Update 22/Dec/2017: AppCache is now technically deprecated. Additionally I found far too many issues cross-browser to ever use it for final production code. The newer Service Workers appears to be a lot more powerful, and is supported at the time of this update (Dec 2017) in Chrome 47+, Firefox 45+, Opera 48+, Edge 17, and in Safari Technical Preview.
A large project I’m working on just now requires some offline capability so I’ve been doing a lot of research into the various HTML5 technologies available. One thing I found is that a lot of the information out there about storage limitations of browsers and devices was often quite old (2 years being quite old in this context!), so I’ve performed a range of tests to establish more up-to-date information, so as of Jan 2014 this is hopefully accurate!
Tests were performed using the AppCache test page at www.der-schepp.de/appcache-default-size/ apart from the Firefox results as that test page wouldn’t work at the time of testing, Firefox tests were performed using my own internal test page instead.
The tests were mostly performed using the online testing tool Browserstack, items marked with † indicate results when tested on actual devices or simulators / emulators.
Notable weird behaviour is on iOS devices where prompts to increase the available storage space to a limit of 50MB appear, however it seems that an actual limit of 16MB or 20MB occurs when running the test. Also note slightly weird behaviour with the IE10 and IE11 results on Windows RT.
Please leave comments if you see any different results than I have posted or if you have any additional results for devices.
* The AppCache test only tests a maximum of 256MB so ‘unlimited’ means at least 256MB can be stored. Please note that although limits are per each application cache manifest there is likely a maximum amount of storage space available which would limit how many much data overall can be stored, at this time I these limits are unknown but I hope to do some testing in this area in the near future.
| Browser Version | OS Platform | Device | Default max (0 = unlimited*, -1 = Unsupported) | Max (with prompts) | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Internet Explorer 6,7,8 | Win XP | PC | -1 | ||
| Internet Explorer 9 | Win 7 | PC | -1 | ||
| Internet Explorer 9 | Windows Phone 7.8 | HTC HD7 | -1 | ||
| Internet Explorer 10 | Win 7 | PC | 10 | 52 | |
| Internet Explorer 10 | Win 8 | PC | 10 | ||
| Internet Explorer 10 Desktop | Win 8 | PC | 10 | 52 | |
| Internet Explorer 10 † | Win 8 RT | Surface RT V1 | 10 | 20 | Prompt asking to “exceed the storage limit on your computer”. Interestingly using the ‘der-schepp.de’ test was giving 4MB as the default maximum here but using my own test confirmed 10MB which is what IE10’s default prompt level is set to. See notes for Win 8.1 RT tests. |
| Internet Explorer 10 Desktop † | Win 8 RT | Surface RT V1 | 10 | 20 | Prompt asking to “exceed the storage limit on your computer”. Interestingly using the ‘der-schepp.de’ test was giving 2MB as the default maximum here but using my own test confirmed 10MB which is what IE10’s default prompt level is set to. See notes for Win 8.1 RT tests. |
| Internet Explorer 11 | Win 7 | PC | 10 | 52 | |
| Internet Explorer 11 | Win 8.1 | PC | 10 | 52 | |
| Internet Explorer 11 Desktop | Win 8.1 | PC | 52 | ||
| Internet Explorer 11 † | Win 8.1 RT | Surface RT V1 | 4 | 20 | Prompt asking to “exceed the storage limit on your computer”. Interestingly using the ‘der-schepp.de’ test was giving 4MB as the default maximum here but using my own test 8MB was cached without a prompt appearing, IE 11 on Win RT 8.1 has 10MB set as the default level to prompt to exceed storage limits but trying 9MB or higher triggered the prompt. |
| Internet Explorer 11 Desktop † | Win 8.1 RT | Surface RT V1 | 4 | 20 | Prompt asking to “exceed the storage limit on your computer”. Interestingly using the ‘der-schepp.de’ test was giving 4MB as the default maximum here but using my own test 8MB was cached without a prompt appearing, IE 11 on Win RT 8.1 has 10MB set as the default level to prompt to exceed storage limits but trying 9MB or higher triggered the prompt. |
| Safari 4.0 | OSX 10.6 | Mac | 0 | ||
| Safari 5.0 | OSX 10.6 | Mac | 0 | ||
| Safari 5.1 | Win 8 | PC | 0 | ||
| Safari 5.1 | Win 8.1 | PC | 0 | ||
| Safari 5.1 | OSX 10.6 | Mac | 0 | ||
| Safari 5.1 | OSX 10.7 | Mac | 0 | ||
| Safari 6.0 | OSX 10.7 | Mac | 0 | ||
| Safari 6.1 | OSX 10.8 | Mac | 0 | ||
| Safari 7.0 | OSX 10.9 | Mac | 0 | ||
| Chrome 31 | Win XP | PC | 0 | ||
| Chrome 31 | Win 7 | PC | 128 | ||
| Chrome 31 | Win 8 | PC | 75 | ||
| Chrome 31 | Win 8.1 | PC | 0 | ||
| Chrome 31 | OSX 10.9 | Mac | 0 | ||
| Chrome 32 Beta | Win XP | PC | 0 | ||
| Chrome 32 Beta | Win 7 | PC | 0 | ||
| Chrome 32 Beta | Win 8 | PC | 56 | ||
| Chrome 32 Beta | Win 8.1 | PC | 0 | ||
| Chrome 32 Beta | OSX 10.8 | Mac | 0 | ||
| Chrome 32 Beta | OSX 10.9 | Mac | 0 | ||
| Chrome 33 Dev | Win XP | PC | 0 | ||
| Chrome 33 Dev | Win 7 | PC | 0 | ||
| Chrome 33 Dev | Win 8 | PC | 60 | ||
| Chrome 33 Dev | Win 8.1 | PC | 0 | ||
| Chrome 33 Dev | OSX 10.8 | Mac | 0 | ||
| Chrome 33 Dev | OSX 10.9 | Mac | 0 | ||
| Mobile Chrome 31 – iPad † | iOS 7.0 | iPad 3rd Gen | 20 | ||
| Mobile Chrome 31 – iPhone † | iOS 7.0 | iPhone 5 | 20 | ||
| Firefox 26 | Win XP | PC | 0 | ||
| Firefox 26 | Win 7 | PC | 0 | No prompt but instead gave a notification that the site was using over 50MB of storage. | |
| Firefox 26 | Win 8 | PC | 0 | No prompt but instead gave a notification that the site was using over 50MB of storage. | |
| Firefox 26 | Win 8.1 | PC | 0 | No prompt but instead gave a notification that the site was using over 50MB of storage. | |
| Firefox 26 | OSX 10.6 | Mac | 0 | No prompt but instead gave a notification that the site was using over 50MB of storage. | |
| Firefox 26 | OSX 10.7 | Mac | 0 | No prompt but instead gave a notification that the site was using over 50MB of storage. | |
| Firefox 26 | OSX 10.8 | Mac | 0 | No prompt but instead gave a notification that the site was using over 50MB of storage. | |
| Firefox 26 † | OSX 10.9 | Mac | 0 | No prompt but instead gave a notification that the site was using over 50MB of storage. | |
| Firefox 27 Beta | Win XP | PC | 0 | ||
| Firefox 27 Beta | Win 7 | PC | 0 | No prompt but instead gave a notification that the site was using over 50MB of storage. | |
| Firefox 27 Beta | Win 8 | PC | 0 | No prompt but instead gave a notification that the site was using over 50MB of storage. | |
| Firefox 27 Beta | Win 8.1 | PC | 0 | No prompt but instead gave a notification that the site was using over 50MB of storage. | |
| Firefox 27 Beta | OSX 10.6 | Mac | 0 | No prompt but instead gave a notification that the site was using over 50MB of storage. | |
| Firefox 27 Beta | OSX 10.7 | Mac | 0 | No prompt but instead gave a notification that the site was using over 50MB of storage. | |
| Firefox 27 Beta | OSX 10.8 | Mac | 0 | No prompt but instead gave a notification that the site was using over 50MB of storage. | |
| Firefox 27 Beta | OSX 10.9 | Mac | 0 | No prompt but instead gave a notification that the site was using over 50MB of storage. | |
| Firefox 26 for Android | Android 4.1.2 | Nexus S | 20 | ||
| Opera 18 | Win XP | PC | 0 | ||
| Opera 18 | Win 7 | PC | 0 | ||
| Opera 18 | Win 8 | PC | 57 | ||
| Opera 18 | Win 8.1 | PC | 0 | ||
| Opera 18 | OSX 10.6 | Mac | 0 | ||
| Opera 18 | OSX 10.7 | Mac | 0 | ||
| Opera 18 | OSX 10.8 | Mac | 0 | ||
| Opera 18 † | OSX 10.9 | Mac | 0 | ||
| Opera 19 Next | Win XP | PC | 0 | ||
| Opera 19 Next | Win 7 | PC | 0 | ||
| Opera 19 Next | Win 8 | PC | 42 | ||
| Opera 19 Next | Win 8.1 | PC | 0 | ||
| Opera 19 Next | OSX 10.6 | Mac | 0 | ||
| Opera 19 Next | OSX 10.7 | Mac | 0 | ||
| Opera 19 Next | OSX 10.8 | Mac | 0 | ||
| Opera 19 Next | OSX 10.9 | Mac | 0 | ||
| Opera 20 Dev | Win XP | PC | 0 | ||
| Opera 20 Dev | Win 7 | PC | 0 | ||
| Opera 20 Dev | Win 8 | PC | 46 | ||
| Opera 20 Dev | Win 8.1 | PC | 0 | ||
| Opera 20 Dev | OSX 10.6 | Mac | 0 | ||
| Opera 20 Dev | OSX 10.7 | Mac | 0 | ||
| Opera 20 Dev | OSX 10.8 | Mac | 0 | ||
| Opera 20 Dev | OSX 10.9 | Mac | 0 | ||
| Opera Mobile † | Various | Opera Mobile Emulator | 0 | ||
| BlackBerry Browser † | BlackBerry 10 (10.2.0.1155) | BlackBerry 10 Device Simulator | 0 | ||
| BlackBerry Playbook Browser † | BlackBerry Playbook 2.1 (2.1.0.1032) | BlackBerry PlayBook Device Simulator | 0 | ||
| Mobile Safari – iPad | iOS 3.2 | iPad 1st Gen | 5 | ||
| Mobile Safari – iPad | iOS 4.3.2 | iPad 2nd Gen | 2 | 16 | Prompts for 10MB, 25MB and 50MB appeared but the test only managed to store 16MB max. |
| Mobile Safari – iPad | iOS 5.0 | iPad 2nd Gen | 2 | 20 | Prompts for 10MB, 25MB and 50MB appeared but the test only managed to store 20MB max. |
| Mobile Safari – iPad | iOS 5.1 | iPad 3rd Gen | 2 | 20 | Prompts for 10MB, 25MB and 50MB appeared but the test only managed to store 20MB max. |
| Mobile Safari – iPad | iOS 6.0 | iPad 3rd Gen | 10 | 16 | Prompt for 25MB appeared but the test only managed to store 16MB max. |
| Mobile Safari – iPad | iOS 6.0 | iPad Mini 1st Gen | 10 | 16 | Prompts for 10MB, 25MB and 50MB appeared but the test only managed to store 16MB max. |
| Mobile Safari – iPad | iOS 7.0 | iPad 3rd Gen | 10 | 16 | Prompts for 10MB, 25MB and 50MB appeared but the test only managed to store 16MB max. |
| Mobile Safari – iPad † | iOS 7.0 | iPad 3rd Gen | 10 | 16 | Prompts for 10MB, 25MB and 50MB appeared but the test only managed to store 16MB max. |
| Mobile Safari – iPad † | iOS 7.0 | iPad Mini Retina | 10 | 16 | Prompts for 10MB, 25MB and 50MB appeared but the test only managed to store 16MB max. |
| Mobile Safari – iPhone | iOS 3.0 | iPhone 3GS | 5 | ||
| Mobile Safari – iPhone | iOS 4.0 | iPhone 4 | 5 | ||
| Mobile Safari – iPhone | iOS 5.1 | iPhone 4S | 2 | 20 | Prompts for 10MB, 25MB and 50MB appeared but the test only managed to store 16MB max. |
| Mobile Safari – iPhone | iOS 6.0 | iPhone 4S | 10 | 16 | Prompts for 10MB, 25MB and 50MB appeared but the test only managed to store 16MB max. |
| Mobile Safari – iPhone | iOS 6.0 | iPhone 5 | 10 | 16 | Prompts for 10MB, 25MB and 50MB appeared but the test only managed to store 16MB max. |
| Mobile Safari – iPhone † | iOS 7.0 | iPhone 5 | 10 | 16 | Prompts for 10MB, 25MB and 50MB appeared but the test only managed to store 16MB max. |
| Mobile Safari – iPhone | iOS 7.0 | iPhone 5S | 10 | 16 | Prompts for 10MB, 25MB and 50MB appeared but the test only managed to store 16MB max. |
| Android Browser † | Android 4.1.2 | Nexus S | 32 | ||
| Amazon Silk 3.8 † | Android 4.0.3 | Kindle Fire | 0 | ||
| Android Browser | Android 4.0.3 | Kindle Fire 2 | 48 | ||
| Amazon Silk 3.4 † | Android 4.0.3 | Kindle Fire HD 8.9 | 0 | ||
| Android Browser | Android 4.0.3 | Kindle Fire HD 8.9 | 48 | ||
| Android Browser | Android 4.1.2 | Google Nexus 7 | 10 | ||
| Android Browser | Android 4.0.4 | Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 | 10 | ||
| Android Browser | Android 4.0.4 | Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 | 10 | ||
| Android Browser | Android 4.2.2 | LG Nexus 4 | 8 | ||
| Android Browser | Android 4.1.2 | Samsung Galaxy SIII | 10 | ||
| Android Browser | Android 2.3.3 | Samsung Galaxy Note | 10 |
@saeed Thanks, I'm not sure about the discrepancy between my testing and the der-schepp site I'm afraid. I actually need to do a follow up post in general about AppCache as it is now technically deprecated: http://caniuse.com/#feat=offline-apps Personally I found far too many issues cross-browser to ever use it for final production code. The newer Service Workers http://caniuse.com/#feat=serviceworkers appears to be a lot more powerful, but unfortunately at the time of writing only support by Firefox, Chrome and Opera. However, Microsoft intend adding it very soon and WebKit devs have it under consideration.
We need to change the AppCache size of IE 11, which is appearing 20MB with http://www.der-schepp.de/appcache-default-size/ and surprisingly 256 with your test app.
Is there a way to enhanced the AppCache of IE11?
Thanks for great research on this subject.
Thanks for sharing your comprehensive testings.