There’s no denying that photos and videos take up an unfair amount of storage space on your iPhone. This is great news to keep in mind if you’re willing to do away with some personal picture and video in order to make space for other files you want to download. But many of us aren’t eager to part with these, nor are we always so willing to take the time to go through all of our photos and save the ones we want in iCloud, then delete and permanently delete the ones we don’t want.
Sometimes you just need to free up storage fast. And, during those times, there are a few steps you can take that give you back valuable storage, while also allowing you to keep your photographs and video intact on your phone. If you want to clear up iPhone storage ASAP without deleting photos, here are some tips that will help.
Delete Apps You Never Use
Be honest: how many apps are you keeping on your phone just in case the day comes when you might want to use them. All of those games, photo editing apps, and news and shopping apps that you never click on? Delete them and immediately gain back storage. Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage. Here you can view how much storage space each app is taking up. If there’s an app here you don’t need, delete it.
Clear Browsing History
Every time you search the web via Safari, the browser stores information about where you’ve been and what you’ve been doing. All of that data adds up over time and can result in a lack of storage space. This is a simple fix. Go to Settings > Safari and tap "Clear History and Website Data.” Make it a habit of doing this every few months to keep on top of this maintenance task.
Remove Unnecessary Data
There’s no reason to have any data on your phone that isn’t serving you. And, in the case of large files, these can take up a ton of storage space. Head to Settings > General > iPhone Storage. Tap on "Offload Unused Apps" or "Review Large Attachments" and delete anything you no longer need.
Change Your Image File Format
If you change your image file format, you may have to handle deleting and moving photos over to iCloud less often. Truthfully, you may not need to take the highest resolution photos — and doing so takes up more storage space. To rectify this and choose a format that works for you, go to Settings > Camera > Formats and choose a format option for your photos, as well as one for your videos.
These simple maintenance steps can help keep your storage space available so that you can use it to download apps you want, stream media content, take photos, and more.
