When you use various apps on your Android phone regularly, they create new temporary data files called cache to store information on your phone. These files occupy a considerable amount of storage space of your phone because new data files are created day by day. So your phone’s finite storage will be filled up quickly. So it’s important to clear these cache files from time to time. In this article, we are going to talk about why cache files are created, the advantages of clearing cache files, how often you should clear the cache, how to clear the cache, what will happen after clearing the cache, and much more in detail.
Why are Cache Files Created on Your Android Phone?
The simple answer is to make the load times and overall performance of an app faster. Let’s see how cache files do this.
When you launch an app on your Android phone, your phone will use the temporary data stored in cache files that are associated with that app to quickly recollect the associated information. In this way cache files speed up your phone’s functionalities, enhance its performance, and save a lot of time.
Advantages of Clearing Cache
Though cache files are important to make your phone work fast, clearing them gives you some other benefits also. Let’s discuss them one by one.
- You can save your phone’s storage space by clearing the cache. But this is not a permanent solution because apps create new cache files whenever you use them. But piling a lot of cache data on your phone, especially when your phone’s available storage space is very low, causes for slowing down its performance.
- Sometimes, apps do not work properly due to their corrupted cache files. So clearing the cache will solve the problem.
- Old cache files may cause security and privacy vulnerabilities. For example, if an unauthorized user accesses the cache files of your web browser, then he or she can have your personal information because these cache files consist of sensitive information. So it is a good idea to clear them.
- Sometimes problems may occur when you try to update an app. Clearing the cache will help you to resolve that.
How to Clear Cache on Your Android Phone?
You have to clear the cache files for each app separately with new Android versions (Android 9 – Android 10). Follow the below steps to delete cache files of individual apps.
Step 1: Go to Settings.
Step 2: Tap on Storage. (Samsung Device Users Go to Device Care -> Storage)
Step 3: Tap on Other Apps. (Samsung Phone Users Go to Advanced -> Other Apps)
Step 4: Now you can see all the applications installed on your device. Select the app you wish to clear the cache.
Step 5: Tap on Clear Cache in the app’s info page.
Step 6: Tap on OK in the popup box.
For Android older versions, follow the below steps.
- Go to Settings.
- Tap on the Application manager.
- You can view the list of apps installed on your phone. Tap on the app that you want to delete the cache files.
- To clear the cache, tap on the CLEAR CACHE button in the App info screen.
In Android older versions, you can delete all the cache files at once by following the below steps.
Note: In here all the cache files mean cache files of all the apps and web browsers.
- Go to Settings->Storage->Cached data
- Tap on OK in the popup box.
What Happens After When You Clearing Cache on Your Device?
You will get back some data storage allocation on your phone and the app will work as usual. But when you launch the app for the first time you will feel that the app’s performance is slower than the earlier. This happens because the data that the app used to smooth its performance is no longer on the phone. But with time, the app will create new cache files again based on your usage.
Clearing cache will not delete the saved login credentials of an app. So you do not want to log into apps again. Further, data such as browser bookmarks, game progress or similar will not be deleted either.
Are Third-Party Cleaner Apps Really Useful?
You can find a lot of apps in the Play Store for clearing unused cache files and media files on your Android phone. Though some of these apps are trustworthy and useful, there are a few reasons for not worth using them. Because
- Their false claims. For example, sometimes they claim that the performance of the phone will be suddenly increased by clearing the cache.
- They occupy more storage space on the phone
- They can decrease the performance of the phone by always running in the background and consuming system resources.
- Most of the time, ads and in-app purchases will pop up when you use them. It will really annoy you.
There is no real necessity to use third-party apps for clearing cache files because your Android device already has a built-in cleanup system. So it is better to avoid them completely.
What is the Difference Between Clearing Cache and Clearing Data on Android?
When you clear the cache you might have noticed that there is another button named CLEAR DATA.
There is a prominent difference between clearing cache and data. Let’s take the Youtube app as an example of describing this difference. When you use Youtube, it stores the data such as search history, the artists you checked outside of your library, and albums you browsed in its cache. When you clear that cache, all of the aforementioned data is deleted from your phone.
Apart from that unimportant data, Youtube stores more important data like login credentials, user settings, and databases on your phone. When you clear the data, both the cache and these important data will be erased completely from your phone. Further, the app will go to the original state that it was installed for the first time.
Conclusion
Clearing cache files will help you to free up storage space temporarily on your phone, fix some app issues, and make the phone run faster. But it should not be done frequently or using untrustworthy third-party apps.
If you have any questions related to clearing the cache on your Android phone, comment them in the comment section.