How to Clear Cache on Mac Safely, Browser and App Caches Included

By Martin Hale Published November 12, 2026 12 min read

To clear cache on a Mac, use each browser's own setting: Develop > Empty Caches in Safari (turn on its developer features first), Delete browsing data in Chrome and Clear browsing data in Firefox. For a misbehaving app, quit it and move only its folder in ~/Library/Caches to the Trash. Caches rebuild as you use them, so clearing one fixes problems rather than saving space.

This guide covers how to clear cache on Mac for browsers and apps. System Data, snapshots, device backups and safe mode have their own guide: how to clear System Data on Mac.

What a cache is on a Mac, and why it comes back

A cache is a set of copies a browser or app saves so it can load pages, images and files faster next time. Apple's File System Programming Guide, an archived developer document, says apps should use the Caches folder for support files they can re-create easily. It also says each app manages what goes in it.

So clearing one app's cache does not break a well-behaved app, which simply rebuilds what it needs. It also means the folder fills up again.

Empty tray beside the same tray refilled with tiles, showing how a Mac cache rebuilds after you clear it — Clear a cache and the app starts filling it again.

Where Mac caches live

Cache	Where it lives	How to clear it
Safari	Managed by Safari	Develop > Empty Caches
Chrome, Firefox and Edge	`~/Library/Caches/Google/Chrome`, the Firefox folder in `~/Library/Caches`, and storage managed by Edge	The browser's own clear option, not by hand
App caches	`~/Library/Caches`, one folder per app	Quit the app, then trash its folder
App Store app caches	`~/Library/Containers/<bundle ID>/Data/Library/Caches`	The app's own option or the vendor's steps
Shared caches	`/Library/Caches`	Leave alone, except folders of apps you removed
macOS system caches	`/System/Library/Caches`	Never by hand. Safe mode clears some.
DNS cache	Not a folder you clear by hand	Restart the Mac if sites stop loading

When clearing a cache helps

A website shows old content or will not load properly.
An app misbehaves after an update.
An app you already deleted left its cache folder behind.

Apart from that last case, it does not give lasting free space or a faster Mac.

Before you clear any cache

If you clear a cache folder by hand, quit the app first with Command-Q. If it will not quit, see how to force quit an app on Mac. Clearing a cache folder while the app is open can make it misbehave, or the app may write the folder again at once. The browser steps below work with the browser open.

Browsers bundle four different things into one dialog:

Cache: saved copies of pages and images. Safe to clear, and you stay signed in.
Cookies and website data: what sites store to remember you. Clearing them signs you out of sites.
History: the list of pages you visited.
Saved passwords: kept separately, and not removed by a cache clear (see the FAQ).

Four separate containers in a row, like the cache, cookies, history and passwords that a browser keeps apart — Cache, cookies, history and passwords are separate. The browser steps below clear only the cache.

Before you work in a Library folder, back up with Time Machine. Nothing in this guide needs System Integrity Protection turned off, so leave it on.

How to clear cache on Mac in your browser

If only one page looks out of date, reload it while ignoring the cache before you clear anything. In Chrome or Firefox, press Command-Shift-R: Google's Chrome shortcuts page calls it a reload "ignoring cached content," and Mozilla's lists it as "Reload (override cache)." Apple documents no such shortcut for Safari, so use Empty Caches there.

To clear browser cache on Mac without losing anything else, use the control that clears only the cache. The names below match each vendor's current help page.

How to clear cache in Safari on Mac

To clear only the cache, turn on Safari's developer features first:

Choose Safari > Settings, then click Advanced.
Select "Show features for web developers."
Choose Develop > Empty Caches in the menu bar.

Apple's developer documentation describes Empty Caches as deleting all caches stored by the browser.

To clear cookies in Safari on Mac, choose Safari > Settings, click Privacy, then click Manage Website Data. Select one or more sites and click Remove, or click Remove All. Apple's cookies page notes that this may sign you out of websites, and that it may change or remove the same data in other apps. If a single site still misbehaves after Empty Caches, removing just that site's data is the targeted fix.

History > Clear History is a different control. It removes the pages you visited, and if Safari syncs through iCloud, it clears that history on your other devices too. The Safari guide explains history and website data in more detail.

How to clear cache on Mac in Chrome

Open Chrome and click More (the three dots) at the top right.
Choose Delete browsing data.
Pick a time range, such as Last hour or All time.
Tick "Cached images and files." Untick "Cookies and other site data" so you stay signed in.
Click Delete data.

These steps come from Google's Chrome help page. Older guides call the same dialog Clear browsing data. You can also open it with Command-Shift-Delete, as Google's Chrome keyboard shortcuts page shows.

To remove Chrome instead, see how to uninstall Google Chrome on Mac.

How to clear cache on Mac in Firefox

Choose Firefox > Settings.
Open the Privacy and security panel and go to the Browsing data section.
Click Clear browsing data.
Set When to Everything, leave only "Temporary cached files and pages" ticked, then click Clear.

These are Mozilla's steps from its Firefox cache page. Command-Shift-Delete opens the Clear Recent History dialog, according to Mozilla's keyboard shortcuts page.

For a deeper reset (Refresh Firefox) or a full removal, see how to uninstall Firefox on Mac.

Microsoft Edge and other browsers

In Edge, choose Settings and more > Settings > Privacy, search, and services. Next to Clear browsing data now, click Choose what to clear. Tick "Cached images and files", leave Passwords unticked, then click Clear now.

These are Microsoft's steps from its Edge browsing data page. For other browsers, use the vendor's own help page.

How to clear app cache on Mac

Use the app's own option or the vendor's steps first

If an app has its own clear-cache button, use that first. In the Spotify desktop app, click your profile picture, choose Settings, scroll down to Storage and click Clear cache, as Spotify's storage page describes.

Some vendors publish their own steps instead. Microsoft's Teams cache steps for Mac call clearing the cache a targeted step for a few problems, not a general first step, because it also deletes logs needed to find a problem's cause. For new Teams, those steps remove two folders, ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.com.microsoft.teams and ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.teams2, not anything in ~/Library/Caches.

How to clean up cache on Mac one app at a time

Quit the app.
In Finder, choose Go > Go to Folder (Command-Shift-G), type ~/Library/Caches and press Return. You can also hold Option, open the Go menu and choose Library, then open Caches. How to show hidden files on Mac explains why Library is hidden.
Find that app's folder. It is named after the app, its maker (such as Google or Adobe) or its bundle ID (such as com.spotify.client). If you are unsure, this read-only Terminal command prints an app's bundle ID and changes nothing. Replace AppName with the app's name in Applications and keep the quotes:
```
mdls -name kMDItemCFBundleIdentifier -raw "/Applications/AppName.app"
```
Select the folder and choose File > Get Info (Command-I) to see its size.
Move that one folder to the Trash. Leave everything else in place.
Open the app and check that it works. Empty the Trash only after that, so a wrong pick can still be put back.

Folders whose names start with com.apple., or that are named after macOS services such as CloudKit, GeoServices or PassKit, belong to macOS. There is no reason to touch them.

Drawer of identical card stacks with one stack lifted out, like clearing one app's cache folder on a Mac — Take out one app's folder and leave the rest as it is.

Caches left by apps you already deleted

A cache folder named after an app that is no longer installed is safe to remove. It is the one case where clearing a cache gives you lasting space, because nothing will rebuild it.

The per-app guides name the exact folders. The Spotify removal guide lists com.spotify.client and com.spotify.client.helper, the Chrome guide covers ~/Library/Caches/Google/Chrome, and the Firefox guide covers the Firefox folder in ~/Library/Caches. Other leftovers are in the System Data guide.

Caches inside app containers

Sandboxed apps, which include most App Store apps, keep their caches inside ~/Library/Containers/<bundle ID>/Data/Library/Caches. The rest of that container holds the app's own data.

To clear one of these caches, use the app's own option or the vendor's steps, such as Microsoft's for Teams.

What not to delete when you clear cache on Mac

Everything in ~/Library/Caches at once. Clear one quit app's folder instead.
The whole of /Library/Caches. It is shared by every account on the Mac and holds folders for drivers and system services. Touch only a folder clearly named after an app you removed.
/System/Library/Caches. It is part of macOS itself, and protected.
Whole Containers or Group Containers folders, unless the app's vendor tells you to remove one.
"One click" cleanups and sudo rm -rf commands copied from the web. They remove far more than one app's cache.

Open drawer with one stack removed beside a frosted cabinet and a locked steel case, like user, shared and system caches — Your Caches folder is the open drawer. The shared one stays closed and the system one stays locked.

System caches, DNS and safe mode

Apple says that starting up in safe mode clears some system caches, including font caches and the kernel cache, which are created again as needed. The steps for Apple silicon and Intel Macs are in the System Data guide.

The DNS cache holds recent website address lookups. It is not a folder you clear by hand, and clearing it frees no storage. If sites stop loading after a network or DNS change, restart the Mac.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does clearing the cache do on a Mac?

The app or browser fetches fresh copies of what it had saved, so stale pages and glitches after an update usually clear up. The first load is slower while the cache rebuilds, and images, music and other media download again. You are signed out only if you also cleared cookies or website data.

If you moved a folder to the Trash, the space shows as free only after you empty the Trash. For what else fills a Mac's storage, see what System Data is and how to clear it.

What happens if I delete all cache files on a Mac?

Clearing one quit app's folder is safe, but deleting everything in ~/Library/Caches at once is not a good idea. Apps may ask you to sign in or download large files again, open apps can misbehave, and the space fills back up. The "What not to delete" section above lists the folders to leave alone.

How often should I clear the cache on a Mac?

There is no schedule to keep. Apps manage their own caches, so clear one when something goes wrong, such as a page that shows old content or an app that misbehaves after an update. Clearing caches on a timer gains little, because they fill up again and the first loads afterward are slower.

How much space will clearing the cache free up?

It depends on the apps you use, and most of that space fills up again as caches rebuild. To see the current total, choose Go > Go to Folder in Finder, type ~/Library and press Return, then select the Caches folder and choose File > Get Info. Space that stays free comes from removing apps you no longer use, along with the caches of apps you already deleted.

Will clearing cache delete my passwords?

No. Google's help page lists passwords and passkeys among the data that Delete browsing data does not remove, and Edge shows Passwords as its own checkbox, so leave it unticked. On a Mac, passwords you save with AutoFill appear in Apple's Passwords app, though clearing cookies or website data can still sign you out of sites.

Is there a shortcut to clear cache on Mac?

In Chrome and Firefox, Command-Shift-Delete opens each browser's clearing dialog, and Command-Shift-R reloads the current page while ignoring its cache. Apple does not document a shortcut for Empty Caches in Safari, so use Develop > Empty Caches. macOS has no single shortcut that clears every cache.

How do I clear cache on a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro?

The same steps work on any Mac with a recent version of macOS: MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac or Mac mini, with Apple silicon (M1 and later) or Intel. The chip only changes how you start up in safe mode.

Removing other apps from this Mac

If an app still misbehaves after you clear its cache, removing it properly and reinstalling it may fix the problem:

How to uninstall Google Chrome on Mac
How to uninstall Firefox on Mac
How to uninstall Spotify on Mac
What to do instead of uninstalling Safari, which cannot be removed

Browse every guide on the Uninstall on Mac blog. If your app is not covered yet, email hello@uninstallonmac.com with the app's name and version and your macOS version, or use the contact page.