Free Up Space On Your iPhone With These 6 Tricks

nrm_1434543448-iphone-storage-full
Flickr | The Travel Manuel

We’ve all been there: The perfect photo opportunity presents itself, you whip your phone out to take that amazing picture and there it is—that dreaded gray box appears on your screen telling you that you don’t have enough available storage to take the photo.

Really?!? So, the next thing most people do is start frantically deleting apps or a few random photos in hopes to have just enough room to squeeze in that new photo you’re dying to take. Or maybe two if you’re lucky.

But, the answer to your storage issue isn’t simply deleting a few photos or smaller apps. Thankfully, though, there are a few things you can do to help solve your iPhone storage problem.

1. Identify What’s Taking Up The Most Space

The three biggest space zappers? Apps, photos and messages.

To find out what’s taking up the most room on your iPhone, tap Settings>General>Storage & iCloud Usage>Manage Storage. Here, you’ll be able to see what’s taking up the most space on your phone.

iPhone photos photo
Getty Images | Drew Angerer

2. Load Photos To A Cloud Service

Chances are you’ve discovered that your photos and videos are eating up the most space. Thankfully, though, there are plenty of ways to free up this space on your phone without losing all of your wonderful memories.

Apps like Google Photos or Apple Photos (or even Amazon Prime) allow you to upload your photos to a “cloud” so you can then delete them from your phone—and free up all of that space for new photos and videos!

Another option is to use a gadget like the iXpand Flash drive made for iPads and iPhones. Similar to a flash drive for a computer, it allows you to safely store your photos.

AdobeStock_91079209-1
Adobe

RELATED: 3 Ways To Get Much Stronger Wi-Fi (Even In Your Basement Or Backyard)

3. Manage Your Messages 

Your chains of text messages and iMessages can start to take up a lot of room, especially if you send photos in them.

Using a program such as iMazing allows you to transfer everything from your music to your messages into the program. The software will allow you to manually go in, save the photos from the messages and then delete the chains.

Another option would be to tap on Settings>Messages, and unselect the option “Keep Messages Forever.”  The other options are to keep your messages for 30 days or for one year. It’s your call, but really how long do you need to hang onto those text chains asking your spouse when he or she will be home from work?

Closeup of a mobile phone with text message.
Adobe

4. Manage Your Apps

Some popular third-party apps like Facebook and Twitter will save or cache media, which eats up space.

But just recently, Twitter added a cache-cleaning feature to the latest version of the app. Go to the app, tap Me>Settings>Data Usage>Media Storage, and then clear it.

8292958010_063f162b61_k
Flickr | Gonzalo Baeza

5. Clear Your Internet Cache

If you use the popular web browser Safari, it might just be storing data and web history information. To clear this, tap on Settings, then scroll down to find the Safari tab, and select “Clear History and Website Data.”

iPhone storage full photo
Flickr | liewcf

6. iTunes Trick

Stick with us here, this final way to free up space is a bit tricky. According to a Reddit thread, you can free up space on your iPhone simply by renting a movie. But don’t worry you won’t be charged with renting a movie (note: just make sure you try to RENT and not BUY)! Sounds too good to be true, right?
Well, Gizmodo put the trick to the test and it worked perfectly! The key is to make sure the download is larger than your current free space, and magically, your phone will clear storage space in an attempt to download the film. In result, you will have more storage space to use as you please.

Gizmodo writer, Bryan Menegus, stated, “I had gained almost 200 megs out of nowhere. Three more rentals and my overstuffed phone had gone from a meager 381 megs to a full 1.2 gigs of free space.”
Just make sure to check your storage availability before attempting! You don’t want to free up too much space and be charged for the rental.
RELATED: Apparently We’ve Been Charging Our Phones All Wrong
Good luck cleaning up your phone’s storage, and may you never see this dreaded message again!

RELATED: Make the most of your phone with this incredible case that turns it into an underwater camera!

Technology, Tips & Advice
,

Related posts

19 gifts that will help a messy person get more organized
Smartphone placed in a bowl of rice.
Apple warns not to put wet iPhones in rice
Woman choosing outfit from large wardrobe closet
How to organize a closet according to professional organizers
The Container Store over the door storage
15 surprising ways to organize with over-the-door shoe holders

About the Author
Megan Fenno
Freelance Writer. Accessory Designer. Blogger. Digital Content Producer. Wife. Lover of Cincinnati, Ohio and mom to a 6 year-old stud.

From our partners