Free Up Phone Storage

Step 1 — See where space is going

1. Settings → General → iPhone Storage.
2. Wait 30 seconds — a colorful bar appears.
3. Below that, apps are sorted by the most space they use.

Step 2 — Apply the easy wins

• Turn on iCloud Photos with Optimize: Settings → tap your name → iCloud → Photos → "Optimize iPhone Storage". Phone keeps small versions; full quality stays in iCloud. Often saves 5-30 GB.
• Empty the Recently Deleted album: Photos app → Albums → scroll down → Recently Deleted → "Select" → "Delete All".
• Delete giant videos: In Photos, tap "Videos" → Sort by Size if available → review the biggest. Each 4K video is often 1-3 GB.
• Delete unused apps: Long-press an app → "Remove App". Or in iPhone Storage, tap "Offload Unused Apps" — keeps your data, removes the app.
• Clear text history: Settings → Messages → Keep Messages → "1 Year" instead of "Forever". Old texts and their photos delete automatically.
• Empty Safari cache: Settings → Safari → Clear History and Website Data.

Long-term fix — pay $1-3/month for cloud storage

• iCloud+ (Apple): 50 GB for $1/month, 200 GB for $3. Photos move to the cloud automatically; phone gets light again.
• Google One: 100 GB for $2/month. Same idea for Android.
• $3/month is far cheaper than buying a new phone because the old one fills up.