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# shared

The shared URL cache instance.

```
class var shared: URLCache { get set }
```

## Discussion

If your app doesn’t have special caching requirements or constraints, the default shared cache instance should be acceptable. Alternatively, you can create a custom [`URLCache`](/documentation/Foundation/URLCache) object and set it as the shared cache instance (use `+[NSURLCache setSharedURLCache]` in Objective-C). You should do so before making any calls to this method.

## See Also

[Accessing cached data](/documentation/Foundation/accessing-cached-data)

Control how URL requests make use of previously cached data.


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