This article has been updated since it published on June 28, 2023.
Picture an iPhone user experience that doesn’t involve having to delete a myriad of photos and videos every few months just to gain back the storage space you keep losing. This fantasy can be a reality, but it may take a few adjustments on your part, particularly with regards to how you handle some of the most resource-intensive apps on your phone that are sucking up storage. Though you may be open to deleting a few apps — maybe you don’t need TikTok and Snapchat — chances are, having to choose which apps get the cut is enough of a headache and hassle. A better option is to also get a hold on how to use your apps, but use them in a way that maintains more storage space. Tech and Financial Expert Jerome Casey, the founder of OxfordWiseFinance, offers insight into the three iPhone apps that are taking up the most storage, and how to get a better handle on them.
Photos and Videos:
The Photos app is often a major culprit in taking up a substantial amount of storage space on your iPhone, according to Casey, primarily due to the accumulation of high-resolution photos and videos stored locally on your device. “As you capture more photos and record videos, their file sizes can quickly add up and consume a significant portion of your storage,” Casey says.
To address this problem without deleting the app, Casey recommends optimizing your photo and video storage settings. “Enable iCloud Photo Library, which allows you to store smaller, device-optimized versions of media on your iPhone while keeping the original, full-resolution versions in iCloud,” he suggests. “To enable this, go to Settings, tap on your Apple ID, select iCloud, then Photos, and turn on iCloud Photo Library. This helps free up storage by offloading the larger files to the cloud while still keeping them accessible on your device.”
Games:
Games are great. They make waiting for doctors or laundry to finish so much more enjoyable, and many of them are quite creative. There are also tons of games that have an interactive element to them that allows you to compete against friends and family. But there’s a downside to downloading one too many games and keeping them on your device for years: they are notorious storage and battery downers. And the only real way to keep them from draining your device and taking up space is by deleting them.
No need to delete every single game, of course, but picking and choosing a few to get rid of, especially if they’re old and haven’t been updated in ages, is a good strategy for maintaining more storage space.
Navigation Apps:
Similar to games, having one or even two navigation apps can be a worthwhile experience all around, but going overboard with them is a surefire way to drain your phone of battery power and storage space. Choose one nav app you like and get rid of the others.
Social Media Apps:
You probably already know that social media apps such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat can take up a considerable amount of storage space on your iPhone. “The primary reasons behind their storage consumption are cached data, media downloads, and offline content,” Casey says. “These apps cache data to provide a smoother browsing experience, and they also store media files, such as images and videos, that you've viewed or downloaded. Additionally, if you use social media apps to save content for offline viewing, it further contributes to storage usage.”
To correct the problem without deleting the apps, Casey says there are a few steps you can take. “First, within each app's settings, look for options to clear cache or data,” Casey says. “This will remove cached files, freeing up storage. Second, you can restrict media downloads within the app settings, so that media files are not automatically saved to your device. Lastly, consider implementing automatic media deletion after a certain period. For example, Snapchat allows you to automatically delete Snaps after they've been viewed, helping to reduce storage usage.”
Music and Video Streaming Apps:
Music streaming apps like Spotify and Apple Music, as well as video streaming apps like Netflix and YouTube, can occupy a significant amount of storage space on your iPhone. “The primary reason is offline downloads,” Casey says. “These apps allow you to save music tracks, albums, TV shows, or movies offline, so you can enjoy them without an internet connection. These downloaded files can quickly accumulate and consume storage.”
If you aren’t excited about deleting any of your streaming apps, there are plenty of alternative options. “Review and delete offline downloads that you no longer need,” Casey says. “Within each streaming app, you'll find options to manage your downloads and remove specific songs, playlists, or videos. By periodically clearing offline content that you've already enjoyed or no longer need, you can reclaim valuable storage space on your iPhone.”
You shouldn’t have to confront Storage Full pop-ups every time you try and download larger files. Follow these easy steps to free up more storage fast.
