THE BENEFITS of having an iPhone are often the cool features it comes with but also the storage provided to hold precious photos, text messages, and more.
However, many times iPhone users often run out of storage fast—here’s how to clean up your iPhone storage as quickly as you fill it up.
How to clear iPhone storage?
Every iPhone comes with limited storage space, which is used up by apps, photos, videos, and more.
If you reach the limit, you won’t be able to download anything else – and you might be unable to install updates as well.
Fortunately, you can very easily check to see what’s using up space on your device.
Head into the iPhone Settings app, then go to General > iPhone Storage.
There you’ll be able to see a chart that shows how much of your iPhone’s storage is being used up.
If you scroll down to the bottom of the page, all of your apps will be placed in size order and the apps will show when they were last used, or even if they’ve never been used at all.
That’s a great way of finding apps that are using up too much space on your iPhone especially when you’re not using them.
What does it mean to offload an app?
If you’re unable to part ways with some apps but don’t have any desire to use them in the near future, iPhone users have the option to offload the app.
Offloading an app means you’re able to delete them from your iPhone however it still retains any data and documents stored on that app.
That means the app will still have your data if you decide to reinstall it in the future.
In the iPhone Storage settings, Apple will suggest rarely-used apps you might want to “offload”.
It will also flag any large videos that you might want to delete.
This may include “view offline” videos that you’ve downloaded in streaming apps like Netflix.
Similar to checking which apps take up storage on your phone, you’re also able to click the apps in the iPhone storage section and offload the app there.
What is system data?
According to iOS, system data includes “caches, logs, and other resources currently in use by the system.”
Oftentimes, your phone’s storage may be taken over by its system data.
It could be as simple as the website data and history used on Safari.
An easy way to clear this is by going to Safari on iPhone Storage and scrolling down to Clear History and Website Data.
This will free your internet app from any caches and logs it may have.
Additionally, you can backup your iPhone and reset all content and settings.
Firstly, you’ll want to backup your iPhone by clicking your Apple ID, clicking your iPhone, and tapping iCloud Backup.
From there you’ll be able to see the last time your iPhone was backed up and it’ll give you the option to backup your phone.
Once you’ve completed that step, you will go to Settings> General and scroll to the bottom and select Transfer or Reset iPhone.
There you’ll be prompted to tap Erase All Content and Settings, select that option and confirm.
Once your phone is erased, you’ll be able to restore your backup but any unnecessary storage occupying your system data will be removed.
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