How to clear your Google Maps cache to keep the app running efficiently

May 13, 2024

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You can clear your Google Maps app cache to recover storage space and improve performance.
On Android, you can use the Settings app to clear the cache, in the Apps section.
To clear the cache on an iPhone, open the Google Maps app and go to the About page in Settings.

Google Maps can use quite a lot of storage space on your iPhone or Android device – hundreds of megabytes, in fact. Not only can this impact the free space you have on your phone, but it can slow down Google Maps and other apps.

If you need to reclaim storage space or you're trying to improve your phone's performance, you can easily clear the Google Maps cache. The downside is that Google Maps might need to download new mapping information, but sometimes it's the best way to resolve an issue with Google Maps or your phone in general.

How to clear the Google Maps cache on Android

You can clear the cache on Google Maps the same way you'd clear the cache with any Android app: using the Settings app.

1. Start the Settings app and then tap Apps.

2. Tap See all apps.

3. Scroll down the list of apps and tap Maps.

4. On the App info page, tap Storage & cache.

5. Tap Clear cache.

Find the Clear cache control in the Apps section of your Android's Settings. Dave Johnson/Insider

How to clear the Google Maps cache on iPhone

Apple doesn't provide a way to clear an app's cache in Settings the way you can do it on Android, so Google added the ability to clear the cache within the Google Maps app.

1. Start the Google Maps app.

2. Tap your account icon at the top right and then tap Settings in the pop-up menu.

You can clear the Google Maps cache in the app's Settings menu. Dave Johnson/Insider

3. Scroll down and tap About, terms & privacy.

4. Tap Clear application data and then tap OK to confirm you want to do this.

Find the Clear application data command in the app's About menu. Dave Johnson/Insider Dave Johnson Freelance Writer Dave Johnson is a technology journalist who writes about consumer tech and how the industry is transforming the speculative world of science fiction into modern-day real life. Dave grew up in New Jersey before entering the Air Force to operate satellites, teach space operations, and do space launch planning. He then spent eight years as a content lead on the Windows team at Microsoft. As a photographer, Dave has photographed wolves in their natural environment; he's also a scuba instructor and co-host of several podcasts. Dave is the author of more than two dozen books and has contributed to many sites and publications including CNET, Forbes, PC World, How To Geek, and Insider. Read more Read less

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