How-To

How to Clear Your TikTok Cache

how to clear your tiktok cache - hero

If you use TikTok a lot and notice the app slow or misbehaving, it might be time to clear its cache. Here’s how.

If you’ve been using TikTok on your iPhone or Android device for some time, it’s probably accumulated quite a large cache of files. TikTok saves a copy of every image, video, and sound you play to speed up playback later. If your device is running short on space, though, it’s a good idea to clear not only your device cache but also your TikTok cache. Here’s how.

How to Clean Up Your TikTok Downloads and Cache

If you are ready to do some spring cleaning on your TikTok app and clear the cache, just follow these steps.

  1. Open the TikTok app on your device and tap your profile tab.
  2. Next, tap the Three-Lines Menu.
    TikTok profile page - tap three line menu
  3. From the menu appearing at the bottom of the screen, tap Settings and privacy.
    Tap Settings and privacy
  4. In the Cache & Cellular section, tap Free up space.
    Tap Free Up Space
  5. You’ll see two options: Cache and Downloads. You can empty these individually by tapping each one’s Clear button.
    Tap Clear beside Cache and Downloads
  6. To clear your TikTok cache, select Clear from the Free up space screen, then tap Clear from the confirmation dialog.
    Confirm clear cache
  7. You can do the same with your downloads by selecting its Clear button. Confirm that’s what you want to do by tapping the Clear button on the following dialog.
    Confirm delete downloads

Why Should I Do This?

Normally, your TikTok experience will be smooth and painless. TikTok uses the cache to temporarily store data like sounds and video files. This allows it to respond more quickly and use less data since TikTok doesn’t have to download that funny cat video each time you watch it.

However, you might start to notice things slowing down after you’ve used the app a lot. You might even notice glitches, like videos starting and stopping without notice, or a message saying the content is unavailable when you know that’s not the case. In a severe case, you might even notice your TikTok app crashing.

These are all signs of the cache either taking too much space or becoming corrupt.

What Happens If I Clear My TikTok Cache?

Nothing to worry about here; clearing your cache and downloads on TikTok won’t have any effect on the types of videos the platform suggests to you. Your experience will remain the same, but some videos and effects might take a bit longer to start playing.

In case you’re wondering what the difference is between the cache and downloads options, the downloads selection has to do with creating videos. When you make your own content, you often download effects, stickers, and sounds to use in your videos.

When you clear the downloads on TikTok, those files are removed from your device. If you have marked them as favorites, they’ll still be there. When you want to use those effects, sounds, or stickers again, the app will re-download them.

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