iCloud is Apple‘s cloud storage and services platform. Thanks to this system you will be able to centralize all the information you have as a user so that with a simple Internet connection you can have all those files on any Apple device. However, synchronization means that if we do not use it correctly, it can cause us to run out of storage in a very short time. Therefore, in this post, we are going to see how we can efficiently manage storage in iCloud.
iCloud Drive is installed by default and activated on Apple devices, saving all the information we have on the iPhone, Mac and iPad. This comes with a free 5 GB of storage as standard. This storage is perhaps too little for many users, so we are going to see how we can manage it.
Synchronization and space occupied in iCloud
We use iCloud Drive storage more and more than the storage of our iPhone and iPad because we can have all the files synchronized on various devices, therefore, it is essential to know what we have stored in it and how we have it distributed. Therefore, if you want to know the memory distribution of iCloud space, you can see it from iPhone settings , click on iCloud and you can see the storage you have in the cloud and how you have it distributed, indicating the percentage you have of applications, copies security photos and files.
Analyze the problem
There are several solutions to this storage problem. First of all, one solution is to know which are the applications or files that take up the most resources in iCloud. Specifically, one of the categories that occupy the most storage in the Apple cloud are photos and backups. By default, Apple backs up to iCloud. This backup can occupy 2-3 GB. To avoid this problem, it is recommended to make backup copies on the Mac and never do it automatically in iCloud and avoid being stored on this platform.
Secondly, it is important to review the content you have stored in your library , because if you have iCloud Photo Library turned on, everything is syncing and storing in the iCloud space, and many of the photos that you do not want to be stored and we have to delete files that are generated. In addition, a lot of existing information is duplicate photos that you have taken when you are going to take a landscape photo or a family photo. For this reason, since iOS 16 there is an option to delete duplicate photos without having to go looking for the photos one by one. To do this, from the photos app, scroll down until you reach the Items tab and click on Duplicates. Then select those duplicates you want to remove.
How to manage storage?
On both Mac, iPad and iPhone, there is no button that indicates “save file” , so that all the files that are generated in the different applications are stored in iCloud automatically. Therefore, a solution to better manage iCloud is to determine which applications we want to store your information in the cloud.
Finally, you can use the iCloud family sharing option, which allows you to have up to 6 family members synchronized where you can share files without having to pay any additional subscription. This system allows you to have unlimited storage of photos and files, so it will allow you to allocate the free iCloud storage for other matters.