Technologies

New Month, New Reminder to Clear Your iPhone Cache

Why you should clear your iPhone cache and exactly how to do it in Chrome, Safari and Firefox.

Your iPhone is a handy pocket computer that lets you take the internet virtually anywhere you go, and just like every other piece of tech, it benefits from a little routine maintenance. Even browsing on the latest iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max models might start to feel sluggish over time. Keep your iPhone’s browsers moving as fast as possible by clearing your cache every month — it only takes a few seconds.

Whether you use Chrome, Safari or other browsers on your iPhone, your cache builds up digital clutter over time. Clearing your cache gives the browser a new start, which can speed up your web surfing, even on iOS 16.3.1. (And if you’re trying to get your phone to run faster, try managing your iPhone’s storage.)

Your browser cache acts like a digital shortcut — it stores website data so your browser has a head start the next time you load up that page. In the short term, that helps speed up the process. But over time, the data stored in your cache can become outdated and no longer match what the site actually needs. If that happens, pages will load slower, and the formatting might be wrong.

That’s why clearing your cache can help: It gives sites a fresh start in your browser and frees up some space in your storage.

Website cookies are similar, except they store information about user data, rather than data on the website itself. Clearing your cookies gives you a chance to reset those preferences, which could improve your browsing experience. Note that clearing your cache and cookies will log you out of sites, which means you’ll have to log into them again and reset any preferences. But the upfront investment of that time can lead to a smoother experience down the road, and it can be a useful fix if you’ve recently changed settings that aren’t being applied properly.

Here are step-by-step guides on how to clear your cache on your iPhone based on the browser you use.

How to clear your iPhone cache in Safari

Safari is the default browser on iPhones, and you can clear your Safari cache in a few short steps. Starting with iOS 11, following this process will affect all devices signed in to your iCloud account. As a result, all your devices’ caches will be cleared, and you’ll need to sign in to everything the next time you use them. Here’s what to do.

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.

2. Select Safari from the list of apps.

3. Go to Clear History and Website Data.

4. Choose Clear History and Data in the pop-up box.

Then you’re set!

How to clear your iPhone cache in Chrome

It’s easy to clear your iPhone cache in Chrome.

James Martin/CNET

Chrome is another popular browser for iPhone users. The overall process for clearing your Chrome cache requires a few more steps, and you’ll need to do things through the Chrome browser itself. Here’s how.

1. Open the Chrome app.

2. Select the three dots in the bottom right to open more options.

3. Scroll across the top and select Settings.

4. Select Privacy and Security in the next menu.

5. Then select Clear Browsing Data to open up one last menu.

6. Select the intended time range at the top of the menu (anywhere from Last Hour to All Time).

7. Make sure that Cookies, Site Data is selected, along with Cached Images and Files. Finally, hit Clear Browsing Data at the bottom of the screen.

How to clear your iPhone cache in Firefox

If you’re a Firefox devotee, don’t worry. Clearing the cache on your iPhone is pretty straightforward. Just follow these steps.

1. Click the hamburger menu in the bottom right corner to open up options.

2. Choose Settings at the bottom of the menu.

3. Select Data Management in the Privacy section.

4. You can select Website Data to clear data for individual sites, or select Clear Private Data at the bottom of the screen to clear data from all selected fields.

What happens when you clear the cache?

Clearing your cache removes the website data your phone stored locally to prevent having to download that data upon each new visit. The data in your cache builds over time and can end up slowing things down if it becomes too bulky or out of date. (My phone had about 150MB of data stored in Chrome when I checked.) Clearing that data gives sites a fresh start, which may fix some loading errors and speed up your browser. However, clearing your cache also signs you out of pages, so be prepared to sign in to everything again.

How often do I need to clear my cache?

Most people only need to clear their caches once every month or two. That’s generally the point when your browser will build up a cache large enough to start slowing things down. If you frequent a large number of sites, you should err on the side of clearing your cache more often.

For more, check out how to download iOS 16 today, the best new iOS 16.3 features and some hidden iOS 16 features. You can also take a look at how each new iPhone 14 model compares to the others.

Technologies

Verizon’s Simple Mobile and Total Wireless Plans Expand International Features

If you frequently call or visit countries outside the US, these prepaid phone plan improvements could help your travel budget.

Travel patterns are changing, with more people in the US venturing outside the country and needing to stay connected. To accommodate this surge, Verizon is boosting the international options in its prepaid Simple Mobile and Total Wireless phone brands starting Aug. 28.

Most phone plans include options to call and text people in Canada and Mexico, along with some roaming options for US travelers. Depending on the plan, those options are extended to many other countries around the globe. But you often end up paying for a more expensive plan than you need in order to get the travel benefits.

Now, the Simple Mobile and Total Wireless brands are expanding their international options and increasing data allotments so you can travel using the plan you carry every day without the stress of finding local coverage.

See also: Make sure you have a good phone for traveling.

Simple Mobile changes

The Simple Mobile prepaid plans include an allotment of high-speed data before downshifting to slower unlimited data. Be sure to check the details for specific countries on the site. Here’s how they break down:

The $25 Unlimited plan includes 15GB of high-speed data (up from 3GB) and unlimited calling to more than 100 countries.
The $30 Unlimited plan includes 20GB of high-speed data (up from 5GB) and unlimited calling to more than 125 countries (up from 100 countries).
The $40 Unlimited plan includes 30GB of high-speed data (up from 15GB) and unlimited calling to more than 125 countries (up from 100 countries).
The $50 Unlimited World plan, formerly named the Truly Unlimited plan, includes unlimited high-speed data and unlimited calling to more than 200 countries (a doubling of the number of countries from before).
The $60 Unlimited World Plus plan, formerly the Truly Unlimited Plus plan, includes unlimited access to Verizon’s fastest network, 5G Ultra Wideband (where available) and unlimited high-speed data. It also doubles the number of countries with unlimited calling to over 200, and offers international roaming in more than 140 countries.

Total Wireless Plans

The top two Total Wireless plans, Total 5G Unlimited ($50 a month) and Total 5G Unlimited Plus ($60 a month), feature unlimited high-speed data, including 5G Ultra Wideband speeds.

As of Aug. 28, roaming coverage for those plans doubles to more than 30 countries and international calling to 180 countries.

The Total Base 5G Unlimited plan stays the same with unlimited high-speed data (but not 5G Ultra Wideband), international calling to more than 85 countries and texting to over 200 destinations and roaming in Canada and Mexico.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Aug. 20 #535

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Aug. 20, No. 535.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle is a tough one. It helps to know a little something about different currencies, but there was one on there that was completely new to me. If you need hints and answers for today’s Strands puzzle, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Mint condition

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: We’re in the money!

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

GULP, GLOB, LORE, DOLL, DOLE, DOLED, ROPE, ROPER, WALL

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

EURO, PESO, DOLLAR, POUND, RAND, RUPEE, KWANZA

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is GLOBALCURRENCY. To find it, look for the G that’s four letters to the right on the very top row, and wind down.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Wednesday, Aug. 20

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Aug. 20.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword has a few challenging clues (4-Down threw me off), but it’s mostly OK. Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.