How to clear the app cache on Android
Clearing an Android app's cache deletes temporary files and keeps you signed in; clearing storage resets the app. Here's the difference and when to use each.
Clearing an app’s cache deletes its throwaway temporary files and leaves your account, settings, and content untouched, which makes it the safe first thing to try when one app misbehaves or you want to claw back a little space. Clearing that same app’s storage (labeled “Clear storage” or “Clear data” depending on the phone) is the drastic option: it wipes everything the app has saved, logs you out, and returns the app to a just-installed state. Both buttons live on the same screen, one tap apart, and Android no longer gives you a single control to clear every app’s cache at once, so you do it one app at a time.
Clear one app’s cache
On stock Android the route is Settings > Apps > See all apps > the app you want > Storage, then tap Clear cache. Google’s own Pixel instructions phrase the intermediate step as “Storage & cache,” and other manufacturers shorten it to “Storage,” but the shape is the same on every skin: open the app’s entry in Settings, find its storage screen, and tap Clear cache. Google’s Pixel help documents the full path, and it notes that settings can vary by phone.
That button removes only regenerable temporary files. Google defines Clear cache plainly as deleting “temporary data,” and adds that “some apps may be slow the next time you open them” while they rebuild what they discarded. You stay logged in, your messages and downloads stay put, and nothing about the app resets. Because it is harmless, it is the right move to try first whenever a single app is acting up.
Cache vs. storage: what each button removes
The two controls sit side by side and do very different jobs. Google’s Android help draws the line clearly: Clear cache deletes temporary data, while Clear storage “permanently deletes all app data.”
| Button | What it deletes | What you lose | Reach for it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clear cache | Temporary, regenerable files | Nothing; you stay signed in | An app misbehaves, or you want quick, low-risk space |
| Clear storage / Clear data | Everything the app has saved | Logins, settings, offline downloads, local data | The app is still broken after a cache clear and you’re ready to set it up again |
Google attaches one piece of advice to the storage button: “Try to delete the data within the app first.” In other words, remove downloads or sign out of accounts from inside the app where you can, so a full wipe is the last step rather than the first.
When clearing the cache actually helps
Cache clearing fixes a specific class of problem: an app whose own temporary files have gone stale or corrupt. The symptoms look like an app that won’t load its content, shows broken or outdated images, hangs after an update, or throws errors that a plain restart doesn’t cure. Clearing its cache forces the app to fetch fresh copies, which often clears the fault without disturbing anything you care about.
It also frees space, but treat that as a minor, temporary win. Cache is soft space: the app rebuilds it as you use it, and Android already deletes cache files on its own when storage runs low. So clear the cache on the two or three apps showing the biggest numbers rather than making it a weekly chore. The fuller guide to freeing up storage on Android puts cache in its proper place, well behind photos and messaging media. And if an app is slow rather than broken, work through the broader fixes for a slow Android phone before you start deleting anything.
Why clearing storage is more drastic
Clear storage is close to uninstalling and reinstalling the app without the download. It erases the app’s databases, preferences, and login state, which is exactly why people who tap it end up signed out of everything and missing their offline content. A banking or authenticator app reset this way may need to be set up from scratch; a streaming app loses its downloads; a game can lose local progress that was never synced to an account.
None of that touches files in shared storage. Clearing a camera app’s data does not delete your photos, and clearing a browser does not empty your Downloads folder, because those files belong to the system’s shared storage rather than to the app. But everything the app itself owns is gone. Reach for Clear storage only when a cache clear didn’t fix the problem and you are prepared to sign back in and reconfigure the app afterward. If an app simply annoys you rather than malfunctions, it is usually better to turn off that app’s notifications and leave its data intact.
There is no “clear all cache” button anymore
Older versions of Android offered a system-wide control that cleared cached data for every app in a single tap, tucked into the storage settings. Current Android does not: Google’s instructions clear cache one app at a time, and there is no official switch that empties every app’s cache at once. Storage-cleanup features and the Files by Google app can sweep up junk and temporary files more broadly, but that is a different action from a true clear-all, and most third-party “cleaner” apps mainly reclaim the same soft cache the system would have released on its own.
Keep the mental model simple: cache is disposable and safe to clear whenever one app misbehaves, and storage is the reset you save for when nothing else worked. Start with Clear cache on the app that’s giving you trouble, reopen it to see whether the fault is gone, and step up to Clear storage only if the problem survives, knowing you’ll be signing back in afterward.