How to free up storage on iPhone and iPad

If your iPhone or iPad is full, there are several things you can do to recover storage space. In this guide, we look at several options and methods available to free up storage on iOS devices. Keep reading to find out what they are.

Each iPhone and iPad has a storage capacity set from 16 GB to 512 GB for iPhone and from 16 GB to 1 TB for iPad. Although it is always a good idea to buy a model with the largest storage space you can afford, after a while even the largest storage devices can fill up and often happen when you least expect it.

From the music you buy and the apps you download to the photos you take and the messages you receive, all that content needs to live somewhere on your device. And when your iPhone or iPad storage is full , it’s not like you could enlarge it. However, what you can do is free up your existing storage space. Here’s how.

Basic tips for saving storage

Apple is aware that many people are struggling to manage storage on their devices, which is why it has introduced more and more tools with successive versions of iOS to help users keep up with the types of applications and media that consume often precious megabytes.

Launch settings application and select General -> iPhone / iPad storage, and the amount of storage you used is displayed in the color-coded bar at the top. Below this, you can see a list of recommendations for optimizing storage space by examining and deleting large attachments, for example.

These recommendations are followed by a list of installed applications and the amount of storage that each uses. The list also shows you when you last used each app, allowing you to easily find and delete apps you haven’t used in a while or not at all.

When you delete an application, its icon, application data, and any user-generated data are deleted. It’s okay if you don’t plan to use the app again, however Apple also allows you to download apps, which frees up storage space, but leaves the app icon and user data in place. If an application you use takes up a lot of space, it’s worth checking to see if you can clear any caches associated with it.

Another option that Apple added to iOS not long ago is the ability to prevent your iPhone or iPad from automatically installing software updates. New software updates happen to be automatically downloaded in the background and then installed through an Automatic Updates feature. However, in iOS 13.6 and later, the Settings app includes switches that let you choose whether updates are downloaded automatically.

Recovers photo space

Photos that you keep on your iPhone or iPad naturally take up storage space on your device, which can fill up quickly depending on the available storage capacity and how much content you have.

If you see a message that your device’s storage is full, it’s worth checking out a system option called Optimize Storage, which is designed to work with iCloud Photos. This feature replaces full-resolution photos on your iOS device with smaller, device-sized versions that take up much less storage space, while full-resolution images remain outside the device in iCloud.

Another way to cut the photo library is to check redundant photos taken in Burst mode. Burst mode refers to the moment when the camera on your iOS device captures a series of photos in quick succession, at a rate of ten frames per second.

It’s a great way to record an action scene or unexpected event, as you’re always more likely to end up with the image you’re aiming for. But it also generates a lot of unwanted images, so it’s a good practice to choose the best image for safe storage and delete the rest to save storage space.

If you have an older iPhone, you can also save space when shooting in HDR. On iPhone X and earlier models, when the camera takes an automatic HDR photo, it may also be optional to keep the standard photo in your photo library, which is useful for comparison or when the HDR image does not appear as it was. expected. However, if you want, you can disable this feature and thus save storage space.

In some cases, you may find your photo library growing even when you haven’t taken photos on your device. For example, the media that people share via WhatsApp can be automatically saved in your iPhone camera. Fortunately, you can easily prevent this default behavior by disabling it Save to camera roll in the settings in the WhatsApp application.

Of course, if the photo library feels like it’s out of control, one solution is to restart and delete all the photos on your iPhone. Make sure you’ve already made a backup that you want to keep, and be aware that deleting photos with iCloud Photo Library enabled will delete photos from ALL of your devices.

Recover your captured video space

Some of the above photo tips apply to videos stored in your device’s photo library. However, there are other ways to prevent video content from consuming storage space. For example, you can customize the resolution and frame rate of the recorded video to reduce the file size in Settings -> Camera -> Record videos.

Elsewhere, if you regularly download Apple Fitness + videos on ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iPad‌, see the recommendations in Settings -> General -> iPhone Storage and you should see them listed below Review downloaded videos, where you can delete them individually or in bulk.

If you have an Apple TV + subscription or have rented or purchased movies through iTunes, you can download videos using the Apple TV app to watch them offline. However, if you want to save space, make sure you’ve selected it Quick downloads (lower quality, uses less storage space) in Settings -> TV -> Cellular data – means lower quality videos, but uses less storage space.

WhatsApp has a built-in media management tool that can help you identify, select, and bulk delete GIFs, photos, and videos that can fill your phone.

The tool groups large files and media files that have been redirected several times, sorting the files by size in descending order and provides a way to preview the files before deleting them. You can also see a preview of the media content before selecting one or more files to delete. To access the storage management tool, launch the application and log in Settings -> Storage and data -> Manage storage.

If you’re an Apple Music subscriber, you can download songs, playlists, and albums from the ‌Apple Music‌ catalog to your iPhone or iPad for offline listening, but this can gradually consume the device’s storage space over time.

Fortunately, the Music app includes a handy feature that can start working whenever your device’s storage space drops and automatically downloads songs you haven’t played in a while to make room for newer ones. .

Check it out Settings -> Music -> Storage Optimization, and make sure Optimize storage the switch is activated. From here, you can also choose a minimum amount of storage that you want to keep for music before the downloaded songs are removed from your device. You can also monitor your storage space by disabling automatic downloads from Settings -> Music and manually downloading new songs when needed.

Apple Music users can also remove individual tracks from the Music app. Simply press and hold an item, select Remove… from the pop-up menu, then tap Remove the download when asked.

There are several ways to cut fat in the Messages application. For example, iOS can be automated to delete old messages that have been on your device for more than a certain period of time.

In addition, if you touch the contact bubble and then the button swell (I) from the top of a Messages conversation, you can also see each file that was sent to you in the chat thread in an easily accessible location, where you can delete them all at once.

ICloud messages, as the name suggests, store your iMessage messages on Apple’s cloud servers, rather than on each of your individual devices. One of the benefits is that messages, photos, and other attachments are stored in ‌iCloud‌, which frees up space on your devices. You can activate it in the Settings app by tapping the Apple ID banner and selecting iCloud -> Messages.

Other Apple apps worth checking out include the Books app and the Voice Memo app. If you’re listening to a lot of audio books, try fixing your back catalog and examining any old voice memos to see if you still need them.

conclusion

I’ve covered the top tips for saving iPhone and iPad storage, but depending on your use case, there may be other ways you can free up space on your device. For example, if you manage a lot of files on device in the Files application, consider compressing large files and folders by selecting Compress from the context menu.

If you still don’t have enough space and you’ve exhausted all of the above options, it might be helpful to use the “nuke” option – a clean install – by wiping the device and restarting. If this doesn’t help, it might be time to update your device.

Do you have any other tips that I haven’t mentioned here? Tell us in the comments or send us an email.