Many iPhone owners face the reality of storage shortage. It could be while you’re trying to update the operating system or capture memorable photographs. Sadly, upgrading an iPhone’s internal storage isn’t an option. But fret not! We’re here to help. You no longer have to search for how to free up memory on your iPhone.
Best Ways to Clear Storage on iPhones/iPads
#1 Make a Photo Revision
You likely already identified the primary culprit of taking up space (we’re referring to you, the Photos app). While deleting your entire photo library isn’t a viable solution, there are certain items that you can remove:
- Duplicate photos, such as those that you downloaded multiple times.
- Similar shots, such as the five selfies you took to choose the best one.
- Photos of whiteboards, notes, checks, and similar items.
- Unnecessary screenshots.
- Videos that are both large and unwanted.
#2 Empty Your Browser’s Cache
To remove unnecessary clutter from your iPhone or iPad, don’t forget to clear the cache for the Safari web browser or any other mobile browser you use. In Safari, go to Settings > Safari and tap on Clear History and Website Data.
If you’re using Chrome on iOS, open the app, tap the three dots at the bottom-right corner, and select History. From there, you can tap on Clear Browsing Data to wipe out everything or choose to Edit and remove specific sites. Another option is to navigate to Settings > Privacy > Clear Browsing Data, which allows you to delete browsing history, cookies, site data, cached images and files, saved passwords, and autofill data – all at once if desired! Check out “How to Clear Your Cache on Any Browser” for more detailed instructions.
#3 Use a Cleaning App
There is a smart cleaning function offered by the CleanUp app. Why is she smart? Because it only deletes unnecessary data. When you run the app to clean up more memory on your device, it will start searching for garbage. With clean up apps on iPhone, you can get rid of duplicate files, and temporary data, and a compression feature is also available. You can boost your phone and not lose any valuable data. Plus you clean the device in 1-2 minutes.
#4 Delete Apps
Navigate to the iPhone Storage section in Settings > General and proceed through the list of apps, which are sorted by size and display the last usage date. Once you find an app you wish to uninstall, swipe left on it and select Delete App. Another method to quickly free up space involves deleting apps directly from the Home screen.
The process varies slightly based on your iOS version.
- In the most recent iOS versions, press and hold an icon until a menu appears.
- Then, tap Remove App.
- A confirmation window will appear to ensure you want to delete the app.
- Select Delete App to remove it from your iPhone.
#5 Delete Attachments in Messages
When it comes to texting, it’s not just limited to text. You exchange memes, GIFs, selfies, and even videos of your cat dozing off the couch. All this content gets stored on your iPhone, even if you don’t save it to Photos. As a result, if you’re an active texter, it can quickly take up a lot of space.
If you want to clear up some iPhone memory by removing all your attachments from Messages, here’s what you need to do:
- Open Settings on your iPhone.
- Navigate to General, and then tap on iPhone Storage.
- Scroll down until you find Messages and tap on it.
- Within Messages, you’ll see a list of categories such as Top Conversations, Photos, GIFs and Stickers, and Other. Tap on the category that occupies the most space. Keep in mind that deleting attachments in Top Conversations will remove entire threads, not just the attachments. If you want to avoid that, focus on Photos and other content.
- In the upper-right corner, tap on Edit.
- Mark all the attachments you want to delete.
- Tap the Trash icon to delete the selected attachments.
#6 Clear Downloaded App Content
You are likely to consume a plethora of content daily – music, videos, podcasts, and more. And if you download that content to enjoy offline during commutes or long flights, you might find yourself with a surplus of files piled up. Consequently, applications like YouTube, Netflix, and Spotify can occupy substantial iPhone storage, each taking up several gigabytes.
Follow these steps to delete saved Netflix movies and series from your iPhone:
- Open the Netflix app.
- Navigate to Downloads.
- Tap the pencil icon in the top right corner.
- Tap the red X to delete the video.
Next, let’s address YouTube. To remove offline YouTube videos, follow these steps:
- Launch the YouTube app.
- Go to Library > Downloads.
- Tap the three dots next to a downloaded video.
- Select “Delete from downloads.”
- Repeat for each video.
Final Words
Most of the space on devices is usually taken up by photos, videos, and applications with their data. All of the above methods can reduce the space that the iPhone spends on storing the listed data. What is more valuable to you, and what takes up more space? The choice is yours.
