There’s no need to delete your iPhone photos and videos if you’re wondering how to free iPhone storage space. You can adjust these 2 iOS Settings to Free Up More iPhone Storage.

”iPhone Storage Full”. That’s right. You spent over $1,000 on a new iPhone, but you didn’t buy enough storage space. At this point, you have two options. Buy a more expensive iPhone or read this article to the end and learn.

It’s a no-brainer. I will explain what’s taking up all the storage space on your iPhone and show you how to set yourself up for success so you never run out of storage space again. Let’s talk about what takes up the most space on an iPhone.

• Videos
• Photos
• Music
• Games
• Apps

How to Free iPhone Storage

But it’s not as simple as going into the Photos app and deleting all your photos and videos. Pictures and videos live in Messages, Mail, Social Media apps, and other places on your iPhone. Let’s start by talking about the biggest storage offenders on most people’s iPhones and then work our way back. Next, we’ll discuss how to optimize your iPhone so you don’t run out of storage space again.

And if you don’t change some settings, you probably will. On my iPhone, Photos has taken up by far the most storage space. Let’s talk about iCloud Photos. Just turning on iCloud Photos won’t save you any storage space at all, but there are some settings that you can turn on that will.

Head back to the main page of settings of your iPhone, tap on your Apple ID at the top of the screen, tap iCloud, tap Photos, and turn on the switch next to Sync This iPhone. “You might already have iCloud Photos enabled, but let me sync and show you what happens when it’s turned on.

The phone stores 154 gigabytes of photos and videos. It currently has 10.48 gigabytes of iCloud storage available. At this point, you can do one of three things.

• Buy more iCloud storage
• Change some things in the Photos app
• Transfer your photos and videos to your computer.

Read More: How to transfer photos and videos to your computer.

But what if you don’t want to delete pictures and videos from your iPhone? Fortunately, there’s a lot you can do right in the Photos app. Close out of settings, open the Photos app, and scroll down to the Media Types section. Based on the type of file you have on your iPhone will determine the type of media type: you may have:

• ProRes videos
• Regular videos
• ProRAW photos
• Duplicate photos

Let’s start with ProRes videos. You might not have any on your iPhone, but fortunately, there’s an easy way to check if you do. Underneath Media Types, look for the ProRes option and tap on it, to give you some idea of how massive these files are. If it’s a video you don’t need anymore, you can delete it, but there’s a smarter way to manage the videos on your iPhone by trimming out the parts you don’t need.

Regular videos:  Now, after going through your ProRes video folder, tap back in the upper left-hand corner of the screen and then take a look at your videos. Follow the same steps to delete videos you don’t need, and trim the ones that you do want to keep. Next, let’s talk about ProRaw photos.

ProRAW photos: Photos take up a ton of space, especially if you’re taking the forty-eight-megapixel variety, which you can only do in the iPhone 12 Pro Max. The sad fact is those pictures can take up 57.2 MB that’s huge for a photo. If you want to keep your  forty-eight-megapixel photos, we built an awesome shortcut that takes them and compresses them down to a manageable size, which is something the iPhones of the future will do automatically.

After installing the shortcut, (DOWNLOAD) go to your photo and tap the share button in the lower left-hand corner of the screen. Scroll down to compress the image and tap on that. Got a nice little check mark there and you’re done, after that remember to delete the originals.

Duplicate photos: Another cool feature in the Photos app is the Duplicates section. It can help free up storage space by identifying and merging duplicate photos. Let me show you how to use it effectively:

Accessing the Duplicates Section

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Tap the Back button (upper left corner) to return to the main Albums page.
3. Scroll down and select Duplicates under the Utilities section.

Understanding Duplicate Categories

The Duplicates feature separates photos into two categories:

1. Merge Exact Copies
   • These are identical photos. Merging them is straightforward since they’re exact duplicates.
2. Just Merge Items
   • These are very similar photos. Be cautious when merging these, especially if you’ve taken multiple shots of the same subject. The app will retain the highest quality version with relevant data.

How to Merge Duplicates

1. Merging Exact Copies
   • Tap Select in the upper-right corner of the screen.
   • Tap Select All, then tap Merge at the bottom of the screen.
   • Choose Merge Exact Copies to safely merge identical photos.
2. Merging Similar Items
   • If you’re unsure, start with Exact Copies only.
   • Review the remaining similar photos manually to ensure you don’t delete any important shots.

Tips for Using the Feature

• Start with Exact Copies to avoid accidental deletions.
• Review Just Merge Items carefully if you’ve taken multiple shots of the same subject.

Further Storage Tips

After optimizing your photos, consider managing other storage offenders like music. Closing the Photos app and addressing other storage-heavy categories can further free up space on your iPhone.

Conclusion

In conclusion, photos and videos play an influential role in iPhone storage, but by leveraging built-in tools or third-party compression shortcuts like the one we created, you can reclaim much-needed space.

To take your iPhone optimization further, our next article will explore how music, games, and apps can consume your storage and provide tips to manage them effectively. Don’t miss out—join our newsletter to be the first to know when the next article is released!