How to free up iPhone memory in 3 steps

The need to free up memory on the iPhone is a recurring problem on older or cheaper devices, that is, those with 64GB of storage space or less. Increasingly heavy applications and higher quality photos take up a lot of space on your phone, and if you keep seeing that dreaded pop-up window that warns you that you are going to occupy your phone completely, there are tricks you can follow to try to free memory in your iPhone and squeeze the maximum capacity without having to resort to payment solutions in the cloud.

The first thing to do is find out what is wrong. Open the iPhone Settings and then click on General and Storage, where you will find a simple and precise interface that is reminiscent of iTunes on Mac and PC and shows you which data is taking up more space than others.

Take a good look, but it is most likely your photos and videos that have reached the limit. Other times, it can be a messaging app and an email app that download messages and attachments directly to your phone. In the latter case, you can always start cleaning by deleting the applications you don’t need.

Delete pre-installed apps on iOS

The iPhones have fewer problems with junk applications because only find packaged applications by Apple. However, some of these programs are superfluous and you may decide to remove them to keep them out of your way and avoid creating the “junk” folder at the bottom of your application list. Luckily, since the release of iOS 10 in 2016, Apple has allowed to remove almost everything : Calculator, Calendar, Compass, Contacts, FaceTime, Home, Books, Bag, Mail, Maps, Apple Music, Notes, Podcasts, Reminders, Tasks, Tips, Videos, Voice Notes and Weather.

To delete any of these applications , follow the same process that you would use for an application downloaded from the App Store: long press on the icon and then choose Delete application from the menu that appears. Once you have confirmed the removal in the confirmation window, you are done, and if you need the program again in the future, you can find it in the store.

In some cases, removing the app will not remove the associated functionality built into iOS . This is the case of FaceTime: you can delete the app but continue making and receiving calls through the Phone and Contacts app, which will continue to be present next to the keyboard. The only apps you can’t remove are Safari and Messages.

If this step is not enough, go to Settings, write “Delete applications that you do not use” at the top and select the function to automatically remove applications that you have not used for more than 180 days, keeping only the data in memory for If one day you want to download it again and start using it where you left it.

Delete messages and attachments

If you send a lot of text messages, messaging apps are likely to clog your phone with automatically archived photos, videos, and memes. In the Settings> General> Storage menu , tap Messages; Here you will find a handy menu of large attachments and photos, videos and GIFs that are consuming your storage space.

Go through all the sections and delete what you are not interested in to unlock a good chunk of storage that allows you to get ahead for a while. You could repeat this process every time your smartphone fills up, but it is best to put an end to it once and for all and schedule your phone to clean itself periodically. Go to Settings, Messages, and then to Keep messages up to a month instead of forever. This deletes everything that is older than 30 days , including photos, GIFs, and videos , on iPhone.

Also Read:

• Whatsapp, here’s what it knows about you and your data
• All the WhatsApp news that will arrive in 2021

Reduce the photo and video space

It is clear that the best option is to invest some time in reviewing your photos and eliminating the ones that do not interest you . But if you don’t have time to lose, the first thing you should do is deactivate the automatic upload to iCloud (this is the route: Settings, Photos, Photos in iCloud) -so you don’t risk exceeding the free limit and being charged- and then remove the HDR from the camera so that the shots are less heavy (you can do it from Settings, Camera and then deactivate the last option in the menu).

Next, take a look at WhatsApp : if you haven’t fixed it already in the previous step, it’s good that you do it now. By default, WhatsApp downloads all photos from chats and groups, which takes up a lot of space. To avoid cluttering your memory, open WhatsApp Settings, select Chats and deactivate Save to camera roll: so you can choose each time whether to download the image or leave it alone.

The last alternative you have left is Google Photos , which can be configured to automatically back up an unlimited number (for now) of high-resolution photos to Google’s servers and then allow you to delete the photos from your device. to save space. This option expires in June 2021 to become a paid option , but anything downloaded before that date will be considered within the free storage space.