Is it safe to delete caches on a Mac?

What a cache is

A cache is a copy an app keeps so it does not have to do the same work twice. A browser keeps images of sites you visit, a music app keeps artwork, a code editor keeps compiled bits of your project. None of it is the original. If the copy is gone, the app downloads or rebuilds it the next time it needs it.

That is why clearing caches is one of the safer cleanups on a Mac. It is also why the space comes back: a cache that grew to 5 GB once will usually grow to a similar size again. Clearing caches is a good way to get room quickly, not a permanent diet.

macOS knows this too. Apple’s own storage guidance says that when space is needed, macOS clears caches and logs that are safe to delete, such as temporary database files, interrupted downloads and staged updates. So on a Mac with plenty of free space, there is rarely a reason to clear caches at all.

Where caches live

There are three cache folders with the same name at different levels. Only the first is yours to manage.

• ~/Library/Caches in your Home folder. One subfolder per app, often named after its bundle identifier, such as com.spotify.client or com.apple.Safari. This is where nearly all of the reclaimable space is.
• /Library/Caches at the top of the startup disk. Shared by all users, usually small. Leave it unless you know which app a folder belongs to.
• /System/Library/Caches. Part of macOS and protected by the system. Do not touch it.

Some apps keep caches outside these folders. Chromium based browsers such as Chrome, Edge and Brave keep part of their cache inside ~/Library/Application Support/<browser>/<profile>/, in folders named Cache, Code Cache and GPUCache. Electron apps such as Slack and VS Code do the same in their own Application Support folder.

Developer tools are a category of their own. Xcode, Homebrew, npm and pip can keep tens of gigabytes. They have separate guides: Xcode DerivedData and package caches.

Find out which caches are big

Your caches folder is often a few gigabytes, and on a busy Mac it can be well over 20 GB. Look before you clear anything, because usually two or three apps account for most of it.

In Finder:

1. Choose Go > Go to Folder, type ~/Library/Caches and press Return.
2. Switch to List view (View > as List).
3. Choose View > Show View Options and turn on Calculate all sizes.
4. Click the Size column to sort.

Or in Terminal, which shows the 15 largest folders:

~ % du -sh ~/Library/Caches/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h | tail -15
1.2G  /Users/you/Library/Caches/com.apple.Music
3.4G  /Users/you/Library/Caches/Google
8.9G  /Users/you/Library/Caches/com.spotify.client

Some folders show as unreadable unless Terminal has Full Disk Access. That is fine: the ones you can read are the ones that matter here.

What is fine to clear

• Browser caches. Pages and images load a little slower on the first visit, then everything is as before. Safari’s cache is in ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari. You can also clear it from the browser itself, which is the tidier route.
• Caches of apps you use. The subfolders in ~/Library/Caches for apps such as Spotify, Slack, Adobe apps or video editors. Expect the first launch afterwards to be slower.
• Caches of apps you removed. A folder for an app that is no longer installed is pure leftover. See leftover files after uninstalling apps.
• Logs in ~/Library/Logs. Only useful when you troubleshoot a problem. Usually small, occasionally large when an app logs in a loop.

What to leave alone

• iCloud and sync caches. Folders such as CloudKit, com.apple.bird and com.apple.iCloudHelper belong to iCloud syncing. Clearing them gains little and can make iCloud Drive check every file again.
• Offline downloads that live in a cache. Some apps keep songs, maps or videos you saved for offline use in their cache folder. Clearing it removes those downloads, and you download them again. If an app has a storage or download setting, use that instead.
• Things that look like caches but are not. Folders in ~/Library/Application Support, ~/Library/Containers or inside a Photos library often hold real data: databases, settings, projects, game saves. A folder with “cache” in its name inside Application Support is usually safe; the folders around it usually are not.
• Caches of apps that are running. Quit the app first. An app that keeps a database in its cache can corrupt it if the files vanish while it writes.

How to clear a cache safely

1. Quit the app whose cache you want to clear.
2. Open its folder in ~/Library/Caches and select everything inside.
3. Choose File > Move to Trash.
4. Open the app and use it normally for a day.
5. Empty the Trash once everything works.

Moving to the Trash first gives you a way back. If an app suddenly loses offline content or a setting, open the Trash and use Put Back. The space is freed only when you empty the Trash, so a cleanup that is still in the Trash has not freed anything yet.

There is no need for sudo rm -rf commands that circulate online. Anything worth clearing in your caches is yours to move to the Trash without an administrator password.

What happens afterwards

• Apps start a little slower the first time, while they rebuild.
• Browsers re-download images and scripts as you visit sites. Cookies and saved passwords are stored elsewhere, so you normally stay signed in.
• The folder grows back. Within days or weeks most caches return to a similar size. That is normal and not a sign that something went wrong.
• Nothing else changes. Your documents, photos and settings are not in these folders.

If one app’s cache keeps growing to an unreasonable size, look for a setting in that app to limit it. Many streaming and chat apps have one.