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Is it safe to delete ~/Library/Caches on Mac?
Short answer: yes, for the cache folders of your own apps in ~/Library/Caches. Quit the app first, delete the contents rather than the folder, and expect the first launch to be a bit slower. Leave the system-wide /Library/Caches and anything you do not recognise.
What the folder contains
~/Library/Caches is where apps keep temporary data they can recreate: thumbnails, downloaded images, compiled shaders, browser and media caches. Folders are named after the app or its bundle identifier, for example com.apple.Safari. Because apps rebuild this data on demand, removing it frees space without removing anything of yours.
Step by step
- In Finder choose Go → Go to Folder and enter
~/Library/Caches. - Switch to list view and sort by size. In View → Show View Options tick Calculate all sizes so folders show their size.
- Quit the apps that own the biggest folders.
- Open each large folder and move its contents to the Trash, then empty the Trash.
- Restart your Mac when you are done.
In Terminal you can list the largest folders without changing anything:
du -sh ~/Library/Caches/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h | tail -15Why some folders say Operation not permitted
macOS protects the caches of some of its own services, for example those used by Safari, HomeKit or CloudKit. Even du prints Operation not permitted for them, and apps without special access cannot read them. That is normal. Skip those folders.
What to leave alone
- The system-wide
/Library/Caches. It is shared by all users and changing it needs administrator rights. - Folders of apps that are running right now.
- Anything starting with
com.apple.unless you know what it is.
Big cache folders and how to clear them properly
Some tools have their own cleanup command, which is cleaner than deleting folders by hand. On one developer Mac the largest folders in ~/Library/Caches were an Adobe cache at about 20 GB, CocoaPods at 2.8 GB and Go's build cache at 2.1 GB.
| Cache | Clear it with |
|---|---|
| Homebrew downloads | brew cleanup |
| CocoaPods | pod cache clean --all |
| Go build cache | go clean -cache |
| pip | pip cache purge |
| npm (in ~/.npm) | npm cache clean --force |
| Xcode | See clearing Xcode DerivedData |
What happens afterwards
Apps rebuild what they need. The first launch can be slower and previews or thumbnails may take a moment to reappear. Nothing personal is lost.
If you would rather not do this by hand, See Your Disk lists each app's cache with its size, marks them Safe and cleans only the ones you tick. The full step-by-step is in the System Data cleanup guide.
A map of your Mac's disk, and a safe way to clean it.
Frequently asked questions
Will I lose passwords or settings if I clear the Caches folder?
No. Settings live in ~/Library/Preferences and passwords in your Keychain. Caches only hold temporary data an app can rebuild, such as thumbnails and downloaded assets.
Can I delete the whole Caches folder?
You can delete what is inside it, but keep the folder itself. Some items are protected by macOS and will refuse to be removed, which is normal.
Do I need to restart after clearing caches?
No, but a restart is a good idea afterwards, because it lets apps start clean and lets macOS finish its own cleanup.
Will clearing caches make my Mac faster?
Not by itself. It frees disk space, and apps may be slightly slower the first time while they rebuild what you removed.
Related guides
- How to clear System Data on Mac safely: Step-by-step, from safest to most effort, with the Terminal commands and the things you should not delete.
- What is System Data on Mac, and why is it so big?: What the grey bar in Storage settings contains, why it grows and why its size jumps around.
- How to clear Xcode DerivedData (and other Xcode leftovers) on Mac: DerivedData, device support, simulators and archives: what each Xcode folder is and what is safe to delete.