How to Clear the Cache on a Samsung Galaxy Phone to Free Up Space

As you use apps on your Samsung Galaxy smartphone, they automatically download and store temporary files (like images, scripts, and video thumbnails) to help them load faster the next time you open them. This temporary data is called a cache. While caching is generally a good thing, over time, these files can become corrupted or accumulate to take up gigabytes of valuable storage space.

If your Samsung phone is suddenly running slowly, if a specific app keeps crashing, or if you are receiving “Storage Almost Full” warnings, clearing the cache is the safest and most effective troubleshooting step. It deletes the junk files without erasing your personal data, logins, or app settings.

Samsung offers two different ways to clear the cache: you can target a single misbehaving app, or you can use the built-in Device Care tool to optimise the entire phone at once.

Method 1: Clear the Cache for a Specific App

If only one app—such as Instagram, TikTok, or your web browser—is freezing or crashing, you should clear the cache for that specific app rather than the whole phone.

1. Open the Settings app on your Samsung Galaxy.
2. Scroll down the menu and tap on Apps.
3. Scroll through the alphabetical list (or use the search icon at the top) to find the problematic app, and tap on it.
4. On the App Info page, tap on Storage.
5. Look at the bottom right corner of the screen and tap the Clear cache button. (Warning: Do not tap “Clear data”. Clearing data will log you out of the app and delete your personal settings).

Once you tap the button, the cache size listed on the screen will drop to 0 Bytes. You can now reopen the app to see if the issue is resolved.

Method 2: Optimise the Entire Phone (Device Care)

If your entire phone feels sluggish, or if you simply want to free up as much storage space as possible, you can use Samsung’s native optimisation tool to clean up memory and temporary files across the board.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down and tap on Battery and device care (on older Samsung models, this might just be called “Device care” or “Device maintenance”).
3. The phone will perform a quick scan and give your device a score out of 100.
4. Tap the large blue Optimise now button.

This process will close background apps draining your battery, scan for malware, and clear out unnecessary temporary files.

Method 3: Clear the System Cache Partition (Advanced)

If you have recently installed a major Android system update and your phone is experiencing severe battery drain or boot loops, you may need to clear the system cache partition. This deletes temporary files used by the Android operating system itself.

Note: This requires rebooting your phone into the Android Recovery Menu.

1. Turn your Samsung phone completely off.
2. Connect your phone to a computer using a USB-C cable. (Recent Samsung models require a USB connection to access the recovery menu).
3. Press and hold the Volume Up button and the Power button simultaneously.
4. When the Samsung logo appears on the screen, release the buttons. You will see a black screen with text (the Android Recovery Menu).
5. Use the Volume Down button to scroll down and highlight Wipe cache partition.
6. Press the Power button to select it.
7. Use the Volume Down button to highlight Yes, and press the Power button to confirm.
8. The process takes only a few seconds. Once it says “Cache wipe complete” at the bottom of the screen, ensure Reboot system now is highlighted and press the Power button.

Your phone will restart normally, hopefully with better performance and no crashing issues.