Spring Clean: Tips to Free Up iPhone Storage Space


free up iphone storage

One of the most annoying things about the iPhone is getting the notification that pops up when you’re trying to take a photo or trying to back up your new settings to the iCloud saying you are out of storage. Managing the storage on the iPhone and iCloud isn’t always easy. In fact, many people seem to miss the mark when they are trying to better manage their storage space for both options. In this article, we’re going to look at ways to better manage your iPhone and iCloud storage for a better Apple experience all around.

Reasons to Manage Your Storage

There are several reasons that you should better manage your storage on your iPhone and iCloud. For one, too much data on your phone can cause it to slow down, which initially messes with your iPhone’s overall performance. It slows down the regular functions like opening apps, typing, and more. Managing your storage can help keep your phone running smoothly. Another issue with too much data and not enough storage is the inability to update your phone. There is nothing more exciting than a new iOS update, but when you have limited storage, these updates are impossible. However, keeping your storage managed can prevent that frustrating struggle to delete enough old data to finally update your phone. We’ve all been there, don’t worry.

Tips to free up iPhone storage space

Full is too Late

One of the issues that many people face when their iPhone and iCloud storage is too full is the fact that it’s too late to deal with anything. Often, the notification pops up when everything is full, and it seems almost impossible to clear out things to make more room without deleting important things. Instead of waiting until you get that initial notification, one of the best tips that you could consider is starting to better manage your storage now. If you have several documents or notes you don’t use, delete them. If you don’t use many apps on your phone, try deleting them. If there is music, you never listen to, delete the songs or turn on iCloud streaming for your music. It can help you manage your storage before it’s too late.

Settings for Viewing

free up iphone storage settingsIf you aren’t sure where to find your storage options for both your iPhone and your iCloud, the best place to find this information is in your settings location on your phone.

To find your iCloud storage, simply click on “Settings” on your home screen. When you see your Apple ID banner at the top, click on your name. This should bring up the various information about your overall Apple ID, your name, phone number, and more. Your iCloud should be right there toward the top. When you select the iCloud section, it will bring up the information about your iCloud, your storage, and what apps are connected to your iCloud account.

To find your iPhone storage information, you will first need to go to your settings location, find the “General” area, and click it. Once it opens, you need to scroll until you find the section that reads “iPhone Storage.” This area shows you how much storage you have left, how much is being used, and what it is being used on. You can choose to do a few things, but we will discuss this below.

Freeing up Space

The best way to manage your storage is to free up some space. If you go to your iPhone storage section, there are several ways to manage your storage. The first is to offload any unused apps. With this, you can offload any of the apps you don’t use very often. Your documents and data from the app are saved, but the app is removed from your phone to make more space. You can also upload your photos to your iCloud library then delete them from your phone. 

Freeing space on iCloud

If you want to delete things and free up space in your iCloud, you will first need to find your iCloud libraries. Your photo app can pull up your iCloud Photo Library, where you can see the photos and delete some to reduce the size of your library. You can also go to your settings location to delete any old iPhone backups that you no longer need. To do this, head to the settings location, the Apple ID spot, and the iCloud location. When you tap on manage storage, you will find a place to backup and manage backups. This can help you save space.

free up iphone storage icloud

Purchasing iCloud Storage

Sometimes, you just need a little more iCloud storage to hold everything that is near and dear to you on your phone. Usually, this includes photos and documents that people want to keep for the future. If you run out of storage space on your iCloud, you can always purchase more. To purchase more space, simply go to your settings location, find your Apple ID, and tap on the iCloud option. When it pops up, go to “Manage storage,” and there you can find a place to change your storage plan. When you tap an option, it gives you prices and storage size. Choose the one you want and tap the “Buy” option in the right-hand top corner.

Bottom line

No, it’s never ideal to run out of space on your iPhone or iCloud. Since you are always trying to add new content and data, having space issues on either option can be a hindrance from your phone usage. However, if you know what you are doing, you can adequately free up space you need to better use and enjoy your iPhone on a regular basis. It can be as simple as deleting a few files or purchasing more storage on your iCloud, but these features can make it easy to keep your phone running in tip-top shape so you can take all the photos, download all the apps, and buy all the songs you want.

This post was written by British Solomon. She is a contributing writer and media specialist for Unduit. She regularly produces content for a variety of technology and business blogs.


Kokou Adzo

Kokou Adzo is a stalwart in the tech journalism community, has been chronicling the ever-evolving world of Apple products and innovations for over a decade. As a Senior Author at Apple Gazette, Kokou combines a deep passion for technology with an innate ability to translate complex tech jargon into relatable insights for everyday users.

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  1. Have an early iPhone 6 with 64 GB storage and a 5 GB iCloud account.

    Storage: used = 10.86 GB & available = 49.14 GB

    iCloud: Total = 5 GB & available = 3.91 GB

    Interesting article.