We could all use more storage space on our iPhones, but after spending top dollar for your device and all of the apps you want to purchase to enhance your iPhone experience, who wants to pay more for additional space? The good news is that there are ways to free up space without touching any of the apps you love and without spending money. Those pre-installed apps that come on your device — the ones you couldn’t identify in a lineup and barely know are there — are taking up space. While it’s not considerable space and you will always save more storage deleting a resource-intensive app like Facebook or Snapchat, it’s not nothing either.
When you desperately need to free up storage space, but aren’t excited about getting rid of those you use daily, here are four pre-installed apps you can delete to gain back some much-needed space.
1. Find My Friends
The Find My Friends app allows you to share your location with friends and family and is a good one to have if you’re tracking your children or want to stay safe while on vacation solo (or in similar situations). But if you never use this app, be aware that it requires your location, which takes up considerable space and battery power. If this is an app that you’ve never used and don’t intend to use, delete it to gain back more storage.
2. Podcasts
Nowadays it is common to listen to podcasts on Spotify and Apple Music, but what you don’t want is for your Podcasts app to store all of the old episodes you have enjoyed — this will only increase the storage space they consume. The more podcasts you subscribe to, the more space you’ll use up. To check how much storage space Podcasts is taking up for you, go to Settings > General > Podcasts. You can opt to manage this app by deleting old content or, if you rarely use it, delete the app altogether.
3. FaceTime
The FaceTime app only takes up about 50-100 MB, but what can really become consuming of space is the history of calls it collects, the data is consumes, and information about your contacts and settings. If you use text and regular phone calls more than FaceTime, it’s fine to delete this pre-installed app. Or you can also manage its settings and delete old history.
4. Voice Memos
The Voice Memos app is great to have — perfect for those times you want to jot down ideas and don’t feel like typing them out. But the more voice memos you save, and the lengthier they are, the more storage space you’ll take up on your device. To see whether this app is impacting your space, go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage > Voice Memos. Delete the app or spend some time deleting old recordings to gain back storage space.
