There will be cached application data. What is cache on your phone and computer?

What is cache? Is it possible to clear the application cache on an Android phone? Yes you can. Do I need to clear the cache on Android? Necessary and unnecessary.

Why it is necessary and unnecessary, and what you should do, determine by reading this post to the end, although the principle is simple: by clearing the cache, you will get more memory, but the speed of data access may decrease.

The number of applications for most owners is constantly increasing. Sometimes so large that it causes the system to slow down.

Therefore, you should get rid of them periodically. In newer versions you can do this with one button.

Go to “Settings”, then to the memory tab, and then to the data cache. You will be asked if you want to get rid of all data.

This step can be set to repeat automatically periodically, which should help keep the system in good condition.

How does the cache work?

Is the application cache memory in an Android phone relatively small compared to the memory capacity of a smartphone or tablet?

Its task is to reduce access time for data processing and minimize the load on RAM to make it available to other devices.

It closes the gap between productivity gains and storage media access speeds.

Using cache memory has two advantages: reduced access time and more efficient use through the built-in intelligent data storage algorithm.

The memory controller determines a sequence of frequently repeated operations and, during execution, intercepts them and replaces them with data from the cache.

Thus, the processor maintains a long access path to main memory. The cache loop is many times faster than if it were taken from main memory.

What happens if you delete the cache

Nothing will happen if you delete the memory cache. It is a set of data that is a “tracing copy” of the original values ​​stored elsewhere.

In other words, a cache is a temporary storage location where frequently used data can be stored for quick access.

Android device caching is a technology based on the memory subsystem. The main goal is to speed up your android to complete tasks much faster.

To understand the basic concept of caching, look at a simple example of a librarian working.

When the first client comes for a book, the librarian goes to the warehouse and returns to the counter with the book to give it to the client.

Later, the client returns to return the book. The librarian takes the book, takes it to the warehouse, returns to the counter and waits for another client.

Let's assume that the next client needed exactly the same book. The librarian must return to the warehouse to take the book again and take it to the new client.

According to this model, the librarian must go the full route to fetch each book. Let's put a cache on the librarian - give him a backpack in which he can store 10 books.

In this backpack, he will put the books that clients return - a maximum of 10. Now, when another client comes, all the librarian needs to do is take the book from the backpack and give it to the client, so the client is served faster.

Almost everything works the same way on an Android phone. As you can see, a lot also depends on the volume and cleaning - the speed of service decreases, in our case this is the performance of the Android system.

Therefore, the conclusion is this: you can clear the cache on Android, but whether you need to clear it is up to you to decide. Good luck.

A cache is a special place that is allocated on the hard drive of each computer and is used to store copies of the pages that you have visited. This was done to save traffic and quickly load the necessary pages. So, having once visited any of the sites, its fragments are saved in a certain place on our hard drive.Every day we visit a huge number of sites where photos, videos, and text are located. If we come here for the first time, then all the information we receive, both graphic and text, is loaded directly from the server. If all the settings on your computer are made correctly, then after opening the site for the first time, all data about it will be saved on your hard drive, in a specially designated place - in a cache.
It is recommended to clear your cache periodically. This is due to the fact that sometimes some pages may not be displayed correctly for us due to the fact that some changes have appeared in them, and our browser automatically loads the version saved on it. If viruses or malware are detected on your computer, it is also recommended, along with treatment, to clear the cache to prevent re-infection.
Let's look at the procedure for clearing the cache using popular browsers as an example:

Internet Explorer. The browser offers to clear the cache as follows. Find the “Service” item and select “Delete browsing history”. A window will open next to “Temporary Internet files”, where you need to check the box. Then click “Delete”.

Google Chrome. Having decided to clear the cache in this browser, we find an item in the menu called “Tools”, where there is “Show additional settings”. The next step is to click “Clear History”. Here you can also choose what exactly you want to delete – “Images and files”, “For the entire period”. Having selected the required item, click “Clear history”. The cache has been deleted.

Mozilla Firefox. Find and open “Settings” in the menu of this browser, then the “Advanced” tab. There we find the “Network” item and go through the content, finding “Cache web content”. Nearby we see the “Clear Now” button, after clicking on it, our cache will be cleared.

Opera. In the “Settings” section, select “Security”. We find “Clear browsing history”, where in the “Delete the following elements” section, select “From the very beginning”, where there is “Clear history”, click the found button.

Yandex. Browser. To clear the cache of this browser, select the tab called “Tools” in the open menu, then select “Delete browsing data.” A list will open in front of you where it says “Delete specified items.” In this list, select “All time”. By checking the box next to “Clear cache”. To clear our cache, all you have to do is click on “Clear history”.

Now in the Google Play Store you can find a bunch of applications that offer you maintenance of other programs and, among other things, clearing the cache of third-party applications. But in fact, in Android you don't need to do this very often. In most cases, it’s not worth doing such things at all, since it can only disrupt the operation of installed applications or lead to repeated consumption of traffic, etc. But sometimes there are times when clearing the cache is necessary.

What is cache anyway and why is it needed?

When you install applications, most of them begin to collect some kind of local cache, where the data that the program constantly needs in order to work correctly and quickly is dumped.

The simplest example with cards. Have you noticed, for example, when you download Yandex.Maps on Android for the first time, the application starts downloading the map from the Internet? If you run the program again, for example, a day later, the same area will be opened and displayed instantly. Because some area of ​​the map has already been downloaded to the internal memory of the phone, the program cached it, and now it retrieves files from the cache, and does not download them again.

Or, for example, when you communicate with Telegram, and someone sends you a photo, it is also cached in the Telegram service directory, so that when you access it again, you can open it instantly.

The Instagram client and other applications installed on your device behave similarly.

In what cases should you clear the cache on Android?

1. If the application behaves unstable, crashes, crashes or is very slow, but before everything was fine.
2. If you have run out of free memory on your device, and space is now vital.

Of course, it’s better not to let this happen to the second case. If you need to save data somewhere, then you should get a more capacious memory card or immediately buy a smartphone with a large number of gigabytes available to the user. You can also send some of the data, for example, photos and music, to the clouds, and store only the essentials on your smartphone, which should always be available even offline.

Moreover, you usually won’t gain much by clearing the cache to free up memory. Even if you resort to the most annoying applications from Google Play. A couple of hundred megabytes, it’s unlikely you’ll get much more.

In the first case, if an application that previously worked correctly suddenly begins to behave inappropriately, it is worth clearing its cache. This can save you from reinstalling the program and losing settings or completely resetting your smartphone to factory settings. Everything is easily done using the system, you don’t even need it.

How to clear cache on Android?

It's easy to do. In Android global settings, you need to go to the list of all installed applications. Next, scroll the list to the one you need and use tap to go to information about the program. Then look for the “Clear cache” button there.

Tap again - you're done!

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Few people wonder how to clear the cache on Android. This is understandable, because holding a brand new smartphone in your hands is a pleasure. Everything works quickly, the interface “slides” and almost does not crash, and applications, if they freeze, are only in very rare cases. However, several months (and sometimes even weeks) pass, and our device begins to “stumble”, seemingly out of the blue - programs take longer to open, animations lose their former smoothness, and space on the internal storage begins to mysteriously disappear.

There can be a lot of reasons for this phenomenon, but the first thing you can do to speed up your Android device is to clear it of unnecessary files that accumulate during the life of applications: this could be error data, outdated files, photo thumbnails, browser cache, or VK, cookies and a lot of other ballast that spoils our impression of working with the gadget. Such “junk” files are designated by the term “cache” (from the English “cache” - hiding place), and the procedure for deleting them is, accordingly, clearing the cache.

70% of residual files are not needed by either the user or the device, and only negatively affect the operation of the smartphone, increasing the time it takes to open applications and boot the system. You can safely remove them and not be afraid of the consequences.

However, the cache can also store important data, for example, audio recordings, photos or passwords you have saved. Therefore, you need to approach the memory cleaning procedure wisely. You should learn to distinguish between those files that may be useful in the future for the normal functioning of the device, and those that can be safely cleaned without fear of losing important information.

Types of cache

The Android operating system can cache three different kinds of files:

• The first type of cache is non-system. These are files created by custom applications downloaded from the Play Store or other sources. If there are many programs installed on the device, such a cache can reach gigantic sizes and then it is definitely impossible to do without cleaning it;
• The second type of residual files is system files. As a rule, they can be removed without a twinge of conscience. The Android operating system will still not allow us to erase what is needed for its normal operation;
• and finally, the third type of cache is dalvik. Generated by the system so that the most frequently used programs start faster. We will not go into the intricacies of how this environment works. Moreover, clearing dalvik-cache is not available to the average user, as it requires obtaining root rights and installing a custom recovery.

Basic cleaning methods

Having figured out why we actually need to clear the smartphone’s cache, let’s move on directly to the procedure. In most cases, you can clean up junk files without installing additional software. Developers of modern Android shells, which come, for example, with devices from Samsung Galaxy, Asus or Lenovo, integrate applications into their products that allow them to approach device optimization in the most comprehensive way.

There are also more advanced methods for clearing the cache, which may be needed, say, if the device does not turn on or goes into an eternal reboot. Let's look at each method separately and determine which files can be changed and which are better left as is.

Cleaning via Settings

You can right now get rid of all the files accumulated on your device by simply going to the settings menu and pressing three buttons in turn.

We do the following:

1. On the desktop or in the notification shade, find the settings gear and go to the “Storage” section (or “Memory” - the names may vary depending on the firmware or device manufacturer).

1. Click on the line “Clear cache”. Without hesitation, we confirm the procedure and rejoice at the release of an additional 1-2 GB of device memory, which is so precious in our time.

All! The phone was successfully cleaned and it didn’t even take us 2 minutes. This is easy to do, but this method does not involve differentiation of the files being deleted - Android will delete what it deems necessary, and we can only hope that, for example, our precious music from VKontakte, which we have been caching for so long, will not be included in this list. persistently. But, if you have nothing special to lose, you can try.

How to clear only one application

It happens that the gadget as a whole works flawlessly, but one or more applications constantly go wrong: for example, Odnoklassniki crashes when you try to send a message or the game crashes at a certain level - the situation is common and very prosaic.

In order to fix it, it is not necessary to reinstall the application - just clear its cache. Yes, you may have to re-enter your passwords and login, but there’s nothing wrong with that. After all, as a result, we will get a fresh and adequately behaving application.

So, to clear the cache of any application (let’s take Instagram as an example), we need:

1. Go to settings and select “Application storage” or “All applications” - the names, again, may vary depending on the version of Android.

1. Find the program that spoils our blood in the list and click on it. In some versions of the Android OS, applications are divided into groups: “system” and “user”. This makes the search somewhat easier if there is a lot of software installed on the device.

1. We are interested in the “Data cleaning” item. Click on it and agree to deletion. The memory will be cleared in just a few seconds, then let’s go check the program’s operation. Most likely, she will no longer cause you the same troubles.

Clearing the cache using third-party programs

The previously discussed methods were undoubtedly effective - you can verify this if you follow our instructions point by point. However, they cannot be called overly convenient - manually going into settings, scrolling through menu items, and even risking losing important data is not the most pleasant or quick task. It is much more convenient to keep a full-fledged cache clearing application on your smartphone, which will allow you to quickly and easily delete only what is not needed.

In this article we would like to demonstrate the work of two such programs - in our humble opinion, they are the most convenient for novice users and, at the same time, the most functional. These are Clean Master and App Cache Cleaner applications. Let's look at each one individually and use screenshots to demonstrate how they work.

Clean Master app

A very convenient utility that has already been appreciated by millions of users - by the way, it is the one that works by default on Xiaomi phones.

To evaluate the capabilities of this program yourself and understand how you can use it to clear the cache, we need:

1. Find and download the application through the Play Market.

1. Open it and view the list of functions that the application provides - it is displayed on the main page. Perhaps, in addition to clearing the cache, you will need something else from this list.

1. We press the “Trash” button, decorated with a trash can icon, and the application begins to calculate how much data out of all that is stored on our device can be safely deleted (this will be various system reports, cookies, photo thumbnails and other rubbish).

1. Press the “Clean up trash” button and enjoy the spectacular animation that accompanies this process. Ready!

App Cache Cleaner

Another, in our opinion, interesting program for clearing the cache on Android. Its functions are very similar to the one we looked at earlier, but there are still minor differences - mainly in the interface.

In addition, the utility can transfer applications from internal memory to an SD card. A very useful function if the storage size of your device is not large enough - Clean Master does not implement such functionality. So, in order:

1. To begin, download the application from the Play Market in the same way. Then we open it by tapping on the icon on the desktop and get acquainted with the functions.

1. We are interested in “Quick Cleaning” - click on the trash can icon and see something similar to what we saw in the previous example.

1. Everything is absolutely the same: if the file you need is included in the list to be deleted, then simply uncheck it and the program will not touch it. Ready!

Reset to factory settings (Hard Reset)

If you have already tried all the methods, and the phone is still slow or working very poorly, we can advise you to reset all data. The method, of course, is radical, but invariably effective - the phone becomes like new and again pleases us with the speed of operation. All the problems that you carelessly accumulated over several months of using the device will no longer bother you.

There are two ways to “undress” your phone to its original settings:

• through the Settings application;
• through the recovery menu (or “recovery”).

These methods are implemented differently on devices from different manufacturers. Information on how to enter the recovery menu on your smartphone can be found in.

In order to roll back the device to its factory state using the operating system, do the following:

1. Go to settings and look for the “Backup and reset” option. On smartphones running MIUI 9, this item is located in the “System and device” section in the list of advanced settings.

1. Click “Clear data” and wait a few minutes, as a result of which all files from our device will be completely deleted - we hope there is no need to remind us about the need for backup once again.

1. Ready! Meet the new device!

Conclusion

Applications installed on our device constantly store residual files of their vital activity on it. We don’t need most of them and can safely delete them - this will make the device’s operation easier, free up memory and speed up the device a little. Clearing the cache is the first thing you need to do to restore normal operation of your mobile phone. This can be done through settings or through third-party applications. If the performance situation is completely deplorable, you can resort to resetting to factory settings.

Video instruction

Before you finish and leave, watch this video.

Older smartphone models are overpriced. We all understand perfectly well that the price difference between 16 GB and 32+ GB models is unreasonably large. We are talking about the iPhone and the whole variety of flagship Android representatives. As a result, a person takes a junior model with 16 gigabytes of storage on board in the hope that this will be enough. But often reality does not live up to his expectations.

What eats up memory on a smartphone

First, you need to understand that the amount of memory in the device specified by the manufacturer is not the same as the amount of memory available to the user. That is, in practice, we always have less memory available to us than is written on the package, and this is true for both the iPhone and the Android family.

In both cases operating system The device takes up 2-3 GB of memory, and it is impossible to return it to the user’s disposal - this space is needed for the operation of the device.

Therefore, when you are looking for a new smartphone, consider this: 16 GB is actually approximately equal to 13 GB, and 32 GB is, at best, 29-30 GB.

In the future, the amount of memory remaining for the user will be encroached upon. installable applications and games. Screens are getting better, the picture should be of better quality, the graphics should be cooler - this seriously makes applications heavier.

In addition, over time, installed applications will get fatter, accumulating in memory cache data- this is everything that remains in the device while the application is running and after it is closed. Any application that receives content from the Web stores it on the device for faster delivery to the user. Watch YouTube and get cached videos. Listen to music online - it is cached locally. Surf the Internet via Chrome - pages visited in the browser are cached.

If you have Android and find yourself in a situation where you urgently need to get a few hundred megabytes of space for videos or photos, then clear the cache data.

Settings -> Memory -> tap on Cache data.

You can also selectively clear the cache of individual applications.

Settings -> Applications -> tap on the thick application -> Clear cache.

iOS does not have such standard tools, but there are third-party utilities.

These days, 1 GB for one game already seems quite acceptable. Periodic cleaning games with a preliminary question to yourself: “Will I play this again?” will help you get rid of boring and unnecessary toys that continue to take up a fair amount of memory. The same is true for any other applications. Didn't like the app? Do you plan to use it in the future? Delete it, don’t just keep it on your device.

Music downloaded by the user to the device It's getting better and better. Some people no longer accept 320 kbit mp3 and only want flac. Such tracks take up several times more space on the device.

Consider whether the headphones you are using will provide enough sound quality for you to feel the difference? Perhaps an average quality mp3 will be enough?

If we are talking about Photo and video, then it's even worse. Top current smartphones have 8+ megapixel cameras that can shoot FullHD video at high frame rates and take very high-resolution photos. Such photos and videos take up a lot of space. For example, 1 hour of video in 1080p quality can take up 10 GB of space on your smartphone.

There are virtually no options with captured videos. They need to be periodically moved from a mobile device to a computer for subsequent storage or placement on video hosting.

The Dropbox mobile application can help with storing photos - it has a function for automatically transferring pictures from the device memory to the cloud.

And yet, the more technologically advanced our mobile devices become, the more space will be required for applications and content. Manufacturers understand this, and often meet the user halfway by building a slot for removable memory cards. Unfortunately, users of iPhone, Google phones and some other Android lines are deprived of this advantage. Google invites us to store all data on the Web.

This concept is also supported by many developers - now we have access to hundreds of thematic online services that provide content in the form of streaming. They are complemented by dozens of cloud storages. In this case, the device’s memory will be clogged significantly less, but the requirements for the quality and speed of the mobile Internet will increase significantly.