Manage your iPhone & iPad storage: clear space on iOS
Make room on your iPhone or iPad for new apps and media
REQUIRES
iPhone, iTunes (optional)
you will learn
How to use storage settings in iOS itself, as well as in iTunes
IT WILL TAKE
10 minutes
No matter what capacity iPhone you have, there will come a time when you’ll find it’s running out of storage space. The good news is that you can clear apps, photos, videos, and other items off your device at any time.
Deleting an app
Go to Settings > General > Storage & iCloud Usage and tap Manage Storage (under Storage heading). Your installed apps are listed in descending order of size. Tap one to see how much space the app itself takes up and how much is being used to store its data and documents; tap Delete App if you wish to remove it.
You can also delete apps from your Home screen: tap and hold an icon until they all jiggle, then tap X on an icon to delete that app. Bear in mind that deleting an app will delete its saved documents and data. You can redownload any app purchased from the App Store, but this won’t restore its data.
Delete videos
In the Videos app, tap Films or TV Programmes then tap Edit (top right), and tap the X. To delete individual episodes of a show, tap the artwork, then swipe left across an episode and tap Delete. If you delete a rented movie, it’s gone for good.
Delete photos
By default, every photo and video you take on your iPhone is saved in the Photos app, and uploaded to iCloud Photo Library, if enabled in Settings > iCloud > Photos. This library is an online copy of all photos and videos taken with your iOS devices or imported into Photos on your Mac – if you’ve enabled the feature on those devices as well. You can free space by telling your iPhone to store photos at a reduced quality. In Settings > iCloud > Photos & Camera, select Optimize iPhone In Settings, some apps reveal a detailed breakdown of all their content that’s taking up storage space. Storage. This doesn’t affect full-quality originals stored in the online copy of your library; only copies on your device. If you have turned on iCloud Photo Library, be careful about deleting photos from your iPhone because they’ll also be deleted from other iOS devices and Macs on which you have enabled the feature.
Delete a song
The best place to see what music is stored on your iPhone, especially if you’ve enabled iCloud Music Library, is at Settings > General > Storage & iCloud Usage > Manage Storage (under Storage) > Music. Swipe leftwards on any item, or All Songs at the top of the list, then tap Delete to get rid of it.
Magazines and books
To delete all issues of a magazine, tap and hold the app’s icon until it jiggles, tap X on the app’s icon to remove it, then press Home. Deleting individual issues differs between publications. Items in the iBooks app are deleted differently. Tap Select, then tap items to remove, then Delete.
Restore items
Remember you can always restore your previous app and media purchases by tapping Purchased in the bottom bar of the respective apps.