What Is 'Documents & Data' on iPhone and How to Clear It
"Documents & Data" on an iPhone is everything an app stores on top of the app itself: caches, downloaded files, logins, message attachments, offline media, and saved settings, and you check it per app under Settings > General > iPhone Storage by tapping any app in the list. There is no single "clear Documents & Data" button on iOS, so you shrink it app by app, or by deleting and reinstalling the app. This guide is for anyone who tapped an app in their storage list, saw "Documents & Data" larger than the app itself, and wants to clear it safely without losing accounts or photos.
TL;DR
- Documents & Data is the per-app pile of caches, downloads, and saved files, separate from the app's own size.
- Check it under Settings > General > iPhone Storage, then tap the app to see the split.
- iOS has no universal "clear Documents & Data" button; you clear it inside each app or by reinstalling.
- Offloading an app keeps your data; deleting and reinstalling wipes the Documents & Data entirely.
- For photo-heavy apps the real win is cleaning the media underneath, which a cleaner like Cleanor handles automatically.
What does Documents & Data actually include?
When you tap an app under Settings > General > iPhone Storage, iOS splits its footprint into two numbers: the App Size (the program itself, downloaded from the App Store) and Documents & Data (everything the app saved while you used it).
That second number is the one that grows. It covers cached web pages and images, files you downloaded inside the app, offline music and videos, message and chat attachments, your login tokens, saved game progress, and the database the app uses day to day. For a streaming or social app, Documents & Data can dwarf the app itself, sometimes by ten or twenty times.
Most of this is genuinely useful, which is why iOS does not let you wipe it with one tap. Caches make apps faster, and downloads are there because you saved them. The goal is to clear what you no longer need, not to nuke everything.
How do I see Documents & Data per app?
- Open Settings.
- Tap General.
- Tap iPhone Storage and wait for the bar chart to finish loading.
- Scroll the app list, which is sorted largest first.
- Tap any app to see its App Size and Documents & Data broken out separately.
The apps near the top are almost always your culprits: messaging apps holding years of media, streaming apps caching content, and social apps storing image caches. Note which ones have a big Documents & Data figure, then deal with those first.
How do I clear Documents & Data without losing my account?
There is no system-wide button, so work app by app. From safest to most aggressive:
- Use the app's own clear-cache option. Many apps have Settings > Storage or Clear cache inside them. This removes caches and downloads but keeps you logged in, so it is the cleanest method when it exists.
- Delete in-app downloads. In streaming, podcast, and music apps, remove offline episodes and saved tracks you have finished.
- Clear chat attachments. In messaging apps, delete old photos, videos, and files per conversation. See how to clear WhatsApp and Telegram storage without losing your chats.
- Offload the app. In Settings > General > iPhone Storage, tap the app and choose Offload App. This removes the binary but keeps Documents & Data, so the number does not fully drop; use it only to free the App Size portion.
- Delete and reinstall. Tap the app and choose Delete App, then reinstall from the App Store. This wipes Documents & Data completely. Only do this for apps where your data lives in the cloud (most chat and social apps), so a fresh login restores everything.
Step 5 is the only reliable way to fully clear Documents & Data for an app that has no in-app cache button. Just confirm your data is backed up or cloud-synced first.
Which method should I use for each app?
| App type | Best method | Risk if you reinstall |
|---|---|---|
| Browser (Safari) | Clear History and Website Data | Logged out of sites |
| Messaging (WhatsApp, Telegram) | In-app storage cleanup | Local-only media lost |
| Streaming (music, video) | Delete downloads | Re-download needed |
| Social (Instagram, X) | Delete and reinstall | Just a fresh login |
| Games | Check for cloud save first | Local progress lost |
The pattern is simple: if the app keeps your real data in the cloud, deleting and reinstalling is safe and frees the most space. If it stores anything only on the device, clean inside the app instead. For the difference between a harmless cache and real data, read what is app cache and when is it safe to clear.
Is it safe to clear Documents & Data on an iPhone, and what can't you do?
Clearing caches and downloads is safe; they rebuild on demand. Deleting an app's Documents & Data by reinstalling is safe only when that app syncs your real data to the cloud, which most mainstream apps do. The risk is reinstalling a game or note app that stored content only on the device with no backup.
What iOS does natively: it shows you the per-app split and lets you offload or delete each app. It also purges some caches automatically when storage runs critically low. What it will not do is give you a single button to clear Documents & Data across all apps, or let you reach inside one app's data to delete only the junk.
What a cleaner app like Cleanor adds: it cannot reach inside another app's sandboxed Documents & Data, because Apple does not permit any third-party app to do that, so be skeptical of any tool claiming it can. What Cleanor does instead is clean the storage you can control, finding duplicate and similar photos, oversized videos, and screenshots in your library so you reclaim real, lasting space. For photo-heavy phones that is usually the bigger win anyway. For the honest version of what cleaner apps can and cannot do, see the truth about cleaner apps.
FAQ
Why is Documents & Data bigger than the app itself?
Because the app keeps adding to it every time you use it: caches, downloads, attachments, and saved files. The App Size is fixed at download, but Documents & Data grows with use. A chat or streaming app you have had for years can hold many gigabytes of accumulated media.
Does deleting an app clear its Documents & Data?
Yes. Choosing Delete App removes both the app and all of its Documents & Data. Offload App is different: it removes only the app binary and keeps the data so it returns when you reinstall. Delete-and-reinstall is the only way to fully wipe Documents & Data.
Will clearing Documents & Data log me out of my apps?
In-app cache clearing usually keeps you logged in. Deleting and reinstalling an app wipes its login tokens, so you will sign in again. That is fine for cloud-based apps, where logging back in restores everything from the server.
Is Documents & Data the same as System Data?
No. Documents & Data belongs to a specific app and appears when you tap that app in the storage list. System Data is the separate, system-wide bucket of iOS caches and logs at the bottom of the chart. They are managed differently; see what is System Data on iPhone and Android.
Where to start
Begin in Settings > General > iPhone Storage and tap the three or four apps with the largest Documents & Data. Use each app's built-in cache or download cleanup first, and only delete-and-reinstall the cloud-based apps that have no in-app option.
For a lasting fix, look past Documents & Data to the storage you fully control. Duplicate photos, giant videos, and old downloads usually free far more space than any app's cache. Our clean up phone storage guide walks through the whole process, and Cleanor for iOS finds the duplicates and bloated media automatically. Not sure where your space went? Start with storage full: what should I delete first.