Make Your Android Phone (Slightly) Faster by Deleting Your Browser’s Cookies and Cache

Your Android web browser wants to be as fast as possible. That’s why it’s constantly saving little bits of data every time you visit a new website: That way, when you return to that site, it can pull it up faster and use that data for useful site features, like saving login info. That’s the main role of storing cookies and other data in the cache. However this data can build up, and, overtime, do the opposite of what it’s supposed to: slow down your system. This goes for any browser you use on Android, whether it’s Chrome, Samsung Internet, or Firefox, to name a few. Clearing your browser’s cache and cookies regularly is a good idea, simply because most of the time, the files and info stored in them can be junk and not all that useful to you.

Below, you’ll find how to clear your cache and cookies on the three major Android web browsers mentioned above. If you use another browser, the steps should be similar.

How to clear cache and cookies on Google Chrome

To clear your cache and cookies on Google Chrome for Android, go to Settings by tapping on the three dots in the top right corner; scroll down to Privacy and Security. You should see an option for Clear browsing data.

Of the browsing data options, there’s a Basic and Advanced setting. Both options let you choose the time range from the Last 15 minutes to All time. The Basic settings will let you clear browsing data such as Browsing history, Cookies and site data, and Cached images and files. The Advanced settings add more options such as Saved passwords, Autofill form data, and Site settings.

Choose what data you want to clear, then tap Clear data at the bottom.

How to clear cache and cookies on Mozilla Firefox

To clear your data on Firefox for Android, go to Settings via the three dots icon. Here, scroll down to Delete browsing data. You’ll then be given a list of items you can choose to delete including Open tabs, Browsing history, Cookies and site data, Cached images and files, Site permissions and, finally, Downloads.

While you can’t choose the data range like on Chrome, Firefox does make it straightforward to delete your data in a few quick steps.

How to clear cache and cookies on Samsung Internet

To clear your cache on Samsung Internet, you’ll first need to go to Settings for the app, which can be found in the three-line menu on the bottom right; go down to Personal browsing data, then choose Delete browsing data.

In the Delete browsing data menu, you can find a checklist of items you can delete, including Browsing history, Form and search history, Cookies and site data, Cached images and files, Passwords, and Autofill forms. Select the ones you want to delete, then hit the blue Delete data button at the bottom.