To clear the Spotify cache on an iPhone or Android phone, tap your profile picture, then Settings and privacy > Data-saving and offline. Under Storage, tap Clear next to Clear cache. On the desktop app, click your profile picture, choose Settings, scroll to Storage, and click Clear cache. Your downloaded music and playlists aren’t removed.
This guide covers every device, what the cache is, and how to free more space if clearing it isn’t enough. The steps come from Spotify Support’s Spotify storage information and Listen offline articles.
How to Clear the Spotify Cache on iPhone or Android
The steps are the same on both phones, according to Spotify.
- Open Spotify and tap your profile picture at the top.
- Tap Settings and privacy.
- Tap Data-saving and offline.
- Under Storage, tap Clear next to Clear cache.
Result: Spotify deletes its cached song and podcast data, and the storage figure for the cache drops. Songs may take a few seconds longer to start until the cache builds back up.
Android: clear the cache from system settings
There is a second route on Android. Long-press the Spotify app icon, open App info, select Storage & cache, and tap Clear cache. Menu names can vary by phone maker.
How to Clear the Spotify Cache on Desktop
- Click your profile picture at the top and select Settings.
- Scroll down to Storage.
- Click Clear cache.
Result: The cache folder on your computer is emptied. Spotify also lets you click Change location in the same section to keep the cache somewhere else, such as a second drive. An external drive works for this.
What the Spotify Cache Is
Spotify says it uses your device’s memory for two things: cached parts of music and podcasts, so they play without lagging, and downloads you saved for offline listening. The cache builds up on its own as you stream. If the desktop app window itself feels laggy, clearing the cache may not be the fix; see how to turn hardware acceleration on or off in Spotify.
The cache can grow past 10GB for some people, depending on listening habits and streaming quality. It can reach almost 3GB on some devices. Spotify recommends keeping at least 1GB of free memory on your device for the app.
What clearing the cache does and doesn’t do
- Frees space taken up by temporary song and podcast data.
- Can fix playback problems, such as songs not playing or the app not opening.
- Keeps your downloads, playlists, and preferences. Offline downloads aren’t affected.
- May use more data at first, because songs stream again until they’re cached.
Still Short on Space? Manage Your Downloads
If storage stays high after you clear the cache, your offline downloads are probably the cause. Spotify offers several ways to deal with them:
- Remove all downloads (mobile): profile picture > Settings and privacy > Data-saving and offline, then under Storage select Remove all downloads.
- Remove one album or playlist: open it in Your Library (on mobile, tap Downloaded first), tap the green download arrow, and on mobile tap Remove.
- Move downloads to an SD card (Android): in the same Storage section, choose where to save downloads and tap Continue. Spotify says the option only appears if an SD card is available, and the app restarts after the transfer.
- Let iOS manage it (iPhone): Spotify says iOS automatically deletes unused stored data when you need room for a new download.
Troubleshooting
- Downloads disappeared: clearing the cache shouldn’t do this. Spotify says downloads can be lost if you don’t go online at least once every 30 days, reinstall the app, or download on more than 5 devices.
- A cache-cleaner app keeps deleting things: Spotify recommends turning off cache-clearing and battery-saving apps if downloads won’t stick.
- The cache fills up again: that’s normal. Spotify rebuilds it as you listen, so you may need to clear it from time to time.
- You can’t find Data-saving and offline: update the Spotify app. Older guides show an older Settings > Storage layout.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will clearing the Spotify cache delete my playlists?
No. You won’t lose playlists or preferences when you clear it.
How often should I clear the Spotify cache?
Spotify doesn’t set a schedule. Clear it when Spotify is taking up too much storage or when playback acts up. Clearing it constantly can make songs slower to start, since cached songs load faster.
Related Guides
- How to log out of Spotify on iPhone, Android, or desktop
- How to follow and download podcasts on Spotify
- How to show local files in Spotify
Another useful setting: you can set a Spotify sleep timer on iPhone so playback stops automatically after a set time.
Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read hundreds of millions of times.
After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.
His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.