Phone storage full: what to do (Android and iPhone)

When storage fills up, your phone gets slow, stops installing updates and the camera may stop saving photos. Ideally, keep at least 10% to 15% free. Before deleting anything, find out what is taking up space.

In this article

1. 1. See what’s using space
2. 2. WhatsApp: the biggest culprit
3. 3. Photos and videos
4. 4. Apps
5. 5. Forgotten large files
6. FAQ

1. See what’s using space

• Android: Settings › Storage (on Samsung phones: Settings › Battery and device care › Storage). The name varies a bit between brands.
• iPhone: Settings › General › iPhone Storage. Wait a few seconds for the colored bar to load.

The usual culprits are: photos and videos, WhatsApp and apps with a lot of cache (social media, streaming with downloads).

2. WhatsApp: the biggest culprit

1. Open WhatsApp › Settings › Storage and data › Manage storage.
2. Check Larger than 5 MB and the chats taking up the most space (usually groups with videos).
3. Select and delete the files you don’t need.
4. To keep it from filling up again: under Storage and data › Media auto-download, uncheck videos and documents for both mobile data and Wi-Fi.

3. Photos and videos

1. Copy them somewhere else first: to your computer (see how to transfer photos from your phone to your PC) or to the cloud (Google Photos, iCloud, OneDrive).
2. Android with Google Photos: after the backup, use Free up space in the Google Photos account menu. It deletes from the phone only what’s already saved in the cloud.
3. iPhone with iCloud Photos: under Settings › Photos, choose Optimize iPhone Storage. The originals stay in iCloud and the iPhone keeps smaller versions.
4. Empty the gallery’s Trash / Recently Deleted folder: photos stay there for up to 30 days, taking up space.

4. Apps

• Uninstall the ones you haven’t used in months.
• Android: the Files by Google app shows unused apps, duplicate files and large files in the Clean tab.
• iPhone: under Settings › General › iPhone Storage, turn on Offload Unused Apps: the app is removed, but its data stays, and it comes back when you reinstall it.
• App cache (Android): under Settings › Apps, choose the app › Storage › Clear cache. Don’t use Clear storage (or Clear data), which erases your login and settings.
• Streaming downloads (Netflix, Spotify, YouTube): delete downloaded episodes and playlists you no longer use.

5. Forgotten large files

• The Downloads folder: PDFs, installers and videos you received.
• Screen recordings and old 4K videos.
• Offline maps and large games.

FAQ

I deleted a lot and the space didn’t free up. Why?

Empty the trash in the gallery and in the files app, and restart the phone. On iPhone, the count can take a few hours to update.

Do “cleaner” and “booster” apps help?

You don’t need them: the systems already do this cleanup themselves, and many of these apps show excessive ads or ask for too many permissions.

Is the phone still slow even with free space?

See phone slow and freezing.