How to Clear Safari Cache on iPhone

Safari quietly stores a copy of nearly every website you visit — images, scripts, cookies, and history. Over months it can grow to hundreds of megabytes and start showing you stale pages or sluggish loads. Clearing it is quick, safe, and fixes most of those problems in a couple of taps.

How do you clear Safari cache on an iPhone? Go to Settings > Apps > Safari (older iOS: Settings > Safari) and tap Clear History and Website Data. This removes cached files, history, and cookies. Your bookmarks, saved passwords, and AutoFill stay intact, and the cache rebuilds automatically as you browse.

Here is the full walkthrough, plus how to clear cache for just one site if you do not want to wipe everything.

Clear all Safari cache and history

This is the standard, complete clear.

  1. Open Settings.
  2. Scroll to Apps and tap Safari (on iOS 17 and earlier, Safari sits directly in the main Settings list).
  3. Scroll down and tap Clear History and Website Data.
  4. Choose the time range if prompted (Last hour, Today, Today and yesterday, or All history) and confirm.

What happens: this clears your browsing history, cached site files, and cookies. You will be signed out of websites and pages will reload fresh the first time. Nothing important is lost — your bookmarks, Reading List, saved passwords, and AutoFill data all remain. The cache simply rebuilds as you browse again.

Clear cache for a single website (keep everything else)

If only one site is misbehaving and you do not want to lose all your logins, clear just that site's data.

  1. Go to Settings > Apps > Safari.
  2. Tap Advanced > Website Data.
  3. Tap Edit, then remove the specific site — or search for it and swipe to delete.

This leaves your history and all other sites' logins untouched.

Clear cache without deleting history

Want to dump cached files but keep your browsing history? Use the same Website Data screen above and tap Remove All Website Data at the bottom. This clears cached files and cookies while leaving your history list in place.

What clearing Safari cache fixes

Clearing cache is a great first fix for:

  • Slow or stuck page loads.
  • Sites showing outdated content (old prices, old layouts).
  • Login or checkout glitches on a particular site.
  • Reclaiming a bit of storage — Safari's cache counts toward the gray System Data bar in your storage breakdown.

If you are clearing cache to shrink System Data, this is one of the most effective single steps. See how to clear System Data on iPhone for the rest.

Will it log me out or delete passwords?

  • Passwords: No. Saved passwords live in iCloud Keychain / Passwords, not in Safari's cache. They are safe.
  • Logins: You will be signed out of websites because cookies are cleared. Just log back in — your saved passwords make this quick.
  • Bookmarks and Reading List: Untouched.
  • Downloads: Untouched; they live in the Files app.

So the worst inconvenience is re-logging into a few sites. Nothing important is deleted.

Clear cache in other browsers on iPhone

If you use Chrome or another browser, the cache is separate:

  • Chrome: tap the ⋮ menu > Delete Browsing Data, choose Cached images and files (leave passwords and cookies unticked to stay signed in), and clear.
  • Firefox / Edge: look under the browser's Settings > Privacy for a clear-data option.

Clearing Safari's cache does not touch these, and vice versa.

What if Clear History and Website Data is grayed out?

If that button appears dimmed and untappable, it is almost always because of Screen Time content restrictions. Go to Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Content Restrictions > Web Content and make sure it is set to Unrestricted Access. Once web content limits are off, the clear option in Safari becomes active again. This is a common surprise on devices set up with parental controls or a managed configuration.

How often should you clear it?

There is no need to do it on a schedule. Clear Safari cache when:

  • A site is loading slowly or showing old content.
  • You want to free a little storage.
  • You are troubleshooting a login or display glitch.

For most people, once every couple of months is plenty. iOS also trims website data on its own when storage runs low.

Does clearing Safari cache delete bookmarks or Reading List?

No. This is the most common worry, and the answer is reassuring: Clear History and Website Data removes only cached files, cookies, and your browsing history. Your bookmarks and Reading List are stored separately and survive completely. So do tabs you have saved, your Favorites, and anything synced through iCloud. The most you will notice is being signed out of a few websites — which a quick login (with your saved passwords) fixes in seconds.

The bigger storage picture

Clearing Safari cache helps with speed and frees a little space, but it is rarely where your storage went. On most iPhones the big categories are Photos and large app downloads. If freeing real space is your goal, start there — our iPhone cache cleaner guide puts cache clearing in context.

FAQ

Does clearing Safari cache delete my passwords? No. Saved passwords live in iCloud Keychain / Passwords, not Safari's cache. Clearing cache leaves them intact — you'll just re-log into a few sites because cookies are cleared.

Does it delete bookmarks or my Reading List? No. Bookmarks, Favorites, and Reading List are stored separately and survive. Only history, cookies, and cached files are removed.

Why is "Clear History and Website Data" grayed out? Almost always Screen Time restrictions. Set Settings > Screen Time > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Content Restrictions > Web Content to Unrestricted Access to re-enable it.

Clear the cache, then clear the real clutter. A fresh Safari cache speeds up browsing, but the gigabytes filling your iPhone are photos and video. Cleanor finds duplicates, blurry shots, screenshots, and oversized clips and lets you clear them in a few taps — with a 30-day recovery window so nothing important is lost. Tidy Safari, then reclaim the storage that actually counts.