How to Free Up Space on Your iPhone

Edited 4 days ago by ExtremeHow Editorial Team

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If you feel like your iPhone is running out of storage space, you're not alone. With the growing size of apps, photos, videos, and other files, it's easy for your device to fill up quickly. Fortunately, there are several methods you can use to free up space on your iPhone. In this guide, we'll explore various tips and tricks to help you manage your storage efficiently.

Check your current storage usage

Before you start freeing up space, it's important to know what's taking up the most storage on your iPhone. To check your storage usage:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap General.
3. Select iPhone Storage.

Here, you'll see a breakdown of your storage usage, including used and available space, as well as a list of apps and how much space each app takes up. This information will help you identify the main culprits of storage consumption.

Delete unused apps

The easiest way to free up space is to delete apps you no longer use. To delete an app:

1. Press and hold the app icon until a menu appears.
2. Select Remove app.
3. Confirm by tapping Remove App.

Plus, you can offload unused apps, which removes the app but keeps its data. To enable this feature:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Select General.
3. Tap iPhone Storage.
4. Enable offloading of unused apps.

This feature will automatically offload apps that you don’t use frequently, freeing up space while preserving your data for future use.

Delete old photos and videos

Photos and videos can take up a lot of storage space. To free up space, consider the following:

• Deleting duplicate or similar photos.
• Removing screenshots and other unnecessary images.
• Backing up your photos and videos to a cloud service like iCloud, Google Photos, or Dropbox, and then deleting them from your device.

To delete photos and videos:

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Select the photos and videos you want to delete.
3. Tap the trash icon and confirm deletion.

Also remember to empty the Recently Deleted album to permanently delete these files from your device and free up space.

Manage messages

Text messages, especially those with attachments like photos or videos, can take up a lot of space. To manage your messages:

• Delete old message threads that you no longer need.
• Delete individual messages with large attachments.
• Enable automatic deletion of old messages:
  1. Go to Settings.
  2. Select the message.
  3. Under Message history, tap Keep messages.
  4. Select 30 days or 1 year to automatically delete old messages.

Clear the Safari cache

Safari stores website data to load faster, but this cache can accumulate over time. To clear Safari's cache:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Scroll down and tap Safari.
3. Tap Clear history and website data.
4. Confirm by tapping Clear history and data.

This will delete browsing history, cookies, and other data, freeing up space on your iPhone.

Remove unnecessary downloads

Many downloaded files such as podcasts, books, and emails with large attachments can accumulate on your iPhone. To clear these:

• Open Podcasts, Books or any other relevant app and delete old files that you no longer need.
• Review your email attachments and delete large files from your inbox and sent items.

Optimize storage for music and videos

If you have a lot of music and video stored on your iPhone, consider using the optimization features:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Scroll down and select Music.
3. Enable Optimize Storage.

This will automatically delete songs you've downloaded that you haven't played in a while, to save space. Similar options are available for video streaming apps like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Check the app settings to manage downloads and save storage.

Review large attachments

To review and delete large attachments, follow these steps:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Select General.
3. Tap iPhone Storage.
4. Tap Review large attachments.

This will show you a list of large files stored in your messages. Delete the files that you no longer need.

Use iCloud storage

If you often run out of space, consider using iCloud or another cloud storage service. Here's how to use iCloud:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap your name at the top of the screen.
3. Select iCloud.
4. Enable the types of data you want to store in iCloud, like photos, mail, contacts, etc.
5. If you need more space, tap Manage Storage and then tap Change Storage Plan to upgrade your iCloud storage.

Reset all settings

As a last resort, if all other methods fail and you still need more space, you can reset all settings. This will not erase your data, but will reset all settings to their defaults. To do this:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap General.
3. Select Reset.
4. Tap Reset all settings.
5. Confirm by entering your passcode and then tapping Reset All Settings.

Additional tips

Here are some additional tips to help you manage your iPhone storage more effectively:

• Avoid having large apps or games that you rarely play.
• Regularly back up and delete old files and data.
• Use streaming services instead of downloading music and videos.
• Regularly review your device storage and delete unnecessary files.

By following these steps, you will be able to free up space on your iPhone and keep it running smoothly. Regular maintenance and careful storage management will help ensure that your iPhone remains responsive and efficient.

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