Everyone can benefit from a little more storage space on their iPhones. Even if you have a great plan that includes lots of space, eventually you will take one too many photos or download one too many files and, unless you are maintaining your settings and apps and deleting things left and right, all of those files accumulate. One you’ve run out of storage space, you can no longer use your phone in ways you want to — your capabilities will be limited. That’s a high price to pay on a device that cost you hundreds of dollars.
Those pop-ups that alert you to storage space issues can be unsettling. It can be tempting to throw money at the problem and buy more space. But before you do that, these Apple experts have a few smart tips on how to free up storage space.
Here are three of their top tips for getting more space out of your phone.
Music
Because your phone isn’t just a phone, but an entire operating system where you take photos, listen to podcasts, and play music, it’s not shocking that it accumulates files quickly — and those files take up storage space.
But let’s focus on music. When was the last time you had a good look at all of the music you’ve downloaded on your phone over the years to see whether all of those files are necessary? Go to Settings > Music. Here you’ll see a list of all of your tracks. You can swipe left to right on individual tracks to delete them or swipe left to right on the main music tab to delete them all at once.
Automatic Downloads
Did you know you could have a setting enabled that allows your phone to automatically download files without your consent? This is the opposite of what you may want to do if your goal is to gain more storage space.
Go to Settings > Automatic Downloads and toggle this setting off.
Clear Safari Cache
The Safari browser is a major source of storage woes and for good reason. The more you browse Safari, the more data it accumulates — and the more data it accumulates, the more storage space you use up. It’s important to clear your Safari cache every once in a while. To do this on your phone, go to Settings > Safari > Clear History and Website Data. This will clear your cookies, browsing history, and Safari’s cached files. You’ll find your phone has more storage space and may even run more efficiently.
