Manage content caching on Mac
On your Mac, you can enable or disable content caching, choose a volume for the content cache and the cache size, share cached content with iOS devices, or delete all cached content.
To learn more about how content caching works and best practices, see Change content caching preferences.
For more information about the kinds of files you can use with content caching, see the Apple Support article Content types that content caching supports in macOS.
If you provide content caching for clients with custom public IP addresses, you need to add or edit a DNS TXT record for your content cache. See Enable content cache discovery across multiple public IP addresses on Mac.
Enable content caching
On your Mac, choose Apple menu
> System Preferences, click Sharing then select Content Caching.In the service list on the left, select the Content Caching tickbox, then wait for the content caching indicator to turn green.
Click the Cache pop-up menu, then choose the content you want cached.
All Content: Store software updates and apps downloaded from Apple, and iCloud content on this Mac.
Only Shared Content: Store only software updates and apps downloaded from Apple on this Mac.
Only iCloud Content: Store only iCloud content, such as photos and documents, on this Mac.
Restart the client devices that will use the content cache.
Restarting the client devices ensures that they discover the content cache immediately. If the client devices are not restarted, it will take some time before they discover the content cache.
Disable content caching
On your Mac, choose Apple menu
> System Preferences, click Sharing, then select Content Caching.In the service list on the left, deselect the Content Caching tickbox.
Select a volume for caching
By default, the cached content is stored on the boot volume. If you have additional volumes available on your Mac, you can choose where to store the cached content.
On your Mac, choose Apple menu
> System Preferences, click Sharing, then select Content Caching.Click Options.
Click the Edit button next to Cache Location.
Select a storage volume, then click Move.
Content caching stops temporarily while the existing cache is moved to the new location.
Set the cache size
You can choose the amount of storage your Mac uses for cached content.
On your Mac, choose Apple menu
> System Preferences, click Sharing, then select Content Caching.Click Options.
Use the slider to set the cache size.
Enable or disable iCloud caching
iCloud caching stores the files users have in iCloud, such as Pages or Numbers documents.
All cached iCloud content is received, stored and transmitted encrypted, and the content cache does not have the ability to decrypt it.
On your Mac, choose Apple menu
> System Preferences, click Sharing, then select Content Caching.Do one of the following:
Enable iCloud caching: Click the Cache pop-up menu, then choose All Content or Only iCloud Content.
Disable iCloud caching: Click the Cache pop-up menu, then choose Only Shared Content.
If you disable iCloud caching, all cached iCloud data is immediately removed from the content cache.
If you enable or disable iCloud content caching, you might want to restart the client devices. Client devices automatically discover changes, but it takes some time. However, if you restart the client devices, they will discover the changes immediately.
Share cached content with iOS devices
You can share the Internet connection and cached content of your Mac with iOS devices that are connected using USB. This feature is also called tethered caching.
With tethered caching:
iOS devices can be connected and disconnected at any time, as long as the Mac is awake.
iOS devices connected to a Mac using USB have an Internet connection, even when their Wi-Fi and mobile network connections are disabled.
Tethered managed iOS devices automatically check in with their mobile device management (MDM) solution.
On your iOS device, go to Settings > Personal Hotspot, then turn off Personal Hotspot.
On your Mac, choose Apple menu
> System Preferences, click Sharing, then select Content Caching.Select the Internet Connection tick box.
The first time you connect an iOS device to the Mac using USB, you need to tap Trust on the device.
Delete all cached content
On your Mac, choose Apple menu
> System Preferences, click Sharing, then select Content Caching.Click Options.
Click Reset, then click Reset again to verify the request.