
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Select a time frame. To clear your whole cache, select All Time . Otherwise, select your preferred time range from the menu. [9] X Research source
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Tap Clear Data or Clear Browsing Data . This clears your browser cache for Chrome. [10] X Research source
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Open Safari's Settings. To do this, click the Safari menu and select Settings .
- If you're using an older macOS version, you'll open Preferences instead.
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Click Privacy . You'll see this along the top of the window next to Advanced and General .
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Click Manage Website Data . It's next to the "Cookies and website data" header. [11] X Research source
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Select one or multiple sites to clear your cache and cookies for. Check the boxes next to the sites you'll be logged out of.
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Select Remove all . Alternatively, you can individually select websites from the list instead of removing your cache and cookies from them all.
- If prompted, click Remove Now and Done . [12] X Research source
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Open your iPhone's Settings . To clear your browser cache on Safari, you'll need to clear your entire browsing history and cookies. Start by opening the Settings app from your Home screen or App Library. [13] X Research source
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Scroll down and tap Clear History and Website Data . You'll find this blue link near the middle of the page. [15] X Research source
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Tap Clear History and Data to confirm. Doing so will clear all of your iPhone's Safari data, including the cached files and pages. [16] X Research source
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Click the three-dot menu in Edge ••• . You'll see it at Edge's top-right corner. [17] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source
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Click Settings . It's on the menu.
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Click Privacy, search, and services . This is in the left panel. [18] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source
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Click Choose what to clear . This is a button in the right panel next to "Clear browsing data now."
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Choose a length of time. Select how much data to clear from the "Time range" menu at the top. To clear your entire cache, select All time . [19] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source
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Click Clear now . This deletes your Edge browser cache and cookies. [20] X Trustworthy Source Microsoft Support Technical support and product information from Microsoft. Go to source
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Click the menu in Firefox ☰ . It's the three horizontal lines in the top-right corner of the window. [21] X Research source
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Click the Clear Data button. It's under "Cookies and Site Data" in the right panel.
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Choose what to delete. You'll definitely want to check the "Cached Web Content" checkbox as well as the checkbox for cookies, but everything else is optional. [24] X Research source
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1Tap the three-dot menu in Firefox. It's at the top-right corner of your web browser. [26] X Research source
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4Choose what to delete. Make sure you have both the boxes checked for "cache" and "cookies."
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6Tap Delete to confirm. Your cache is now removed. [30] X Research source
- Check out more cache clearing tips from wikiHow users on the “Clearing all cached app data on Android?” forum .
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1Tap the menu in Firefox ☰ . It's the three horizontal lines at the bottom-right corner. [31] X Research source
- In Firefox for iOS, you can only clear the cache by deleting all of your private browsing data. This means you'll also be deleting any saved cookies and your browsing history.
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5Tap OK when prompted. Doing so will clear the cached files from your Firefox browser.
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1Tap the three-line menu in Samsung Internet. You'll see it at the bottom-right corner of your browser. [35] X Research source
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4Tap Delete browsing data . It's near the top of the page.
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5Select the boxes for "Cached images and files" and "cookies." If you don't want to clear other data, such as your browsing history or cookies, remove the checkmarks from other options.
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6Tap Delete data . It's at the bottom of the screen. Your Samsung Internet browser cache is now clear. [38] X Research source
Community Q&A
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QuestionI did this and now I cannot access my Facebook account. What do I do?Community AnswerClearing cookies will sign you out of your accounts. You should just have to reenter your login information. If you've forgotten your password, there should be a prompt on the main page that says "Forgot password?" Just follow the prompts to retrieve or change it.
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QuestionI have a tablet, so what do I do?Miloš VlajkovićCommunity AnswerJust follow the instructions in the article. You'll know which instructions to follow, based on what browser you use on your tablet. It doesn't matter whether you use a tablet or a phone.
Video
Tips
- Clear the cache and cookies from your Internet browser if using a public computer.Thanks
Warnings
- Resetting your cookies and cache will erase your saved passwords and usernames.Thanks
Expert Interview
Thanks for reading our article! If you’d like to learn more about fixing computer issues, check out our in-depth interview with Chiara Corsaro .
References
- ↑ https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/32050?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop
- ↑ https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/32050?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop
- ↑ https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/32050?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop
- ↑ https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/32050?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop
- ↑ https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/32050?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop
- ↑ https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/32050?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid
- ↑ https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/32050?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid
- ↑ https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/32050?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid
- ↑ https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/32050?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid
- ↑ https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/32050?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid
- ↑ https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/manage-cookies-sfri11471/16.0/mac/12.0
- ↑ https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/manage-cookies-sfri11471/16.1/mac/13.0
- ↑ https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201265
- ↑ https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201265
- ↑ https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201265
- ↑ https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201265
- ↑ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/view-and-delete-browser-history-in-microsoft-edge-00cf7943-a9e1-975a-a33d-ac10ce454ca4
- ↑ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/view-and-delete-browser-history-in-microsoft-edge-00cf7943-a9e1-975a-a33d-ac10ce454ca4
- ↑ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/view-and-delete-browser-history-in-microsoft-edge-00cf7943-a9e1-975a-a33d-ac10ce454ca4
- ↑ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/view-and-delete-browser-history-in-microsoft-edge-00cf7943-a9e1-975a-a33d-ac10ce454ca4
- ↑ https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-clear-firefox-cache
- ↑ https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-clear-firefox-cache
- ↑ https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-clear-firefox-cache
- ↑ https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-clear-firefox-cache
- ↑ https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-clear-firefox-cache
- ↑ https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/clear-your-search-history-firefox-android
- ↑ https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/clear-your-search-history-firefox-android
- ↑ https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/clear-your-search-history-firefox-android
- ↑ https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/clear-your-search-history-firefox-android
- ↑ https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/clear-your-search-history-firefox-android
- ↑ https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/clear-browsing-history-firefox-ios
- ↑ https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/clear-browsing-history-firefox-ios
- ↑ https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/clear-browsing-history-firefox-ios
- ↑ https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/clear-browsing-history-firefox-ios
- ↑ https://www.samsung.com/uk/support/mobile-devices/using-the-samsung-internet-app/
- ↑ https://www.samsung.com/uk/support/mobile-devices/using-the-samsung-internet-app/
- ↑ https://www.samsung.com/us/support/answer/ANS00086162/
- ↑ https://www.samsung.com/us/support/answer/ANS00086162/
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