iPhone Storage Full? How to Create Free Space on iOS

Photos, videos, and apps take up an iPhone's storage space quickly. Even though you can't increase your internal storage space with an SD card, there are still several ways to free up space on your iPhone.

1. Offload or Delete Unused iPhone Apps

Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage to get a quick view of the storage space used on your device. You'll see a list of apps sorted by the amount of storage each occupies.

Tap an app on the list to view detailed info about its storage usage. At the bottom, you can choose one of two options: Offload App or Delete App.

Delete App removes the app and every bit of its data. It is the same as uninstalling the app from the Home Screen. Offload App deletes the app's core files but keeps your personal data. This is useful for heavier apps or games (like PUBG Mobile) if you plan to use them soon but need the space now. It lets you remove the app; your important data will be there when you reinstall it later.

Here are three strategies you can follow:

Remove rarely used apps: Go down the list to pick the lowest-hanging fruits. For instance, select the apps you rarely use and can safely offload or delete. Delete unnecessary files: If you don't want to do either, go to the individual apps and delete unnecessary files they save. For instance, you might erase large iMessage attachments or remove some downloaded songs from Spotify. Uninstall completed games: Delete games you've completed, as game files eat up a lot of space. They're sometimes more of a space hog than photos and videos, which we will nix next.

2. Delete Old Photos and Videos on Your iPhone

Videos and photos occupy a lot of space on most people's iPhones. To clear them and make extra space, you can start by deleting duplicates and bad photos with the help of a photo deleting app.

If you're diving into the Photos app to clean up your photo library, remember to empty the Recently Deleted album afterward. Not clearing this album will cause the issue where your iPhone photos still use up space even after they're deleted.

So, in the Albums tab, go to Recently Deleted > Select, tap the ellipsis icon, and choose Delete All.

We also recommend enabling iCloud Photos to upload your photos and videos to the cloud and save space on your device. Afterward, it's best to go to Settings > Photos and select Optimize iPhone Storage to gain even more space on your iPhone.

Alternatively, you can simply copy them from your iPhone to your computer and use the computer as a primary backup. Then, delete the media from your device.

3. Avoid Taking HDR Photos and Videos With Your iPhone's Camera

Tack-sharp iPhone photographs and videos taken with High Dynamic Range (HDR) mode come at a price—they take up more space than their normal counterparts.

On the iPhone 13 and later models, you can turn off HDR for videos but not photos. Go to Settings > Camera > Record Video and toggle off HDR Video.

The iPhone 11 and earlier models do not record HDR videos to start with, so what you can disable is HDR for photos. Go to Settings > Camera and toggle off Smart HDR. You should also avoid tapping the HDR icon in the Camera app.

According to Apple Support, only the iPhone 12 models have the option to disable both HDR photos and videos.

4. Optimize Your iPhone's Messaging Apps

SMS, iMessage, and unattended spam messages can add up over time. In the Messages app, you can limit the number of messages stored by automatically deleting them after some time.

Go to Settings > Messages > Keep Messages and choose either 30 days or 1 year instead of Forever. Tap Delete when you see the confirmation popup.

You can free up space on your iPhone by optimizing storage on third-party messaging apps like WhatsApp. You can first check how much storage each message thread uses by heading to WhatsApp > Settings > Storage and Data > Manage Storage.

Then, tap each contact to view all media (sorted by file size) that's taking up space in your chat and selectively delete them from there.

You can also tap into one of your chat conversations in the Chats tab, tap your contact's name to access their contact info, then scroll down to select Clear Chat to delete all your past texts with that person.

5. Use External Storage for Your iPhone

Though it's more useful for your workflow on an iPad, iPhone users can also plug in a flash drive and use it with the revamped Files app. It's one of the ways to get more storage on your iPhone.

Most thumb drives and memory card readers with built-in Lightning connectors should work fine. You can use the extra space to store music, video, and photos using the drive's additional storage. Then, put the Files app to work as a media viewer.

Apple states that exFAT, FAT32, FAT, HSF+, and APFS formats are supported, but Microsoft's NTFS format is not.

6. Clear System Data and Other Storage on Your iPhone

The System Data and Other storage you will spot on the iPhone Storage screen is a holding area for cache files of all kinds, especially from streaming services, Siri voices, and log files.

If this occupies too much space (approximately more than 20GB), we have some tips to help you clear your iPhone's system data and other storage.

Our tips above should help to free up significant space on your iPhone, especially after you remove unused apps and declutter your Photos app.

Still, if you're critically low on storage or need to regain an extra bit of space to quickly store a few photos or install an app, one last tip is to wipe your iPhone's browser caches.

To clear Safari's cache, go to Settings > Safari > Clear History and Website Data. Select All History and tap Clear History. Repeat similar steps for other browser apps on your iPhone.

Of course, you can also opt to start afresh by factory resetting your iPhone. Keep your iPhone data backed up, then start from scratch with a better plan to re-organize your device.

In the future, we highly recommend buying an iPhone with more storage space if you plan to shoot lots of photos and videos, play games, or save music to your device for offline enjoyment.

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