How to Scrub Your iPhone to Free Up Storage

Think of all the photos, GIFs, group chats, games and music libraries that are taking up space on your iPhone. It’s likely become a storage hub for a lot more than just basic stuff text messages. However, this also means that there can easily be a lack of space. Although Apple has increased the The default storage of the iPhone from up to 128 GB for the iPhone 13 and iPhone 14that may not be enough for everyone.

The best way to save local storage space is to invest in it a cloud storage service like Apple’s iCloud, Google Drive, Box or Dropbox to offload some of your files. But there are also certain settings you can change to ensure you’re making full use of your iPhone’s storage capacity. Now that iOS 16 launched, your iPhone can also detect duplicate photos, which should make it easier to keep your picture library lean and organized.

Learn more about how to free up space on your iPhone below.

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First, see what’s taking up the most space on your iPhone

To maximize your iPhones memory, you need to know what is occupied your device first of all. Take a look at what’s eating up your storage space so you know where to start. begin settingsbeat General and scroll down to iPhone storage. Select this option to see a breakdown of the types of files and media that are taking up space on your iPhone. Apple could also give some recommendations on how to free up disk space, such as: B. Checking videos stored on your device as shown below.

Make sure your iPhone optimizes photo storage

photos are among the biggest culprits when it comes to eating up storage space on your iPhone. But the iPhone settings Menu has an option that allows your device to save smaller photo files locally when your device is low on storage instead of the original versions. These full-resolution photos and videos are stored in instead iCloud, and you can download them as needed. To ensure this feature is enabled, first open the settings apartment Then scroll down to photos and make sure there is a blue check mark next to it Optimize iPhone storage Possibility.

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Save photos and videos to a cloud service instead of your device

The best way to free up disk space your iPhone is removing files that you don’t need to store on your device. But that doesn’t mean you have to downsize your photo library. Instead, try storing them in it a third-party cloud storage service like Google Photos and not on your device. It’s a quick way to free up a lot of storage space without having to part with old memories.

However, before deleting anything, make sure the photos you want to save have been backed up or transferred google photos. If your photos and videos are not backed up to another service like Google Photos, Dropbox, Box or OneDrive before deleting, they will be permanently deleted. This to lead walks you through how to copy your entire iCloud photo library to Google Photos, but note that the unlimited free storage option is no longer available.

You may be wondering why you need to use a separate cloud service when your photos are already stored in iCloud. That’s because deleting your photos from your iPhone also deletes them from iCloud, so you should use a different service if you plan to delete pictures from your device.

Delete apps you no longer use

Another great way to erase your iPhone is to get rid of it app You no longer use. If you don’t know where to start, check out which apps you haven’t used in a while. open yours iPhones settings Menu, tap General and go to iPhone storage. You’ll see a list of your apps along with the storage each app is taking up and when you last used them. Scroll through the list and try deleting apps that you haven’t used in a while.

Unload apps that you don’t use all the time

If you don’t want to delete an app, you can swap it out instead. Offloading allows you to keep the documents and data associated with this app, so you can always reinstall it and quickly pick up right where you left off. Navigate back to the above list by opening settingsto press General and choose iPhone storage. Tap and select any app in the list Download the app. You can also set yours iPhone to do this automatically by opening settingstap the app store option and make sure that the Unload unused apps Switch is on.

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Automatically delete old messages

It is not just photos, videos and apps that may be cluttering up your iPhone’s storage. get rid of old text messages can also be helpful. You can set your iPhone to automatically erase yours message history through opening settingsSelect Messages and tap the keep messages option below message history. From there, choose whether you want your iPhone to save text messages for 30 days, a year, or forever.

Delete videos and music from apps

You probably have videos and music Stored offline in multiple apps on your phone, and luckily there’s an easy way to find and delete these files. begin settingsSelect General and select iPhone storage. Look for an app you downloaded offline content from, e.g. e.g.Netflix. You will then see storage information about the app, e.g. B. their size and buttons for deleting or swapping.

If you downloaded offline videos, you will also see a section for this content under the Delete App button. Place your finger on a downloaded video and swipe all the way to the left side of the screen to delete it.

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Clear your web browser’s cache

You can always try to clean yours web browser Cache if you’re really looking for storage space, although deleting apps and media makes a much bigger difference. But this might help you iPhone bit of a speed boost when browsing the web, so it’s worth a try if you’re low on disk space and experiencing sluggish browser performance. However, keep in mind that this will log you out of websites you have logged into.

Open settingsSelect safari and type Clear history and website data.

if you use google chrome, Tap the three dots at the bottom of the screen and select story and type Clear browser data. There should be a check mark next to three categories: Browser history, Cookies, Site Data and Cached images and files. If you only want to clear browsing data for a specific period of time, tap Period of time option at the top of the screen before you hit Clear browser data at the bottom.

Looking for more iPhone tips? Check out our guide to the best new features in iOS 16. Plus, Here’s how to clear your iPhone’s cache.