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This wikiHow teaches you how to free up iCloud space on an iPhone by clearing unneeded photos, videos, and app data.
Steps
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Open the Photos app. It’s the white icon with a multicolored floral symbol inside. You’ll usually find it on the home screen.
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Tap all photos and videos you want to delete. This adds a blue and white check mark to the bottom-right corner of each thumbnail.
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Tap the trash icon. It’s at the bottom-right corner of the screen. A confirmation message will appear.
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Tap Delete . The button will actually say something like ″Delete 45 Videos″ or ″Delete 2 Photos.″ This deletes the selected media from your iCloud library, which frees up iCloud storage space.
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Open your iPhone’s Settings. You’ll usually find this app on your home screen.
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Tap your name. It’s at the top of the menu.
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Tap iCloud . It’s at the top of the second section. A list of apps currently syncing to your iCloud account will appear with green switches. Apps that are not syncing have white switches.
- Synced data can take up a lot of space in your iCloud account. If there’s anything you don’t need to sync, it’s best to disable it if space is becoming an issue.
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Slide an app’s switch to the Offto stop it from syncing. A pop-up will appear.
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Decide what to do with the existing app data. If you want to keep the data on your iPhone, tap Keep on My iPhone . To free up space on your iPhone as well, select Delete from My iPhone . The app’s data will now be removed from iCloud.
- Need more advice about clearing up space on iCloud? Check out what wikiHow users say on our My iCloud storage is full. How can I free up some space? forum .
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Open your iPhone’s Settings. You’ll usually find this app on the home screen.
- This method makes more space available on your iPhone, but may use up extra space in iCloud.
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Tap your name. It’s at the top of the menu.
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Tap iCloud . It’s at the top of the second section.
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Tap Photos . It’s the first option under ″APPS USING ICLOUD.″
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Tap Optimize iPhone Storage . This adds a blue check mark to the option, which means that full-resolution photos and videos will now be replaced with optimized (smaller) versions, while the full-resolution versions will be saved to iCloud.
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Join the Discussion...
I've hit the limit on my iCloud storage and need to free up some space. How do I clean out my iCloud storage? I feel like my storage fills up a lot faster than it should be filling up, so any tips on how to maximize my space, store things more efficiently, or otherwise keep my storage from filling up so fast would be great. Thanks!
To check your iCloud storage on iPhone, you go to your settings app, and then you will click on your Apple ID account located on the very top. And then you scroll down to iCloud. And then you'll be able to see Manage Storage there. Under Manage Storage, you'll actually get a nice breakdown of where your data is and you'll be able to delete from there. You can see where all your data is located and get a nice breakdown of how many gigabytes it's taking up.
A common mistake that occurs when dealing with iCloud is accidentally deleting things you didn't mean to. iCloud syncs many things such as messages, photos, contacts, and much more. Deleting certain content from one phone may delete it from your other device on the same iCloud account. Make sure to back up all the data you want in iCloud by going to settings, navigating to iCloud and toggling everything you want on, otherwise certain data will be left out.
Usually photos and videos that have been synced over from your other iCloud devices take the most space on your iDevice. You can stop the iPad from syncing photos and videos. 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 you may backup your device to either iCloud or iTunes. Then reset your device completely. Then restore the backup you just made. Contrary to popular belief, iTunes and iCloud backups do not restore all software issues to the device. Many of the critical operating system files are reset while your data is maintained.
Usually photos and videos that have been synced over from your other iCloud devices take the most space on your iDevice. You can stop the iPad from syncing photos and videos. 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 you may backup your device to either iCloud or iTunes. Then reset your device completely. Then restore the backup you just made. Contrary to popular belief, iTunes and iCloud backups do not restore all software issues to the device. Many of the critical operating system files are reset while your data is maintained.
Community Q&A
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QuestionHow do I delete photos from the cloud? I understand how to delete photos from my iPhone, but I need to free up space on the cloud.Premium SolutionsCommunity AnswerTo delete photos from the cloud and free up space, open the Photos app or go to iCloud.com, select Photos, and tap the Trash icon. Don't forget to clear the "Recently Deleted" folder. Then go to the Google Photos app or Photos.Google.com, delete photos, and empty the Trash folder to free space. As for other cloud services (Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.), access the service app or website, delete photos, and permanently remove them from the Trash bin or Recycle bin. Make sure you're deleting directly from the cloud, not just your device.
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QuestionI have 1139 pictures and 149 videos. Why is it saying my iCloud storage is full?Premium SolutionsCommunity AnswerYour iCloud storage may be full because iCloud also backs up more than just photos and videos. Here are a few possibilities: 1. iCloud stores full device backups, including app data, messages, and settings. Check if large backups are taking up space. 2. Files from apps like Notes, iCloud Drive, or other services may be using space. 3. Deleted photos and videos stay in the "Recently Deleted" folder for 30 days, still using storage. Check your iCloud storage usage in **Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud > Manage Storage to see what's using the most space.
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Expert Interview
Thanks for reading our article! If you’d like to learn more about clearing icloud storage, check out our in-depth interview with Gonzalo Martinez .
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