How to Manage the Storage on Your iPad

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Running out of space on your iPad? As you use your iPad, files and apps will eventually accumulate, leaving you with less free space for new content. Taking a few minutes to clear out the cruft can give you plenty of space for new apps and media, as well as improve your iPad's performance. This wikiHow teaches you how to view and manage the storage on your iPad.

Method 1
Method 1 of 6:

Managing iPad Storage

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  1. It's the gear icon on your home screen or in your app library. [1]
  2. It's in the left panel.
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  3. It's near the middle of the menu.
  4. This is where you'll see an image that represents the data using storage space on your iPad.
    • At the top you'll see the amount used on your iPad, as well as the total amount of space.
    • The colored bars represent system files, media, apps, and other data.
  5. You may see a "Recommendations" section below the general storage information that gives you ideas for freeing up space, such as turning on iCloud Photos or offloading unused apps. The amount of space you'll save using these recommendations appears next to each one.
    • Tap SHOW ALL to see all recommendations.
    • To use a recommended solution, tap Enable next to it.
  6. Below the recommendations (if you have any), you'll see a list of apps on your iPad. The apps are listed in order, starting with the app that takes up the most space to the one taking up the least space.
  7. The first section, App Size, tells you the amount of space consumed by the app itself. The Documents & Data section tells you how much space is consumed by data and documents used by the app.
    • For example, if you're using the Apple Podcasts app, you will see the size of the Podcasts app itself, as well as the amount of space consumed by downloaded podcasts.
  8. Depending on the app you're looking at, you may see a list of files or options for viewing, backing up, or deleting data from the app. This is common for apps made by Apple, such as Podcasts and Photos.
    • In the case of the Podcasts app, you can tap Edit above the list of saved episodes to delete ones you don't need. Just tap the red-and-white minus sign to delete each episode.
    • In the case of the Photos app, you'll usually have the option to empty the Recently Deleted album, which you can do by tapping Empty
  9. If you want to delete an app that's using a lot of storage space, tap Delete App . But you also have an alternative—select Offload App will temporarily delete the app while keeping the app's data on your iPad.
    • In most cases, the apps aren't what's taking up space—it's usually the data saved by the app. That means offloading apps will usually not free up as much data as deleting the app, which also deletes its data.
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Method 2
Method 2 of 6:

Managing iCloud Storage

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  1. It's the gear icon on your home screen or in your app library. Your iCloud storage is different from the storage used on your actual iPad. If you back up your files to iCloud, including your photo library, your iCloud storage can fill up.
  2. It's at the top of the screen. [2]
  3. This displays information about your iCloud storage.
  4. This is where you'll see an image that represents the type of data taking up space in iCloud. The colored bars represent types of data, such as Messages (including images and videos you send and receive through iMessage), docs (includes Notes), and Mail.
  5. If you see a green/On toggle switch next to an app or service, it is actively syncing data to your iCloud account. If the switch is gray/Off, its data is only stored on your iPad.
  6. It's near the top of the menu.
  7. This page gives you a more detailed breakdown of the data saved to your iCloud account by app/service. The apps and services are listed in order, beginning with the app or service consuming the most amount of iCloud space.
    • You'll also see your total amount of iCloud space next to "Change Storage Plan." If you need more space, you can tap this option to upgrade.
  8. When you tap the name of an app, such as iCloud Drive , you'll usually see the option to delete its documents and data, and/or the option to disable it. The options you'll see vary by app.
  9. If you see an option like this, you can tap to delete its files from iCloud. Only do this if you have access to the files elsewhere.
    • If you select iCloud Drive , you can browse for and delete specific folders rather than all data on the drive.
    • If you select Messages , you can disable and delete messages in iCloud—however, your iPad will no longer save messages to iCloud—just your iPad. If that bothers you, tap Top Conversations to see which conversations are taking up the most space, and delete that conversation or its media.
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Method 3
Method 3 of 6:

Managing Your iCloud Photo Library

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  1. It's the gear icon on your home screen or in your app library.
    • iCloud Photo Library automatically uploads and stores all of your photos and videos on your iCloud Drive, making them instantly available on any of your iCloud devices. What this means is that every device that has iCloud Photo Library turned on will download and store a copy of each photo onto its local storage. That means that if you have iCloud Photo Library enabled on your Mac and your iPad, photos from your Mac will also be synced to your iPad, and vice-versa.
  2. It's at the top of the Settings menu.
  3. It's in the second group of settings.
  4. It's at the top of the list.
    • If you are not currently backing up photos to iCloud, you'll see the word "Off" next to Photos.
  5. Tap the switch to enable or disable iCloud Photos.
    • If you turn iCloud Photos off, your photos and videos will not be backed up. However, if you're running short on iCloud space, you can always turn this off to prevent your iCloud photos from syncing to your iPad.
    • Turning iCloud Photos on will download any photos in your iCloud account (including those synced from your Mac or iPhone) to your iPad, as well as sync new photos and videos to iCloud.
  6. You'll see this option if iCloud Photos is enabled. This will make the iPad download optimized versions of the photos in iCloud to reduce the amount of local storage needed. [3]
    • Optimized versions of your photos and videos take up about half as much space as full-quality versions.
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Method 4
Method 4 of 6:

Deleting Photos and Videos

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  1. If you want to delete photos and videos from your iPad, you can do so in the Photos app.
    • If you're using iCloud Photo Library, deleting photos and videos from your iPad will also delete them from iCloud.
  2. It's at the bottom-right corner of the Library tab.
    • If you're not on the Library tab, tap it to go there.
  3. It's at the top-right corner. You will now see "Select Items" on the bottom.
  4. When you select a photo for deletion, a blue-and-white checkmark will appear at its bottom-right corner.
  5. It's at the bottom-right corner.
  6. This moves the photos (and videos, if you selected any) to the Recently Deleted folder, where they will remain for 30 days. Since your photos and videos are still in that folder, you haven't freed up space on your iPad yet.
  7. It's at the bottom of the screen.
  8. It's under "Utilities."
  9. It's at the top-right corner.
  10. It's at the bottom-right. A confirmation will appear.
  11. Once the selected items are deleted, you'll have recovered space on your iPad.
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Method 5
Method 5 of 6:

Deleting Music, Movies, and Shows

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  1. It's the gray gear icon on your home screen or in your app library.
  2. It's toward the top of the menu.
  3. It's near the middle of the menu.
  4. You can find it quickly by tapping the search icon at the top-right and typing "Music."
  5. It's right above your list of downloaded music.
    • You can select an individual song, album, artist, or playlist to delete.
  6. A confirmation will appear.
  7. This removes the selected music from your iPad.
  8. Do this if you want to delete movies and shows you've downloaded from Apple TV downloads. [4]
  9. This option only appears if you have downloaded content.
  10. A Delete button Will appear.
  11. This removes the video from your iPad and frees up space.
    • You can repeat these steps for Apple Podcasts and Apple Books as well.
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Method 6
Method 6 of 6:

Clearing Out Old Text Messages

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  1. If you use your iPad to send messages through iMessage, saved messages could be taking up a large amount of space. This is especially true if you send and receive a lot of images and video through the Messages app.
  2. If you don't want to delete an entire conversation, you can delete the photos and videos you've shared with the other person. It's pretty easy to do:
    • Tap the message containing the attachments (such as images and videos) you want to delete.
    • Tap the person's name at the top of the message and select Info .
    • Tap Sell All next to "Photos."
    • Tap Select and tap each photo or video you want to delete.
    • Tap Delete at the bottom to remove the selected attachments.
  3. It's at the top of the screen. This makes it so you can delete multiple text messages at once.
  4. Now you'll be able to select multiple messages.
  5. When you mark a conversation for deletion, a blue-and-white checkmark will appear on it.
    • When you delete a conversation, all of the messages and images in it will be erased. Be sure to copy down any important information and save pictures you want to keep to your Camera Roll.
  6. All of the selected conversations will be deleted.
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Expert Q&A

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  • Question
    How do I clear out the "Other" section on my iPad?
    Josef Storzi
    Apple & Mobile Phone Repair Specialist
    Josef Storzi is an Apple and Mobile Phone Repair Specialist and the Owner of Imobile LA, a mobile phone repair company based in Los Angeles, California. Josef specializes in repairing screens, charging ports, batteries, water damage, speakers, and microphones on all mobile phone brands including Apple, Samsung, LG, Nokia, and Sony. He also specializes in tablet, laptop, and computer repairs as well as the pros and cons of recent mobile software updates.
    Josef Storzi
    Apple & Mobile Phone Repair Specialist
    Expert Answer
    If you notice your storage is being taken up by a large section called "Other," this is an issue where appdata, cookies, and cache are taking too much storage and old files are not being cleaned by the operating system properly. In order to fix this, back up your device to either iCloud or iTunes. Then, reset your device completely and restore the backup you just mae.
    Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
    Thank you for your feedback.
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    Not Helpful 0 Helpful 2
  • Question
    I have newspaper apps that take up a lot of memory. How can I reduce this without deleting the app?
    Community Answer
    You can delete the cache memory or else delete the data memory that is consumed by your app and start the app again. This won't delete the app but will open up some memory.
    Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
    Thank you for your feedback.
    If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
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    Not Helpful 8 Helpful 14
  • Question
    I removed all pictures, videos and unwanted apps. It still says storage full, but I know it isn't. How do I reset storage?
    Community Answer
    Unfortunately, the only way to do that is completely reset your device. Make sure you back it up to keep the things you definitely want.
    Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
    Thank you for your feedback.
    If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow
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    Not Helpful 5 Helpful 7
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      References

      1. ↑ https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201656
      2. ↑ https://support.apple.com/guide/icloud/check-your-storage-usage-mm6e5a441fc7/icloud
      3. ↑ https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205703
      4. ↑ https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT204343

      About This Article

      Article Summary X

      1. Open Settings .
      2. Tap General .
      3. Tap iPad Storage .

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