Store photos on computer, not iPhone

Even though I don’t use Apple’s iCloud service, it sends me messages that say my online storage is almost full and suggests that I buy more storage. At the same time, I keep getting “storage full” messages on my iPhone 6, often when I need to take an important picture. I do back up my photos on my computer, but why can’t I keep them on my iPhone, too?

You can’t keep an unlimited number of photos on your iPhone because it has a limited amount of internal storage that is shared by the iOS operating system, your apps and the data you save, such as photos.

When that storage space fills, you get a warning from your iPhone. The warning means you have to delete something in order for your iPhone to store any new data. Usually, the solution is to delete photos, because they use up more storage space than other phone data, such as email.

The iCloud warning is different. It indicates that the online storage service has been automatically backing up your iPhone’s photos and other data. That happened because you were given 5 gigabytes of free iCloud storage space when you got the phone, and the phone’s automatic backup setting was turned on. You can turn off iCloud backups to avoid the warnings and sales pitches.

What should you do to avoid storage shortages? Back up photos to your computer more frequently, then delete those same photos from the phone. Computer backups are free, and your computer’s hard drive has far more storage capacity than your phone.