5 iPhone Apps Experts Say You Should Delete Because They’re Taking Up Space

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.