What Is ~/Library/Caches on Mac?
Your user folderUpdated
- Full path
~/Library/Caches
- Scope
- Your user folderInside your home folder — one copy per user account.
- Freshist & this folder
- Freshist checks this folder when uninstalling an app. When you uninstall an app, Freshist looks here for items that belong to it. Matches on the app's bundle ID can be pre-selected; name-only guesses are labeled “not sure” and never pre-selected. Removed items go to the Trash, so you can undo.
From Freshist's own cleaning rules — the same catalog the app uses.
What lives here
Apple's file system guide describes this folder plainly: it "contains cached data that can be regenerated as needed," and apps "should never rely on the existence of cache files." Each app is supposed to use a subfolder named after its bundle ID, such as com.apple.Safari, though many tools use a plain name instead.
A look inside a working Mac shows how mixed it gets:
| Subfolder | What it holds | Cleaner of choice |
|---|---|---|
com.apple.Safari | Web page resources | Safari settings, see browser caches |
Homebrew | Downloaded bottles and source archives | brew cleanup |
JetBrains | IDE indexes and caches | IDE: File → Invalidate Caches |
com.apple.nsurlsessiond | Background download data | macOS manages it |
CloudKit, GeoServices | iCloud and Maps data | macOS manages it |
com.example.App | Whatever that app chose to cache | The app's own setting, if any |
A working Mac we measured had 53 entries totalling 2.5 GB. Developer machines often hold much more.
Why it grows
Nothing in macOS enforces a size limit per app. Well-behaved apps trim their own caches; others never do. Package managers keep every archive they've downloaded, browsers keep site assets for months, and apps you've deleted leave their subfolders behind because removing an app from /Applications doesn't touch your Library.
What clearing it costs
Deleting a cache never removes documents, settings or logins in apps that follow Apple's rules, since those belong in Application Support, Preferences or the Keychain. What you lose is speed: apps rebuild thumbnails, re-download web assets and re-index, so the first launch afterwards is slower and uses more bandwidth.
A few apps bend the rules and keep things here that are expensive to replace, such as offline media or downloaded models. Check before clearing a subfolder that is many gigabytes.
Inspecting it read-only
du -sh ~/Library/Caches
du -sh ~/Library/Caches/* 2>/dev/null | sort -h | tail -15
The second command lists the 15 largest subfolders, so you can see which app is responsible before deciding anything.
Clearing it
Use an app's own command where one exists: brew cleanup for Homebrew, Safari's Settings → Privacy → Manage Website Data for site data, your IDE's cache reset for JetBrains tools. For the rest:
- Quit the apps whose caches you want to clear.
- In Finder, choose Go → Go to Folder… and enter
~/Library/Caches. - Move the chosen subfolders, or their contents, to the Trash.
- Restart the Mac if you cleared caches belonging to macOS components.
Clearing com.apple.* subfolders while those services run can cause brief glitches, which a restart resolves. If you're not sure what a subfolder is, measure it and leave it if it's small.
When uninstalling an app
Leftover cache folders from removed apps are the easiest leftovers to clean: by definition, nothing depends on them. Match them by bundle ID or app name. For the cache categories Freshist itself recognizes, see the cache guides and the developer cache overview.
Sources
- macOS Library Directory Details, Apple File System Programming Guide
- Clear your cache and cookies in Safari on Mac, Apple Support
- brew cleanup, Homebrew Documentation
Frequently asked questions
Should I delete the whole Caches folder?
No. Delete the subfolders inside it, not ~/Library/Caches itself. Apps and macOS expect the folder to exist and recreate their own subfolders inside it.
How often should I clear ~/Library/Caches?
There's no schedule that helps. Caches speed things up, so clearing them on a timer mostly trades disk space for slower apps. Clear when you need the space or when one specific app misbehaves.
Is ~/Library/Caches the same as /Library/Caches?
No. The one in your home folder belongs to your user account. /Library/Caches at the top of the disk holds system-wide caches owned by macOS and needs administrator rights to change.