How to free up storage on your iPhone
Updated July 2026
When your iPhone says "Storage Almost Full," a few categories are almost always to blame: duplicate photos, large videos, screenshots, and app data. Here is a practical, safe order of operations, starting with Apple's built-in tools and adding faster shortcuts where they help. Everything below keeps you in control; nothing deletes without your confirmation.
1. See exactly what's using your storage
Open Settings › General › iPhone Storage. The bar at the top breaks your usage down by category (Photos, Apps, Media, System Data), and below it iOS lists your biggest apps with personalized recommendations. Start here so you spend your effort where the gigabytes actually are, which for most people is Photos.
2. Delete duplicate photos
Duplicates are the easiest big win. iOS has a built-in tool: open Photos › Albums › Utilities › Duplicates, then tap Merge to keep the best version. One caveat worth knowing: Apple's Duplicates album only finds exact duplicates. It misses near-duplicates such as burst shots, edited copies, and re-saved images from Messages or WhatsApp, which are often the bulk of the clutter. A dedicated cleaner like Reclaim also finds those near-duplicates, keeps the highest-quality copy automatically, and shows how much space each set will free, all on your device. See how to delete duplicate photos on iPhone for the step-by-step.
3. Find and delete large videos
A single 4K video can be several gigabytes, so large videos are usually the biggest single drain after duplicates. In Settings › General › iPhone Storage › Photos you can review recommendations, but iOS does not sort your videos by size. Reclaim surfaces your largest videos first so a handful of taps can reclaim gigabytes. Move anything worth keeping to a computer or a cloud service first.
4. Clear out old screenshots
Screenshots accumulate fast and are rarely needed later. In Photos › Albums › Media Types › Screenshots you can review them in a grid and delete in bulk. Reclaim gathers them the same way with a fast, size-aware grid.
5. Delete screen recordings
Screen recordings are often large and easy to forget. They live alongside your videos; clearing a few can free hundreds of megabytes to several gigabytes.
6. Offload unused apps
In Settings › General › iPhone Storage, tap an app you rarely use and choose Offload App. This removes the app but keeps its documents and data, so reinstalling later restores your place. You can also enable Offload Unused Apps to let iOS do this automatically.
7. Turn on Optimize iPhone Storage
If you use iCloud Photos, enable Settings › Photos › Optimize iPhone Storage. Full-resolution originals live in iCloud while your device keeps smaller versions, freeing local space. This is complementary to cleaning up: removing duplicates and junk first means you store less in iCloud too.
8. Clear Messages attachments
Photos, videos, and GIFs sent in Messages pile up silently. In Settings › General › iPhone Storage › Messages you can review and delete large attachments, and under Settings › Messages › Keep Messages you can auto-delete conversations older than 30 days or 1 year.
9. Clear Safari and app caches
In Settings › Apps › Safari › Clear History and Website Data you can reclaim cache space. Streaming and social apps also cache heavily; offloading and reinstalling them (step 6) is the reliable way to clear that.
10. Empty Recently Deleted
Deleting photos moves them to Photos › Albums › Recently Deleted, where they still occupy space for up to 30 days. Once you're sure, empty that album to reclaim the space immediately. (The 30-day window is also your safety net, so don't empty it until you've confirmed your cleanup.)
The fast path: steps 2 through 5 are the media cleanup that frees the most space, and they're exactly what Reclaim automates, privately and on-device. It finds duplicates and near-duplicates, sorts videos and screenshots by size, and lets you clear them in a few taps, with every deletion recoverable for 30 days.