Tip of the Week: How to Clear the Cache on Your Android Device

Abstract

In order for your device to run at optimal efficiency, you sometimes need to clear the temporarily stored data on your device known as the cache. You can do this for your applications on your Android device, as well as the browsers you frequently use. Let’s go over how you can do both to speed up your device a bit.

Clear Your App Cache

Let’s say you have an application that is giving you trouble. Sometimes clearing the cache can resolve the issue. To do this, open your Settings application and select Apps. Keep in mind that this process might be a little different depending on the model of your device, but it will generally be about the same.

Where it says Your Apps, select the hamburger menu. From here, you’ll be brought to a list of all your device’s applications. You should sort these by size to see which ones are clogging up all the space on your device. When you have an idea of which app’s cache you want to clear, select it.

On the app’s page, you should see an option for Storage. Then, at the bottom of the screen, you’ll see Clear Cache. Select this to do the deed. Now, the cache will automatically refill over time, as the temporary files stored are meant to improve your experience, but know that it’s still a good idea to clear the cache every so often.

Clear Your Browser Cache

You can also clear the cache for your web browser, too, which will delete temporarily stored images and site files. Below, we’ve compiled the selections for clearing the cache on all the major web browsers:

• Chrome: Three Dot Menu > Settings > Privacy and Security > Clear Browsing Data
• Firefox: Three Dot Menu > Settings > Delete Browsing Data
• Edge: Three Dot Menu > Settings > Privacy and Security > Clear Browsing Data

The process is basically the same for all of the mobile web browsers. Note that you can select which types of data you specifically want to delete, so be sure to check only what you want to get rid of.

We hope you found this tip helpful! If you want more tips on how to make the most out of your technology, be sure to contact us for more information.