Why Is The TikTok App Such A Resource Hog?

Does your phone seem to be running slower and slower?

That’s not uncommon for TikTok users and those on other video-intensive social media platforms, particularly if the users spend lots of time on the apps or are prodigious content creators. And TikTok is notorious for causing issues over time.

The app itself takes up storage space, as do new features added in regular updates. The main culprit, though, is the amount of data the app keeps in what’s called the “cache,” an area reserved for temporary storage. A large amount of “cached” material uses up system resources and causes the app — and the device it’s installed on — to run more slowly.

The issue is easy to fix, though.

Why Does TikTok Have a Cache?

The problem isn’t the cache itself; data caches are standard in everything from apps to web browsers. The problem is what TikTok stores there.

Caches generally make the user experience more enjoyable. They’re used to save recently viewed videos, video drafts, and graphics that display on pages the user has recently visited. Saving them locally means they don’t have to be downloaded again if the user rewatches a video or revisits a page. The reduced loading time makes everything load much faster.

There’s not a lot of data on a typical web page. But TikTok videos, particularly high-resolution ones, contain huge amounts of data. As they’re stored locally on the app, they quickly use up much (or all) of the available storage space in the cache and cause the app and device to work more and more slowly. Full caches may even cause them to lock up completely.

Rebooting TikTok or your phone may help a little, but it doesn’t remove anything stored in the cache. The real fix takes just about as long, and it will give you an empty cache and a fresh start.

Here’s how to do it.

Restoring Storage Space by Clearing Your Cache

First, some reassurance. These actions won’t delete any of the important information stored in your TikTok account, just the videos cached in your device.

Android users can clear their TikTok cache, and the rest of the data temporarily being stored in their phone, by opening their phone’s Settings menu and going to Apps > TikTok > Storage, and then tapping “Clear Cache” at the bottom of the screen.

iOS users don’t have that option, but all users can clear their TikTok cache in less than a minute right in the app.

1. Tap the “Profile” icon at the bottom right corner of the home page.
2. That opens the TikTok profile screen; click the Menu icon at the top right (it’s three horizontal lines).
3. Choose “Settings and privacy” from the pop-up window, and scroll down to “Free up space.”
4. Tap the “Clear” button next to “Cache,” and your cache will be cleared.

To save even more space, you can also tap the “Clear” button next to “Downloads” to remove the downloads you’re probably no longer using.

Two more steps will free up the maximum amount of temporary storage available in the app. 

First, you can delete the TikTok content you’ve recently watched, which is stored in your phone. From “Settings and privacy,” go to “Comment and watch history” >“Activity center” > “Watch history” and tap “Select.” Click “Select all watch history” at the bottom of the screen and then tap “Delete.”

Second, creators will probably have lots of stored drafts that they don’t need anymore. Those can be deleted to free more storage space, too. Go to the content grid in the middle of your profile, choose “Drafts” and then tap “Select,” and you can choose and remove any drafts that are clogging up your TikTok storage.

As a last resort, you can delete TikTok from your phone and reinstall the latest version (which will have nothing cached), but that shouldn’t be necessary. The above steps should free up lots of storage space — and let your app and device function as if they were brand-new.