How to clear the cache on your Samsung Galaxy phone to help it run more efficiently

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How to clear the cache on your Samsung Galaxy phone to help it run more efficiently

Galaxy S10

Henry Nicholls/Reuters

Clearing your Samsung Galaxy's cache can free up storage and help it run faster.

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  • If your Samsung Galaxy phone is running slowly or low on storage space, knowing how to clear the cache on your Galaxy can clear up the device to help it run more efficiently.
  • Your Samsung Galaxy uses a cache to store temporary files for the apps on your phone. This cache can become bloated, and take up excess space or even slow down the phone.
  • If an app is crashing or behaving badly, you might also try clearing its cache to see if that solves the problem.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

When your Samsung Galaxy runs low on memory or starts behaving strangely, you should clear the phone's cache.

The cache is filled with temporary data that's used by apps. This cache can help apps run faster and keep track of information they need to perform tasks.

But the cache can, over time, get quite large, robbing you of storage space. And if an app behaves strangely, corrupted data in the cache might be to blame.

You have two choices: You can clear the entire cache on your Galaxy with a single tap (which is convenient if your goal is to reclaim storage space) or you can clear specific apps' caches (best if you are troubleshooting a buggy app).

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Either way, clearing the cache does not delete important data; it only discards temporary working files.

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

Samsung Galaxy phones (From $349 at Best Buy)

How to clear the entire cache on a Samsung Galaxy

1. Start the Settings app.

2. Tap "Device care."

3. On the Device care page, tap "Storage."

cache 1

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The Device care page is where you can go to manage your Galaxy's battery, storage, memory, and security.

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4. Tap "Clean Now." The button will also indicate how much storage space you will reclaim after the cache is cleared.

cache 2

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Tap "Clean Now" to clear our temporary working files without deleting any important personal data.

How to clear the cache of a specific app on a Samsung Galaxy

1. Start the Settings app.

2. Tap "Device care."

3. On the Device care page, tap "Storage."

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4. On the Storage page, tap "Apps."

5. Find the app you want to clear and tap it.

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The Apps page lists all the apps installed on your phone.

6. On the App info page, tap "Storage."

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The App info page gives you a lot of ways to manage the selected app.

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7. Note that you can see the size of the cache in the Space used list at the bottom of the screen. To clear the cache, tap "Clear cache."

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You can clear just the cache, or also remove program data from an app.

Be careful not to tap "Clear data," or you will erase the app's data. This will essentially return it to the way it was when you first installed it, meaning that you may lose personal data in the process.

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