Before you leave for El Salvador or another country, don’t forget to make some room on your iPhone for new photos and applications. While you’re packing and arranging for travel, your phone storage can already be nearly full with old files and apps. To avoid running out of space on the trip, you’ll need to clean up iPhone storage quickly. In this article, we’ll show you how to free up iPhone storage, so low-memory notifications won’t get in the way of your travels.
What Takes Up Most of Your iPhone Storage?
To get more storage on your iPhone before your trip, start by identifying what takes up the most space. Instead of deleting everything at once, it’s better to take a thoughtful solution. Concentrate on removing unnecessary items, such as outdated photos, videos, or unused apps. You might otherwise be erasing 5GB apps while ignoring the Photos app, which could take up 100GB.
How to view storage capacity on an iPhone:
- Open the Settings app found on the main screen.
- Move down the list and find ‘General,’ then choose it.
- Select ‘iPhone Storage.’ Wait for a moment as the system calculates and shows a summary of storage usage.
- At the start of the page, a graph with colors appears. This shows various file types and the amount of space each one uses.
Sometimes, below the storage graph, iOS might display tips to help with big files. It could suggest looking through old photos, lengthy videos, or large message attachments, which would give an idea of where to start clearing space. If nothing shows up, it is no cause for concern. Below, we will guide you through methods to optimize your iPhone’s storage.
5 Ways on How to Clear Up Space on Your iPhone
When you’re going on a trip, you don’t want to spend extra money on iCloud+ or other solutions, so the sections below provide methods on how to get more storage on an iPhone for free. These methods are aimed at the main categories of files that take up space in your storage and for which iOS can make recommendations – photos and videos, downloaded files, apps, and messages. By selecting a method based on your storage use, you can simply release enough space for your travel.
But if you have to make more space on your iPhone, then after using the above ways, don’t forget the rule: the more you delete, the more space you have.
1. Manage Your Photos and Videos
Your Photos app likely holds not only memories from past trips or special events but also long-unneeded files. Screenshots tend to stack up unnoticed, taking valuable space. Duplicate or near identical images multiply quietly and videos recorded impulsively linger unseen. Clearing these manually through the Photos app is possible, but amidst the chaos of catching a flight this task is anything but convenient.
A more efficient method involves using a dedicated iPhone cleaning app. One such app, Clever Cleaner: AI Cleanup App, allows you to delete duplicate and similar photos, screenshots, and large videos in just a few taps. You can even convert a live photo to a still image within the app. Best of all, the application is absolutely free.
How to use Clever Cleaner to remove duplicates/similar photos:
- Go to the App Store and install Clever Cleaner: AI Cleanup App.
- Start the app. You will need to allow it access to your photo library. Once you grant permission, wait for the app to complete the initial scan.
- Tap the ‘Smart Cleanup’ button. If you prefer to remove duplicates selectively rather than all at once, tap on any grouped photos, select the photos you wish to delete, and choose ‘Move to Trash.’
- All chosen photos will move to the app’s trash. Here, you can review and, if necessary, restore photos. To delete them, slide the ‘Slide to Delete’.
- The app will prompt you to empty the ‘Recently Deleted’ folder within the Photos app. This action can immediately reclaim storage space. If left untouched, a photo remains stored for 30 days before disappearing automatically.
We’ve covered how to delete similar photos and duplicates, but the app offers more features, all accessible from the bottom panel. The steps for using them are similar. For a closer look with clear illustrations, view this video:
2. Clean Out Your Downloads Folder
Aside from the Photos app, another place where unnecessary files pile up is the Files app. It stores photos and videos downloaded from browsers, messages (if configured), and some messengers, along with documents, PDFs, and other file types. Unlike photos, there aren’t any apps to help clean these up and you’ll have to go through and delete them manually.
Steps to clean your downloads folder:
- Access the Files app on the iPhone.
- At the bottom, touch ‘Browse’ and choose either ‘On My iPhone’ or ‘iCloud Drive’, depending on where files are usually stored.
- Go into the ‘Downloads’ folder located within the chosen storage area.
- Press ‘Select’ at the top right part of the screen and mark the files intended for removal.
- Tap the trash icon to delete the marked files.
- A confirmation message will appear. Agree to finalize the deletion.
Same as with the Photos app, if you want to free up space immediately and not wait 30 days until you return from your trip, you’ll need to clear the Recently Deleted folder.
3. Delete Unnecessary Apps
In the case of apps, the space they occupy isn’t only from the installation package – it also accounts for built-up app data over time. This could be downloaded content (from YouTube, Spotify, etc.), game saves, saved templates in a photo editing app, cache files, etc. Some apps permit deleting this data through their settings, usually under items like “Clear сache” or “Free up app space”. But going through each program in turn wastes more than enough time.
A faster approach is to concentrate on the apps you’ll actually need for your trip, like maps, photo editors, food delivery, or ride-hailing services and uninstall anything you won’t use. This not only removes the app itself but also wipes out its stored files, instantly freeing up extra space.
Here’s how you can delete apps:
- Press the ‘Settings’ icon on an iPhone.
- Move further down and find ‘General’.
- Look for ‘iPhone Storage’ and press it. A summary will appear, showing apps with the space they occupy.
- Pick an app that you no longer need.
- Select ‘Delete App’ from its details section. Confirm the action when prompted and the app, along with its data, will vanish.
Deleting an app directly from the home screen also can be done effortlessly if the size of the app and its stored data is not a concern.
4. Remove Large Message Attachments
Text messages themselves take up barely any space on an iPhone. Yet the pictures, videos and sound clips tucked within them can quietly grow into a substantial load, consuming storage. There is no need to erase whole conversations to make space. A smarter way is to remove those hefty files, freeing up iPhone space with these hidden tricks.
Steps to quickly remove large message attachments:
- Tap the ‘Settings’ icon on the iPhone.
- Scroll downward to find ‘General’ and select it.
- Look for ‘iPhone Storage’ and open it. Wait briefly as the device calculates app usage.
- In the list of apps, locate ‘Messages’ and select it to access more details.
- Within ‘Messages,’ categories like Top Conversations, Photos, Videos, GIFs, and Stickers will appear, showing how much space each takes up.
- For any category, use the Edit option in the top right corner to choose specific attachments.
- Mark items for removal by tapping the checkmark beside them.
- Once selected, confirm deletion by tapping the trash icon.
5. Delete All Unnecessary Data in One Step
The final method to consider takes a bold step – restoring an iPhone to its original factory state. This process erases all stored content, sweeping away personal files, applications, and everything else. To protect important files before undertaking this reset, creating an iCloud backup is a wise choice.
This option works best for those with an iCloud+ plan since the standard 5 GB storage might fall short for full backups.
- Tap the ‘Settings’ icon on the iPhone to begin. At the top of the menu, select the name or Apple ID.
- Open iCloud settings by tapping ‘iCloud.’ For a complete list of apps storing data in iCloud, tap ‘See All’ next to ‘Saved to iCloud.’
- View the list and adjust which items to include in the backup.
- After deciding, press the back arrow on the top left to return to the iCloud menu. Locate and tap ‘iCloud Backup.’ Then choose ‘Back Up Now’ to begin the process. Confirm a Wi Fi connection remains active while this runs.
- Once the backup finishes, go back to the main Settings menu. Scroll down and tap ‘General.’ At the bottom, select ‘Transfer or Reset iPhone.’
- Choose ‘Erase All Content and Settings’ to clear the iPhone and restore its factory condition. After it finishes resetting, power the iPhone on. Follow the setup steps until reaching the Apps & Data screen.
- Pick ‘Restore from iCloud Backup.’ Sign in to iCloud and select the earlier backup to restore data.
We hope this article has helped you find ways to free up storage on your iPhone before your next trip. In most cases, photos and apps take up the most space, so it’s best to start with those. Other methods can help, but they work best as additional steps for maximizing storage.
Also, be cautious if you consider resetting your iPhone. If you miss something in your backup, you won’t be able to recover it later. Take your time with this option, as it requires more attention than the quicker cleanup methods.