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IvanX

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 10, 2012
339
104
How easy would it be to implement a user-triggered control to clean an app's cache of temporary data? So many apps are a sub-100 meg download, but then bloat to hundreds of megabytes or even gigabytes of storage.
 
It shouldn't be that difficult. My app does that whenever the user logs out of their account.

The reason app's blow up is because users these days really do expect things to be instant, if you don't hit that level you'll be getting 1 star reviews.
 
Are you asking about clearing files from an app you're writing or from another app that someone else wrote? Clearing your own app's caches should be simple. AFAIK, there's no direct way to clear the caches from apps you haven't written.
 
Delete the app from the device and re-download/install it again, then re-enter any needed credentials/settings, is the only way I've found. I do this periodically with the farcebook app and a couple others.
 
On this same topic, I've noticed that some Apple apps allow cleanup under the Manage Storage settings. Anyone know if we developers can do the same in that location?

Here is the area and apps I've found...

Settings
->General
->Storage & iCloud Usage
->Manage Storage

Music by artists and by audio books

Podcasts by audio podcasts and by video podcasts sorted by size

Videos by title

Not Photos & Camera
 
The reason app's blow up is because users these days really do expect things to be instant, if you don't hit that level you'll be getting 1 star reviews.
I don't mind the "instant" bit, but at least let me clear the cache so that I can get that space back.
Are you asking about clearing files from an app you're writing or from another app that someone else wrote? Clearing your own app's caches should be simple. AFAIK, there's no direct way to clear the caches from apps you haven't written.
It's for apps that other people have written. Some apps provide an ability to delete data stored temporarily inside the app. With 9gag, there is a "clear cache" option. With Instagram, you can just kill the app and images loaded during that session will be purged. If it is not that difficult, why can't devs add that functionality by default? TuneIn, for example, has built-in 600MB cache store but you cannot clear it manually.
Delete the app from the device and re-download/install it again, then re-enter any needed credentials/settings, is the only way I've found. I do this periodically with the farcebook app and a couple others.
It is a very agricultural way of freeing up space in a platform that is supposed to be user-friendly.
 
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