# How to Clear the Cache on a Mac: Safari, Chrome and Apps

> Clear the browser cache in Safari, Chrome and Firefox, clear one app's cache safely, and flush the DNS cache on a Mac, with what each one fixes and what it costs you.

Canonical: https://bytesweep.app/answers/clear-cache-on-mac.html
Last updated: 2026-11-04

## How do I clear the cache on a Mac?

Clear the browser cache in Safari, Chrome and Firefox, clear one app's cache safely, and flush the DNS cache on a Mac, with what each one fixes and what it costs you.

- By [Shajeen Ahamed](https://bytesweep.app/about.html#author)
- Updated 4 November 2026
- Steps checked against Apple's documentation

**Short answer**

In Safari, turn on Show features for web developers in Settings, Advanced, then choose Develop, Empty Caches. In Chrome, press Command-Shift-Delete and tick Cached images and files. For any other app, quit it and move its folder in `~/Library/Caches` to the Trash. Clear a cache to fix a misbehaving app or reclaim a large folder, not as a routine.

### Which cache do you actually mean?

"Clear the cache" means different things depending on what went wrong:

| Problem | Cache to clear | Signs out of sites? |
| --- | --- | --- |
| A website shows an old version or looks broken | That browser's cache | No, if you clear only the cache |
| One app misbehaves or uses a lot of space | That app's folder in `~/Library/Caches` | No |
| A site will not load after a DNS change | The DNS cache | No |
| The disk is full | Usually not caches; see [clearing disk space quickly](https://bytesweep.app/answers/free-up-disk-space-on-mac-fast.html) | n/a |

### How do I clear the cache in Safari?

1. Open Safari, choose Safari, Settings, then the **Advanced** tab.
2. Turn on **Show features for web developers**. A Develop menu appears in the menu bar.
3. Choose Develop, **Empty Caches** (Option-Command-E).

That clears cached pages and images and leaves history, cookies and saved passwords alone. Safari's History, Clear History also removes cache, but takes your history and cookies with it, which signs you out of sites.

### How do I clear the cache in Chrome, Edge and Firefox?

- **Chrome:**press Command-Shift-Delete (or Chrome, Delete Browsing Data). Choose a time range, tick only**Cached images and files**, untick cookies and history if you want to stay signed in, and click Delete data.
- **Microsoft Edge:**the same shortcut, Command-Shift-Delete, then tick**Cached images and files**.
- **Firefox:**Firefox, Settings, Privacy & Security, Cookies and Site Data,**Clear Data**, tick**Cached Web Content** only.

To fix one site without clearing everything, reload it while skipping the cache: Command-Shift-R in Chrome, Edge and Firefox, Option-Command-R in Safari.

### How do I clear one app's cache?

1. Quit the app completely (Command-Q, not just closing the window).
2. In Finder press Command-Shift-G and go to `~/Library/Caches`.
3. Find the app's folder. Most are named after the developer and app, such as `com.spotify.client`; press Command-J and tick Calculate all sizes to see which are large.
4. Move that one folder to the Trash, then open the app again. It rebuilds what it needs, so the first launch can be slower.

Many apps also offer it themselves: Spotify, Slack, Teams, Xcode and most photo and video editors have a "clear cache" or "storage" setting, which is the safer route because the app knows what it can rebuild. Leave `/Library/Caches` (at the top of the disk, shared by all users) and anything under `/System` to macOS.

### How do I flush the DNS cache?

When a site has moved to a new server and your Mac still goes to the old one, clear the DNS cache in Terminal:

```
sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder
```

It asks for your password and prints nothing. The next lookup goes out fresh. It changes nothing on disk and frees no space.

### Does clearing the cache speed up a Mac?

Usually the opposite, for a while. A cache is a copy kept so the app does not have to download or work out the same thing again; empty it and pages load from the network, thumbnails are redrawn, and apps start slower until it refills. Clearing a cache is the right fix when the cached copy is wrong (a broken page, an app stuck on old data) or when one cache has grown far past what it needs. Clearing every cache every week is a habit cleaner apps sell, not something macOS needs.

How much space caches take varies a lot by what you use. If you want to know whether yours are worth clearing, measure first:

```
du -sh ~/Library/Caches
du -sh ~/Library/Caches/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h | tail -10
```

### Can Bytesweep clear caches for me?

Yes, with a list first. Bytesweep's Clean page shows app and browser caches with their sizes, next to logs, old installers and developer caches, and ticks only what is plainly safe. History, cookies and saved passwords are not part of a cache clean. What it removes goes to a restore point, so Undo puts it back for 7 days. It runs on macOS 14 or later and is free to try for 3 days; cleaning needs a licence, $29.99 once per computer, no subscription.

### Sources

Read on 4 November 2026. If something here has changed, write to [support@bytesweep.app](mailto:support@bytesweep.app) and it will be corrected.

- [Apple, Safari User Guide](https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/welcome/mac)
- [Google, Delete browsing data in Chrome](https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/2392709)
- [Mozilla, How to clear the Firefox cache](https://support.mozilla.org/kb/how-clear-firefox-cache)

### Keep reading

- [**What is safe to delete in the Library folder?**](https://bytesweep.app/answers/mac-library-folder-what-to-delete.html)
- [**How to clear disk space on a Mac quickly**](https://bytesweep.app/answers/free-up-disk-space-on-mac-fast.html)
- [**Junk cleaner for Mac and PC**](https://bytesweep.app/junk-cleaner.html)
- [**All answers**](https://bytesweep.app/answers/)

### See what is filling your disk, and why.

Bytesweep is free to try for 3 days on [Mac](https://bytesweep.app/mac.html), [Windows](https://bytesweep.app/windows.html) and [Linux](https://bytesweep.app/linux.html). Cleaning needs a licence: $29.99 once per computer, no subscription.

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