Nowadays, one of the biggest problems when it comes to smartphones is memory management. When you take a high-res photo or a 4K video, it’s memory-consuming and often takes up a few GB on your storage. For iPhone users, it’s even harder, because these phones often come with various storage sizes, which can be compromising for the most users. For example, 16 GB and even 32 GB of storage aren’t a big deal in 2018. Getting rid of unnecessary files is a must, and you can do that easily with our 10 tips to free additional space on your iPhone.
1. Stop the Photo Stream
Photo Stream is a feature that you’ll probably want to turn off anyway. This is a latent feature that stores copies of your original photos, although not in that size. Still, those photos in “device-optimized resolution” are still going to take a huge bite of your precious memory. Simply go to Settings, choose Photos & Camera and turn off Upload my Photo Stream. It’s easy to do and does a huge favor for your phone.
2. Clear the Browser Cache
What are the chances that you are 90% of the time on your phone browsing the internet? Well, I guess the chances are high. And when you browse the internet, there’s a browser cache which is really unnecessary and just takes up your space. To avoid this, you can simply use the Settings in your Safari, Chrome or any other browser you are using, and find the option that offers deletion of Browsing Data. Be sure to do this every couple of days.
3. Delete Unnecessary Music
If you are like me, you probably keep hundreds of songs on your phone and you listen to maybe ten or twelve songs. That’s a very bad habit! I know that you can sometimes be emotionally tied to the song, but consider deleting the songs that you don’t listen or listen very little. Instead, you can use various Music Streaming services and listen to your favorite artist using only your internet connection.
4. Get Rid of the Games that You Don’t Play
Oh, the games! These bad boys tend to take much more space than they should, but why? Well, there are certain updates and tweaks that developers use to improve their products resulting in games taking more space over time. I understand the love for games, but if you don’t play a certain game, you should get rid of it. Understand your phone’s limitations and play by the rules!
5. Don’t Store your Messages Forever
Stored messages are also the reason why your iPhone is full like a trashcan. Do you want to save a conversation between you and your crush? To do so, better copy it to a Word file and keep it on your PC! If you continue to pile up tons of messages, your iPhone will become full, slow and sluggish. You can also set an expiration period for the messages, meaning that they will be deleted after a month or so.
6. Beware of Internal Downloads
As we said, certain apps tend to download stuff behind your back. Believe me, that’s some nasty stuff right there! How many times you’ve taken a look at your memory stats and you were exasperated by how low it is? Well, you can put a stop to that by paying attention to the underlying downloads and get rid of the app that puts the most stress on your device.
7. Avoid Double-Saving your Photos
When you take a photo, you can often see that there are two versions of it. The one is more quality and the other looks… well, not that good. That’s because you have your HDR set on Auto or Always On. High Dynamic Range is excellent for making your photos look realistic and pro, but it’s not welcome if you want to keep your space. Again, go to Settings, then Photo & Camera and deselect Keep Normal Photo. If you don’t want to do that, just be sure to keep a preferred copy of your picture, and delete the one you don’t want.
8. Delete Downloaded Podcasts
Podcasts are often the reason why your iPhone is so, so full, like you, when you go to McDonald’s with your friends. If you are feeding your iPhone with the chicken nuggets, he may enjoy it, but with the old, rusted podcasts – I don’t think so! A single podcast can take more than 30 MB and that’s a lot of space, my friends! Open My Podcasts and delete the ones you’ve played by swiping left on the selected podcast. Simple, yet very effective at conserving space.
9. Check your Memory Usage in Settings
I know this is a little rudimental, but why don’t you check your Memory Usage? You can’t know what app is using your memory and how much if you don’t go to your Settings and check it. Many of you are wondering how and why is your free space disappearing like a shadow, and this is the first step in solving the mystery like a true Sherlock Holmes. Again, visit Settings, then select General, and then Usage. You’ll find an option called Manage Storage. Thank me later!
10. Use Cloud Services to Store your Files
Cloud Services are very popular among PC users and if you have a low space on your iPhone, you need to use one now. For example, Google Drive and Dropbox are one of the best Cloud Services you can use on your device. To make things easier, you don’t need to type their addresses in your browser, but simply download the app, pay for the amount of space you want and you’re done. Now you can spam your account with the high-res videos of your dog, girlfriend, cat, mouse, dog, guitar or whatever you want. You can also check Google+ if you want to store specifically your photos. That’s a great service, which I’ve been using for quite some time.
If you are an Android user, don’t worry, have a look at our article on Top 5 ways to free up space on your Android device.