Will Buying iCloud Storage Give You More Space on Your iPhone?
Reading Time: 5 minutes Many iPhone users have run out of space on their phones. Especially if you have had your iPhone (or iPad) for a few years or more, you may need more storage space. Exactly what is taking up all that storage varies a lot from person to person. For many, it’s photos and videos; for others, it’s apps, especially games. Many users believe that purchasing more iCloud storage will help them free up space on their devices. Although it can be helpful, it is usually not enough. In this article, we’ll explain why iCloud won’t help you with all your storage problems and what your options are for freeing up more space on your iPhone.
iPhone vs iCloud storage
iPhone storage
iPhones are sold with a variety of storage capacity options. For example, if you own one of the iPhone 15 models, you may have anywhere from 128 GB up to 1 TB (which is about 8x as much storage as the 128 GB model) of storage space on the phone. iPhone 8, X and 11 users may have as little as 64 GB.
The amount of storage needed on an iPhone varies a lot. For some people, 64 GB may be plenty; others have filled up their 1TB phones. On iPhones, and the latest models for many other phones now, there is no way to increase the storage capacity of the phone, i.e., there is no SD card slot.
iCloud storage
iCloud is designed as a way to sync your data across your devices and to provide storage for backups. It isn’t designed for you to simply drop in files and photos and then remove them from your device to free up storage. Many users mistakenly think that purchasing more iCloud storage will allow them to free up space on their devices. Although you can’t just use iCloud as a storage depot, you can use it to help free some space on your iPhone.
Something to note is that the free 5GB of storage that Apple gives everyone is not going to be enough. If you want to use iCloud, you will need to purchase iCloud+. Currently, in the U.S., 50GB will cost you $0.99 per month, 200GB will cost you $2.99 per month, and 2TB will cost $9.99 per month.
Signs of dangerously low storage on iPhone
Although you may think of low storage on your device as just a nuisance, it can actually cause your iPhone to stop working completely. If you aren’t backing up your phone regularly, this can mean losing all of your photos and data. If you are experiencing any of the following, you will need to take action to free up some storage on your device:
How to use iCloud to free up some space on your iPhone
Use Optimize Storage for iCloud Photos
One way that iCloud can help you free up space on your iPhone is by enabling Optimize Storage for your photos and videos. This will keep lower resolution copies of your photos and videos on your phone while storing the higher resolution versions in iCloud. To turn this on, go to Settings > [your Apple ID name] > iCloud > Photos. Make sure iCloud Photo sync is turned on, then select Optimize iPhone Storage.
You will need to have sufficient iCloud storage space. For example, my photos are taking up more than 50GB of iCloud space. (Photos is using only 2.2 GB on my iPhone with Optimize Storage on.) So you can only save space on your iPhone if you have the space in iCloud.
You may be interested in How to Delete Photos from iPhone but Not from iCloud.
Other ways to free up space on your device
Deleting unneeded apps and media
Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage to manage your iPhone storage.
- Follow the recommendations listed, such as Offload Unused Apps, Review Downloaded Videos and Audios, Review TV Downloads, Review Large Attachments, etc.
- Remove apps you no longer use. See what is taking up space. Tap on an app name, and you will have two options for removing that app:
- Delete App: The app and all its data will be gone.
- Offload App: The app will be gone, but its documents and data will remain. You may want to do this if you might reinstall the app later.
- If you subscribe to Apple Music, tap on Music. You can look through your music and remove albums or individual songs from your iPhone by swiping right-to-left on the name.
Backing up files and photos to an external drive
Another option to free up space on your iPhone is to save photos and videos to an external drive or memory card.
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