How To Optimise Storage On iPhone, iPad

Smartphone users, over time, load their device with files, music, videos, photos and various kinds of apps. The phone then tends to become slow and sluggish. Therefore, it is advisable for users to check and monitor their phone storage from time to time. 

In this article, we will guide users on how to check and optimise storage on iPhone and iPad. 

iOS and iPadOS monitor the storage on your device by analysing how much space each app uses. Users can also check the storage on the device in Settings, or in the Finder, the Apple Devices app or iTunes on the computer.

Optimise iOS and iPadOS storage

If your iPhone or iPad is low on storage or has storage full, it automatically frees up space while installing an app, updating iOS or iPadOS, downloading music, recording videos and more. 

To create more storage available, the OS may also remove items that can be downloaded again or aren’t needed any more. Apps that are not used and the local cache for files in iCloud Drive are also removed. The device will also remove temporary files and clear the cache on your Apple device.

Check storage on iPhone, iPad

1. Go to Settings > General > [Device] Storage. A list of recommendations will be shown to optimize your device’s storage. It is followed by a list of installed apps and the amount of storage each one uses.
2. Tap an app’s name for more information about its storage. (Cached data and temporary data may not be counted as usage.)

Now you can do the following steps:

• Offload the app to free up storage used by the app, but it keeps documents and data.
• Delete the app to remove the app and its related data.
• Depending on the app, you might be able to delete some of its documents and data.

If the device storage is full and can’t free up space, you might get a Storage Almost Full alert. 

If you see this alert, check the storage recommendations or offload some less-used content, such as videos and apps.

Optimise storage if it is full by using recommendations 

In the Storage section of Settings, your device may offer recommendations for optimising your storage. Follow the steps below to optimise your storage:

1. Tap Show to view all the recommendations for your device.
2. Read the description of each recommendation, then tap Enable to turn it on or tap the recommendation to review the contents you can delete.

Check the storage on iOS device using Finder, Apple Devices app or iTunes

1. Open the Finder on your Mac, or open the Apple Devices app on your PC. (If your PC doesn’t have the Apple Devices app, or your Mac is running on macOS Mojave or earlier, open iTunes instead. Find out which macOS your Mac is using.0
2. Connect your device to your computer.
3. Select your device in the sidebar of the Finder window or Apple Devices app. (If you are using iTunes, select your device in the upper-left corner of the iTunes window. You’ll see a bar that shows how much storage your content uses, split by content type.)
4. Move your mouse over the bar to see how much storage each content type is using.

Also Read: How to Fix a Slow iPhone: Quick Tips for Boosting Speed

The storage on your device differs from what you see in the Finder, Apple Devices app or iTunes because they categorise cached files as Other. Therefore, reported usage for Music or Videos might differ. 

To view usage on your device, go to Settings > General > Storage.

The device will automatically delete cached files and temporary files when it needs more space. Hence, users don’t need to delete them themselves.