• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Clearing the phones cache

markdoc

Android Expert
Jun 28, 2011
1,476
786
69
Suburb of New York City, NY, USA
For the less experienced users, when your phone starts acting funny, there are two basic things to try.
1. Shut your phone off, wait a few minutes and turn it back on. Sometimes that's all you need.
2. Next is to clear your phones cache. With the LG V40 ThinQ, there are two ways. I think each way does different things, and I'm not sure the second way works. Either way won't damage your phone.
Way 1 is with the settings.
1.Go Settings
2. General
3. Storage
4. Internal storage - Wait for menu options to finish calculating -
5. Tap Free up space
6. Tap Temporary files & raw files.
7. Select the following options: Cached data. Clip tray temporary files.
8.Tap Delete

An easier way is to shut off your phone, but I'm not positive this works. If someone else would try it a tell me what they get. I'll explain:
When phone is off, press the power and lower volume buttons at the same time and keep them pressed until you get the "System Recovery" menu. You'll know. Then select "Wipe Cache" and tap the power button. I'm getting a green icon (looks like the Android Man icon lying down with his door open and "error" underneath.
I'm not sure what that means. Probably it didn't work but I don't know why. Thanks in advance,
 
Last edited:
On all my old phones, I would manually shut them down once a week. On the V40 I found an option that will do it automatically. In settings/system/ restart&reset, there's an option to Auto Restart. Let's you restart and optimize the phone at a set time.
I had that turned on and forgot all about it. But it doesn't say it clears the phone's cache. Is that what "Optimizing" means?
 
Upvote 0
For the less experienced users, when your phone starts acting funny, there are two basic things to try.
1. Shut your phone off, wait a few minutes and turn it back on. Sometimes that's all you need.
2. Next is to clear your phones cache. With the LG V40 ThinQ, there are two ways. I think each way does different things, and I'm not sure the second way works. Either way won't damage your phone.
Way 1 is with the settings.
1.Go Settings
2. General
3. Storage
4. Internal storage - Wait for menu options to finish calculating -
5. Tap Free up space
6. Tap Temporary files & raw files.
7. Select the following options: Cached data. Clip tray temporary files.
8.Tap Delete

An easier way is to shut off your phone, but I'm not positive this works. If someone else would try it a tell me what they get. I'll explain:
When phone is off, press the power and lower volume buttons at the same time and keep them pressed until you get the "System Recovery" menu. You'll know. Then select "Wipe Cache" and tap the power button. I'm getting a green icon (looks like the Android Man icon lying down with his door open and "error" underneath.
I'm not sure what that means. Probably it didn't work but I don't know why. Thanks in advance,

Yes the 2nd procedure you described is to clear the partition cache. I used to do this periodically on my phones especially after a major software update in lieu of doing a factory reset because it was just as effective at neutralizing issues and you didn't have to worry about having your data wiped or having to back it up. I had tried to do this on my T-mobile branded V20 after the update from Nougat to Oreo but was only given the options to boot into recovery for safe mode and factory reset. When I contacted LG they advised that that option had been taken away in some versions of the V20. I don't know if this is the case with the V40 as well. For general maintenance I do a soft reset (turn off and turn back on) once a week as well as regularly clear the cache, cookies and data to keep my phones running nice and smooth.
 
Upvote 0
Yes the 2nd procedure you described is to clear the partition cache. I used to do this periodically on my phones especially after a major software update in lieu of doing a factory reset because it was just as effective at neutralizing issues and you didn't have to worry about having your data wiped or having to back it up. I had tried to do this on my T-mobile branded V20 after the update from Nougat to Oreo but was only given the options to boot into recovery for safe mode and factory reset. When I contacted LG they advised that that option had been taken away in some versions of the V20. I don't know if this is the case with the V40 as well. For general maintenance I do a soft reset (turn off and turn back on) once a week as well as regularly clear the cache, cookies and data to keep my phones running nice and smooth.

That's exactly what I do. It was do much easier to just pull the battery, but those days are long gone. I had forgotten about that automatic setting but have it set for a time that I can see it work.
 
Upvote 0
There is also a smart cleaning option, under extensions.
MyScreen_2019-07-09-20-46-09.png
 
  • Like
Reactions: markdoc
Upvote 0
Last I checked I was at 221 ... give me a few minutes, I think I can beat you. ;)
When I need an app I download it. Then I keep it in case I need it again. I also have a few duplicate apps: one because it does what I need and another because its just cool. Weather is one. There's a weather app that's so cool I can't delete it. (Yo Window)
 
Upvote 0
I've only got 122 on my current carry phone. Down from 213 on my HTC 10 and 123 from my LG G6.
I just hold down the power button and choose Restart when things get wonky on my LG G7.
I just reduced the number of apps too. Removed 3 apps and it was difficult. Lol
 
  • Like
Reactions: dontpanicbobby
Upvote 0
LOL.

Back to topic. LG has decided they no longer want us to access recovery. I usually clear cache partition every 4-6 months on my phone.
I'm a little more aggressive. I restart my phone at least once a week and wipe the partition once a month. But so far, nobody has wiped the partition from the System Recovery menu. I'd like to know if they get the same Android icon with error. Maybe I've got a cache problem. (Although my phone runs fine)
 
Upvote 0
LOL.

Back to topic. LG has decided they no longer want us to access recovery. I usually clear cache partition every 4-6 months on my phone.

I came across a new set of instructions on how to Clear The Cache Partition on the LG V40:
If you haven't tried any troubleshooting yet, we'd suggest wiping your cache partition. Turn off the device. Hold down the Volume Up, Home, & Power keys. When the phone vibrates, release the Power key. Continue to hold down the Volume Up and Home keys. When the Android system recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys. Press the Volume Down key until wipe cache partition is selected. Press the Power key. Wait until reboot system now is selected. Press the Power key.

I had never seen the use of the home keys as part of the combo to boot into recovery to access the partition cache.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ocnbrze
Upvote 0
I came across a new set of instructions on how to Clear The Cache Partition on the LG V40:
If you haven't tried any troubleshooting yet, we'd suggest wiping your cache partition. Turn off the device. Hold down the Volume Up, Home, & Power keys. When the phone vibrates, release the Power key. Continue to hold down the Volume Up and Home keys. When the Android system recovery screen appears, release the Volume Up and Home keys. Press the Volume Down key until wipe cache partition is selected. Press the Power key. Wait until reboot system now is selected. Press the Power key.

I had never seen the use of the home keys as part of the combo to boot into recovery to access the partition cache.
If you read my original post, that is the second way that I said to clear the phone's cache. The problem is when I wipe the cache from the System Recovery menu, I get the Android man on his back with a door on his belly open. The caption is "Error". I asked if someone else would try to wipe their phone's cache that way and see if they got the same result. So far, nobody said they tried it. Also, your instructions say to "Hold down the Volume Up, Home, & Power keys". There is no "Home" button to hold down when the phone is off. That's why you never saw it used. Whoever wrote those instructions was confused. Sorry you found them.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
Hi everybody. I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab A6 and I have a question. When I clear the cache from the general settings and soon after I check the cache in each single app, I see that in many of them the cache was not cleared at all. So, the question is : to get a definite result, is it necessary to clear the cache in each single app or is there a method to clear it in one click that works 100% ? Thanks.
 
Upvote 0
Hi everybody. I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab A6 and I have a question. When I clear the cache from the general settings and soon after I check the cache in each single app, I see that in many of them the cache was not cleared at all. So, the question is : to get a definite result, is it necessary to clear the cache in each single app or is there a method to clear it in one click that works 100% ? Thanks.
Sorry Nino but you're in the wrong forum. Each phone and tablet has its own group. This is for the LG V40 ThinQ. You need to find the one for your Samsung Galaxy. Good luck.
 
Upvote 0
I've learned..that yes it does something to the phone..even doesn't show you what actually was done into it..

A combination of clear cache & clear dalvick..makes the phone flush..just like if you were to take an alhkazelzer diluted in a Coca-Cola..yes exactly!!..what you are thinking is what it does to your phone..a beautiful diarrhea
cleaning all its systems up..

So when you all referred at 200 app in the phone..you mean all the bloat crap + your user installed apps?..if that's the case..I have almost 400 :)
 
Upvote 0
Hi everybody. I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab A6 and I have a question. When I clear the cache from the general settings and soon after I check the cache in each single app, I see that in many of them the cache was not cleared at all. So, the question is : to get a definite result, is it necessary to clear the cache in each single app or is there a method to clear it in one click that works 100% ? Thanks.

Nino, I have a Tab A, too. When you clear the tablet's cache you are clearing the Android system Cache (No more Dalvik any more @Xavier Black since Android went to ART). The individual app cache is different. Those usually are cleared on an app by app basis, but I generally just look for the ones that bloat up the most, like Google Maps or Facebook.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Xavier Black
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones