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How do I free up space on my phone?

Your phone can show you exactly what is filling it up. On an iPhone, go to Settings, General, then iPhone Storage. On an Android phone, go to Settings, then Storage. Photos, videos and apps you don’t use are usually the biggest culprits.

Beginner2 min readUpdated

Before you delete anything

Photos and videos usually take the most space. Before you delete any, make sure they’re backed up, so you keep a copy.

On an iPhone

  1. Open Settings and tap General.
  2. Tap iPhone Storage. You’ll see a coloured bar, some recommendations, and a list of apps with the biggest at the top.
  3. Under the recommendations, tap Show to see them all, then tap Enable on any that suit you.
  4. To clear space from one app, tap its name, then choose:
    • Offload App: removes the app but keeps your documents and data. Reinstall it later and everything comes back.
    • Delete App: removes the app and everything in it.

On an Android phone

Some of these steps need Android 14 or later, and menus can look a little different depending on who made your phone.

  1. Open Settings and tap Storage. You’ll see what’s using space, by category.
  2. Tap Free up space.
  3. Scroll to a category, such as photos or apps you haven’t used recently, and tap Select files.
  4. Tick the things you want to remove, then tap Move files to bin.

Let your phone do it for you. In Storage, tap Free up space, then the menu, then Settings, and turn on Smart storage. It clears photos and videos that are already backed up when space runs low.

If it didn’t work

  • I deleted lots but it still says full. On Android, deleted files go to the bin first. Empty the bin to get the space back.
  • “Other” or “System” is huge. Some of this can’t be removed. Apple says the iPhone clears temporary files by itself when it needs space.
  • I can’t find Storage on Android. Tap the search box at the top of Settings and type Storage.

Next: take a screenshot on your phone.

Sources