If you are running out of space on the iPhone, don’t worry. We understand that it can be a problem considering the impossibility of extending it through formats such as micro SD cards, but it is not the end of the world. There are a number of tricks with which you can optimize the memory of an iPhone. They even work for those somewhat older with capacities of 16 GB and the like.
How to gain memory on iPhone
Squeeze iCloud to the fullest
You’ve probably heard about iCloud, since it is Apple‘s cloud storage service. This can be of tremendous utility to make backup copies or store files, but also to optimize the memory of our iPhone.
A good example of space saving with iCloud is with the photo gallery. Generally these files, especially the videos, take up a lot of space in our terminal, but we can continue to dispose of them without taking up so much space and without having to delete anything. The way to do it is by going to Settings> Photos and activating the option “Photos in iCloud” and clicking on “Optimize storage”.
Remember that by default we have 5GB of free storage in iCloud. This could fall short on many occasions, so you would have to resort to paying for a fee with more space. These range from 50 GB for € 0.99 / month per month to 2 TB for € 9.99 / month, including an intermediate rate of 200 GB for € 2.99 / month. The way to hire more space is by going to Settings> your name> iCloud> Manage storage and clicking on “Change plan” , where all the available rates are.
As for documents and files that you might have stored on the iPhone, you can also transfer them to iCloud Drive or any other cloud such as Dropbox or Google Drive. That way you can access them online without consuming space on the device.
Free infinite storage with Google Photos
Can you have all our photos in the cloud without paying? Sounds like a hoax, but it’s true. Google Photos is another of the most effective methods to save space with photos and videos on the iPhone . This way you could not only keep all your photos on the device, but also you will not have a storage limit as we will explain below. It should also be noted that you can access your entire gallery from any iOS device , Android or from a computer through the web .
You will need to have the app installed, and once configured you must have a Google account. You will have the possibility to constantly analyze your entire iPhone photo gallery with the goal that every time you save or take a snapshot it is stored in the cloud .
The storage of this can be unlimited if the photos are selected to be saved in high quality. If you choose the option in which the original photo is preserved, they will consume space from your Google Drive plan, which we can have 15 GB for free.
This option has its advantages such as the fact that you can delete your entire photo gallery from the iPhone and keep them on Google, but also inconveniences. The main one is that by having the photos in the cloud you will need an internet connection to view them, either via WiFi or mobile data.
Don’t get attached to apps you don’t use
Surely on more than one occasion you have downloaded an app thinking that you would give it a lot of use and it has not ended up being like that. That or that you simply store some apps “just in case one day I need it”. Well, these mantras are over if you want to free up space on your iPhone.
Unused apps can take up a lot of space on our device, so we recommend checking our app drawer from time to time with the goal of uninstalling the ones we don’t use.
Remember that from iOS 11 it is possible to automatically delete apps that we do not use . The way to activate this option is to go to Settings> iTunes Store and App Store and activate the option “Uninstall unused apps”. Of course, we must warn that having this option activated could cause the elimination of apps that we really want to maintain despite not using them daily.
Delete old messages
If you usually use the iMessage or SMS service on a regular basis, your iPhone may take a lot of space with it. Generally a text message does not occupy much, although the set can weigh a lot. This becomes even more pronounced if photos and videos are also exchanged. Therefore we recommend deleting conversations with some frequency.
Also services like WhatsApp can take a lot of storage. Therefore it is also advisable to empty the chat from time to time. We understand that there are conversations that for certain reasons you do not want to erase, but this is not a problem either. You can export important chat and send them to a cloud storage service or via email. In these exports you can choose if you also want to attach the files or just the text.
Reduce the quality of your photos and videos
The iPhone increasingly have better cameras, with which you can take really spectacular photographs and videos. This increase in resolutions brings a notable drawback: they take up a lot of space. If you use services such as those mentioned in iCloud or Google you can omit this recommendation, but otherwise you must lower the quality of your shots so that they take up less space on your mobile.
To reduce the quality of your photos and videos, and therefore also their weight, you should go to Settings> Camera. Once here you can change all these parameters, including the HDR mode, which makes the results look great but will save significant space if it is deactivated. Live Photos also tend to occupy more than static photos. Obviously it is a task to have to lower this quality for the simple fact of optimizing iPhone storage, but from time to time you can increase the quality again to make certain snapshots.
Remove podcast you’ve already heard
If you are a regular at listening to podcasts, it is likely that you have some downloaded to be able to listen without connecting to the internet. We already know that this is very interesting, but it also becomes a problem. Therefore it is recommended that when you have finished listening to a particular episode you delete it. Even if you don’t mind consuming megabytes from the internet or using WiFi, you can listen to a streaming episode directly without having to store it on your iPhone.
“Clear” the cache of certain apps
If you are a little skilled in iOS issues, you will have noticed that there is no possibility to delete the apps cache as if it happens in other operating systems such as Android. However, there is a slightly more tedious but equally effective method. How? Uninstalling apps and reinstalling them.
Some of the most popular apps we use, such as Facebook or Twitter , are also the ones that use the most cache memory in our terminals. Therefore, they are among the main candidates to be eliminated and subsequently reinstated with the consequent space savings. This is not a process that should be followed periodically, but it is advisable to carry it out from time to time.
Do you know any other way or trick to free up space on the iPhone? You can tell us in the comment box.
