How to Free Up Storage Space on an iPhone
Find yourself frequently faced with the dreaded 'Storage Almost Full' notification on your iPhone or keep missing out on the latest apps because of storage space? Learn how you can make room for even more photos, videos and apps with our handy smartphone storage saving tips.
If you want to change up your iPhone for a different model, you’ll find a wide range of options with large storage space in our Apple collection.
What’s taking up storage space on my iPhone?
First, you'll want to find out exactly what's eating up your precious megabytes - or worse, gigabytes. To locate this on an iPhone, open 'Settings', select 'General' and tap 'iPhone Storage'. From here, you'll be able to see a detailed breakdown of how much space your photos, individual apps and more are taking up.
Some iPhone models also offer an option to 'Offload Unused Apps'; if you enable this feature, it'll automatically move apps you never use to iCloud but save any related data, just in case you want to re-download at a later date.
Delete apps
Individual apps can be deleted from your iPhone to free up storage space. If you have an app you no longer use, press and hold on the icon until you see a menu pop up. From there, tap ‘Remove App’ followed by ‘Delete App’.
You can also remove apps directly from the App Library; to access it, swipe left on the Home Screen until the App Library appears.
Delete files
Files can also take up room on your iPhone, particularly if you use it for work purposes. To delete files, go to the Files app and select ‘Browse’ near the bottom of the screen. You can then press and hold on any file and tap ‘Delete’.
Delete photos and videos
It’s easy to fill up your iPhone with photos and videos when you’re snapping away. The ‘iPhone Storage’ menu will tell you how much storage space is being taken up by your saved photos; if several gigabytes are used up, it’s a good time to do something about that.
Aside from deleting individual photos and videos, you can store them in the Cloud to free up space on your iPhone. To do this:
• Open up the Settings menu and go to [Your Name] > iCloud > Photos
• Tap ‘Sync this device’ to copy your photos to iCloud
After this, you can delete the photos from your iPhone (always remember to check the photos are in iCloud before deleting them forever). You can also store photos and videos in Google Photos if you have an account; simply download the app, tap the account icon in the top right of the screen, and then go to Google Photos Settings > Back Up & Sync.
Delete music
Music is another type of media that can take up large amounts of space. Although many people will choose to stream tracks and albums, you might have some music on your iPhone you didn’t realise had been downloaded.
There are two ways to delete music from your iPhone: in the Settings menu or the Apple Music app.
To remove music in Settings:
• Go to Settings > General iPhone Storage > Music
• Swipe left on albums or tracks you don’t want on your device
To remove music from the Apple Music app:
• Open the app and go to Library > Downloaded
• Press and hold on an album/track and select ‘Delete from Library’
Other ways to free up iPhone storage space
These tips can significantly help clear space, but there are other things on your iPhone you might not realise are taking up room:
• Messages – look for any texts in the Messages app you can get rid of. You can also set your iPhone to delete messages after 30 days or a year by going to Settings > Messages > Message History
• Browser cache – if you use Safari frequently for browsing, the cache might be filling up. To clear some room, go to Settings > Safari and select ‘Clear History & Website Data’
• Streaming – consider streaming more rather than downloading things if you can. This will use up Internet or mobile data, but it means your iPhone has more space for photos and videos
That was everything you need to know about freeing up iPhone storage space. If you want to take your device back to square one with a full reset, take a look at our dedicated guide.