If you’re like a lot of iPhone users, you rely on your device to document the world around you. Your phone’s camera features are super sophisticated and allow you to express yourself in so many ways (and with so many filters and photo-taking options, to boot). But when you take that many photos and videos and never delete them or properly store them in the Cloud, your device can get full fast. Since there’s nothing we dislike more than a “storage is full” pop-up that deters us from taking more pics and videos (or downloading apps), it’s important to find ways to free up storage while still enjoying all that your phone has to offer. This is the iPhoto setting you should turn off immediately to free up so much storage — don’t worry, you won’t miss it one bit.
Turn Off Live Photos
When it comes to cool photo features on your iPhone, few can compare to Live Photos. The setting allows you to capture a mini video of sorts that you can them thumb through to select a specific photo frame that you want to hone in on. As the name implies, this feature is amazing when you’re taking live-action shots — keep it on during a sporting event or while photographing your puppy running through grass at the park and you’ll be amazed at the photos that develop. But there’s a major caveat when you use Live Photos: you’re agreeing to allow those images to take up a whole lot of storage space on your phone.
When comparing Live Photos to regular photos, a Live Photo consumed 4.2 megabytes of storage space, compared to a regular photo that took up 2.4 megabytes, according to Slash Gear. That adds up to a TON of storage space over time.
How To Turn Off Live Photos
You can simply turn off Live Photos and will probably never miss the feature — unless you decide to enable it again and shoot action pics. To do so, access the Camera app and make sure you’re on Photo mode. In the top menu bar you’ll see three circles — this is the Live icon. Tap the icon to disable Live Photos. If you wish to disable the feature permanently, go to Settings — Camera — Preserve Settings. Toggle off the switch next to Live Photo.
Other iPhoto Settings You Can Turn Off
As long as you’re optimizing your phone, why stop at Live Photos?
“There are two settings that I permanently turn off for iPhoto — Backing up using cellular data and Unlimited updates,” says Jonathan Grøn, owner of Owl Ratings. “iPhoto automatically backs up photos, so I make sure never to back them up using Cellular Data. To change the settings, just go to Settings > Photos > Cellular Data, and here you have two options. The first one is Cellular Data, which uses a chunk of your allowance. Turn this off and back up only when connected to WiFi.”
The second setting that Grøn recommends turning off is Unlimited Updates, which Apple warns might cause you to exceed your cellular data plan. “It would be best not to do any updates until you are connected to a WiFi network — you'll be wasting a lot of the updates are huge,” Grøn says. “People take a lot of photos, and pushing these over the cellular network can use up a lot of data. Connect to a WiFi network to save on those precious data. I also have these options turned off because it's a heavy user of both data and battery.”
Your phone’s photo feature is one of the best things about your device, but finding ways to minimize its effect on storage space is so important for the health and longevity of your device.
