How to Clear the Zoom Cache on a Mac, iPhone or iPad in 2026

To clear the Zoom cache on a Mac, quit Zoom, choose Go > Go to Folder in Finder, open the zoom.us folder in Application Support and move its data folder to the Trash. On iPhone or iPad, open Zoom's Settings > General > Manage storage. Browser problems need the browser's site data cleared instead.

I was minutes from a client call when Zoom sat on its loading screen, and my first instinct was to wipe everything I could find. That was the wrong instinct. Zoom keeps several separate stores on your devices, and each one fixes a different problem and carries a different risk. This guide helps you pick the right one, walks through each on macOS and iOS, and flags the few things that can't be brought back. If your call is minutes away, join from your phone or a browser and do this afterward.

Which Zoom cache should you clear?

Clear the store that matches your symptom. Zoom's cache guide recommends clearing cache and cookies when you have trouble starting Zoom, joining a meeting or signing in, while its Zoom Apps guide covers trouble opening the apps that run inside Zoom.

A quick test saves you some of this. When Zoom won't behave, I open the meeting link in a private browser window before clearing anything. If it works there, the browser's stored data was probably the problem, and the desktop app can be left alone until after the call. Zoom's Scheduler troubleshooting article offers private browsing as an alternative to clearing, too.

How to clear Zoom Apps data on a Mac

Zoom Apps data is the only Zoom cache Zoom documents a button for in the Mac desktop app, and it needs version 5.6.7 or later. It removes the data and cookies that Zoom Apps store on your computer, per Zoom's Zoom Apps guide. It doesn't touch the rest of the app's data, which is why I'd start here only when the symptom really is an app inside Zoom.

1. Sign in to Zoom Workplace, the regular Zoom desktop app.
2. Click your profile picture and choose Settings. On version 6.7.0 and later you can click the gear icon in the navigation bar instead.
3. Select the General tab.
4. Under Zoom Apps, find Clear local Zoom App data and cookies and click Clear.
5. Click Clear again in the Clear stored data & cookies pop-up. The last-cleared date updates on its own.

Don't look for a general "clear cache" button here. The Manage storage option that clears cache and chat files appears only under the Android and iOS heading in Zoom's settings article, not under Windows, macOS or Linux.

How to clear the Zoom cache on a Mac in Finder

The main Zoom cache on a Mac is the data folder inside zoom.us in your Library, and Zoom's cache guide has you remove it from Finder. Quit Zoom first. Zoom's file directory article warns against deleting its database recovery files while the app is running.

1. Quit the app from the Zoom Workplace entry in the Mac menu bar. Zoom's exit guide labels this menu zoom.us and the command Quit Zoom, so go by whichever you see.
2. Click the Finder icon in the Dock, then choose Go > Go to Folder (Shift-Command-G).
3. Paste ~/Library/Application Support/zoom.us and press Return.
4. Control-click the data folder and choose Move to Trash.
5. Open Zoom, sign in if it asks you to, and join a test meeting or your next call.

If the Zoom folder won't open

Zoom's guide writes the path as /Library/Application Support/zoom.us, without the tilde. In macOS, a tilde means your home folder, and posts on Zoom's developer forum place the data folder in the home version, ~/Library/Application Support/zoom.us/data. Try the tilde path first, then Zoom's exact path if nothing turns up. Go to Folder also gets you past the fact that Finder hides your Library by default.

How to clear Zoom's data in Safari, Chrome and Firefox on a Mac

Clearing a browser's Zoom data can fix problems on zoom.us and with web sign-in, and it leaves the desktop app's folder alone. Remove only Zoom's data where the browser lets you, so you stay signed in everywhere else. Apple and Google both warn that removing a site's data can sign you out of it.

Safari

1. Choose Safari > Settings, then click Privacy.
2. Click Manage Website Data and type Zoom in the search box.
3. Select zoom.us and click Remove.

Google Chrome

1. Click the three-dot More menu, then Settings.
2. Go to Privacy and security > Third-party cookies > See all site data and permissions.
3. Search for zoom, click the trash icon beside the site, and confirm with Delete.

If that doesn't help, use Chrome's Delete browsing data dialog from the same menu, with Cached images and files and Cookies and other site data checked. It applies to every site in the time range you choose, so pick a short range if you can.

Firefox

Zoom's cache guide gives this route for Firefox: open Settings > Privacy & Security, click Manage Data under Cookies and Site Data, search for Zoom, select zoom.us, then click Remove Selected and Save Changes.

How to clear the Zoom cache on iPhone or iPad

The Zoom mobile app has its own cache control on iPhone and iPad, called Manage storage, and it's the step to try before deleting anything. Zoom's settings article says it clears "your cache and chat files," so save any chat attachment you need first.

1. Open Zoom, sign in, and tap your photo at the top left.
2. Tap Settings, then General.
3. Under Data, tap Manage storage and clear what's listed.

Delete and reinstall Zoom on iOS

Deleting the app is the fuller reset, and it's the method Zoom's cache guide gives for iOS. Zoom's uninstall guide warns that this removes all of the app's documents and data and can't be undone.

1. Open Settings > General > iPhone Storage (or iPad Storage).
2. Tap Zoom, then Delete App, and tap Delete App again to confirm.
3. Download Zoom again from the App Store, then sign back in.

Zoom also notes that some cryptographic keys stay in the iOS Keychain, with no way to remove them completely, so this isn't quite a factory-fresh start. If you pay for Zoom through the App Store, Apple points out that deleting an app doesn't cancel its in-app subscriptions.

Zoom in Safari on iPhone

Safari on iOS stores its data separately from the Zoom app, so a problem on zoom.us calls for Apple's steps: Settings > Apps > Safari > Advanced > Website Data > Remove All Website Data, then Remove Now. That clears every site, not only Zoom, so I keep it for when the web version is the thing that's broken.

What you can lose when you clear the Zoom cache

Clearing the Zoom cache won't touch your account or meetings on Zoom's servers, but local copies are a different matter. Zoom's guide doesn't list what the Mac data folder holds. Its file directory article, written around Windows paths, lists calendar databases and local user databases in the equivalent folder, so treat it as more than disposable junk.

• Computer recordings: Zoom saves these to the Zoom folder in your Documents by default, outside the data folder. Check Settings > Recording to see whether yours moved. Before I reinstall Zoom, I look there first, because a recording I assumed was in the cloud turned out to be on my laptop.
• Chat messages: Zoom says uninstalling deletes locally stored messages, and that messages live in its cloud only when Store messages in Zoom's cloud is on. If your account has that off, your device may hold the only copy.
• Downloaded chat files: Zoom says these stay on the device even after the chat message expires, so look for them in your downloads before assuming they're gone. Manage storage on iPhone or iPad is the exception, since it clears chat files.
• Encryption keys: on a Mac these sit in Keychain, not in the cache. Leave them alone unless you've read the warning in the next section.

How to do a clean reinstall of Zoom on a Mac

A clean reinstall is the next step when clearing the data folder didn't help, and both Zoom's sign-in guide and its install guide list it as a fix. Use Zoom's own uninstaller and download the new copy only from Zoom's site.

1. Open the Zoom Workplace app and click Zoom Workplace in the menu bar.
2. Choose Uninstall Zoom Workplace, then click OK.
3. Restart your Mac, as Zoom's error 401 steps suggest, then install the latest version from Zoom's Download Center.

Both Mac routes in Zoom's uninstall guide start from inside the app, so if Zoom won't open at all, it gives you no documented way through. That's the point to contact Zoom Support.

When the Zoom cache isn't the problem

Clearing the cache won't fix a Zoom outage, an outdated app or an account issue, so check those when a clear changes nothing. My order is simple: the check that takes seconds comes first, and the one that takes the most effort comes last.

1. Look for an outage. Zoom's status page lists each service and any incidents. If Zoom is down, nothing on your Mac will help.
2. Update the app. Zoom's sign-in guide lists checking for the latest version and confirming a stable connection among its general fixes.
3. Check how you sign in. That guide also suggests resetting your password or using your organization's single sign-on if your admin requires it. A work account can look like a broken app.
4. Fix a meeting link that won't open from Chrome. If you once chose "Do Nothing" with "Remember my choice" checked, Chrome blocks Zoom's launch request. Zoom's Chrome article has you quit Chrome and remove the zoommtg line from Chrome's Preferences file. Copy that file somewhere safe first.
5. Follow the error code. For error 401, Zoom adds flushing the Mac's DNS cache and a reinstall after clearing cache and cookies. For install failures, its install guide points to free disk space and system requirements.
6. Contact Zoom Support with the error code and the steps you've tried, so nobody asks you to repeat them.

If you have a call in the next few minutes, stop here and join from another device or a browser. A cache problem is a job for after the meeting, and the people waiting on the call only care that you've turned up. A short "joining from my phone, two minutes" in the invite thread buys you more goodwill than a silent late arrival.

Do you need a cleaner app to clear the Zoom cache?

No, a cleaner app isn't needed to clear the Zoom cache on a Mac, because Finder, Zoom's Settings and your browser cover every store in this guide for free. Cleaner apps such as CleanMyMac can sweep Zoom and browser caches together in one pass, which is convenient. My objection is the same one I have with clearing Apple Mail's cache: when I'm trying to fix a specific problem, I want to change one thing at a time so I know what worked, and so I know what to put back.

How to stop a Zoom reset from costing you anything

A little preparation makes the next reset boring. These are the habits I'd keep if Zoom is part of your working day.

• Know where your recordings go, and move anything you need to keep out of the default folder.
• Check whether your account stores chat in Zoom's cloud, and ask your admin if the setting is locked.
• Keep your sign-in details handy, including how your company's single sign-on works, in case a clear signs you out.
• Keep Zoom on your phone too, so a broken laptop app never means a missed call. It's also a good moment to ask whether Zoom is still the right tool for how your team meets.
• Keep notes and transcripts somewhere other than the app you're about to wipe. Live transcription in Zoom and AI note takers both give you a copy to save.