Are you running into iPhone storage issues? Well, you are certainly not alone. iPhones come with non-expandable storage, which means every now and then, you run out of storage and need to free up iPhone storage before you can do anything on your device.
If your iPhone is low on storage and you are unable to take photos, record videos, update iOS or download apps, then this guide will help you.
Free Up iPhone Storage
1. Check storage stats on iPhone
First of all, visit iPhone’s Storage page to see how much storage is free on your device by going to Settings -> General -> iPhone Storage.
On this page, you can also see a breakdown of which type of data is taking up storage on your device. This includes apps, photos, messages, music, mail, iOS, and system data.
Scroll down this page to see which apps are using up the most space. The size of the app will be written next to each app’s name.
2. Delete apps you don’t use
One of the quickest ways to free up storage on an iPhone is by deleting apps you don’t use. On the iPhone Storage page, access the list of apps. Under each app’s name, you will be able to see the last time you used that app. If it has been months since you used an app, it is time to delete it.
You can quickly delete the app by tapping on its name and then hitting the Delete App option on the next page.
3. Offload apps automatically
While you can also offload apps instead of deleting them by following the same steps mentioned in the previous section, you can also free up iPhone storage automatically by making your iPhone automatically offload apps.
To enable this, go to Settings -> Apps -> App Store and turn on the toggle for Offload Unused Apps. After enabling this setting, your iPhone will remove the apps you have not used in a while. Don’t worry, the app’s documents and data will stay on your device, and you can quickly re-download it and use it whenever you need to use it from its icon.
4. Get rid of Large Messages App Attachments
You can free up lots of iPhone storage by removing large attachments from the Messages app. To do this, go to Settings -> General -> iPhone Storage. Here, tap on the Review Large Attachments option, and the next screen, select and delete photos and videos from iMessage attachments.
5. Clear Safari Data
Safari’s browsing data can take up a lot of iPhone storage. This can include website data, cached files, and old browsing data.
You can easily get rid of it by going to Settings -> Apps -> Safari. Here, tap on the Clear History and Website Data option. Select the All History option to clear it.
6. Delete unnecessary files
If you use the Files app to store your files and documents, then after some time it can be filled with unnecessary clutter that takes up a large portion of your iPhone’s storage. Open the Files app and tap on the Browse button from the bottom bar. Then tap on On My iPhone.
Here, review all the files and delete the ones you don’t need. Doing this can help you free up a lot of iPhone storage.
7. Optimize photos to reduce their size
The number one culprit when it comes to hogging iPhone storage are photos and videos. The good news is that there is an option in iOS that lets you store lighter versions of photos on your iPhone while large full-resolution versions of the same images are stored in iCloud and are available whenever you need them.
You can easily enable this feature by going to Settings -> Apps -> Photos and selecting Optimize iPhone Storage option.
8. Reduce System Data Size
While you cannot delete System Data on your iPhone, you can help reduce it. Restart your iPhone, update it to the latest version of iOS, and clear Safari History to reduce the size of System Data on your iPhone.
Conclusion
So these are some of the steps that you can take to free up iPhone storage in a few minutes. Most of these steps will help you get back GBs of storage that can be crucial when you want to take an important photo, download an app, or update your iPhone’s software.
How much iPhone storage were you able to free up? Let us know in the comments below.
