Phone Storage Full? How to Free Up Space on iPhone and Android

"Storage almost full" again? These step-by-step fixes clear gigabytes in minutes, without losing the photos, messages and apps you care about.

Few warnings are as annoying as "Storage Almost Full." A full phone can't take photos, install updates or download apps, and it may slow down. Before you pay for a new phone or more cloud storage, try these steps. Most people can free up several gigabytes in under 15 minutes.

Step 1: See what's using your space

iPhone: Open Settings → General → iPhone Storage. You'll see a color-coded bar and a list of apps sorted by size, plus personalized recommendations.

Android: Open Settings → Storage (on some phones, Settings → Battery and device care → Storage). You'll see categories such as apps, images, videos and audio. The exact menu names vary by manufacturer.

Usually, a handful of things — photos and videos, messaging apps, downloaded media and a few large apps — take up most of the space.

Step 2: Deal with photos and videos

Photos and videos are the biggest storage users for most people, especially 4K and slow-motion video.

• iPhone: If you use iCloud Photos, go to Settings → [your name] → iCloud → Photos and choose Optimize iPhone Storage. Full-resolution originals stay in iCloud while your phone keeps smaller versions.
• Android: In Google Photos, once your photos are backed up, tap your profile picture and use Free up space to remove the device copies that are already safely backed up.
• Empty "Recently Deleted." Deleted photos usually stay in a Recently Deleted or Trash album for about 30 days and still take up space until it's emptied.
• Delete duplicates and bursts. iPhone's Photos app can detect duplicates; on Android, Google Photos and the Files by Google app can help find them.
• Lower your video quality for everyday clips. Recording in 1080p instead of 4K uses far less space.

Step 3: Clean up messaging apps

Years of text messages, group chat photos and videos add up quickly.

• iPhone Messages: Go to Settings → Messages → Keep Messages and change "Forever" to "1 Year" or "30 Days." You can also review large attachments in iPhone Storage → Messages.
• WhatsApp: Go to Settings → Storage and data → Manage storage to see and delete large files and busy chats. Turn off automatic media downloads if you don't need every forwarded video.

Step 4: Remove or offload apps you don't use

Scroll through your app list and delete anything you haven't opened in months.

• iPhone: Use Offload Unused Apps (in Settings → App Store or the storage recommendations). It removes the app but keeps its documents and data, so you can reinstall it later and pick up where you left off.
• Android: Many phones offer a similar option to archive rarely used apps, and the Play Store can suggest apps to remove.

Step 5: Clear downloads and caches

• Downloaded music, podcasts and videos: Streaming apps like Spotify, Apple Music, Netflix and podcast apps can store gigabytes of offline downloads. Remove episodes and playlists you've finished.
• App caches (Android): Go to Settings → Apps, pick a large app such as a browser or social media app, tap Storage and choose Clear cache. Avoid "Clear data" unless you're happy to sign in again and lose the app's local settings.
• Files by Google (Android): Its Clean tab suggests junk files, old downloads, large files and duplicates you can delete.
• Browser data: Clearing your browser's history and website data can free some space, though it will sign you out of websites.

Step 6: Move files off your phone

If you've cleaned up and still need space, move files elsewhere: to cloud storage such as iCloud, Google Drive or OneDrive, to a computer, or on many Android phones, to a microSD card. Before deleting anything important from your phone, double-check that the backup actually finished.

Keep it from filling up again

• Turn on automatic photo backup and periodically free up space.
• Set messages to auto-delete after a year.
• Stream instead of downloading when you're on Wi-Fi.
• Check your storage screen once a month.

If your phone is still full after all of this, it may be time for more cloud storage or, when you next upgrade, a model with more built-in storage.