How to clear your browser cache

Not seeing your website updates? Here’s how to clear your browser cache

If I’ve just updated your website and you’re still looking at the old version, there’s usually a simple explanation – your browser is showing you a saved copy of the page rather than fetching the new one. It’s a five-minute fix, and this guide walks you through it.

What is a browser cache

Every time you visit a website, your browser saves copies of things like images, fonts and page code on your device. Next time you visit, it loads the page from those saved copies instead of downloading everything again, which is what makes browsing feel fast.

Think of it as a printed brochure sitting on your desk. If the brochure gets reprinted with new information, your desk copy doesn’t update itself – you’re still looking at the old one until you pick up a fresh copy.

Why you might not be seeing our updates

When I make a change to your site – new content, a design tweak, a fix – your browser doesn’t always know to go and fetch the new version straight away. It may keep showing you the cached copy for anywhere from a few minutes to several days, depending on your browser settings and how the page was built. This is normal, and it doesn’t mean the update didn’t work. It just hasn’t reached your browser yet.

Before doing a full cache clear, it’s worth trying a “hard refresh” first. This forces the page to reload from scratch without touching anything else on your device.

  • Windows, Chrome or Firefox: Ctrl + Shift + R
  • Mac, Chrome or Firefox: Cmd + Shift + R
  • Safari on Mac: hold Shift and click the reload button, or press Cmd + Option + R

If that doesn’t clear it, the steps below will.

How to clear your cache

Google Chrome (desktop)

  1. Click the three dots in the top-right corner
  2. Select Delete browsing data
  3. Choose a time range – “All time” clears the most
  4. Tick Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files
  5. Click Delete data

You can also open this dialog directly with Ctrl + Shift + Delete (Windows) or Cmd + Shift + Delete (Mac).

Safari (Mac)

  1. Go to Safari > Settings, then click Privacy
  2. Click Manage Website Data
  3. Select the site or sites you want to clear, or click Remove All, and confirm

Safari (iPhone and iPad)

  1. Go to Settings > Apps > Safari
  2. Scroll down and tap Clear History and Website Data
  3. Choose a timeframe and confirm by tapping Clear History

If you’d rather keep your browsing history and only clear stored data, go to Settings > Apps > Safari > Advanced > Website Data, then tap Remove All Website Data.

Mozilla Firefox (desktop)

  1. Click the menu button and select Settings
  2. Go to Privacy & Security
  3. Under Cookies and Site Data, click Clear Data…
  4. Make sure Cached Web Content is ticked
  5. Click Clear

The trade-offs of clearing your cache

What you gain:

  • You’ll see the current version of any site straight away, including your updated website
  • It often resolves odd display glitches or pages that seem stuck
  • It frees up a small amount of storage on your device

What to weigh up:

  • Pages will load a touch slower the first time you visit them afterwards, since everything has to download fresh
  • Most of the steps above clear cookies as well as cache, which will sign you out of sites you were logged into
  • It clears data for every site you visit, not just the one giving you trouble – it’s a broad fix rather than a targeted one

For most people, the hard refresh above solves the problem without any of these trade-offs, so it’s worth trying that first.

If you’re still not seeing the update

Let me know and I’ll take a look – it’s occasionally a caching layer on the server rather than your browser, which is a different fix.

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