But how do you go about clearing the cache on your Mac, and should you?
Read on to find out.
What Are Caches, and Why Delete Them?
Smartmockups
Caches are temporary files created by the operating system and the applications you use.
These cache files help you navigate your Mac faster.
This brings us to an important point: you generally don’t need to delete caches.
Many applications run their own cleanup routines to prevent caches from ballooning to unmanageable sizes.
You shouldback up your Macbefore clearing caches to avoid permanently deleting something important by accident!
Some browsers, like Microsoft Edge, bundle the cache with cookies and other browsing data.
But they have a toggle that lets you pick only cache files from the lot.
Replace[username]with the user account in question.
To clear system cache files that are shared between user accounts, head to/System/Library/Cachesinstead.
Our favorite choice is CleanMyMac X because of its minimalistic interface and built-in antivirus.
If you want a free option, consider installing OnyX instead.
Go toMaintenance, toggle on the caches you’d like to delete in theCleaningsection, and clickRun Tasks.
Otherwise, you won’t be able to use it properly.
There are plenty of ways to create free space on macOS without ever touching your caches.
