How to clear system and Internet cache on Mac

Clearing your system and browser cache on your Mac can help you free up more storage space for other important files. But how do you clear cache on your Mac, and should you do so? Let's find the answer through the following article!

What is cache and why should we delete it?

Cache are temporary files created by the operating system and applications you use. They include temporary Internet files, such as images and HTML documents, created by web browsers such as Safari or Chrome.

These cache files help you navigate your Mac faster. Because they store this data, it saves your computer time by not having to download it all again.

This brings us to an important point: You usually don't need to clear your cache. Unless you're looking for a quick and easy way to reclaim free space, it's best to leave it as is. Many applications run their own cleanup process to prevent caches from growing to unmanageable sizes.

Warning: You should back up your Mac before clearing the cache to avoid accidentally permanently deleting something important!

How to clear browser cache on Mac

macOS supports many different browsers; The default browser is Safari which most people use. This article will show you how to delete Safari cache files and where you will find this option in popular browsers. Follow these steps:

1. Launch Safari, hover over the menu bar and select Settings.
2. Go to the Advanced tab in the settings window.
3. Select the Show features for web developers option at the bottom.
4. Now, click Develop in the menu bar and select Empty Caches from the drop-down menu.

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For example, Google Chrome keeps this option in the Privacy & Security section of the browser's settings. Some browsers, like Microsoft Edge, combine cache with cookies and other browsing data. But they have a toggle that allows you to select only cache files from a lot of files.

How to clear system cache on Mac

To delete system cache files specific to your user account, here's what you need to do:

1. Launch Finder, then click Go > Go to Folder from the menu bar at the top.

2. In the search box that appears, enter ~/Library/Caches and click the first result.

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3. Select all the Mac files and folders you want to delete and drag them to Trash. Alternatively, you can Control-click and select Move to Trash.

4. Now, Control-click Trash on your Dock and select Empty Trash.

If you want to delete caches associated with another user account, you need to go to that specific user's cache folder. You can do this by changing the folder location in the second step to /Users/[username]/Library/Caches. Replace [username] with the user account in question.

To delete system cache files shared between user accounts, go to /System/Library/Caches.

Use an app to clear cache on your Mac

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While you can clear these caches manually, some Mac cleaning apps will help speed up the process. They're quite handy for making free space, so the article recommends them if you want to add some automatic control over your Mac's memory.

A popular choice is CleanMyMac X because of its minimalist interface and built-in antivirus features. It's not free, costing $39.95/year, but you can take advantage of a 7-day free trial to clear your cache quickly.

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If you want a free option, consider installing OnyX instead. Go to Maintenance, turn on the toggle next to the cache you want to clear in the Cleaning section, and click Run Tasks. It also has some useful features, like scheduled startup and shutdown (not available in macOS Ventura and Sonoma).

No matter which app you use, you must first give it permission to access storage by going to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access and turning on the toggle for that app. Otherwise, you will not be able to use it properly.

Unless you're extremely tight on space or are looking to troubleshoot a specific app by clearing its cache, you should probably leave your Mac's cache files intact. There are plenty of ways to free up space on macOS without touching your cache.

You can move your library and device backups elsewhere, delete unnecessarily large files, or even connect an external storage drive to your Mac for more space.

Kareem Winters

Update 26 December 2023