How can I clear cache and cookies on my iPhone?

ginger_bird · 2025-05-02T06:14:37+00:00

Hey everyone! Ever since updating my iPhone 13, it's been feeling pretty sluggish. A friend suggested I clear the browser cache and cookies, it might help....

0neWire

ginger_bird Chrome on iPhone doesn’t give you much control over things like that.
You can clear cookies and cache manually like we talked about, but blocking trackers or disabling cookies entirely... Not really an option on iOS.

crimsonKing

What’s even the point? Are you low on storage or just want check off a random tech tip?
Honestly, clearing browser cache and cookies usually won’t free up much.
Maybe a couple hundred MB, a few gigs tops if you’ve never done it.
If your storage’s tight, you’ll get better results by deleting some heavy stuff from your iPhone, like big apps or videos.

0neWire

Might be worth checking what’s taking up space.
Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage. It’ll show you a full breakdown by app and category.
That way you’ll know what’s really eating up storage… if it’s even a space issue at all.

ginger_bird

Just checked and yeah, storage is pretty much maxed out.
Mostly Photos and apps. Looks like I’ve got like 400 MB left. Yikes.

crimsonKing

ginger_bird Yeah, that tracks. Photos are eating up your space for sure.
Under Recommendations it says to see the videos that take up the most space, can you tap that and check?

Also, like I said earlier, try offloading a few of the bigger apps you don’t use every day.
You won’t lose any data, and it can free up a good chunk fast.

crimsonKing

ginger_bird OP check the Duplicates folder in the Photos app it’s under Utilities.
I get a ton of duplicates from imports all the time, maybe you’ve got some too.
It can merge everything and keep just one copy.
Might help with photo storage.

ginger_bird

crimsonKing
I use all those apps regularly, so there’s really nothing I can offload without it being a pain.
And yeah, I tapped that recommendation but it’s just text, doesn’t actually do anything.

SocialImpactCoder

ginger_bird If that’s the case, maybe give one of those iPhone cleaner apps a shot.
Maybe they won’t clear app data, but they can for sure help clean up your Photos.

SocialImpactCoder

Duplicates is pretty useless (at least for me)
As I understand it, it only catches exact matches, like literal copies.
So if you snap 10 photos that all look pretty much the same, it won’t help you with that.
Also it usually takes time for anything to show up there.
For me, it only kicked in overnight while my iPhone was charging.

ginger_bird

SocialImpactCoder Yeah, that’s exactly what happened.
Duplicates only showed like 4 photos.
I’ve got way more that look super similar.

SocialImpactCoder

ginger_bird You’re gonna need an app.
Duplicates is way too basic for anything beyond perfect copies.
I used one a while back, can’t remember the name, something super generic like “iPhone Cleaner”
But now I can’t even find it in the App Store anymore.
Theres like a dozen apps with that same name now, it’s a mess.

ginger_bird

SocialImpactCoder Yeah I noticed that too.
I was looking around online for suggestions and found this Reddit thread talking about iPhone cleaners.
Not really sure what to try. Has anyone used one recently?

Any suggestions?

crimsonKing

ginger_bird I used Gemini Photos, but no longer have it on my phone.
It was actually pretty solid for finding similar pics.
But I just checked and it’s not showing up on the App Store anymore.
Not sure if they pulled it or what.

HopeInSleep

I tried one called Cleaner Guru a couple months ago.
Total letdown.
Spent like 30 minutes picking out photos to trash, and then at the end it was like, “Hey buddy, want to delete something? Haha, buy a subscription.” Felt like a joke from the devs.
Waste of time.

roman-demian

If you're looking for options, we actually have a recent roundup of the top-rated iPhone cleaner apps here:
👉 https://www.handyrecovery.com/best-iphone-storage-cleaner-apps/
It covers both free and paid tools, with pros and cons for each app, might help you find something that works for you.

ginger_bird

roman-demian Nice, thanks for the link, gonna check a couple of those out.
Appreciate everyone’s help so far!

ginger_bird

Ok, I’m back.
I tried Clever Cleaner, Boost Cleaner, and Phone Storage Cleaner.
Boost Cleaner pushed the subscription super hard, so that was a pass for me.
Phone Storage Cleaner was fine, but Clever Cleaner is what did it for me.
I cleared out around 4 GB from similar photos.
Didn’t know I had that many nearly identical selfies. I think I have a problem 😂
Also, my phone wasn’t lying about videos taking up space.
I couldn’t figure out how to see the biggest ones in the Photos app (if anyone knows how to sort by size let me know, I didn’t see that option).
But in Clever Cleaner, there’s a “Heavies” tab that showed all my videos sorted by size.
That’s how I found two that together were taking up almost 10 GB! And they were like 10 minutes long, wild how much space videos eat up on iPhones.
So all together, I freed up about 14 GB. Yey to that 🙌
Thanks again to everyone for the help!

0neWire

ginger_bird OP if those 10-minute videos took up that much space, you might want to check your camera settings. There’s a good chance you're recording in 4K or at 60 fps (or both).

roman-demian

Great thread, folks, thanks to everyone who jumped in to help.

Quick summary for anyone catching up:

Clearing browser cache/cookies is quite easy to do. For Safari: go to Settings → Safari → Clear History and Website Data. For Chrome: open the app → tap the three dots → History → Delete browsing data.
App cache can’t always be cleared. Some apps let you do it in their settings, others don’t. But reinstalling the app will wipe its cache.
Third-party cleaner apps can’t clear any app or browser cache due to iOS restrictions.
To see what’s taking up space, go to Settings → General → iPhone Storage.
If the Photos app is eating up storage, a third-party cleaner can help (especially with similar photos and large videos).

For anyone looking for more on cache and junk files, here are two helpful guides:
👉 How to Clear Cache on iPhone
👉 How to Clean Junk Files on iPhone

Marking this one as Solved ✅. Thanks again, all!

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