Curious about A, B, C, and D drives? Learn what they mean and how to use them effectively with Dropbox in this handy guide! - check it out now!
Forum Discussion
Marcus D.9
10 years agoExplorer | Level 4
How to clear the Dropbox mobile app cache on iPhone/iPad?
Using an iPhone 5C running iOS 9.1 and Dropbox 4.0.4. The iOS Dropbox app itself is only 55.8 MB in size, however my iPhone is reporting that Dropbox is using a total of 300+ MB in Documents and Data. I have zero files marked as "Offline" within the Dropbox app, so the app should not be storing any Documents or Data locally on my iPhone.
I realize the Documents and Data referenced are most likely the result of recent files being cached by the app, but if this is the case, is there any way to manually clear that cache? Or set a limit of cache size? Currently, uninstalling and reinstalling the app is the only solution I've found, which is far from what I'd consider a "solution". I have to uninstall the app, reinstall it, sign in, wait for 2-factor auth code to enter, set up my Passcode again, set up the Camera Upload again...just a horrible overall process just to clear out the cache.
There are other apps which allow you to either set a cache size, or some that include an option to manually clear the cache. Either one of these options would be better than nothing at all.
Just noticed today that there's a new button in Dropbox settings saying Clear cache. So hopefully the problem is now resolved :-)
- Transcribe O.New member | Level 1
No, unfortunately there isn't a clear cache option. This is MS OneDrive software version 4.1 running on an iPhone 4 with iOS 6. What type of phone and what software version do you have with the clear cache option?
- Marcus D.9Explorer | Level 4
Ahh, there it is. Current version is v7.8, and Clear Cache option was added in v6.5 per their change log.
- Transcribe O.New member | Level 1
So, I shall wait and see. The other part of your argument was about how frequently an app self-clears its cache. Perhaps OneDrive is more frequent than DropBox.
- Transcribe O.New member | Level 1
It has been 5 days since I removed Dropbox and added MS OneDrive to the apps on my old iphone 4 (which has little memory).
So far I am very happy because OneDrive is #23 in the list as far as using memory is concerned. To compare, Dropbox was the #2 memory hog, second to photos. It was using between 150 and 200 MB.
But so far, OneDrive is only using 25MB of the precious iphone memory.
So what's up? These are the same files on OneDrive that I had on Dropbox.
- Marcus D.9Explorer | Level 4
@Transcribe during those 5 days, have you been actively accessing files on OneDrive on a frequent basis?
Open OneDrive and open up a handful of documents and images, then check the usage again. - Robert S.27Explorer | Level 4
I don't want to sign out and reselect my 4 dozen or so offline files.
Please make a clear the cache button. Heading to the App Store.
- Transcribe O.New member | Level 1
Marcus D, no problems with the iPhone memory being taken by OneDrive or changing when I open files in OneDrive. BUT there is a new problem, very strange, that I never had with Dropbox: OneDrive is deleting all the cloud files in response to a delete I made on another tablet (not the iphone). Details below.
- Transcribe O.New member | Level 1
I have a Winbook tablet with almost no memory on it. As soon as I activated OneDrive on the iPhone, I also signed into OneDrive on the Windows 10 tablet. OneDrive immediately copied all (as many as it could) files from the cloud onto my tablet hard drive, filling it completely so there were 0 bytes left. What?!! Actually, to be fair, I wonder if it is OneDrive or if it is the cloud Transfer service that I used called MultCloud. So I responded by deleting the files on the tablet hard drive and... When I opened OneDrive on the iPhone all the folders were empty. I'm a little slow to understand, so I use MultCloud again to transfer the Dropbox files to OneDrive. The Winbook tablet hard drive fills up again. To be continued.
- Transcribe O.New member | Level 1
For a second time I deleted the unwanted transferred files from the tablet and... the cloud OneDrive lost all its files again. Crazy. Then, I decided to remove OneDrive from the tablet. Ha! Not easy. Took an hour of Googling to find the secret formula, because Microsoft does NOT want you to delete their apps from their Windows 10 OS. Now OneDrive is deleted from the tablet and I need to restore the files to the cloud OneDrive. I'll wait a day or two and try a different cloud transfer service to bring the Dropbox files over to OneDrive. The files are always greener on the other side, (Old saying)
- Roger S.10New member | Level 2
It's discouraging to see a company dedicated to data storage ignoring a key issue like preserving space on iPhones. I'm having the same problem. I have no offline files, yet Dropbox consumes 1.0 GB of my 16 GB iPhone 5S. I've logged out and signed in again, but that did almost nothing to decrease the amount of space used by the app. I too will be looking at other storage options and will cancel my annual Dropbox subscription if this issue is not resolved soon. I don't even see an official response from staff, which is never a good sign.
About Apps and Installations
Have a question about a Dropbox app or installation? Reach out to the Dropbox Community and get solutions, help, and advice from members.
Need more support
If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X or Facebook.
For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.
If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!