How to Clear Instagram Cache on iPhone and Android Phones

Quickly learn how to clear Instagram cache on iPhone and Android to free up storage. Understand the simple steps on how to clear cache on Instagram to fix the app issues for both operating systems:

Instagram is a social networking service platform where users can share their pictures with loved ones and videos. Instagram is a hybrid (web and native) application that allows uploading media files like images and videos edited by filters, organized by hashtags.

It even informs the invitees of the location of captured pictures or videos with geographic tagging. Instagram comes with media uploading options such as feed posts, reels, stories, Instagram videos, and Live Broadcasts.

Clear Instagram Cache: Simple Guide to Know How

The ideal video format for Instagram is MP4 with AAC audio and H 264 codec, image format in JPG or JPEG with aspect ratio ranging from 1.91: 1 and 4:5 and 1080 pixels of width.

With two billion active visitors per month worldwide, with 169 million users from the United States, and 134 million users from Brazil are second and third in ranks as the maximum number of Instagram visitors, India ranks first with the largest Instagram audience of around 360 million users.

With 31 percent of the total audience base aged between 18 and 24 years, Instagram has proved as a social media platform that connects Millennials that are born between 1981 and 1996, with Generation Z born between 1990 and 2010.

Social media influencers, digital media marketing firms, and Industries offer promotions and advertise their products and services on Instagram, and invite visitors to attend their podcasts. Instagram has 11.57 percent of the market share worldwide and comes second to Facebook with 61.17 percent of the market share.

Instagram has shown 1.69 percent monthly growth in their users compared to Facebook with 0.64 percent weekly growth, due to users posting their pictures and videos consistently, keeping on improving the quality of the content, and targeting the right audience for the content posted.

Instagram users keep sharing this content with their loved ones and community or tagging friends and family, improving the reach of their content.

Suggested Reading => Best Instagram Story Viewers

Mobile RAM and Storage

Your mobile (Android or iPhone) uses Random Access Memory (RAM) to store installed applications, currently utilized data by these applications, and the operating system running in the background. Your data, such as photos, videos, installed applications, and important files that you have downloaded to save for later use, are stored on phone storage.

Using your mobile to access your Instagram account to share and view or download photos and videos will quickly occupy phone storage, as 1GB of phone storage can store 200 photos of 5MB. With videos recorded in 4K resolution for 1 minute of film duration (size) will occupy up to 300 MB of phone storage.

The mobile price depends on its RAM (internal memory), and storage. The higher the RAM and storage costlier is your mobile.

Further Reading => Is 8GB RAM Enough for your PC – Read Here

Instagram Cache

Instagram Cache stores temporary data like text, images, search history, and frequently visited web pages. There is limited space configured for storing cache. Frequent and extensive use of Instagram will grow cache and cross the limits affecting Instagram performance such as unresponsive page display.

Clearing Instagram Cache will improve Instagram performance, free up storage space, and improve loading issues, crashes, and defects. Clearing Instagram Cache will not affect posts, stories, reels, or any other information about your Instagram account details.

There are mainly two types of mobile operating systems we will discuss here. – Android and iPhone. We will discuss ways to clear the Instagram cache on Android and iPhone mobiles.

#1) Clearing Instagram Cache on iPhone

If you have an iPhone mobile, clearing the Instagram cache requires you to simply uninstall and reinstall Instagram.

Below are the steps:

• Search and locate the Instagram icon on your mobile
• Keep pressing the Instagram icon to open the menus
• Select ‘Remove App’ from the menu or you can click on the minus icon on the right corner of the screen
• Instagram will be uninstalled from your mobile
• Uninstalling Instagram will not delete your Instagram account
• ‘Delete Apps’ validation message will display
• Re-install Instagram again
• After a successful installation
• Login to Instagram
• You notice that someone has removed the Instagram cache

#2) Clearing Instagram Cache on Android Mobile

If you have an Android mobile, clearing the Instagram cache will have different steps.

• Search for the Settings icon on your mobile screen
• Open ‘Settings’ by selecting it
• Look for ‘Apps’ on the menu
• Open ‘Apps’ by selecting it
• Look for ‘Manage apps’ and open it
• You will see a list of installed applications on your mobile
• Search for Instagram by entering the search text field
• Click on Instagram to open ‘App info’
• You will notice ‘Clear Cache’ in the bottom corner. Click on it
• A clear data window will open with two options: ‘Clear all data’ and ‘Clear cache’
• Click on ‘Clear cache’
• A confirmation window will open asking the user to confirm his choice for ‘Clear cache’
• Click on Okay button

When you open Instagram again, you will notice the application will open quickly and any further selection quickly.

#3) Clearing Instagram Cache on Offloading App

• Open Instagram on your iPhone Mobile
• Click on your Instagram profile icon in the bottom right corner
• Click on three dots in the top right corner of your Instagram screen
• Go to Settings
• On the top of a list under the Search text field
• You will see a link labeled as Recent Search
• Click on Clear All on the top right
• A window with the title Clear search history? will appear with Clear All
• On Clicking the Clear All button, all the cache from recent search history will get cleared
• It won’t clear all the cache, so go back & click on iPhone Settings
• Click on General from the list
• Go To iPhone Storage
• Scroll down till you find the Instagram App
• Click on the Instagram App
• You will find the Offload App link
• Click on Offload App

This will clear the cache from the Instagram application without deleting the application

Offloading App on iPhone

Clicking on the offloading App will free up the RAM by removing the cache, keeping the data as it is on your mobile, and removing the application.

Also Read => Clear Cache in Browsers like Chrome, Firefox, etc

Clearing iPhone Cache Without Deleting Apps

You can clear your iPhone Cache without deleting apps by following three methods

#1) Clearing Instagram Cache on Safari Browser for iPhone

• Click on iPhone Settings
• Look for Safari browser
• Right Click on Safari
• Select Settings for Safari
• Under Settings Go to the Privacy & Security section
• Select Clear History and Website Data link from the menus
• Clicking on this link will open a window displaying a warning message
• Click on the Clear History & Data button

#2) Remove Cache by restarting your iPhone mobile

• Switch off iPhone mobile
  • For iPhone X and later models – Press the Power button and Volume button simultaneously.
  • For iPhone version 6, 7, and 8 as well as SE models:
    • Press and Hold the Power button till a Power Off Slider appears.
    • Drag the slider from left to right
    • The iPhone will turn off
    • Wait for 30 seconds
    • Press and Hold the Power button till your mobile turns ON

#3) Install third-party applications to clear unwanted applications

There are multiple third-party applications available online to clear applications not in use and clear cache, such as:

• Launch any one of the above third-party apps and click on the Scan button
• Click on the Clean button to clear the cache
• This will delete junk files, cache, and unwanted files from your iPhone

Uninstalling an App Versus Offloading an App

Uninstalling the app will remove the application completely along with settings and app data created or stored during app usage, whereas offloading the app also removes the app but will retain the data and settings configured in your device.

Offloading will remove less space compared to uninstalling an app. You can select the offloading app option if you want to keep your app data, free up space as well remove the app. In case of offloading, you may re-install the app in the future. Your configured settings and app data are still available on your device, ready to use the application.

Clearing Search History on Instagram

• Open Instagram on your iPhone Mobile
• Click on your Instagram profile icon in the bottom right corner
• Click on three dots in the top right corner of your Instagram screen
• Go to Settings
• On the top of a list under the Search text field
• You will see a link labeled as Recent Search
• Click on Clear All on the top right
• A window with the title Clear search history? will appear with the Clear All button
• On Clicking the Clear All button, all the cache from recent search history will get cleared

Suggested Reading => What is DNS Cache

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

Instagram cache stores temporary data such as pictures, videos, frequently visited web pages, and search history. When Instagram cache storage increases, the Instagram application becomes slow irrespective of Android or iPhone mobile device.

There are different steps for each of the mobile types to remove cache to improve the performance of Instagram. Instagram installed on Android mobile can clear Instagram cache without uninstalling Instagram, whereas for iPhone mobile clearing, Instagram cache needs to uninstall Instagram and reinstall Instagram.