Storage space is the universal issue faced by all smartphone users, and even iPhone users have not escaped from the clutches of this problem. Perhaps, this is why Apple has released iPhone 8, 8 Plus and iPhone X with a minimum storage capacity of 64GB. But what about owners of older iPhones, who are grappling with 16GB or 32GB storage space and facing iPhone storage almost full issue on their devices?
So if your iPhone keeps saying Storage almost full even after deleting photos then try these workarounds and free up some empty space. Read on and apply all the solutions one by one to fix storag full issue on iPhone.
How to Fix iPhone Storage Almost Full Issue in iOS 11
Check the Storage Space Usage
You should not directly go to the deleting spree. Check the storage space usage on your iOS device and then take a wise decision to delete apps, photos, videos and remove other data.
Launch Settings → General → iPad / iPhone Storage.
This screen presents you all the information about storage (Used and Available); moreover, you can also get to know which app occupies how much space on your device. Ones occupying the most space will be listed first.
Delete or Offload Apps You Are Not Using
There are many apps you don’t use for months or probably you have clean forgotten how the app works on your iPhone or iPad. In this situation, it is advisable to delete that app immediately.
While you are at ‘Storage’ screen, tap on the app you want to delete. You will see ‘Delete App’ button in red fonts. Tap on it and you will be prompted to Delete App. Tap on Delete App and the app will be gone. Note that you will also delete all of its documents and data.
If you don’t want to delete documents and data from the app then Offload it. The offloading feature will uninstall the app without deleting its documents and data from iPhone and iPad. When you reinstall the app again all your data will be reinstalled again the app. Read this guide to offload unused Apps on iPhone.
At any time if you want to restore deleted App again then you do it by following this simple guide.
Delete Photos
In a month, we pile up so many memories on our iPhone and iPad; by memories, I mean photos. But then there are many downloaded photos you receive on WhatsApp or Messages app. You need to delete such useless forwards immediately.
Go to photos App → tap on Select from the upper right corner → select images which you don’t need anymore and hit delete button.
Also, make sure that you delete those images from a recently deleted folder. To do so, jump to Recently Deleted folder → Tap on the Select button → select all the pictures and then tap on Delete.
If you don’t want to delete pics then simply transfer your Photos to Windows PC by following this guide.
Use iCloud Photo Library or Google Photos
iCloud Photo Library is an amazing feature from Apple; it stores all your photos on iCloud, from where you can access your memories from any connected device. You can remove your photos from the device as they are safe on iCloud. You should enable this feature by Settings → Photos & Camera → toggle iCloud Photo Library option ON and choose to Optimize iPhone Storage to create more storage space on your iOS device.
iCloud has its own limitation as it offers 5GB of free space; you can use a better alternative, Google Photos, which provides you 15GB space for your one Google account.
Now if you iCloud Storage space is also running out then you can follow this guide or simply delete the old iCloud backup from your device.
Read: How to Transfer iPhone Photos to Google Photos
Get Rid of Downloaded Music Files
Many users have subscribed for Apple Music to listen and download songs; moreover, users also download YouTube videos for offline watching. This will obviously fill up your storage quickly.
You can check all the songs you have downloaded in Apple Music from Settings → General → iPad/iPhone Storage → Music → Choose the song you want to delete → Tap on Edit → Tap on the red button and hit delete.
Delete Old Messages Automatically
If you are in the habit of sharing a lot of media files through iMessage, you should instruct your iOS device to remove your iMessage conversations after 30 days.
Open Settings → Messages → Tap on Keep Messages under MESSAGE HISTORY. And then select either 30 Days or 1 Year.
You can also claim some free space by clearing Message or iMessage cache on iPhone and iPad.
Delete Old Message Threads Manually
There are many message threads in your iMessage that contain a lot of media files, and that occupies a lot of space on your iPhone or iPad. You should remove such threads manually by opening Messages app on your device.
Messages → Edit → Select threads → Delete.
Enable iMessage in iCloud
With iOS 11.4, the iCloud support for Messages has gone live. Hence, you can sync entire message history with the cloud and access it across the device. Apart from offering an additional layer of security to your messages, it can also let you free up some storage from your iPhone. If you have plenty of iCloud storage left, enabling “Messaging in iCloud” is worth a consideration. Check out this post for more information.
From iOS 11.4, the support for Messages in iCloud has gone live. The feature allows you to sync your whole message history with the iCloud and access it from any iOS device. Moreover, it offers an extra layer of security to your messages and helps you in freeing up some storage space on your iPhone and iPad. So if you have got space in iCloud then turning ON Messages in iCloud is really worth. To do so check out this post.
Delete Safari Cache
If you tend to browse a lot of things on your iPhone or iPad Safari browser, you should regularly clear Safari browsing history and cookies.
Delete Podcasts
Podcasts are your audio files (just like your YouTube downloads), and this can eat a lot of space on your iPhone and iPad. To remove podcasts from the default app, open Settings → General → iPhone / iPad Storage → Podcasts.
If you are using Overcast on your device, simply swipe left on a podcast and tap on ‘Delete’ button.
Overcast has an excellent feature of auto delete; this feature is available in Settings. You can set the count for the individual episode and the app will automatically delete the episode.
Remove Other Data
The Other Data is a mysterious phenomenon on your iPhone or iPad, still, it is essential for all users to remove this other data. You can follow our detailed information on how you can remove other data from your iOS device.
Clear Documents and Data
iPhone and iPad users access many stock apps and third-party apps in a day; moreover, they also open some iCloud documents on their devices. This creates cache data on their iPhone and iPad. To free up some space, users need to delete documents and data on iPhone or iPad.
Stop Auto Downloads of Media on WhatsApp
WhatsApp users normally receive many images and videos from a couple of groups they are part of. Media files received from such groups engage a lot of space on the device. It is always better to stop auto downloads of media on your WhatsApp.
WhatsApp → Settings → Chats → toggle off Save to Camera Roll Option.
You can now tap on the incoming images or videos to download and preview; moreover, this will stop images and videos from being saved on Camera Roll.
Clear Third-Party App Cache Manually
iOS doesn’t offer any workaround to remove third-party app cache; if the app gives you this facility, you can clear the cache for that particular app. If you use Chrome or Safari browser on iPhone or iPad, you can delete the cache from the Settings of the respective apps. Moreover, I have noticed that chat history on WhatsApp eats up a hell lot of space on your iPhone. You should remove chat history from the Settings of WhatsApp.
WhatsApp → Settings → Chats → Clear All Chats or Delete All Chats.
If the app doesn’t have any such feature to remove cache data, simply uninstall the app and reinstall the same. But if you have snapchat, Dropbox, Instagram, YouTube and Apple News then follow the below-mentioned guide:
How to Clear Dropbox Cache
How to Clear YouTube Watch History
How to Clear Snapchat Conversation History
How to Clear Instagram Search History
How to Clear Apple News App History
Reset iPhone/iPad
As a last resort, you can go for resetting your iPhone or iPad. This will remove all the data from your device and therefore, you should take backup on iTunes and iCloud.
Settings → General → Reset → Erase All Contents and Settings.
After performing all the methods listed above, your iPhone or iPad should be running smoothly and you will be able to fix storage almost full issue on iPhone.
Restore Your iPhone or iPad As New
If you have followed all the above-mentioned steps perfectly and got a lot of storage space. But still you are not happy and you think you need more then go ahead for restoring your iOS device as new. Make sure that this process will delete all your existing data from your device and install the latest iOS version. So backup your device before moving further.
That’s it!
Also Read:
- Best Flash Drives for iPhone and iPad
- Facebook App Crashing on iPhone? How to Fix it
- How to Fix iPhone keep Asking for Apple ID Password
- How to Fix Face ID Not Working on iPhone X
- How to Fix Touch ID Not Working on iPhone
- How to Backup iPhone While Charging
- How to Transfer Photos from iPhone to External Hard Disk on Mac
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