iPhone storage full? 9 ways to free up space

1. See what is using your storage

Before deleting anything, find out where the space went. iOS breaks it down for you.

1. Open Settings → General → iPhone Storage.
2. Wait a few seconds for the coloured bar at the top to load. It shows Apps, Photos, Media, Messages, iOS and System Data.
3. Scroll down. Apps are listed from largest to smallest, and iOS may suggest quick wins such as reviewing large videos or offloading unused apps.

For most people, Photos is the biggest block. A 4K video can take hundreds of megabytes per minute, and burst shots and near-identical photos pile up quietly. If that is you, start with steps 2 to 5.

2. Empty Recently Deleted

This is the step people miss. When you delete a photo or video, it moves to Recently Deleted and keeps using space for up to 30 days. If you just cleared hundreds of photos and your storage did not move, this is why.

1. Open Photos and scroll down to Utilities (on older iOS versions: Albums → Utilities).
2. Tap Recently Deleted and unlock it with Face ID or your passcode.
3. Tap Select → Delete All. This cannot be undone, so check there is nothing you want back first.

3. Delete duplicate and similar photos

iPhone has a built-in Duplicates album (iOS 16 and later) under Photos → Utilities → Duplicates. Tap Merge on a set and iOS keeps the best-quality copy. We walk through it in detail in how to delete duplicate photos on iPhone.

The catch: the built-in album only finds exact or near-exact copies. It does not group the ten almost-identical shots you took of the same sunset, or a burst where only one frame is sharp. Those similar photos are usually where most of the wasted space is.

4. Find and remove large videos

Videos are the heaviest thing on most iPhones. A few old screen recordings or long 4K clips can easily add up to several gigabytes.

1. In Settings → General → iPhone Storage, look for a Review Personal Videos suggestion. It lists your videos from largest to smallest when iOS offers it.
2. Or open Photos → Media Types → Videos and look through the longest clips first.
3. Before deleting a video you want to keep, save it to a computer or a cloud service.

To record smaller videos from now on, go to Settings → Camera → Record Video and choose 1080p at 30 fps instead of 4K. For everyday clips the difference on a phone screen is small, and the files are several times smaller.

5. Clear out screenshots

Screenshots are rarely worth keeping for long: boarding passes, order confirmations, a map from last year. Open Photos → Media Types → Screenshots (and Screen Recordings next to it), select the ones you no longer need and delete them. Screen recordings in particular can be large.

6. Turn on Optimize iPhone Storage

If you use iCloud Photos, you can keep the full-resolution originals in iCloud and smaller versions on the phone. The originals download when you open them.

1. Open Settings → Photos.
2. Make sure iCloud Photos is on, then choose Optimize iPhone Storage.

This only helps if your iCloud plan has room for your whole library. Photos you delete on the iPhone are also deleted from iCloud, so this is not a backup.

7. Shrink Messages

Years of photos, videos and voice notes in iMessage and WhatsApp can take gigabytes.

1. Go to Settings → Messages → Keep Messages and choose 1 Year or 30 Days. Older messages and their attachments are deleted, so save anything important first.
2. In Settings → General → iPhone Storage → Messages, open Top Conversations or Photos and Videos to delete the biggest attachments one by one.
3. For WhatsApp, open WhatsApp → Settings → Storage and Data → Manage Storage to review large files and chats.

8. Offload apps you don’t use

Offloading removes an app but keeps its documents and data, so nothing is lost when you reinstall it.

1. To offload one app: Settings → General → iPhone Storage, tap the app, then Offload App.
2. To let iOS do it automatically when space runs low: turn on Offload Unused Apps in Settings → App Store.

Games are often the biggest apps on the list. If you finished one months ago, delete it outright.

9. Remove downloads and browser data

Offline episodes, playlists and maps are easy to forget.

• Streaming apps: check the Downloads tab in Netflix, Spotify, Podcasts, Apple Music and similar apps. In Podcasts you can also stop episodes from downloading automatically.
• Files: open the Files app, go to On My iPhone → Downloads and remove old PDFs and zip files.
• Safari: Settings → Safari → Clear History and Website Data clears cached website data. You will be signed out of some websites.

What about “System Data”?

System Data (called “Other” on older iOS versions) holds caches, logs and temporary files that iOS manages itself. You can’t delete it directly, and no app can clear it for you. It usually shrinks on its own when the phone needs space. Restarting the iPhone and clearing Safari data (step 9) can bring it down.

A heads-up: apps that promise to “clean your iPhone’s cache” or “boost memory” can’t do that on iOS. Apple does not let apps touch other apps’ data. What a cleaner app can do is help you sort your photo library, contacts and calendar, which is where the space usually is.