How to Free Up Storage on your Phone Without Deleting Your Favorite Photos

How to Free Up Storage on your Phone Without Deleting Your Favorite Photos

Meta description: “Storage Almost Full” again? Here’s how to free up space on your phone fast, without losing the photos and files you care about.

You’re in the middle of an amazing photo, and suddenly your phone notifies you that your storage is almost full. Now you’re left madly deleting apps that you don’t even remember being installed, just to get that one photo on your phone.

The good news is that most phones tend to hog a whole lot of storage with unnecessary junk that’s easy and safe to delete.

First,

see what’s taking up storage on your phone

Then,

delete the obvious culprits

and

finally

move on to some less obvious storage suckers.

First,

see what’s taking up space on your phone.

On your

iPhone, go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage. For

Android, try going to Settings > Storage (the exact naming might be different). You’ll likely be surprised that the largest storage eaters are your photos/videos and app data, not the apps themselves.

Easy wins (Start here)

1. Clear cached app data

Social apps, browsers, and messaging apps all store temporary app data which can add up without you even realizing. Clearing cache will remove this data so that it doesn’t hog your storage. For Android, go to Settings > Apps > [App name] > Storage > Clear Cache. iPhone doesn’t allow you to clear cache for individual apps, but you can offload apps (see #4).

2. Delete all those blurry photos

Delete blurry photos, similar photos, and screenshots. If you take ten photos of the same thing, delete the blurry ones. If you screenshot a link, then the same link five times in a row, delete the extra screenshots. Most phones have a “similar photos” recommendation feature now that makes deleting similar photos much easier.

3. Clear the Recently Deleted folder.

Photos you delete go to this folder (30 days max) before they’re permanently deleted, so make sure to manually empty it if you’re desperate for space.

4. Offload or delete apps you don’t use

Do you have apps on your phone that you haven’t opened in months? Even years? Get rid of them. For iPhone, go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage, and look for Offload Unused Apps. This lets you keep your data while removing the app from your phone, so that you can easily redownload it later. For Android, go to Settings > Apps, sort by size, and delete the apps that you don’t use.

5. Clear downloaded files.

You might have many files you’ve downloaded and forgotten about on your phone, like PDFs or audio files that you’ve downloaded through a messaging app. Navigate to your download folder and delete anything that seems unnecessary.

Medium fixes (A bit more work)

6. Move photos and videos to your cloud.

Most phones have a built-in method for storing photos and videos in your phone’s cloud and viewing them as if they’re on your phone, but still taking up space. Double check your cloud storage quota, or you might end up needing to delete some photos to upgrade your subscription.

7. Compress or offload videos.

Videos take up way more space than photos, so see if you can delete videos you’ve backed up elsewhere. Lower the recording quality if you don’t need 4K videos. Or, move videos from your phone to another device.

8. Clear media files from messaging apps.

Media files sent through messaging apps like WhatsApp or Messenger are automatically saved to your phone, meaning that you might have photo and video files that you don’t even remember. These apps generally have a storage cleaner option under their settings, so go there and delete everything you can.

9. Clear music/podcasts you’ve downloaded.

If you’ve downloaded any podcasts or music to listen to offline, clear the ones you’ve already listened to.

Deep dives (Still not enough?)

10. Clear your phone’s storage suggestions.

Go to your phone’s storage clearing or management section, and clear whatever the phone suggests to clear.

11. Buy a bigger storage phone (if buying a new phone)

If you’re constantly running out of space on your phone, despite clearing your cache and deleting unnecessary photos, consider getting a bigger storage phone next time, rather than constantly clearing out your storage.

12. Backup and factory reset (last resort)

If you’re really, really desperate for space, and the above options haven’t worked, consider factory resetting your phone. This will clear out all unnecessary cache and bloatware. Make sure you have a backup before doing this, though.

Things to avoid

Clearing random junk files with untrusted apps. Some are totally safe, but it’s best to stick to your phone’s built in file management and clear cache features.

Clearing system files you don’t recognize. This can cause more harm than good.

Not making a backup before doing a factory reset.

A simple monthly habit

Check your storage management section and clear cache for apps you use often. Clear your blurry photos. Clear your Recently Deleted folder. Offload apps you don’t use. A few minutes of cleaning a month will prevent the “Storage Almost Full” message from ever appearing.

Final thoughts

It’s easy to think of storage management as a hardware issue – bigger storage equals more space. But the truth is, it’s a time management issue – the more time you spend clearing cache and deleting photos, the less time you spend worrying about storage. Use your phone’s storage management tools, clear cache, clear blurry photos, and offload apps you don’t use, and you’ll free up way more space than you ever thought possible, without sacrificing a single photo.

Your turn! What were the storage hogging culprits that you didn’t think of? Let me know in the comments. Most of us have at least one app we leave on our phone for years that we barely use.