Many of the files, photos, and data that are downloaded by your Android phone’s web browser from the websites you visit on a daily basis don’t need to be on your phone. In certain situations, the information stored in your cookies and cache—whether you’re using Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Samsung Internet—can be useful. It’s what keeps you signed into accounts and enables you to load websites you visit often quickly. That’s good, but your browser’s cache and cookies include a lot of unnecessary information that may even compromise your privacy.
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Reasons for routinely clearing your cache and cookies
A large portion of the content that accumulates in your cache and cookies is simply garbage. A portion of it might have come from websites you’ve just been to once. Others appear to be actively monitoring your online surfing habits in order to display ads relevant to the products or services you are purchasing or seeing. For example, I frequently see advertising for online eyewear sales after perusing a few retailers or ads from Amazon that coincidentally display the items that were most recently in my shopping basket.
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This is why it’s a good idea to periodically clean your cache. It enables you to delete information from your phone that you don’t need, particularly if your phone has cookies from an unidentified data tracker. To ensure that your phone isn’t accumulating unnecessary data, clearing your cache is a slight inconvenience that will need you to log back into some of your favorite websites.
Depending on the kind of phone and web browser app you’re using, the instructions vary slightly. We’ll explain how to remove this data for Mozilla’s Firefox browser, Samsung’s internet browser (typically the default on the Galaxy phone series), and Google’s Chrome browser (the default for many Android phones, such as the Google Pixel line) below. If you need to clean up a few Apple devices as well, you can also look at our separate instruction on how to clear the cache on an iPhone web browser.
Enlarge Image of Chrome’s “Clear browsing data” menu on Android
Chrome on Android’s “Clear browsing data” option.
Mike Sorrentino/CNET screenshot
Chrome by Google
By first touching the More button, which is represented by a column of three dots in the upper right corner of the browser, then selecting History, and finally selecting Delete browsing data, you may clear your cookies and cache from within the Android version of Google Chrome. This can also be accessed by selecting Delete browsing data under Privacy and Security in the Chrome Settings menu.
For deleting your browsing history, cookies, site data, and cached files and images, Chrome also provides Basic and Advanced settings. Using the Time range drop-down, you may choose to erase the full history or only a portion of it, ranging from the previous 24 hours to the previous four weeks. You can also delete site settings, autofill form data, and saved passwords by tapping Advanced. Once you have chosen what you wish to remove, press the blue “Clear data” button. If Chrome determines that some websites are “important” to you, you may get an extra prompt; if so, you will have the opportunity to confirm before clearing. Otherwise, Chrome will clean as you said right away if you don’t get the popup.
Read more: Use This Privacy-Focused Browser Instead of Google Chrome
Internet by Samsung
The Samsung Internet Enlarge Image’s “Clear data” and “Clear cache” choices
Samsung Internet’s “Clear data” and “Clear cache” choices.
Mike Sorrentino/CNET screenshot
Clearing the cache and cookie data in your Samsung Internet browser can be done in two distinct methods. Either the browser itself or the Settings app on your phone can be used to clean.
To clean the Samsung Internet browser app, first hit the Settings icon, which is indicated by three horizontal lines in the bottom right corner. Then, scroll down to Personal browsing data, and then tap Delete browsing data to bring up a menu of alternatives to remove. You can delete any combination of your browsing history, search history, form history, cookies, site data, cached files and pictures, passwords, and autofill forms. You will be prompted to confirm your selections before deleting after selecting Delete data.
You have the most control over what you want to remove when you go through the browser app itself. Open the Settings app, press on Apps, scroll down to and tap Samsung Internet, and then select Storage and Cache to access comparable choices from your phone’s settings menu.
You have distinct options to clear cache and clear storage on the Storage screen. While selecting Clear cache will instantly clear the cache, selecting Clear storage will display a warning that all of the application’s data, including files, settings, accounts, and databases, would be permanently erased. This “going nuclear” strategy should erase all leftover data, allowing you to restart the Samsung web browser as if it were brand-new, even though it doesn’t mention cookies.
See also: Adjust These Android Preferences to Maximize Your Phone’s Performance
Firefox by Mozilla
The Mozilla Firefox Android app allows you to clean the cache, just like Google Chrome does. Tap the More button, which is once more represented by three vertically aligned dots, to bring up this feature. After that, select Settings and then Delete browsing data by scrolling down.
The “Delete browsing data” option in Android’s Mozilla Firefox
Expand the Picture
The Android version of Mozilla Firefox’s “Delete browsing data” option.
Mike Sorrentino/CNET screenshot
Firefox has the most options of the three browsers we’re talking about here when it comes to the Delete browsing data menu. You may delete your browsing history, any open tabs, site permissions, and even your Downloads folder. These choices accompany cookies, side data, and cached files and pictures.
You can be more particular about the kind of data you want to delete, but you can’t choose a time range like you can with Chrome.
See also: How to Quickly Adjust Browser Privacy Settings in Firefox, Chrome, and Safari
Additionally, Firefox offers a different choice for users who would like not to retain their browser history once they have finished using the program. There is a Delete browsing data on quit option in Settings that tells Firefox to remove any combination of these settings each time you close the program. If you want to keep your browser clean and, for example, prevent unintentionally giving your browsing history to someone who could have stolen or otherwise accessed your phone, this function is helpful.