How to free up storage on iPhone
“iPhone Storage Almost Full” usually comes down to three things: photos and videos, messenger cache, and apps you no longer use. Here is the order that frees the most space in the least time.
1. See what is using your storage
Open Settings → General → iPhone Storage. The bar at the top shows categories (Photos, Apps, Messages, System Data); below is a list of apps sorted by size. Start with the biggest — almost always Photos, Telegram or WhatsApp.
2. Clean up your photo library
Photos and videos are the largest category for most people. The quickest wins:
- Videos — one minute of 4K video takes hundreds of megabytes. In Photos, open Media Types → Videos.
- Screenshots — there are hundreds of them and most are no longer needed: Media Types → Screenshots. More in how to delete all screenshots.
- Bursts and similar shots — out of ten near-identical photos you usually need one. See the duplicates guide.
Ticking photos one by one is slow. Nixo shows your library one photo at a time: swipe left to delete, right to keep, then confirm once at the end. Videos and screenshots have their own filters, and the app shows how many megabytes you have freed.
3. Empty “Recently Deleted”
Deleted photos stay in Recently Deleted (under Utilities in recent iOS versions) for 30 days and keep taking up space. Open the album and tap Select → Delete All. This cannot be undone — make sure nothing you need is there.
4. Turn on Optimize iPhone Storage
If you use iCloud Photos, enable Settings → [your name] → iCloud → Photos → Optimize iPhone Storage. Originals stay in iCloud and the phone keeps smaller versions. This only works if you have enough iCloud space.
5. Clear Telegram cache
Telegram keeps every photo, video and sticker you have viewed. Go to Settings → Data and Storage → Storage Usage → Clear Cache. On the same screen you can limit how long media is kept (say, one week) and cap the cache size. Files stay in the Telegram cloud and download again if needed.
6. Clean up WhatsApp
Settings → Storage and Data → Manage Storage shows “Larger than 5 MB” and “Forwarded many times” at the top, then chats by size. Group chats with videos are usually the heaviest. Stop WhatsApp from saving media to your library: Settings → Chats → Save to Photos.
7. Offload unused apps
Offloading removes the app but keeps its data — reinstall it and everything is back. For one app: iPhone Storage → the app → Offload App. Automatically: Settings → App Store → Offload Unused Apps.
8. Delete old messages
Settings → Messages → Keep Messages → 1 Year (or 30 Days). Even better, check iPhone Storage → Messages → Review Large Attachments and delete big videos from conversations.
9. Shoot in High Efficiency
Settings → Camera → Formats → High Efficiency. HEIF/HEVC photos and videos take roughly half the space of JPEG/H.264 at the same quality. Record 4K at 60 fps only when you really need it.
10. Clear Safari data and downloads
Website data: Settings → Apps → Safari → Advanced → Website Data (on older iOS — Settings → Safari). Downloaded files live in the Files app under Downloads — videos and archives often pile up there.
What is “System Data”? Caches, logs and temporary iOS files. You cannot delete them directly; they usually shrink after a restart or an iOS update. If System Data takes tens of gigabytes, updating iOS or, as a last resort, restoring from a backup helps.
Free up space in a couple of minutes
Nixo shows your library one photo at a time: swipe left to delete, right to keep. Videos and screenshots have their own filters, and everything is processed on your phone.