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How to Clear Cache on Mac Throughly

"I have a MacBook, and recently my MacBook become slower and slower. One of my friends suggests me to clear cache data. To be honest, I am not tech savvy, and I don’t know how to clear cache on Mac at all. Please help!"

Like Windows computer, Mac also has cache and temporary files.

Cache and temporary files on your Mac helps you open some browsing pages quickly.

Surely, it records your trace and takes up some storage.

If you want to free up space, or want your browsing history to be secret, clearing Mac cache and temporary files is necessary.

How to clear cache on Mac?

This page shows the full guide to help you delete cache and temporary files on MacBook Air/Pro, iMac, iMac Pro, MacBook, including app cache, browsing cache (Firefox, Chrome, etc.) and system cache.

Clear Mac Cache

Part 1: Easiest way to clear all cache throughly on Mac

If you are seeking for an automatic and quick way to clear Mac caches, then you need the third-party tool, Mac Cleaner, to help you.

It has the capacity to remove junk files, unneeded files, large photos and other useless documents on Mac in one click, which is more efficient than other methods.

Mac Cleaner

4,000,000+ Downloads

Scan entire hard drives to display all junk files and other data for previewing.

Detect junk files, unneeded files, large and old files, duplicate files and uninstall apps.

Monitor battery status, memory usage, CPU usage and disk utilization.

Work for iMac, iMac Pro, MacBook, MacBook Air/Pro, Mac mini, etc.

Step 1. Download Mac Cleaner

Download the latest version of Mac Cleaner and follow the onscreen assistant to install it on your Mac.

When you want to clear cache on Mac, launch the application, it will scan entire hard drive and show you the status of your Mac automatically.

Mac Cleaner Interface

Step 2. Select data for clearing

Go to the "Junk Files" tab from left hand column, then locate to the right side, and click on the "Scan" button at bottom right corner to scan all cache data and logs quickly. When you are presented the result, click the "Review" button to see the details.

Select Data Cleaning

Step 3. Clear cache on Mac

Select the data category that you want to remove, the junk files and cache data will show up. Unfold the "Sort by" dropdown menu and arrange the cache files by name, time and more. Then you can check the boxes in front of worthless files and cache data in each category.

For example, to clear browser cache on Mac for Safari, find the folder title contains Safari and select it.

Clear Cache Macbook

Finally, click the "Clean" button at bottom right side, then hit "Clean" again on the popup dialog to confirm it and trigger the process. When it is done, you can further free up storage by cleaning unneeded and large files.

Part 2. How to clear browsing cache (Firefox/Chrome/Safari) on Mac

When you surf the Internet, your browser will create cache files for you. Here we only take the three frequently used browsers, as the example to show how to delete cache on Mac.

How to clear browser cache on Mac Safari

Step 1: Open the Safari app on Mac. If you cannot find the Develop menu, go to the "Safari" menu at upper left corner, head to "Preferences" > "Advanced", locate to the bottom and tick the checkbox next to "Show Develop menu in menu bar".

Step 2: Then back to Safari window, the Develop menu should show up on top ribbon. Pull down the “Develop” menu and choose "Empty Caches". Wait for a few seconds until clearing browser cache on Mac is complete.

Step 3: To further clear browsing data in Safari, you can go to the History menu, select "Clear History". Choose "all history" from the dropdown menu and then hit "Clear History" button to get rid of browsing data on Safari.

if you are running an iPhone, just learn here to clear iPhone browsing history here.

No matter wipe Mac or remove browsing data, there is no notification or confirming message telling you that Safari browser cache data has been cleared. It simply works behind the scenes.

Clear Browse Histroy

How to clear browser cache on Mac Chrome

Step 1: If you prefer to use Google Chrome on Mac, you have to clear browser cache on Mac in your Chrome browser. Start the Chrome for Mac app, type chrome://settings/clearBrowserData into the address bar and hit the "Enter" key to go to the clear browsing data window. Or you can click the menu button at top right side and head to "More tools" > "Clear browsing data” to open it.

Step 2: Make sure to check the boxes in front of "Cached images and files", "Browsing history", "Download history" and other data you want to clear, and then click the "Clear browsing data" button to clear browser cache on Mac.

It may take a while to complete the process depending on how much cache and browsing data in your browser. And you can set up to clear cache on Mac automatically: pull down Menu, go to "Settings" > "Show Advanced Settings" > "Privacy" > "Content Settings" > "Cookies" and select "Keep local data only until you quit your browser".

Clear Chrome History

How to clear search history on Mac Firefox

Step 1: Open the Firefox for Mac app, pull down the menu button at top right corner of the window. Choose "Options" to open the options page for Firefox. Then go to the "Privacy & Security" tab from left side column. Or input about:preferences#privacy into the address bar to open it directly.

Step 2: Scroll down on the right page until you see the "Cached Web Content" section, then click the "Clear Now" button to clear browser cache on Mac.

Step 3: To clear search history on Mac in the Firefox browser, locate to the History section on the Privacy page, click the link labeled Clear Recent History to open the floating dialog. The keyboard shortcut is Ctrl+Shift+Del.

Step 4: Finally, hit the Clear Now button to initiate clearing search history on Mac in Firefox. To set up automatic clear history on exit, navigate to the History section in "Privacy & Security" tab and tick the checkbox next to "Clear history" when Firefox closes.

Firefox Mac

Part 3. How to clear app cache on Mac

Mac also shows you the solutions to clear cache on Mac

Step 1: Exit all apps on your MacBook and open the Finder app. Then hold down the "Shift" key in Sierra or "Option/Alt" key in earlier versions and unfold the "Go" menu.

Step 2: Scroll down and find the "Library" option, click on it to open your Library folder. Then search for the folder called “Caches” and open it, which saves most caches and temporary files generated by Mac apps.

Step 3: Press "Cmd + A" to select all caches, you can also hold "Cmd" and select specific app caches. Right click on the selected cache files and choose "Move to Trash" to throw them to your trash can.

Step 4: Finally, empty the Trash on Mac as usual to clear cache on Mac.

How to Clear Cache on Mac

The caches folder contains many files and folders with nonsensical names, such as com.app.itunes. To find the cache file for certain app, you have to look for the folder that matches the app’s name. For example, the file named com.apple. iTunes would include the iTunes caches. Plus, the app cache file does not have UI, so you cannot open it without third party tools.

Part 4. How to clear system and DNS caches on Mac

The Mac system also creates cache and temporary files, but you’d better not interfere with system level cache files and folders. That may lead to in various sorts of unexpected results or even damage your device. To clear system cache on Mac safely, follow the steps below.

Step 1: Go to the Apple menu on your desktop, and choose "Restart". This will trigger specific system maintenance tasks that clear caches on Mac for system level automatically. The caches cleared include virtual memory, system temporary files, completed software updates, caches of App Store and more.

Accidentally clear system files? Get system recovery here.

Step 2: After your MacBook startup, you can clear DNS caches on Mac manually. Input terminal into Spotlight to open Terminal, and then type the command below into Terminal:

"sudo dscacheutil -flushcache;sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder;say cache flushed"

Step 3: Enter your admin password to perform the command and remove DNS caches from your Mac computer.

Clear Dns Cache Mac

You may need: How to clear cache on iPad?

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we have told you how to clear cache on MacBook Air/Pro and other Mac computers. You can manually clear cache from system, app data and browsing history. Moreover, we also show the easiest way to clear all cache and temporary files on Mac with Mac Cleaner throughly. No matter which way you use, you should take care of the operation.

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