11 Ways to Free Up Space on iPhone

Table of contents:

11 Ways to Free Up Space on iPhone
11 Ways to Free Up Space on iPhone

Video: 11 Ways to Free Up Space on iPhone

Video: 11 Ways to Free Up Space on iPhone
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Like the beauty of the compact iPhone display, the "charm" of the device will end when you run out of storage memory. Fortunately, this problem is not an international crisis and can be easily solved: you can free up space on your device in a few minutes by deleting unused apps, data, and media. You can also take advantage of some of the iPhone's built-in memory expansion and processes to completely disable the device's hard disk usage.

Step

Method 1 of 11: Reset iPhone RAM

Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 1
Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 1

Step 1. Unlock the device

Random Access Memory (RAM) on the phone is provided to process data. However, as with computers, this memory can be filled with temporary files. By resetting your device's RAM, you can increase the processing speed.

If you've applied a passcode or Touch ID to your device, you'll need to enter it. Otherwise, touch the “Home” button to unlock the phone

Troubleshoot Around a Stuck iPhone Home Button Step 9
Troubleshoot Around a Stuck iPhone Home Button Step 9

Step 2. Hold down the lock button

This button is on the side of the device. By holding down the button, a menu to turn off the phone (shutdown) will be displayed after a while.

Troubleshoot Around a Stuck iPhone Home Button Step 10
Troubleshoot Around a Stuck iPhone Home Button Step 10

Step 3. Release the lock button

Now, you can see an option at the top of the screen with a "slide to power off" message.

Troubleshoot Around a Stuck iPhone Home Button Step 11
Troubleshoot Around a Stuck iPhone Home Button Step 11

Step 4. Hold down the “Home” button

You need to hold down this button until the iPhone returns to the home screen.

This process will reset the random access memory (RAM) of the device which can increase the processing speed of the phone

Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 5
Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 5

Step 5. Review the reset results

To see changes to the processing speed, open an application. Now, this app can load faster than ever before. While it won't free up space on the device's hard disk, this method can significantly speed up the iPhone process.

Method 2 of 11: Removing Unused Apps

Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 6
Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 6

Step 1. Look for unused apps

Step 2. Touch and hold the app icon

The icon (along with other icons) will begin to wiggle. You may also see an "X" button in the top-left corner of the app icon.

Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 8
Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 8

Step 3. Tap the "X" button in the corner of the app icon

After that, a pop-up menu will appear asking if you want to delete the app.

Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 9
Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 9

Step 4. Touch “Delete” to confirm selection

The app will be deleted from the iPhone afterwards.

  • Step 5. Repeat this process for any deprecated apps on iPhone

    If you haven't used a particular app for more than a month, it's a good idea to delete it.

    Method 3 of 11: Deleting Documents and Data

    Documents and data are application caches, login information, message history, and other application documents stored on the device. Over time, the size of the documents and data used by the application can swell, exceeding the size of the application itself.

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 11
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 11

    Step 1. Touch the settings menu (“Settings”) from the home screen

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 12
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 12

    Step 2. Touch the “General” option on the “Settings” page

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 13
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 13

    Step 3. Next, tap on “iPhone Storage”

    On this page, you can see a list of all the apps installed on your phone and the amount of memory each app is using.

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 14
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 14

    Step 4. Touch the app that is taking up a lot of storage space

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 15
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 15

    Step 5. Touch the “Delete App” button

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 16
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 16

    Step 6. Open the App Store app and reinstall the same app

    Now, the app won't take up as much storage space as before because the app's documents and data are emptied (or nearly empty).

    Method 4 of 11: Deleting Photos and Videos

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 17
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 17

    Step 1. Touch the “Photos” app icon to open it

    This app saves all visual media from camera roll folder, downloaded photos and social media duplicates. With this app, you can delete photos and videos that you don't need.

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 18
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 18

    Step 2. Select the photos you want to delete

    You can select it via the “Camera Roll” folder which contains all the photos, videos, and similar content. To select a photo:

    • Tap the " Albums " button in the lower right corner of the screen.
    • Select "Camera Roll".
    • Tap "Select" in the top right corner of the screen.
    • Touch each photo/video you want to delete.
    • You can see that social media apps like Instagram and Snapchat usually keep duplicates of photos already on your phone. By deleting the duplicate content, you can free up large amounts of storage space, without removing the original content from the iPhone library.
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 19
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 19

    Step 3. Tap the trash can icon in the lower right corner of the screen

    After that, a pop-up message confirming the deletion of the photo will be displayed.

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 20
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 20

    Step 4. Touch "Delete [number] Photos" button

    After that, the deleted photos will be moved to the "Recently Deleted" folder.

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 21
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 21

    Step 5. Empty the "Recently Deleted" folder

    When deleted, the photos will be moved to the “Recently Deleted” folder in the “Albums” menu. To delete photos in the “Recently Deleted” folder:

    • Tap " Albums " in the top left corner of the screen.
    • Touch the "Recently Deleted" folder.
    • Tap "Select" in the top right corner of the screen.
    • Select "Delete All" in the lower left corner of the screen.
    • Select " Delete [number] Items ".
    Turn Off Vibrate on iPhone Step 6
    Turn Off Vibrate on iPhone Step 6

    Step 6. Exit the Photos app

    Now, you've successfully deleted your unused photos and videos!

    Method 5 of 11: Deleting Music

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 23
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 23

    Step 1. Touch the “Music” app icon to open it

    If you need it, you can always delete an album that contains a lot of music to free up some storage space on your device.

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 24
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 24

    Step 2. Touch the “Library” tab

    After that, the iTunes library will be displayed.

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 25
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 25

    Step 3. Touch the “Songs” tab

    A list of saved songs will be displayed.

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 26
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 26

    Step 4. Delete unwanted songs

    Although individually, the existing songs will not take up much storage space, deleting unwanted albums can free up device memory. To delete a song:

    • Find the song you want to delete.
    • Touch and hold the song title.
    • Touch the " Delete from Library " button.
    • Touch the "Delete Song" button at the bottom of the screen.
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 27
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 27

    Step 5. Continue deleting songs

    With this step, the selected songs will be removed from the library. If you delete a song purchased from the Apple Store, you can still download it from iTunes as long as you have the appropriate Apple ID.

    Method 6 of 11: Deleting Messages

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 28
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 28

    Step 1. Touch the "Messages" app icon to open the message archive

    iMessages, “hidden” content or apps that take up valuable storage space on your iPhone can hold several gigabytes of chat material/data. After you delete a bunch of old messages, you can see a significant increase in the storage memory of the device.

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 29
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 29

    Step 2. Delete messages in iMessages

    Make sure you've saved all photos and videos from the conversation before deleting the message. To delete it:

    • Tap the "Edit" option in the top-left corner of the screen.
    • Touch each chat you want to delete.
    • Tap " Delete " in the lower right corner of the screen.
    Turn Off Vibrate on iPhone Step 6
    Turn Off Vibrate on iPhone Step 6

    Step 3. Close the Messages app

    Touch the “Home” button to exit the application.

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 31
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 31

    Step 4. Touch the “Phone” app

    After that, the Phone app and its content will be displayed, including the voicemail collection.

    • Clear call logs or entries (by one) from the displayed list.

      • Open call log. This log can be found under the “Recents” tab.
      • Make sure you have managed or checked all the entries in the call log because once deleted, these entries cannot be recovered.
      • Read the list carefully. You can delete individual entries from the list. Place your finger on the middle side of the entry row and slide the entry towards the left. With this step, you will show the " Delete " button. Touch the button. If you set the device to show a second warning, touch " Delete ".

        A contact bar with a red name indicates that you missed a call from that contact

      • Clear the entire list in one step to maximize storage space savings. Touch the "Edit" button on the screen. This button is usually shown at the top of the screen. After that, touch the "Clear all" button.
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 32
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 32

    Step 5. Delete voicemail

    If you can put your feelings or "memories" aside, there's no reason to keep your old voice messages on your phone because you can copy the contents of the messages in writing. To delete a voicemail:

    • Tap the " Voicemail " tab in the lower right corner of the screen.
    • Tap the "Edit" option in the top right corner of the screen.
    • Touch each voicemail that you want to delete.
    • Tap " Delete " in the lower right corner of the screen.
    Turn Off Vibrate on iPhone Step 6
    Turn Off Vibrate on iPhone Step 6

    Step 6. Close the “Phone” app

    Now, you've successfully deleted messages from iMessages, voicemail, and even some (or all) entries from the call log!

    Method 7 of 11: Clearing Cache and Data

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 34
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 34

    Step 1. Touch the settings menu (“Settings”) to display the device settings

    Safari browser cache and data can eat up storage space on a hard disk quickly. If you browse the internet frequently, clearing this information will increase the speed or performance of the system.

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 35
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 35

    Step 2. Touch the “Safari” tab

    You may need to swipe a bit further as this option is at the bottom of the “Settings” page.

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 36
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 36

    Step 3. Select the “Clear History and Website Data” option

    This option is also at the bottom of the “Safari” page.

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 37
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 37

    Step 4. Touch "Clear History and Data" to confirm selection

    After that, the Safari data will be deleted and the browser cache will be emptied.

    If Safari is still open when you clear the cache, make sure you close and reopen the app for optimal performance

    Method 8 of 11: Clear Notification Center (iOS 5 and Newer Versions)

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 38
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 38

    Step 1. Open Notification Center

    After turning on and unlocking your iPhone, swipe down from the top of the screen. After that, the notification bar will be displayed. Try pulling the blade from the center with your finger.

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 39
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 39

    Step 2. Search for each day that displays notifications

    Make sure you read the notification logs carefully to make sure you don't miss any important notifications. Until iOS 10, iPhone had a feature to sort notifications by app (this option was considered convenient), but in iOS 10, you can only sort notifications chronologically (by date and time they appeared).

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 40
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 40

    Step 3. Find and tap the "x" button next to the date or app name (depending on the iOS version you're running)

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 41
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 41

    Step 4. Touch the “Clear” button after the “x” button turns into a “Clear” button

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 42
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 42

    Step 5. Make adjustments to notifications if you feel that there are no more useful apps showing notifications

    • Open the settings menu (“Settings”) and select “Notifications”.
    • Look for an app that is no longer interesting, and tap its name.
    • Look for the "Show in Notification Center" slider bar with a green tint. If the bar is displayed in a different color (eg blue), you might suspect that notifications for the app are already enabled (older iOS versions used a different color for this type of setting).
    • Slide the slider to the left until the slider does not display the color on the bar.
    • Check the settings of this app to make sure that the app can display notifications the way you want. On iOS 9 and earlier, there are two types of alerts that can be displayed when a notification appears (with the device locked): “Banner Style” and “Alert Style”. In the “Alert” type, the notification will appear from the top and disappear, while in the “Banner” type, the notification is displayed in the form of a box in the middle of the screen. However, on iOS 10, warning messages or “alerts” can appear and disappear automatically, and are set to appear statically (and not disappear) until you manually delete them. Try making notification adjustments. You can find these settings directly in the "Show on Lock Screen" option line.
    • However, notifications can also be turned off completely (e.g. if they arrive while the device is locked).

    Method 9 of 11: Emptying Recently Used Apps Page

    Turn Off Vibrate on iPhone Step 6
    Turn Off Vibrate on iPhone Step 6

    Step 1. Double-tap the “Home” button

    After that, a page with a preview of all the apps that have been opened since the last time you restarted the device will be displayed.

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 44
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 44

    Step 2. Browse the applications that are still open one by one

    You can slide the bar left or right to see the apps you've opened and are still running in the background.

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 45
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 45

    Step 3. Place your finger in the center of the preview window of the app you want to close

    You can use more than one finger for multiple simultaneous applications that you want to close. However, you usually can't close more than two apps at once.

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 46
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 46

    Step 4. Swipe the app upwards using your finger until the app window reaches the top of the screen or disappears from the display

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 47
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 47

    Step 5. Swipe and browse the list to clean and close those apps that are not being used and still taking up memory space

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 48
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 48

    Step 6. Keep in mind that you cannot close the home screen itself from the recently used apps page

    The home screen should always be left open.

    Method 10 of 11: Setting Up Pages (Widgets)

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 49
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 49

    Step 1. Open Notification Center as described earlier

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 50
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 50

    Step 2. Switch to the widget page (“Widget”)

    Widgets was a feature that first appeared in iOS 7, but became more personal with the advent of iOS 8. If you have a lot of widgets that you don't use or no longer need, you can move/delete them. However, this process may not be the same for every iOS version. On iOS 10, you need to swipe right to display the entries on the left side of the “Notification Center” page. However, on iOS 7, 8 and 9, you need to tap the "Today" button from the top of the screen.

    Widgets can be reinstalled from the list of widgets by touching the green “+” button on the left side of the widget, below the list of available widgets

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 51
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 51

    Step 3. Swipe up the list of widgets to display the circular "Edit" button

    If there's a "# " line for new widgets, you've moved the screen too far, and need to check the previous list line. It's directly below the last widget in the list.

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 52
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 52

    Step 4. Look for the list of installed widgets

    These will appear at the top of the screen and contain a red "-" button.

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 53
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 53

    Step 5. Touch the “-” button to the left of the name of the widget you don't want to see

    After that, the "Remove" button will be displayed.

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 54
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 54

    Step 6. Delete the widget

    Touch the "Remove" button. Deleting a widget can provide a small increase in storage space. Therefore, be prepared to check other alternative steps to make sure you can get an accurate increase in storage space.

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 55
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 55

    Step 7. Close the “Settings” page for the widget

    Touch the “Done” button to close it.

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 56
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 56

    Step 8. Make sure that the unwanted widgets are no longer on the list and that only the required ones are displayed

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 57
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 57

    Step 9. Close the list of widgets

    Touch the “Home” button or swipe the “Widget”/” Notification Center” page to the top of the screen.

    Method 11 of 11: Using Alternative Internet Storage Spaces (Cloud)

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 58
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 58

    Step 1. Try downloading an alternative internet storage space

    While downloading more apps may seem counterintuitive to your goal of freeing up more storage space, free apps like Google Drive and Apple's built-in service iCloud offer additional storage space beyond the limitations of a device's hard disk.

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 59
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 59

    Step 2. Look for Google Drive

    While there are several free cloud/internet storage apps to choose from, Google Drive has the highest rating and competes with OneDrive in terms of the largest free storage space (15 gigabytes). This is why Google Drive should be the first app you download. To search Google Drive:

    • Touch the App Store app on iPhone.
    • Touch the search option to display the search bar.
    • Touch the bar at the top of the screen.
    • Type in "Google Drive".
    • Touch "Search".
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 60
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 60

    Step 3. Touch the “Get” option which is next to Google Drive

    After that, Google Drive will be downloaded to the phone.

    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 61
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 61

    Step 4. Use Google Drive

    You can move photos and videos to Drive. This process can significantly reduce the amount of storage space used on the iPhone's hard drive. To use Google Drive:

    • Touch the Google Drive icon to open the app.
    • Tap the "+" icon in the lower-right corner of the screen.
    • Follow the instructions shown on the screen.
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 62
    Free Up Space on Your iPhone Step 62

    Step 5. Repeat the app download process for other internet storage service apps

    While these apps will take up storage space at first, you can store your entire photo and video library in these apps and, since you need to use data to access them, you don't need an internet connection to view the photos.

    Some alternative apps to try are Microsoft OneDrive (15 gigabytes of free space; one terabyte for Office 365 members), DropBox (two gigabytes of free space), and Box (10 gigabytes of free space)

    Tips

    • Downloaded apps will still be available in iTunes if you delete them. All apps are stored in internet storage space until you decide to delete them manually yourself.
    • On iOS 10, some of the iPhone's built-in apps can be uninstalled and reinstalled if needed. To get these apps back, you need to use the search keyword "apple" and search for previously available apps. However, only some of Apple's major bloatware apps (e.g. " Home ", " Podcasts ", " Contacts " and some iPhone apps) can be removed.

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