Our phones hold so much of our personal data these days—photos, videos, apps, and documents. This can take up lots of space over a period of time and cause your phone to lag. If your device is running low on storage, you should do something about it to leave some free space. This guide will show you the best ways to clear storage on your phone.
Delete Unnecessary Apps
The fastest way to free up space is to remove apps you don’t need. Most people have dozens of apps on their phones that they haven’t touched in months. By eliminating them, you can reclaim that valuable space instantly.
To delete an app:
- Search on your home screen for the app.
- Tap and hold the app icon.
- Choose Uninstall or Remove (depending on your device).
You can also head to Settings > Apps for a list of apps that are using the most space.
Clear App Cache and Data
Since apps need to load quickly, they save temporary data (cache). Over time this data can add up and fill a lot of space. Clean cache for apps to free up space without deleting important data.
Here’s how to clear cache:
- Go to Settings > Storage.
- Tap on Cached data.
- Confirm to clear it.
For individual apps: Go to Settings > Apps, select the app, and tap Clear cache.
Delete Old Photos and Videos
Storing photos and videos takes up a lot of the space on your phone. It’s easy to build up a number of them, and some of them may not even be needed anymore.
Browse your full photo and video library and delete any duplicates, blurry shots, or old content you don’t want anymore. Or, to back up your files and then delete them to free up some space on your phone, use an app like Google Photos or iCloud for fast editing.
Use Cloud Storage
Cloud storage is great for offloading data from your phone while still providing access to that data if necessary. Services like Google Photos, Dropbox, and OneDrive keep your photos, videos, and files on the internet.
Once your information is saved in the cloud, you can delete it from your phone to clear up space. For instance, applications such as Google Photos allow you to upload your photos in high quality, free up space on your phone, and delete them.
Move Files to an SD Card
If your phone has an open slot for an SD card, this is an excellent way to extend your storage. Files such as photos, videos, and documents can be moved to the SD card, opening space on the phone’s internal storage.
To move files:
- Go to Settings > Storage.
- For example, tap Photos or Videos.
- Select Move to SD Card.
This is a simple solution for saving apps without eating into your internal storage.
Delete Old Messages and Chats
Text messages, especially with media, can take up a surprising amount of storage. If you’ve chatted with photos, videos, or voice notes, these can pile up over time.
To regain space, scroll through your message threads and get rid of your old chats. Messaging apps such as WhatsApp also allow you to erase chats that include large media files.
In iMessage (for iPhone), you can automatically delete old messages by going to Settings > Messages, where you can choose Keep Messages. Select 30 Days or 1 Year to delete older texts automatically.
Clear Downloaded Files
Occasionally, files that you’ve downloaded over time (often PDFs, documents, and apps) pile up under your radar. They can eat into a lot of your storage.
Check your phone’s Downloads folder to see what is in it. Remove files that you are no longer using. On Android phones, you can also look in the My Files app for downloaded documents and transfer them to cloud storage if you want to keep them.
Use Lite Versions of Apps
Some apps, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger, have “lite” versions that are meant to be less resource-intensive. These models are more space efficient and use less storage. You can use these versions to free up space without losing features of the app.
You can also look for Facebook Lite, Messenger Lite, or Instagram Lite in your phone’s app store and download them as substitutes for their full versions.
Clear your history/data.
Your phone’s web browser keeps a log of the sites you visit. It does save cookies, cached data, and other things that may eat up space over time.
To refresh your browser’s cache:
- Go to your browser (Chrome, Safari, etc.).
- Go to the browser’s settings.
- Tap on Clear browsing data.
- Choose Cache, Cookies, and browsing history to delete.
This will clear up some storage, particularly if you do a lot of browsing from your phone.
Remove Music and Podcasts
If you’ve downloaded tonnes of music or podcasts onto your phone, they might be hogging a lot of space. To save storage space, listen to your music and podcasts on streaming rather than downloading.
If you use services such as Spotify, Apple Music, and Google Play Music, think about going streaming only and deleting downloaded files. It also deletes tangentially related, older podcasts you might have listened to.
Optimise Your Apps
Certain apps have options built in to help you optimise storage. On, for example, Spotify, you can set the music downloads to use less storage space. The same goes for the many apps, like Netflix and YouTube, that allow you to adjust the quality of downloaded videos, which can help minimise the space they take up.
Check for storage options in your apps’ settings, and modify them to make some room.
Perform the factory reset (as a last resort).
If you’re out of options and your phone still says there’s no storage, it’s factory-resetting time. This will wipe all data off your phone and get it back to its out-of-the-box state.
Back up important data (especially contacts, photos, and documents) before performing a factory reset. You can back up your files using Google Backup (for Android) or iCloud (for iPhone).
To reset your phone:
- Go to Settings.
- Select System > Reset.
- Tap on Factory Data Reset.
Wiping everything from your phone should be a last resort, of course, but a factory reset is a good way to get the device back to working order.
Check for System Updates
System updates sometimes also include their own optimisation features that can assist you in recovering storage. If you have been updating your phone’s software, you should be using the most current version, which may include bug fixes and improvements that save storage.
To check for updates:
- Go to Settings.
- Tap Software Update.
- Remove and install all available updates.
Conclusion
Running out of storage on your phone can be frustrating, but these tips can help you quickly free up space and improve your phone’s performance. Start with deleting apps you don’t use, clearing the cache, and removing old photos and videos. Transferring data to cloud storage or an SD card can also free up space. If nothing else works, you could always try a factory reset.
Just by implementing the above steps, you will manage to keep your phone functional and have enough space for what really matters most.