- How To Free Up Space In Phone
- Freeing Up Space On Iphone
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Open Google Photos. It’s the multicolored pinwheel icon typically found in the app drawer or on the home screen. Clearing photos from your phone or tablet that have already been backed up to your Google Photos account is a great way to free up storage space. Unlock your iPhone. Your phone's Random Access Memory (RAM) is reserved for processing data, but, just like on a computer, it can get cluttered with temporary files. Resetting your iPhone's RAM will increase its processing speed.
With high-resolution photos and console-quality games, your iPhone storage fills up in no time. Even with a 128 GB model things can get out of hands fast. And if you’re using a 32 or 64 GB iPhone, chances are you’ll see that pesky “Storage Almost Full” alert much sooner.
Luckily, there are lots of things you can do to clear storage on iPhone, both manual and app-powered, so let's take a look.
What you'll need:
- Your iPhone
- A photo cleaner app Gemini Photos
- Your Mac
- A macOS cleaner app CleanMyMac X
- Internet connection
Why is my iPhone storage so full?
Your iPhone may be full of things you don’t really need. Since they take up a lot of valuable space, it’s important to find out what they actually are. Here’s how to check and manage storage on your iPhone:
- Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage.
- At the top, you’ll see a color-coded bar showing how much space you have left, how much is taken up, and what's taking it up. The biggest categories are usually Photos and Apps, but that depends on your usage.
- Below there is a list of your apps sorted by how much space they take. You can tap on each app to see how much of that space is the app itself, and how much of it is the app’s Documents and Data.
Depending on how you use your iPhone, you might have a huge and bloated Photos app, bursting with photos and videos. Or it might be games and social media apps that are hoarding the most storage. Below are five easy steps you can follow to free up storage on iPhone regardless of your iPhone use.
How to clear storage on iPhone
Chances are, there’s a lot of unneeded clutter on your iPhone. And that’s actually good news. It means you can free up a significant chunk of space without deleting the things you want to keep. Here’s how to free up storage on your iPhone, step by step:
- Clean up your photo library
- Clear browser cache
- Clear app cache and other app data
- Delete attachments in Messages
- Delete offline content
Step 1. Clean up your photo library
If you’ve checked iPhone storage like we suggested above, you already know who the main space hogger is (looking at you, Photos). Of course, wiping your whole photo library clean is not an option, but there’s probably stuff you can get rid of:
- duplicate photos, like those you downloaded twice
- similar shots (like the five selfies you took so you can pick a good one)
- photos of whiteboards, notes, checks, and things like that
- screenshots you don’t need anymore
- large videos you don’t like
You can go through your library and weed out these photos and videos manually, but a quicker and more convenient alternative is an iPhone app like Gemini Photos. Here’s how to free up some space with it:
- Download Gemini Photos and launch it. It will automatically start scanning your library.
- Go to Notes, Blurred, and Screenshots. This is where you’ll see screenshots, photos of text, and other useless stuff. All photos will be pre-selected, but you can deselect the ones you still need.
- Tap Delete All.
- Go to Similar. Sets of similar photos will be grouped and pre-selected, with the best photo in each set remaining.
- Review a set, select other photos if you want to, and tap Move to Trash to trash selected photos.
- When you’re done reviewing sets of similar photos, tap Empty Trash.
- Go through Duplicates, Videos, and Other to sort out the rest of your photo library.
- Finally, go to the Photos app, and scroll down to Recently Deleted.
- Tap Select, and then Delete All.
After a cleanup like this your library will shrink by a few gigabytes and become way easier to navigate.
Step 2. Clear browser cache
If you often use your iPhone to browse the web in Safari or Chrome, keep in mind that your phone may be storing caches and other data that you don’t need. And you'd be surprised how much space you can free up just by clearing your browser cache.
Here’s how to clear Safari cache:
- Go to Settings.
- Find Safari.
- Choose Clear History and Website Data.
If you use Chrome, follow these steps to clear its cache:
- Open Google Chrome on your iPhone.
- Tap Options > Settings.
- Scroll down and tap Privacy.
- Tap Clear Browsing Data.
- Choose which browsing data you want to clear (browsing history, cookies, cached images and files) and tap Clear Browsing Data.
Step 3. Clear app cache and other app data
Unlike browsers, most apps don’t give you access to their cache and other data they store, such as login data. And if you tap on each app at the top of that list in iPhone Storage, you’ll notice it has several gigabytes of so-called Documents and Data. Here’s how you clear that app data to get more iPhone storage:
- Before you start, make sure you remember your logins to various apps or have them saved somewhere.
- In Settings > General > iPhone Storage, tap on an app at the top of the list. This will often be a social media app like Facebook or Snapchat, a messenger, or a content app like YouTube or Spotify.
- Tap Delete App.
- Go to the App Store and reinstall the app.
Yup, unfortunately, this is the only way to clear cache and other app data for the majority of apps.
Step 4. Delete attachments in Messages
Texting isn’t just about text, right? You’re sending and receiving memes, GIFs, selfies, little videos of your cat falling off the couch in her sleep. All that content is stored on your iPhone even if you don’t save it to Photos, and if you text a lot it quickly adds up.
Here’s how to delete all your attachments in Messages to clear some iPhone memory:
- Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage.
- Scroll down and tap on Messages.
- You’ll see a list: Top Conversations, Photos, GIFs and Stickers, and Other. Tap on the category that occupies the most space. Keep in mind that in Top Conversations, you’ll be deleting entire threads, not just the attachments. If you don’t want to do that, stick to Photos and other content.
- Tap Edit in the upper-right corner.
- Mark all attachments you want to delete.
- Tap the Trash icon.
That’s it! Space-hogging attachments are gone.
Step 5. Delete offline content
You probably consume a lot of content every day — music, videos, podcasts and what not. And if you save that content offline to be able to play it on the subway or during a long flight, you have quite a lot of leftovers piled up.
As a result, apps like YouTube, Netflix, and Spotify can take up several gigabytes of iPhone storage each. So why waste space on those Stranger Things episodes you downloaded back in 2017 and a long-forgotten playlist you never listen to anymore?
Let’s start with Netflix. Here’s how to delete Netflix movies and series you saved onto your iPhone:
- Open the Netflix app.
- Go to Downloads.
- Tap on the pencil icon in the top right corner.
- Tap on the red X to delete the video.
Next up, YouTube. To delete offline YouTube videos, follow these steps:
- Launch the YouTube app.
- Go to Library > Downloads.
- Tap on the three dots next to a downloaded video.
- Tap “Delete from downloads.”
- Repeat for each video.
Finally, to delete offline playlists or podcasts in Spotify, do the following:
- Open Spotify.
- Go to Your Library > Music > Playlists.
- The playlists you downloaded will be marked with a green arrow. Tap on a playlist like that.
- Tap on the green arrow icon below the name of the playlist.
- When a confirmation popup appears, tap Remove.
- Repeat for podcasts, if you have any saved offline.
You should also rummage around in Podcasts, Apple Music, and other entertainment apps you’re using. Once you’ve cleaned up all the offline content you don’t need anymore, you’ll see how much iPhone memory you’ve managed to recover.
How to prevent iPhone storage from getting full again
Just like your closet, iPhone storage will get full again, and you will have to go through the steps above every once in a while. But there are things you can do to manage your oh-so-limited storage more wisely and not have to do that major cleanup quite as often.
Store photos and videos elsewhere
Even after you’ve trimmed some fat off your library, chances are Photos still hogs a lot of iPhone space. What to do? Transfer your photos and videos to your computer or to the cloud
If you have a Mac, the easiest way is to connect your iPhone and sync all media files to the Mac. Then you can delete the originals from your phone.
Note that when you sync photos with your Phone, some of them stay cached on your Mac. This cache occupies space on your disk after the sync is done, so it’s better to clean it up. A utility like CleanMyMac X is an easy way to clear iOS photo cache (and it’s free to download). In just two clicks you’ll remove all the junk files from your Mac.
Alternatively, you can upload your iPhone photos to an online storage like iCloud. It’s pretty convenient, because iCloud Photos automatically syncs every photo and video you take to the cloud, so you can access your library from any device, as long as it has internet connection. You do have to pay for iCloud storage, though, because the free 5 GB won’t be enough for your whole photo library.
Here’s how to upload photos to iCloud:
- Sign in to your iCloud.com account. It’s the same as your Apple ID.
- Go to Settings on your device and select Photos.
- Turn on iCloud Photos.
Now your photos are automatically synced to iCloud, which means they'll be taking up space in iCloud, not on your iPhone.
Disable saving duplicate photos when shooting in HDR
On iPhones that don’t have Smart HDR, when you take photos in HDR, your iPhone saves two shots: the original picture and the processed one. You will save a lot of iPhone storage if you disable saving these duplicates. Just do the following:
- Go to Settings and select Camera.
- Disable Keep Normal Photo.
From now, only the HDR versions of your photos will be saved. That said, the previous HDR and non-HDR copies of your photos will remain, so do run your photo library through Gemini Photos to find those similar shots.
Stop storing messages forever
By default, your iPhone stores all the messages you send and receive … forever. This is convenient if you want to read your 2-years-old conversations, but not so convenient when you run out of storage because your brother sends you fifteen memes every single day.
To stop your phone from saving messages forever, follow these steps:
- Go to Settings and tap Messages.
- Scroll down to Message History and tap Keep Messages.
- Change Forever to 30 days or 1 year.
- You’ll see a pop-up message asking if you want to delete older messages, tap Delete to proceed.
Bonus tip to help you clean iPhone storage
In iOS 11 and later, Apple brings storage management tools to your device. This means that you get unique storage saving suggestions based on your iPhone. They include things like Reviewing Large Attachments and Conversations, Offloading Unused Apps, Saving Messages to iCloud, and others. Therefore, if you’re running iOS 11 or later, go to iPhone Storage and check out the recommendations.
We hope you found our troubleshooting guide helpful in tackling that annoying “Storage Almost Full” message. Enjoy taking new photos and never have to worry about lack of iPhone storage again.
© Provided by Business Insider You can clear your iCloud storage on your iPhone, iPad and by going to the iCloud website on your Mac. SOPA Images/Getty Images- You can clear an iCloud account's storage in several ways to free up space and avoid having to pay for extra storage.
- Apple gives you 5 GB of iCloud storage with the purchase of one of its devices, and that can fill up fast.
- Most often, your iCloud storage goes towards backing up your photos, files, voice memos, apps, and text messages.
Unless you pay for an iCloud subscription, Apple gives you 5GB of storage with any device's purchase. That's not a lot of space, and you can quickly find that you don't have enough room for your photos, iCloud Drive files, and other data from your phone or tablet.
You can upgrade your iCloud subscription, but it's cheaper to clear out space in your iCloud account. You can delete files, photos, app backups, voice memos, and more from your iCloud Drive directly on your Apple device or through the iCloud website.
Typically, these things and all their associated data get backed up to iCloud by default. This can be both a blessing and a curse, particularly if the things you want to be backed up take up a lot of storage space. But you can save a substantial amount of space by disabling automatic backups, especially when it comes to your largest apps.
You can also delete text messages and any of the videos or images attached to them. While deleting individual texts won't save much space, you can remove entire conversations and the media associated with them, which can help significantly.
Here's how to clear your iCloud storage and free up more space.
How to clear iCloud storage
Delete photos from iCloud storage
By default, iCloud backs up all your photos and videos to the cloud. Over time, that adds up to a lot of pictures. You can save space by deleting any images you no longer want. It's possible to do this from your iPhone, iPad, or the iCloud website. As long as Google Photos is enabled, any pictures you delete in one location are automatically deleted everywhere. Here's how to delete photos from iCloud.
Delete files and folders from the iCloud website
1. Open iCloud.com in a browser.
2. Log in with your Apple ID.
3. Click 'iCloud Drive.'
4. To delete a folder, select it and then click the Delete icon.
5. To delete files, double-click a folder.
6. Hold down CTRL while clicking each file.
© Dave Johnson/Business Insider You can remove a single or multiple iCloud files using the CTRL-key. Dave Johnson/Business Insider7. Select the Delete icon.
Delete unwanted files in iCloud Drive from your iPad or iPhone
1. On your iPhone or iPad, launch the Files app.
2. Tap 'Browse' at the bottom of the screen.
3. In the Locations section, select 'iCloud Drive.'
© Dave Johnson/Business Insider You can delete files and folders to free up space in iCloud using the Files app on your iPhone or iPad. Dave Johnson/Business Insider4. To delete an entire folder, tap 'Select' in the screen's top right.
5. Then, choose the folder and tap the Delete icon.
6. To delete files, open the folder they're contained in.
7. Use 'Select' to choose files and delete them.
© Dave Johnson/Business Insider Select each file you want to delete and then send them to the trash. Dave Johnson/Business InsiderDelete app backups from iCloud on your iPhone or iPad
1. Start the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap your account name at the top of the screen.
3. Select 'iCloud.'
4. Choose 'Manage Storage' on the next screen.
5. Tap 'Backups.'
6. A list of your Apple devices being backed up to iCloud will appear. Select the name of the device you are currently using.
7. In the Choose Data to Back Up section, you should now see a list of the five apps that take up the most space on iCloud.
8. Turn off the backup feature for any of these apps by swiping the button to the left.
© Dave Johnson/Business Insider You can save a lot of storage space by not backing up your largest apps. Dave Johnson/Business Insider9. To see more options and disable more apps by tapping 'Show All Apps.'
10. Repeat this process for any of your other Apple devices from that respective device.
Delete voice memos from iCloud on your iPhone or iPad
1. Start the Voice Memos app on your iPad or iPhone
2. Swipe a voice memo to the left.
3. Tap the Delete icon.
© Dave Johnson/Business Insider You can delete any voice memo, but you'll need to remove it from the Recently Deleted section to reclaim the space immediately. Dave Johnson/Business Insider4. Select 'Recently Deleted.'
5. Tap the recording you just deleted.
6. Choose 'Delete' to permanently remove the voice memo, which will be erased on its own after 30 days.
Delete text messages and their large attachments on an iPhone or iPad
1. On your iPhone or iPad, start the Messages app.
2. Locate a conversation that has attachments you want to remove.
3. Select the person's name at the top of the screen.
4. Choose 'Info.'
© Dave Johnson/Business Insider A contact's info can often be found by tapping the 'i' icon. Dave Johnson/Business InsiderHow To Free Up Space In Phone
5. On the Details page, photos should appear in a grid. Scroll and tap the 'See All Photos' link below them.
Freeing Up Space On Iphone
6. Tap 'Select' at the top of the screen.
7. Select each photo you want to remove.
8. Tap 'Delete.'
How To Free Up Space On Phone Samsung
9. Go to the iMessage app.
10. Select the text thread you want to delete.
11. Swipe it to the left.
© Dave Johnson/Business Insider This method will delete an entire conversation, including all its photo and video attachments. Dave Johnson/Business Insider12. Tap 'Delete.'