If your iPhone or iPad slows down, the first thing to do

Lifehacker [Japan Version] Reprinted from the article published on August 4, 2021

If you feel your iPhone or iPad is running slower than usual, try clearing the browser cache on your device. Device performance will improve immediately.

What is a cache?

All browser apps store a cache of website data such as cookies, stored login information and images.

This is convenient because the next time you visit it, the page will load faster and you will remain logged in to the site even after you close your browser.

On the other hand, it can quickly accumulate extra data and occupy space on the internal storage of your iPhone or iPad. The less space you have left on your device, the slower it will be.

Clearing your browser's cache doesn't dramatically improve your device's hardware, but it will load your apps faster and your iOS (or iPad OS) will run smoothly.

Therefore, we recommend that you delete the cache on a regular basis.

This method is also quite useful in the event of other problems, such as a sudden browser crash.

If clearing the cache of all browsers doesn't solve the problem, you need to take a more drastic approach.

Disadvantages of clearing the cache

The only downside to clearing your browser's cache is that it removes saved logins and special settings saved for a particular page.

Every time you clear your browser data, you will have to log back in to your website.

This isn't a big deal, but it can be annoying, especially for Safari users, as clearing the cache affects all devices logged in with an iCloud account.

Despite all that annoyance, clearing the cache is the best way to improve the performance of your iOS device when it runs slower than usual.

Here, we will show you how to clear the cache of various browsers. Learn how to clear the cache on Android.

How to clear Safari cache

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad and select Safari from the list of apps.

2. Tap "Clear history and website data".

3. Confirm the deletion of the data.

How to clear Brave's cache

1. Open Brave and tap the three-dot menu icon.

2. Go to "Settings" → "Privacy".

3. Scroll down and tap "Brave Shield and Privacy".

4. Scroll down the next menu and select "Clear Data Now".

How to clear Chrome cache

1. Open Chrome, tap the three dot icon in the menu bar, go to "Settings" → "Privacy & Security" → "Clear Browsing History Data".

2. If you want to free up as much space as possible by selecting "Cookies and other site data" and "Cached images and files", set the date range to "Always".

3. Tap "Delete data".

How to clear DuckDuckGo's cache

Open the DuckDuckGo app and tap the fire icon at the bottom of your browser.

How to clear Edge cache

1. Open Edge and tap the three dot icons at the bottom right.

2. Go to "Settings" → "Privacy, Search, Services" → "Clear browsing data".

3. In "Select data to clear", select the data you want to delete.

4. Clear the cache with "Clear browsing data now".

How to clear Firefox cache

1. In Firefox, tap the three-line menu icon and go to "Privacy"-> "Settings"-> "Data Management".

2. Select the type of data you want to delete.

Tap "Clear Private Data" to clear all browsing data, or tap "Website Data" to clear the data saved from a specific website.

* Based on the article by Lifehacker in the US, it is edited according to the circumstances in Japan.

Source: CNET