Learn how to manage photos and videos to efficiently optimize your iPhone or iPad’s storage and free up valuable space.
The space-saving HEIF and HEVC formats increase the number of photos and videos you can take with your iPhone before seeing a Storage Full message. You can free up storage space on your iPhone or iPad by deleting unnecessary photos and videos, and we have some handy tips to make the job easier.
Also see: 7 simple ways to safely back up your iPhone photos and videos
Delete unnecessary photos, videos, and screenshots
Over time, media you’ve saved from apps like WhatsApp or screenshots you’ve taken but no longer need clog up the storage. Removing all these may free up significant chunks of local storage on your device for other things, like apps.
Delete burst photos
When taking images with the built-in timer, your iPhone takes ten pictures. And if you use burst mode, the Camera app keeps rapidly taking images for as long as you’re holding the volume up button! You’d be wise to keep only the best burst images and delete the rest, which will help free up storage space on the device.
Delete duplicate media
Your Photos library probably contains images that look very similar to one another or several copies of the same media, taking up storage space unnecessarily. You can identify duplicate images in the Photos app and delete them in one fell swoop to reclaim storage space.
Set iCloud Photos to take less space
If you use iCloud Photos to store images and videos in iCloud, you have two options:
- Download and Keep Originals: This will download original-resolution copies of the media stored in iCloud, which consumes a lot of local storage space.
- Optimize iPhone Storage: Smaller, device-optimized versions are kept locally on the device to save storage, with the original-quality versions saved in iCloud.
To use the latter option, go to Settings > Apps > Photos and choose Optimize iPhone Storage.
Delete all iPhone Photos
Deleting all pictures and videos from your iPhone will free up significant storage space. Of course, you’ll only want to do this if your Photos library is a mess doesn’t hold any media you care about.
Empty the Recently Deleted folder
Deleting an item in the Photos app actually moves it into the Recently Deleted section before being permanently deleted after 30 days (so you can recover it). Follow these steps to manually empty the Recently Deleted folder and regain storage space right now instead of waiting for the 30-day window to close:
- Open the Photos app, scroll down to the Utilities section, and tap Recently Deleted.
- Hit View Album and authenticate with Face ID or Touch ID.
- Tap Select from the top.
- Tap the three-dotted menu button and choose Delete All.
On a related note: How to have ample free space even on base 128 GB iPhone