MacOS is a stable operating system that doesn’t crash so easily. If you accumulate a lot of cache and cookies, you may experience performance issues. There are different reasons for accumulating cache and cookies on Mac.
All the apps you open create cookies and cache files. When you visit a website, it also accumulates cookies. Some cookies are created by the internal operating system.
It is important to clear the cache on Mac with inbuilt utilities or with third-party utilities. The manual process to clear cookies may not assure 100% cleanup. You may need to dig up multiple folders to clear cookies on Mac.
Alternatively, you can automate the process with the Best Mac Cleaners. These apps can clear the cache on Mac, and get rid of temp files, cookies, and redundant app clutter. Let's begin with the manual steps for Mac cleanup.
Clear Cache on Mac Browser
Irrespective of using Safari, Google Chrome, or Firefox, you will need to manually clear the browser cache. You can follow these steps to manually clear the cache on the Mac Safari browser.
Step 1. Access Safari on
your Mac to get into Settings.
Step 2. Click on the Safari menu and select Preferences.
Step 3. A new window will
open. Click on the Advanced tab on the top for more options.
Step 4. Put a check on the “Show Develop menu in menu bar.
Step 5. You will find the Develop menu displayed on the menu bar. Click on the Develop menu and select the ‘Empty Caches’ option from the list. You can also press Command + Option + E keystrokes to clear the cache on Mac when the Safari browser is open.
“Please Note: You can clear cache and cookies on Google Chrome or Firefox from the settings. You can select the range of time duration before you clear the cache.”
Uninstall Unwanted Apps
Before you clear the cache on your Mac, it is recommended to uninstall unwanted apps so that the app and app clutter can be completely removed.
Step 1. Select the
Applications option from the Go folder on the Finder.
Step 2. Figure out applications that you don’t want to use anymore.
Step 3. Right-click on
the App icon and click on the ‘Move to Trash’ command.
Step 4. Confirm the selection and do the same with all the unwanted apps in the folder.
“Alternatively, you can simply drag and drop the app icon from the Applications folder to the Trash. You can also go to the Dock, click, and hold the cursor until all the icons start jiggling. Click on the X cross to uninstall the app from Mac.”
Clear System Cache
System cache and app cache are stored in different folders depending on the apps. You will need to manually get into different folders and subfolders to clear the cache on Mac. You should back up files or folders before cleaning the cache to avoid any app crashes or data loss.
Step 1. Click on the Go
menu on the Finder and select the Go to Folder option.
Step 2. Type ~/Library/Caches/ in the search box and hit the Return key.
Step 3. Select the System
Cache or Library Caches depending on what you wish to clear.
Step 4. Expand the folder and get into the dedicated app’s folder. Clear just the files and not the folders. Enter every app’s folder that you wish to clear and delete files. If there are subfolders available, you can delete files from them.
“Please Note: There are cache and cookies in other folders as well. You can get into the list of folders below to completely clear every clutter from your Mac.”
~/Library/Logs
~/Library/Caches
~/Library/Preferences
~/Library/Internet
Plug-Ins/
~/Library/Application
Support/CrashReporter/
~/Library/Saved
Application State/
~/Library/Application
Support
~/Library/Containers
~/Library/Cookies
Shortcuts to Clear Cache on Mac
Smart users can simply use keyboard shortcuts to clear the cache on Mac. you can access the Caches library and use keyboard shortcuts to remove all the cache in a folder.
Step 1. Access the Finder
window and try Shift + Command + G keystrokes.
Step 2. You will find the Go to Folder window. Type ~/Library/Caches and hit Enter.
Step 3. Use the arrow
keys to expand the Caches folder and select the App folder.
Step 4. Press Command + A to select all files and press Command + Delete to send them to the Trash.
“Please Note: You can similarly access the Safari browser and press Command + Option + E to clear the cache on Safari browser.”
Clear User Cache on Mac
If you are trying to clear User Cache on Mac, the folder address will be different. The rest of the process to clear cookies on Mac will be the same.
Step 1. Click on the Go
menu on the Finder and select the Go to Folder option.
Step 2. Type /Users/[UserName]/Library/Caches/ in the search box and hit the Return key. (The username will be replaced with your username without brackets.)
Step 3. Select the System
Cache or Library Caches depending on what you wish to clear.
Step 4. Enter every folder that you wish to clear and delete all the files inside.
Use Best Mac Cleaner
This is one of the best methods to completely remove all the app clutter, cache, cookies, and temp files from the Mac. Cleanup My System is one of the Best Mac Cleaners that comes with multiple options to clear cache, junk files, cookies, temp files, trash, and mail attachments.
Cleanup My System also comes with an inbuilt Startup Manager optimizer to manage startup apps. You can also uninstall apps and remove their app clutter. It can also identify large files and old files that can be reviewed before removing. It has Disk Analyzer, privacy protector, identity protector, and more utilities.
Final Words
This article on
how to clear the cache on Mac to optimize its performance has the best manual
tricks to remove clutter from Mac. You can clear the cache on your Mac with
manual tricks or use the Best Mac Cleaner and optimizer to automatically remove
all the system clutter. Keep it Clean!