What does clearing cache do

The files in your cache aren't that different from the files in the cache of someone else who visits the same websites as you. Cookies are different—they store information about you and the things you've done online.

If you browse an online store and add a bunch of things to a shopping list, that's saved using a cookie. Cookies also keep track of which site you're logged in to—which is why, if you clear your cookies, you'll need to log back in to all of your accounts. Clearing your cache doesn't affect any of this. Related, but not exactly the same: you can visit the cached version of many websites through Google search. Instead of bringing you to the live website, it'll show you the page the last time Google's robots visited it.

Here's how —along with lots of other Google search tricks. In general, I recommend not clearing your cache unless you have a specific reason to. The files in the cache allow the websites you visit most often to load faster, which is a good thing. Your browser will periodically delete old files, so it's not like the cache is going to keep growing forever. Sure, the cache is taking up room on your hard drive, and some people find that annoying.

But the reason you have a hard drive is so you can store things on it, and a cache that speeds up your web browsing feels like a valid use of your hard drive's space. Hero image Photo by One zone Studio on Unsplash. Justin Pot is a staff writer at Zapier based in Hillsboro, Oregon. He loves technology, people, and nature, not necessarily in that order. You can follow Justin on Twitter: jhpot. You don't have to. But you can. Why Zapier? How Zapier works.

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Zapier University Video courses designed to help you become a better Zapier user. Webinars Learn about automation anytime, anywhere with our on-demand webinar library. On-page elements like images, videos, and even text take some time to load. Cache memory also saves states. Without cache, everything would need to reload.

Well, that depends. If you find your mobile device memory being drained from cached data, you should probably clear it. The data will be re-cached, and the cycle will continue. These options typically offer a free amount of cloud space.

The second option is to scroll down and tap on individual apps with lots of cached data on your device. How can you tell this? Apple will list these apps from the highest usage of memory to the lowest. Simply offload the individual app to free up some temporary space on your device. Tip: Clearing the cache simply clears temporary files.

It won't erase login credentials, downloaded files, or custom settings. Let's take the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 as an example to understand how to clear the app cache from Android devices. Delete check marks in front of all other options and check Cached Web Content.

Now that you know how to clear the cache to improve your device's performance, make your device safer with two-factor authentication. Optimize the functionality and security of mobile devices within your enterprise with the best mobile device management software. Devin is a former senior content specialist at G2. Prior to G2, he helped scale early-stage startups out of Chicago's booming tech scene.

Caching, as it's known in the computing world, lets applications like browsers, games, and streaming services store temporary files deemed relevant to make the load times and overall experience faster. YouTube, Spotify, Google News, and plenty of other apps save information as cache data.

This can be video thumbnails, search history, or snippets of video stored temporarily to minimize the redundancy of having to ask the user for input or pull up information from the internet frequently. Caching can save a lot of time, as internet quality and speeds aren't the same everywhere. But ironically, when apps are offloading a lot of data onto your phone, that ultimately slows it down, especially when there's a minimal amount of storage to spare.

While we often mention clearing cache and data in the same breath, they're two distinct actions on Android. When using the Spotify app, for example, it holds on to information like the artists you viewed outside of your library, album art browsed, and search history as cache. When the app cache is cleared, all of the mentioned data is cleared. Then, the application stores more vital information like user settings, databases, and login information as data.

More drastically, when you clear the data, both cache and data are removed. Clearing data is the equivalent of starting an app as a clean slate as if you've just installed it for the first time. The primary reason for someone to clear application cache would be to free up storage, which might have an impact on the phone's performance.

But clearing data is a much more dramatic step which is generally reserved for when an app is buggy or fails to start. It could be a result of an app update gone wrong resulting in corruption of previous cache files, untested server-side changes, misbehaving software, or a new OS update to Android. Some apps that are poorly written or not well sandboxed could pose a security threat if they store sensitive user information in their cache and data.

In such a scenario, it makes sense to clear them both. Clearing cache is always meant to be a temporary fix as every app you use will start populating the storage with files after clearing it. Despite its benefits, clearing it too often can become a pointless activity as it defeats the purpose of improving load times.

Thus, it is advisable to only clear cache when it's essential instead of making it a daily routine. Step 1: Launch Settings and go to the Storage section.