Your Android phone picks up new data from all the different websites you visit every day. Some of that data is helpful, as it helps load your most frequently visited websites faster or keeps you logged in. But a lot of it just clogs up space in your browser’s cookies and cache, and could even be a privacy risk. But most Android web browsers — whether you use Google Chrome, Samsung Internet or Mozilla Firefox — make it easy for you to clean these up. In some cases, you can even specify whether you want to clear out your entire cookies and cache, or just some of your more recent data.
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Why you should regularly clear out your cookies and cache
A lot of what ends up building up within your cookies and cache is just plain junk. Some of it could have arrived from websites you’ve visited just once. Others seem to be tracking your browsing history on an active basis, helping to serve up advertisements based on what you are buying or streaming on the internet. For instance, I’m constantly receiving advertisements for buying glasses online after browsing a few stores or Amazon ads that just happen to show what was last in my shopping cart.
Because of this, it’s good to clear out your cache every so often. It allows you to remove data you don’t need on your phone, especially if an unknown data tracker is among your phone’s cookies. Clearing your cache is a minor inconvenience — you’ll have to log back into some of your favorite websites, but it’s a small price to pay to make sure your phone isn’t stocking up on extraneous data.
The steps differ slightly depending on the type of phone and web browser app you’re using. Below, we’ll go over how to clear this data for Google’s Chrome browser (the default for many Android phones, like the Google Pixel line), Samsung’s internet browser (often the default on the Galaxy phone series) and Mozilla’s Firefox browser. You can also check out our separate guide on how to clear your cache on an iPhone web browser, in case you have a few Apple devices to tidy up, too.
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The “Clear browsing data” menu in Chrome on Android.
Google Chrome
You can delete your cookies and cache from within the Android version of Google Chrome by first tapping the More button in the top right corner of the browser, indicated by a column of three dots, then tap Delete browsing data. A small menu will pop up that will let you select a time range of the Last 15 minutes of data up through All Time. If the options in this quick menu suffice, you can tap Delete data and you’re done. However, if you want more-advanced settings, you can instead tap More options.
The extended Delete browsing data menu that pops up lets you further specify what to delete, with options that include Browsing history, Cookies and site data, Cached images and files, Tabs, Saved passwords, Autofill form data and Site settings. You can also use the Time range drop-down to select how far back you’d like to clear the data out. After selecting what you want to delete, tap the Delete data button.
You might receive an additional prompt in the event Chrome deems certain websites as being “important” to you, and if so, you’ll get the chance to confirm before clearing. Otherwise, if you don’t receive that prompt, Chrome will immediately proceed to clear as you instructed.
Read more: Ditch Google Chrome and Use This Privacy-Focused Browser Instead
Samsung Internet
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The “Clear data” and “Clear cache” options for Samsung Internet.
There are two different ways you can clear your Samsung Internet browser’s cache and cookie data. You can clear from within the browser itself, or you can go through your phone’s Settings app.
To clear while in the Samsung Internet browser app, first tap the Options button in the bottom right corner represented by three horizontal lines, then Settings; scroll down to and tap Personal browsing data then tap Delete browsing data to get a menu of options to delete. You can clear your Browsing history, Form and search history, Cookies and site data, Cached images and files, Passwords and Autofill forms in any combination. After tapping Delete data, you’ll then receive a prompt asking for you to confirm your choices before deleting.
Going through the browser app itself provides the most customization as to what you want to delete. If you want to access similar options from your phone’s settings menu, open the Settings app and tap on Apps, then scroll down to and tap Samsung Internet and then Storage and cache.
On the Storage screen, you get separate options to Clear cache and Clear storage. Tapping Clear cache will immediately delete the cache, but Clear storage brings up a prompt that warns you that all of the application’s data will be deleted permanently, including files, settings, accounts and databases. While it doesn’t specify cookies, this “going nuclear” approach should zap all remaining data, letting you restart the Samsung Internet browser as if it were brand-new.
Read more: Change These Android Settings to Get the Most Out of Your Phone
Mozilla Firefox
Much as with Google Chrome, you can clear the cache from within the Mozilla Firefox Android app. To access this function, tap the More button on the right of the address bar, again symbolized by three vertically aligned dots. Then tap Settings and scroll down to Delete browsing data.
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The “Delete browsing data” menu in Mozilla Firefox on Android.
Of the three browsers we’re discussing here, Firefox gives you the most options under the Delete browsing data menu, allowing you to also delete any existing Open tabs, your Browsing history, Site permissions and even your Downloads folder. Those options come alongside Cookies and side data and Cached images and files.
While you can’t pick a time range as you can for Chrome, you can be more specific regarding what type of data you would like to remove.
Read more: Browser Privacy Settings to Change ASAP in Firefox, Chrome and Safari
And Firefox has an additional option for those who never want to keep their browsing data after they’re done using the app. Inside Settings is a Delete browsing data on quit option, which instructs Firefox to wipe any combination of these same settings every time you quit the application. It’s a useful feature if you’d like to keep the browser tidy and, say, avoid accidentally handing off your browser history to someone who may have stolen or otherwise gained access to your phone.
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