Twitter/X is taking up a lot of storage on my iPhone, but I don’t want to delete and reinstall the app because I’m worried about losing settings or having to log back in. Is there a way to clear the Twitter cache on iPhone safely without removing the app?
Yeah, this is really annoying, especially when all you’re doing is trying to scroll and X starts freezing or randomly dumps you back to the home screen. One thing worth checking first is the app’s own cache. Since the Twitter to X change, some of the settings are tucked away in slightly different places, and the cache can get huge if you haven’t cleared it in a while. It’s not unusual for people to find several GB sitting there.
You don’t need to delete the whole app right away. Start with the built-in storage cleanup inside X.
Clearing the cache in X:
- Open X and tap your profile icon in the top-left.
- Go to Settings and Support, then Settings and privacy.
- Open Accessibility, display, and languages.
- Tap Data usage.
- Scroll down to Storage.
- Open Media storage, then tap Clear media storage and confirm it.
- Go back and open Web storage. From there you can choose Clear web page storage or Clear all web storage.
Media storage is just the temporary stuff X saves so photos, videos, and GIFs load faster later. Clearing it won’t delete your posts, DMs, bookmarks, followers, or anything tied to your account. That’s all stored on X’s side, not just on your phone.
Web storage is a little different. Clear web page storage removes cached pages from sites you opened inside X’s browser. Clear all web storage also removes cookies.
The login part matters here. Clearing Media storage or Web page storage should not sign you out. But Clear all web storage can wipe session cookies, so you may need to log back in afterward. Don’t hit that one unless you know your login info.
If X keeps crashing even after that, try offloading the app instead of fully deleting it. On iPhone, go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage > X, then tap Offload App. That removes the app itself but keeps its documents and data, including local info. When you reinstall it from the App Store, you should usually be able to pick up where you left off, but with a cleaner app install.
One thing to keep in mind, though: clearing the X cache might fix crashing, but it may not solve a storage problem for long. If your iPhone keeps saying storage is full, the bigger issue is often your Photo Library, not X. High-res photos, 4K videos, old screenshots, and duplicate shots can take up way more space than an app cache.
That’s what happened to me. I kept clearing a couple GB from Twitter/X and thinking I fixed it, then the storage warning would come back almost immediately. The real problem was my photos and videos.
I ended up using Clever Cleaner for that part. The main reason I tried it was because it’s completely free, doesn’t have ads, and doesn’t hide cleanup behind a subscription or paywall.
The useful part is that it makes the large files obvious. The Heavies tab sorts media by file size, so you can quickly spot the videos or screenshots eating the most storage. It also shows the exact file size for screenshots, which is surprisingly helpful. The Similars tab is good for those nearly identical photo bursts, like when you took ten versions of the same scene and only need one or two.
Another important bit is that it works locally on your device, so your photos aren’t being uploaded somewhere else just to be scanned.
So I’d treat these as two separate problems. Clear the X cache if the app is lagging or crashing. But if your phone itself is low on space, check your photo library too, because that’s usually where the real storage loss is hiding.
Check the size in iPhone Storage after restarting the phone, not right after clearing it in X. iOS can be slow to recalculate app storage, so it may look like nothing changed even if the media/web cache was cleared inside the app. The annoying limit here is that iPhone doesn’t give you a separate “delete Twitter cache” button in Settings. If X’s own Data usage cleanup doesn’t shrink it much, then your choices are basically wait, offload the app, or delete/reinstall. Offload is the safer middle option, but it may not remove all of the bulky “Documents & Data,” so don’t be surprised if a full reinstall is the only thing that really resets a huge number. Just make sure you know your X login before doing anything that removes cookies or the app itself.
If the big number is mostly “Documents & Data,” clearing media storage inside X may only make a small dent. I’d use the X Data usage cleanup first, but I wouldn’t bother with Offload App if your goal is storage, because offloading is designed to keep that local data around. The safer no-login-risk move is clearing media storage only, then restarting the iPhone and checking storage later. If it still shows several GB, the honest answer is that iOS doesn’t give you a proper Twitter/X cache purge button, and a delete/reinstall is usually the only real reset. Just don’t use “clear all web storage” unless you’re okay with possibly signing back into sites opened inside X.
Don’t use Offload App as your first cache cleaner. It sounds like the perfect middle option, but for this specific problem it can be misleading because iOS keeps the app’s documents and data. If X is bloated because of local data, offloading may remove the app icon and binary, then bring back the same storage mess when you reinstall it.
The only real “without deleting the app” cleanup is inside X itself. Go through X’s Data usage area and clear Media storage first. That’s the low-risk option. It should not touch your account, posts, DMs, bookmarks, or followers. It just makes X reload images and videos again as you scroll.
I’d be more careful with Web storage. Clearing web page storage is usually fine if you just want to remove cached pages from links you opened in X. Clearing all web storage is the one I would avoid unless you know your passwords, because cookies and site sessions can get wiped. It may not log you out of X itself, but it can sign you out of sites opened through X’s in-app browser, which is still annoying.
A small thing people forget: check iPhone Storage again later, not instantly. Sometimes the X app clears its own cache but iOS does not update the storage number right away. Close X, restart the phone, give it a bit, then look under Settings > General > iPhone Storage > X. If the number barely moves after that, you probably are not missing a secret button. iOS just does not give users a proper per-app cache purge like Android does.
So the practical order is: clear Media storage, optionally clear web page storage, restart, check storage again. If X is still taking several GB, the honest fix is usually delete and reinstall. Before doing that, make sure you can log back in, especially if you use two-factor authentication or an old phone number. That is the part I’d prepare for, because the storage cleanup itself is easy. Getting locked out because you assumed you were still logged in everywhere is the real headache.
Reinstalling X won’t keep it small, so don’t treat it like a permanent fix. If you delete and reinstall, the app comes back tiny, sure, but a week of scrolling video and autoplaying clips and you’re right back to a couple GB. That’s how the app is built. So the delete/reinstall advice a few people gave is technically the only hard reset, but it’s a reset you’ll be doing again and again if X is the thing you actually use every day. Not worth the login hassle unless the app is genuinely broken.
@andarilhonoturno is right about Offload being oversold here. For crashes it can help. For storage it basically does nothing useful, because the fat part is the Documents and Data, and that’s exactly what Offload preserves. People see ‘Offload’ and assume it means ‘clean,’ and it doesn’t.
Where I land differently from most of the thread: I wouldn’t spend much energy on the X cache at all. Clear Media storage once, restart, check later like the others said, fine. But if you’re opening this thread because your phone keeps screaming about storage, X is almost never the real culprit. A single app sitting at 2 or 3 GB feels big until you look at what Photos is holding. That’s the point @mikeappsreviewer made and it’s the one I’d actually act on.
The Clever Cleaner suggestion fits that side of the problem, not the X side. Sorting by file size to find the 4K videos and screenshot piles is the part that actually frees real space, and doing it locally without a subscription is a fair reason to try it. I wouldn’t expect it to touch anything app-related though, so don’t grab it thinking it’ll purge Twitter’s cache. Two different jobs.
Simple rule I’d go by: clear X media storage if the app is laggy, ignore X entirely if the goal is free space, and go straight to your photo library instead. Chasing app cache to fix a full phone is the part everyone wastes time on.