Need More iPhone Storage? You Can Get It Without Deleting Anything - CNET

This communicative is portion of 12 Days of Tips, helping you marque the astir of your tech, location and wellness during the vacation season.

You've had a bully tally with your iPhone, but aft a fewer years you person precise small retention left. And unfortunately, you lone person a fewer options for fixing this issue.

You tin delete ample files, similar movies, TV shows and euphony albums, but possibly you're not acceptable to springiness those up. There are besides assorted unreality alternatives to beef up your existing storage, but that requires shifting files around, and you whitethorn person to wage for it. You could besides just buy a caller phone with much retention -- but that's an costly option.

That's why, if these options aren't appealing to you, you tin and should instrumentality vantage of definite iOS features to escaped up retention connected your iPhone without having to delete thing oregon walk immoderate money.

There are 2 built-in iOS settings that tin assistance you cleanable up a important magnitude of retention connected your iPhone -- 1 imperishable and the different impermanent -- truthful that you tin instal the latest bundle updates, instrumentality much photos and videos and download much apps. Here's what you request to know.

If you privation much tips connected getting much iPhone storage, cheque retired how to escaped up abstraction connected your iPhone with these casual tricks and the champion unreality retention options successful 2022.

Optimize your iPhone photos and videos

It's not ever casual to conscionable delete what's successful your camera roll, truthful if you privation to support your precious memories, oregon adjacent conscionable your meme screenshots, but inactive privation to escaped up instrumentality storage, the easiest mode to bash that is by optimizing the photos and videos already stored connected your device.

By default, each clip you instrumentality a photograph oregon video, it is saved successful afloat solution connected your device. If you're capturing photos and videos successful the highest solution possible, they tin instrumentality up rather a spot of space. A infinitesimal of video changeable successful 4K astatine 60fps takes up astir 400MB -- astir fractional a GB. That's beauteous significant.

To optimize your photos and videos, spell to Settings > Photos and toggle connected Optimize iPhone Storage (for this to work, you'll request to person the iCloud Photos mounting supra it enabled). Depending connected however galore photos and videos you person connected your iPhone, this tin instrumentality up rather a spot of time, but erstwhile it's finished, you should spot importantly much abstraction connected your instrumentality storage.

For this to work, you request to person the iCloud Photos mounting turned on.

Screenshot by Nelson Aguilar/CNET

All of your full-resolution photos and videos are past transferred implicit to your iCloud, portion smaller, lower-resolution versions are kept connected your device, to instrumentality up little space. If you privation to entree your higher-resolution photos and videos, you tin spell into the Photos app and download immoderate record that's being optimized, but this requires a decent net connection. Your much precocious taken photos and videos whitethorn beryllium successful full-resolution, truthful you won't request to download each photograph oregon video.

If you don't person capable iCloud storage, it's easier to upgrade your cloud than get a caller phone. In the US, you tin upgrade to 50GB for lone a dollar a month, oregon you tin spell bigger: 200GB for $3 a period oregon 2TB for $10 a month. Prices scope depending connected your state oregon region.

To upgrade your iCloud connected your iPhone, spell to Settings > (your name) > iCloud > Manage Account Storage > Buy More Storage. Choose a program and past travel the instructions. If you upgrade to immoderate paid iCloud subscription, you'll get entree to iCloud+, which besides offers the iCloud Private Relay and Hide My Email features.

You tin walk arsenic small arsenic $1 per period for much iCloud storage.

Screenshot by Nelson Aguilar/CNET

Offload your biggest apps

You don't usage each exertion stored connected your iPhone. Many of them conscionable beryllium there, similar apps for your favourite airlines, third-party cameras and euphony production. And adjacent if you usage them lone each erstwhile successful a while, you astir apt don't request consistent, regular entree to astir apps, which is wherefore you should see offloading apps successful lawsuit you desperately request storage.

Say for illustration you privation to download and instal the latest iOS update. If it's a large update, similar iOS 16, you whitethorn request a small implicit 5GB to successfully instal the software. If it's a constituent update, similar iOS 16.1, you're looking astatine astir 1GB. And if you don't person capable retention abstraction to update, you tin rapidly offload apps, which is simply a mediate crushed betwixt keeping and deleting your apps.

Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage and cheque which apps are taking up the astir storage. Certain built-in apps similar Photos and Messages cannot beryllium offloaded, truthful beryllium warned. If you find a sizable app you privation to offload, pat connected it and deed Offload App. Wait a small spot and the app should past beryllium removed offline, portion your documents and information volition enactment saved connected your device.

You request to pat Offload App doubly to "delete" the app.

Nelson Aguilar/CNET

If you request impermanent storage, for a bundle download, conscionable spell done the database and offload each app you can. The magnitude that's offloaded for each app volition vary, but you should spot the fig adjacent to App Size. Discard the fig adjacent to Documents & Data, due to the fact that that volition enactment connected your device. The lone mode to get escaped of that is to really delete the app.

Offload arsenic galore apps arsenic you request until you person capable storage. Obviously you can't usage an app that's offloaded, but if you privation to get an offloaded app back, spell to your App Library and pat connected the iCloud fastener to redownload it. If the offloaded app is connected your location screen, simply pat connected it to download it. You won't person to re-sign successful oregon thing -- you'll person entree to the app arsenic if it was ne'er deleted.