How to Free Up Storage on Your Phone

It always happens at the worst moment. You are about to record a video, take a photo, or install an app update, and your phone tells you storage is almost full. The fix is rarely a new phone: on most phones, a handful of things — videos, a few large apps, old message attachments, downloaded files — take up most of the space, and clearing them is straightforward once you know where to look.

This guide covers iPhone and Android, using the built-in tools from Apple and Google.

First: see what is using the space

On an iPhone, open Settings, tap General, then tap iPhone Storage. You will see a coloured bar showing how the space splits between apps, photos, messages and the system, and below it a list of apps sorted by size, largest first.

On Android, open Settings and tap Storage. You will see a bar showing used and free space, then categories such as Apps, Images, Videos, Audio, Documents and other, and Trash, each with its size. On a Samsung Galaxy phone, the same screen lives under Settings, then Device care, then Storage. Menu names vary slightly between phone makers — if you cannot find an option, use the search bar at the top of Settings. Try to keep at least 10 to 15 percent of your phone’s storage free, because the system itself needs working room.

Before you delete anything: back up first

Deleting is easy. Undoing a deletion is not always possible, so make sure your photos exist somewhere other than this phone first — iCloud Photos, Google Photos backup, a computer, or another backup. On iPhone, if you use iCloud Photos, deleting a photo on one device deletes it everywhere, and deleted items stay in Recently Deleted for 30 days. Apple also warns that if you are already over your iCloud storage limit, deleted photos are removed immediately and cannot be recovered. On Android, only use Google Photos’ “Free up space” after backup is complete.

iPhone: offload apps instead of deleting them

On iPhone, apps are often the biggest category, and the safest big win is offloading. Go to Settings, then General, then iPhone Storage, and tap an app in the list. Offload App removes the app itself but keeps its documents and data, so you can reinstall it later and pick up where you left off. Delete App removes the app and its data together. Offload the apps you rarely open — games you finished, travel apps from a past trip — and work down the size-sorted list; you will often recover several gigabytes without losing a single file. You can also let the iPhone do this automatically: go to Settings, then Apps, then App Store, and turn on Offload Unused Apps, which removes apps you do not use when storage runs low but keeps their data.

iPhone: use Apple’s own storage recommendations

The recommendations at the top of the iPhone Storage screen are tailored to your phone, and they are worth acting on — reviewing large video attachments, auto-deleting old conversations, and offloading unused apps. Tap Show All, read each one, and tap Enable on the ones you want. There is also a separate set of recommendations for iCloud: on iOS 17 and later, open Settings, tap your name, tap iCloud, then tap Recommended for You, where you can delete photos, large files, or old backups you no longer need.

iPhone: keep your photos while using less space

Photos and videos are usually the second-biggest category after apps, and a few minutes of 4K video can take more space than a thousand photos. In the Photos app, open Media Types, then Videos, and look for the long recordings and outtakes you will never watch again. Delete them, then open Recently Deleted and empty it — deleted items stay there for 30 days otherwise, and they still count against your storage until they are gone.

The setting that saves the most phone space without losing anything is Optimize iPhone Storage. If you use iCloud Photos, go to Settings, tap your name, tap iCloud, then tap Photos, and make sure Optimize iPhone Storage is on. Your full-resolution photos and videos stay in iCloud, and the phone keeps smaller, space-saving copies. It only helps if you have enough iCloud space — the free plan is 5 GB, which fills fast.

iPhone: clear old message attachments

Messages can quietly hold gigabytes of photos, videos and GIFs sent in old conversations. In iPhone Storage, tap Messages to review large attachments and delete the ones you no longer need. You can also set messages to delete themselves after a while: in Settings, then Apps, then Messages, under Message History, choose to keep messages for 30 days or one year instead of forever.

iPhone: what about “System Data”?

Many people notice a large grey slice in the storage bar labelled System Data, and wonder how to clear it. The honest answer is that you cannot clear it directly: Apple says System storage is used by the operating system, and the “Other” category includes caches, logs, Siri voices and similar data that cannot be removed by hand. What you can do is free space elsewhere — Apple says your device removes cached and temporary files on its own when it needs space, so work through the steps above and iOS will reclaim its own temporary files as needed.

Android: use the built-in Free up space tool

On a Pixel or most Android phones, open Settings, tap Storage, then tap Free up space. You will see categories of photos, videos and apps you have not used recently. Scroll to the category you want, tap Select files, choose what to delete, and tap Move files to Trash. You can also let Android do this automatically: on the same screen, open the menu, tap Settings, and turn on Smart Storage, which automatically clears photos and videos that are already backed up when your device’s storage is almost full. On a Samsung Galaxy phone, open Settings, then Device care, then Storage, for similar options.

Android: let Files by Google clear the junk

Files by Google is the file manager on Pixel phones and many other Android phones, and it is a free download from the Play Store if yours does not have it. Open it and tap Clean — on some versions you tap Menu first, then Clean — and you will see cards suggesting things to remove: junk files, duplicate files, large files, old screenshots, downloaded files, memes and unused apps.

Start with the Junk files card. Junk files are temporary files that apps store and can recreate, so cleaning them is safe. Tap Clean on the card, then Clear to confirm. Google warns that files deleted here are deleted permanently rather than moved to Trash, so review each suggestion before confirming. The large files card is usually the most rewarding — a few old videos can free up more space than hundreds of small files.

Android: back up photos, then free the device copies

Google Photos has a feature built for exactly this job. First, open Google Photos, tap your profile photo, go to Photos Settings, then Backup, and make sure Backup is on — then wait until backup is complete.

Then, in Google Photos, use Free up space. It deletes only the device copies of photos and videos that are already safely backed up. Your photos remain in Google Photos and at photos.google.com. One warning: your free Google storage is shared across Gmail, Google Drive and Google Photos, so check your storage total before deleting the local copies.

Android: archive apps and clear caches

Android has a neat feature: app archiving. On Android 15 and later, open Settings, then Apps, choose an app and tap Archive. Google says the phone keeps the app’s icon and your data but removes the app itself, its permissions and its temporary files; tap the icon later and the app reinstalls itself.

Clearing an app’s cache is another safe, quick win. Cache is temporary data an app stores to work faster, and the app rebuilds it as needed. On a Pixel, open Settings, then Apps, then See all apps, choose the app, then Storage and cache, and tap Clear cache. Do not tap Clear storage by mistake: that wipes the app’s logins, settings and offline content. Clear cache is safe; clear storage is a reset.

What not to do — and a sensible order

Do not install third-party “cleaner” or “booster” apps: many are full of ads, ask for broad permissions, and do not free up more space than the built-in tools. Do not delete your only copy of anything — back up first, confirm the backup, then delete. And do not buy more storage until you have done the steps above; most people recover enough space in twenty to thirty minutes.

If you only have ten minutes, check the storage screen, turn on the automatic options — Offload Unused Apps on iPhone, Smart Storage on Android — and run the built-in cleaner. Then delete the biggest videos you do not need and empty the trash. If you have half an hour, add the photo work and the apps at the bottom of your usage list, then check the storage screen again.

Sources

Apple Support, “How to check the storage on your iPhone and iPad” — https://support.apple.com
Apple Support, “Manage your iCloud storage on your Apple device” — https://support.apple.com/en-hk/108922
Google Play Help, “Free up storage on your Android device” — https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/7431795
Google Files Help, “How to use Files by Google” — https://support.google.com