What is Cache in Android and How to Make Your Phone Faster by Clearing it?

You keep on adding and removing apps on your Android device. You perform various tasks on these apps which accumulate a lot of cached data over time.

This cache data includes cache files of those apps too which you have removed. Thus, retaining cached data for such removed apps makes no sense.

Apart from it, you can also consider wiping out all cached data for all Android apps to reduce manual efforts of cleaning cached data of the individual app.

Cache files accumulated over time may get corrupted and start creating issues for device performance. Thus, clearing out all cached data becomes important to keep your device running smoothly and faster. So here is a guide to making android faster by clearing the cache.

What is cache in Android?

Whenever you visit a website or use an app, a certain amount of data is stored in the form of a cache in the device’s memory.

This cache includes a certain amount of information like your log-in details, preference settings, log files, temp files, etc.

It helps you access the same website or app data more quickly next time as it has all the basic information related to it, in the form of cache.

Why does Cache data exist?

The primary reason for the existence of cached data on your device is to make loading time faster.

When your device already has the layout of the website or app saved in the form of cached data on your device, it need not load the same information or data once again to start the same. It helps you speed up the process of loading websites and apps.

Why should we clear cache data?

The whole idea behind cache data on your device was to accelerate your various tasks on your device. But the problem arises when your device accumulates cache data in a large amount as it not only occupies valuable storage space but it also affects your device speed and performance negatively.

If you haven’t cleared the cache files for a long time on your device, then the chances are high that it has been corrupted or causing a problem to your device performance.

Therefore, most troubleshooting steps require you to clear the cache on Android devices for improved performance.

Cached data on your Android device may exist for the apps you use or access. And it will remain there for the websites you visit on your smartphone.

All Apps, including system and third-party apps, accumulate cache data.

Since cached data is automatically created every time you perform any task on your smartphone and it doesn’t include any important data, cleaning or wiping the cached data for an app or a device is completely harmless.

Cached data on your device accumulate over time due to various functions you perform on your device using different apps. Let’s discuss what is cache in Android and how to clear it in this article

How to make Android faster by clearing cache?

This function may vary from device to device as it is available on most recent Android devices.

To delete all apps cached data in one go, you can follow these steps.

• Go to Settings of the device.
• Look for the Storage option and click on it.
• Now click on the Cached Data option.
• Here, it will open a new window asking for the confirmation to delete the cached data.
• Click the OK button to completely wipe out all cached data from your device.

It will instantly remove all cached data from your device.

How to clear app cache data for a specific app only?

Wiping out all cached data in one go is helpful to save your time and efforts of clearing it one by one app. But it happens sometimes that you don’t want to clear all apps cache data instead you wish to delete app cached data for specific apps only.

You can find such an option in Android to clear app cached data of specific apps only.

To do this, follow these steps.

• Go to the Settings menu of the device.
• Click on the Apps.
• Swipe right to find the All tab.
• Select an app for which you wish to clear cache data.
• Now click on the “Clear cache” button to instantly wipe out cached data of that particular app.

Note: If you are running Android 6.0 Marshmallow on your phone then you will require to click on Storage and then the Clear Cache option.

Remember that wiping out cache data for an app will not delete any important data from the app or device as it only removes unnecessary data accumulated in the form of cache data.

When you launch the app next time, the app or device will automatically create cache files on your device.

Once you remove the cache files and clear your phone, you’ll notice that your apps now take a bit longer to load or open as the cache memory is erased. It happens because it will take some time to recreate the cache files again.

The second time you use the app it will be again faster than before. So, whenever you face sluggish performance by an app or corrupted cache data, you should consider wiping it out instantly to improve the app and device performance.

Related Read:

• 8 Free Android Apps for Engineering Students
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Hope it helps you to make Android faster by clearing the cache. What are the other ways you follow to make your smartphone faster?

Editorial’s Note: This article is written and shared by Yogesh Sharma.