Is it safe to delete ~/Library/Caches? What happens when you do

Yes, it is safe to delete Library caches on a Mac, as long as you delete the folders inside ~/Library/Caches and not the Caches folder itself. Apps keep data there that they can make again, so an app whose cache you remove rebuilds it the next time it needs it. Nothing you made is stored there.

There are three conditions. Quit the app before you remove its folder. Leave the handful of folders that hold more than a cache, such as downloaded models, offline music or an IDE's history of your edits. And expect the space to come back only partly, because most caches grow again as you use your apps.

Clearing caches frees space. It doesn't make a Mac faster: apps are a little slower while they rebuild, and some download what they had again. It's most worth doing for apps you've removed, for a few folders that have grown far beyond the rest, and when you need room now for something specific, such as a macOS update.

The sections below explain what the folder holds, what happens step by step when you delete from it, which folders are exceptions, and how to clear it in Finder without losing anything.

What's in ~/Library/Caches

The Caches folder in your Library folder is where apps and macOS services keep data they've already fetched or worked out, so they don't have to do it again. Web pages, album artwork, map tiles, downloaded package files and staged app updates all end up here.

Every user account on a Mac has its own. The tilde in ~/Library/Caches stands for your home folder, so the full path is your home folder, then Library, then Caches.

Where is the Caches folder on a Mac?

Your Library folder is hidden in Finder, so you won't see it by opening your home folder. There are two quick ways in:

1. In Finder, choose Go › Go to Folder, type ~/Library/Caches, and press Return.
2. Or open the Go menu, press and hold the Option key, and choose Library, which appears while the key is down. Then open Caches.

Both ways work the same on macOS 27 Golden Gate and macOS 26 Tahoe. The folder you reach is the one for the account you're signed in to.

What do the folder names mean?

Apple asks developers to name each app's cache folder after the app's bundle identifier, a reverse web address such as com.apple.Safari or com.apple.Music. So most names tell you whose folder it is, even when they look technical.

Not every developer follows the convention. Command-line tools and some apps use plain names instead, such as Homebrew, pip, pnpm, Yarn or Google. A folder named com.apple belongs to one of Apple's apps or to a background service of macOS.

Why does the Caches folder get so big?

Caches grow with use. Every site you visit, every song you stream and every package a developer tool downloads adds a little, and most apps only trim their caches when they reach a limit they set themselves, if at all.

Folders also outlive their apps. Dragging an app to the Trash removes the app, not its cache folder, which can sit there for years. On most Macs a few folders account for most of the total: browsers, a package manager or two, and updates an app downloaded but hasn't installed yet.

Is it safe to delete Library caches on a Mac?

For the folders inside it, yes, with a short list of exceptions covered further down. The reason is a rule Apple sets for developers, and nearly every app follows it.

What Apple tells app developers

Apple's documentation on the Mac's folder layout says the Caches folder holds data that can be regenerated as needed, and that apps should never rely on cache files existing. An app that follows it treats a missing cache as normal and simply builds a new one.

The same documentation puts everything that matters elsewhere. An app's own data, including files it keeps for you, goes in Application Support. Settings go in Preferences. Your documents go wherever you save them. That separation is what makes the Caches folder the one part of Library you can clear without much thought.

Safe isn't the same as free

Removing a cache costs time instead of data. A browser downloads images and scripts again. A music app downloads artwork again. A package manager downloads packages the next time a project needs them, which can mean gigabytes on a slow connection.

That's why clearing everything at once is rarely the best move. Removing a cache that an app will rebuild tomorrow gains you a day of space and costs a day of slower apps and repeated downloads.

Does deleting caches make a Mac faster?

No. A cache exists to save time, so removing one makes the app that owns it slower until the cache is built again. Claims that clearing caches speeds up a Mac confuse a fuller disk with a slower computer.

Running out of space can get in the way: macOS needs room for updates, and apps need room to save and export. Freeing space solves that problem, and caches are one place to find it. They're not a performance setting.

Will you lose passwords, history or settings?

No. Saved passwords live in your keychain, browsing history and bookmarks in each browser's own data folder, and app settings in Preferences. None of them are in Caches, so clearing caches leaves them where they are.

What you might worry about	Where it's kept	Affected by clearing caches?
Saved passwords	Your keychain, in ~/Library/Keychains	No
Safari history, bookmarks and cookies	Safari's own data, outside Caches	No
App settings	~/Library/Preferences	No
An app's own data and libraries	~/Library/Application Support or the app's container	No
Your documents	Wherever you saved them	No
Web pages, images and artwork apps saved for speed	~/Library/Caches	Yes: downloaded again

Most apps keep your sign-in in the keychain or in their own data folder, so you usually stay signed in. An app that stored something in its cache folder against Apple's guidance may ask you to sign in again, which is a nuisance, not a loss.

What happens when you delete a cache

It helps to know what to expect, so a slow first launch doesn't look like a problem. Here's the sequence for a typical app.

Straight away: nothing is freed yet

Moving a folder to the Trash doesn't free any space. The folder sits in the Trash until you empty it, which is what lets you put it back if an app misbehaves. Storage settings and Finder only show the gain once the Trash is emptied.

If you use Time Machine, a local snapshot can also hold on to the deleted files for a while after you empty the Trash. Your Mac counts that space as available, and Time Machine removes the snapshot as it ages or when the space is needed.

The next time the app opens

The app finds its cache folder missing and creates a new, empty one. It then fetches or works out again whatever it needs: a browser downloads the pages you open, Music downloads artwork, a code editor rebuilds its index.

Expect the first launch to take a little longer, and the first few pages, images or searches to load more slowly. Some apps show placeholders until their images arrive. All of that settles within the first session or two.

Over the following days and weeks

Most caches grow back towards the size they had, because the app is doing the same work as before. A browser you use every day can rebuild a large cache within days. A tool you run once a month takes longer.

What doesn't grow back is the cache of an app you no longer use. That's the one lasting gain, and it's why leftover folders of removed apps are the best place to start.

What if the app was still open?

Moving the cache of an app that's running is where problems come from. The app may still be writing to files you just moved, recreate the folder at once, show errors, or quit unexpectedly.

Quit the app first, including any icon it keeps in the menu bar. Some apps keep a helper running in the background after you close their window; quitting from the menu bar or the app's own menu stops it. Then move the folder.

The folders in Caches that aren't plain caches

Apple's rule says what should go in Caches. It can't stop an app from storing something else there. A few well-known apps and developer tools keep things in the Caches folder that are slow, expensive or impossible to get back.

Folder in ~/Library/Caches	What's really in it	Level	What to do instead
com.spotify.client	Cached music, and possibly downloads for offline play	Usually safe	Use Clear cache in Spotify's settings
JetBrains/IntelliJIdea2026.2 and similar	Indexes, plus Local History of your edits	Usually safe	Remove old versions with the IDE's own option
Google/AndroidStudio<version>	Indexes, plus local history of your edits	Usually safe	Remove folders of versions you no longer run
pypoetry/virtualenvs	Python environments for your projects	Usually safe	Remove environments of finished projects
ms-playwright and Cypress	Test browsers and test apps	Usually safe	Let the tool remove versions no project uses
llama.cpp	Language model files	Usually safe	Remove models you no longer use
Coursier/arc or Coursier/jvm	Installed Java versions	Review first	Check what your editor and shell use first
deno	Downloaded modules, plus data Deno programs saved	Review first	Remove only the downloaded modules

Why would an app keep important things in Caches?

Usually because the data is large and was downloaded, so the developer treats it as replaceable, even though getting it back costs a long download or a rebuild. That's the case for Playwright's browsers, Cypress's test app and llama.cpp's models.

Sometimes it's a mix. JetBrains IDEs keep their indexes and Local History, the IDE's own record of recent changes to your files, in the same folder per version. Deno keeps downloaded modules next to data that programs saved with localStorage or Deno KV, and that data isn't recreated.

Spotify, JetBrains and Android Studio have their own way

Spotify keeps cached music and offline downloads in places Finder can't tell apart. Its own setting clears the cache and leaves your downloads: click your profile picture, choose Settings, scroll to Storage, and click Clear cache.

A JetBrains IDE removes folders of older versions that haven't been updated in 180 days when you install a new major version. Help › Delete Leftover IDE Directories removes them sooner. Android Studio offers to delete folders of older versions when you first run a new major version.

Updates waiting to install

Several folders hold app updates rather than caches in the usual sense. They're safe to remove; the cost is that the app downloads the update again.

• Folders ending in .ShipIt, such as com.microsoft.VSCode.ShipIt, belong to apps built with Electron that update themselves with Squirrel. An update downloaded but not yet installed can take several hundred megabytes.
• org.sparkle-project.Sparkle, inside an app's own cache folder, holds updates for apps that use the Sparkle framework. Sparkle removes items older than 10 days by itself.
• A pending folder inside a folder ending in -updater holds updates for apps built with electron-builder, installed when you quit or restart the app.

Is it safe to delete com.apple folders in Caches?

Mostly, yes. They follow the same rule as everyone else's, and macOS's apps and services rebuild them. Folders such as com.apple.Safari, com.apple.Music and com.apple.dt.Xcode are among the larger ones and are fine to clear with the app quit.

Some belong to services that run all the time and can't be quit. Restarting after you remove them lets those services start with a fresh cache. One folder is better left alone: com.apple.nsurlsessiond, which macOS's background download service uses for files apps are downloading, with a folder for each app.

The other Caches folders on your Mac

There isn't just one Caches folder. Your Mac has at least three, plus one inside each sandboxed app's container, and they follow different rules. Chat apps add more: Slack, Teams and Discord keep caches in Application Support or their containers, each cleared its own way.

Caches folder	Whose it is	Can you clear it?	Level
~/Library/Caches	Your apps and your account's services	Yes, the folders inside, with apps quit	Safe
~/Library/Containers/<app>/Data/Library/Caches	One sandboxed app, such as most App Store apps	Yes, with the app quit	Safe
~/Library/Group Containers/<group>/Library/Caches	Apps from one developer that share data	Yes, with those apps quit	Safe
/Library/Caches	Helpers, installers and services for every user	Yes, with an administrator password	Usually safe
/System/Library/Caches	macOS itself	No: it belongs to macOS	Managed by macOS

/Library/Caches: shared by every user

The Library folder at the top of your disk has its own Caches folder, used by apps, helper tools and macOS services that work for every account on the Mac. Like your own Caches folder, it holds data that can be regenerated.

Two things differ. Most items there belong to the system or an administrator, so Finder asks for an administrator's name and password before moving them. And a service that's using its cache may only rebuild it properly after a restart, so restart once you've finished.

/System/Library/Caches: hands off

The System folder belongs to macOS. Most of it sits on a sealed, read-only volume that System Integrity Protection guards. Its Caches folder is stored on the data volume instead, but it's owned by the system, not your account.

Leave it alone either way. macOS rebuilds the caches it keeps there when it needs to, and safe mode clears some of them for you.

Caches inside Containers and Group Containers

Apps that run in a sandbox, which includes most apps from the App Store and many of Apple's own, keep their files in a container in ~/Library/Containers. Each container has a Data folder with a Library of its own, and inside that a Caches folder.

That inner Caches folder is as safe to clear as the main one. The rest of the container is not: it holds the app's documents, settings and databases. Open the container, go into Data, then Library, then Caches, and stay there.

Apps from one developer that share data, such as an app and its widget, also get a group container in ~/Library/Group Containers, which can have its own Library and Caches folders. The same rule applies: the Caches folder only.

Which caches are worth clearing

The useful question isn't whether you can clear a cache, but whether it's worth it. A few folders usually hold most of the space, and some of the space comes back for good while the rest regrows.

Caches of apps you've deleted

These are the best targets. Nothing will rebuild them, so the space stays free. Look for folders named after apps you no longer have, or bundle identifiers whose second part names a developer whose apps you've removed.

If you're not sure whose a folder is, leave it. The guide to uninstalling apps covers the other folders a removed app leaves in Library, most of which need more care than its cache.

The few folders that hold most of it

Sort the Caches folder by size, as described below, and the order is usually clear. On many Macs the largest folders belong to browsers, a package manager such as pnpm, Yarn or pip, Swift Package Manager or Homebrew, and updates staged by apps built with Electron.

• All app caches in your Caches folder2–30 GB · Safe
• Shared caches in /Library/Caches1–10 GB · Usually safe
• Swift Package Manager, CocoaPods and Carthage1–15 GB · Safe
• Playwright, Puppeteer and Cypress downloads1–10 GB · Usually safe
• Updates staged by Electron apps0.2–3 GB · Safe

Typical ranges on Macs that have these folders at all, from the research behind the app's catalog. Many Macs have far less.

A single folder that's grown far beyond the others is worth a look even if the app is still in use. Clearing it once costs a rebuild; it also tells you whether the app is the kind that grows back fast.

How do you tell whose folder it is?

Start with the name. A bundle identifier's middle part is usually the developer, and the last part the app, so com.example.Notes would belong to an app called Notes from Example. A plain name like Homebrew or pip is the tool itself.

Then check the dates. In list view, the Date Modified column shows when each folder last changed; Control-click a column heading to add it if it's hidden. A folder whose date is a year old often belongs to an app you've stopped using, or removed.

If both leave you unsure, search your Applications folder for the name. When nothing matches and you don't recognize it, leave the folder alone: a small cache isn't worth the guess, and a large one is worth identifying properly first.

A worked example

Say your Caches folder is 12 GB, and sorting by size shows a package manager's store at 4 GB, two browsers at 3 GB together, a code editor's staged update at 1.5 GB, Playwright's test browsers at 1 GB, and a long tail of small folders.

The staged update is an easy yes: the editor downloads it again if it still needs it. The browsers are a choice, best made in each browser's settings, and their caches will return. The package store is fine to clear if you're not short on bandwidth.

Playwright's browsers are the one to think about. If you still run browser tests, removing them means a download of a few hundred megabytes per browser before the next run. If you've finished with that project, they can go.

Browser caches: use the browser's own settings

Browsers are the one case where the app's own control is better than Finder, because it clears the cache while the browser is in a known state. It also lets you choose what else goes, and what stays.

• Safari: choose Safari › Settings, click Advanced, and select Show features for web developers. Then choose Develop › Empty Caches, which empties the network cache and Safari's other caches. Your history, bookmarks and cookies stay.
• Chrome: click the More button at the top right, choose Delete browsing data, pick a time range, select Cached images and files only, and click Delete data.

Leave cookies and site data out unless you mean to clear them. In Safari, Settings › Privacy › Manage Website Data removes them; in Chrome, Cookies and other site data does. Both sign you out of websites, which a cache clear doesn't.

Developer tool caches

Developer tools keep some of the largest caches on a Mac: Homebrew's downloads, pip's and pnpm's packages, Swift Package Manager's checkouts, Xcode's own cache and the Go build cache. All of them are made again on demand, at the cost of downloads or rebuilds.

Many tools have their own cleanup command, and where a tool has one, it's the better route, because it knows which files are still in use. Homebrew's regular cleanup already removes downloads older than 120 days.

Most of these tools have no app at all, so there's no button to press. Their download caches can go to the Trash in Finder while the tool isn't running, and the tool downloads what it needs again. Freeing up disk space on a developer's Mac covers each tool in turn.

How to delete Library caches safely in Finder

This is the manual route, using only Finder. It takes a few minutes, and nothing in it is permanent until the last step.

Find the largest folders first

1. In Finder, choose Go › Go to Folder, type ~/Library/Caches and press Return.
2. Choose View › as List.
3. Choose View › Show View Options and select Calculate all sizes. Finder works out each folder's size, which can take a minute.
4. Click the Size column heading so the largest folders come first.

To check one folder, select it and choose File › Get Info. The Info window shows its size once Finder has counted it.

Move the folders you chose to the Trash

1. Quit the apps whose folders you're going to remove, including their menu bar icons.
2. Select those folders inside Caches. Never select the Caches folder itself.
3. Choose File › Move to Trash.
4. Skip any folder from the exceptions table above, and anything you can't identify.

If Finder says a folder is in use, the app or one of its helpers is still running. Leave that folder for now, or restart your Mac and try again before you open the app.

Check your apps, then empty the Trash

Open the apps you cleared and use them for a while: browse a few pages, play something, open a project. If something looks wrong, open the Trash, select the folder and choose File › Put Back.

When you're satisfied, choose Finder › Empty Trash and confirm. Only now does the space come back. Emptying the Trash is permanent, so do it after the check, not before.

Clearing /Library/Caches

The steps are the same, starting from /Library/Caches instead. Finder asks for an administrator's name and password to move most items. Restart your Mac afterwards so services start with fresh caches.

The space you gain here is usually smaller than in your own Caches folder. It's worth a look when one item has grown large, or when an app you removed installed a helper that kept a cache here.

What macOS clears by itself

You don't have to clear caches for macOS to keep working. It does some of the job on its own, which is another reason routine clearing isn't needed.

When space runs low

Apple's Mac User Guide for macOS 27 says that when space is needed, macOS clears caches and logs that are safe to delete. Its examples are temporary database files, interrupted downloads, staged macOS and app updates, and Safari website data. macOS 26 does the same.

That's automatic, with no setting to turn on. It's the reason a nearly full Mac sometimes finds a few gigabytes by itself before an update.

Safe mode

Starting up in safe mode clears some system caches, including font caches and the kernel cache, which are created again as needed. Apple suggests it when you need extra space for something like a macOS update, because the gain is temporary.

On a Mac with Apple silicon, choose Apple menu › Shut Down and wait until it's fully off. Press and hold the power button until Loading startup options appears, select your startup disk, then press and hold Shift and click Continue in Safe Mode.

On a Mac with an Intel processor, turn it on or restart it and hold Shift until the login window appears. Either way, Safe Boot shows in the menu bar at the login window. Restart normally to leave safe mode.

Restarting

Restarting doesn't empty your Caches folder. Its folders are ordinary folders that stay until an app or macOS removes them.

A restart still matters after a cleanup. Services that couldn't be quit start again with whatever cache is there, so a restart is the clean way to finish after you've cleared com.apple folders or anything in /Library/Caches.

Mistakes to avoid

Most cache problems come from clearing too much, too broadly, with apps still running. These are the common ones.

Mistake	What can happen	Instead
Moving the Caches folder itself to the Trash	Apps that expect it may misbehave until it's recreated	Move the folders inside it
Clearing caches with apps open	Errors, lost work in progress, an app quitting	Quit apps, including menu bar icons
Treating Application Support as a cache	Lost libraries, projects or chat history	Manage that data in the app itself
Clearing Preferences or Saved Application State	Apps reset to their defaults; almost no space gained	Leave them alone
Emptying the Trash straight away	No way back if an app needed something	Use your apps first, then empty
Clearing caches inside a cloud storage folder	Files removed on every device	Use the cloud app's own settings

Should you clear caches on a schedule?

No. A cache cleared every week is rebuilt every week, which costs time and downloads for space you get only briefly. macOS already clears what it needs to when space runs low.

Clear caches when there's a reason: an app you removed, one folder that has grown out of proportion, a developer tool's downloads you no longer need, or a specific task that needs room right now.

Why not paste a Terminal command?

Web pages often offer a one-line command to empty every cache at once. It removes everything, with apps running, straight past the Trash, so there's no Put Back. A typo in such a command can delete far more than caches.

Fake cleanup guides are also a known way to get malware onto a Mac. Everything a cache cleanup needs can be done in Finder, in the browser's settings, or in the tool's own app.

What's the difference between this and clearing System Data?

Caches are one part of System Data, the category in Storage settings for everything that fits nowhere else. Clearing caches lowers System Data, but often by less than people expect, because snapshots, virtual memory and developer files can be larger.

The System Data guide takes the rest of it apart, and how to free up space on a Mac covers everything else worth checking first.

How the app does it

Wombit shows what's using your storage and explains every item in plain language, from a catalog written and checked by hand with sources. Select a cache folder on the map and you see what it is, what removing it costs, and its level, with a Move to Trash or Clean Up button.

Your own App caches and the caches inside sandboxed apps' containers are Safe: they start checked, and only Safe items count in the headline number. Caches in /Library/Caches are Usually safe and need an administrator.

The exceptions in this post have rules of their own, so they're never swept up with the rest. Spotify's folder, JetBrains and Android Studio folders, Playwright's browsers and Poetry's environments wait for you to choose them.

• ~/Library/Caches/*

  App caches

  Data that apps and macOS services keep so they can load things faster. Apps create it again when they need it.

  Safe · Moves it to the Trash

• ~/Library/Containers/*/Data/Library/Caches

  Sandboxed app caches

  Cached data that sandboxed apps, such as most apps from the App Store, keep inside their own containers.

  Safe · Moves it to the Trash

• /Library/Caches/*

  Shared app and system caches

  Caches that apps and macOS services keep for every user of this Mac, in the Library folder at the top of your disk.

  Usually safe · Moves it to the Trash

• ~/Library/Caches/*.ShipIt

  Squirrel update files (ShipIt)

  Updates that apps built with Electron, such as VS Code, downloaded and staged here before installing them, plus the updater's logs.

  Safe · Moves it to the Trash

• ~/Library/Caches/JetBrains/*

  JetBrains IDE caches

  Indexes, caches and Local History that IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm and other JetBrains IDEs keep, in one folder per IDE version.

  Usually safe · Moves it to the Trash

Cleanup moves folders to the Trash, where you can put them back, and logs every run. Items whose app is open are left out until it quits, and a cleanup never force-quits an app.

Where a tool has its own cleanup command, the app runs that command instead of deleting files, after the review sheet. What a command removes can't be put back, and the sheet says so.

Seeing every cache explained is free. Cleanup and items that need an administrator are PRO: one payment of $4.99 with lifetime access. Every Pro tool's review is free to open, so you see what would go and why before you buy.