"Storage Almost Full" usually appears at the worst moment: mid-video, or when an update will not install. The good news is that on most iPhones a small number of things use most of the space, and you can find them in a minute.
First: see what is actually using the space
Open Settings → General → iPhone Storage. Wait a few seconds for the bar to fill in.
The coloured bar shows space by category, and the list below shows apps sorted by size. Three things to notice:
- Photos is usually the biggest category. That includes videos.
- Messages often uses several gigabytes in attachments nobody remembers.
- System Data can look alarming, but you cannot clear it directly (more on that in the FAQ).
Work through the fixes below in order. They are sorted by how much space they usually free.
1. Delete your largest videos
One minute of 4K video at 60 fps uses roughly 400 MB. A handful of forgotten clips — a concert, a screen recording, a slow-motion experiment — can be 5 GB on their own.
The Photos app does not sort by size, which is why these hide so well. Two ways to find them:
- In Photos: Albums → Media Types → Videos. Scroll and look for long durations.
- With FreeMemory: the Media tab lists your videos and photos by size, biggest first, with a built-in player so you can check before deleting.
2. Remove duplicate photos
Duplicates pile up from saving images out of WhatsApp, re-importing from a computer, and editing apps that save a copy.
On iOS 16 and later, open Photos → Albums → Duplicates (under Utilities) and tap Merge. Apple keeps the highest-quality version. If the album is missing, iOS has not finished indexing — leave the phone charging and locked overnight.
For a full walkthrough, including what the Duplicates album misses, see how to delete duplicate photos on iPhone.
3. Empty Recently Deleted
This is the step most people miss. Everything you delete in Photos stays in Albums → Recently Deleted for 30 days and still counts against your storage.
Open it, tap Select → Delete All, and confirm. If you just cleaned up hundreds of photos, this is where the space actually comes back.
4. Clear old screenshots
Screenshots are small individually, but a few years of them can reach thousands of files. Open Albums → Screenshots, tap Select, and drag across rows to select many at once.
If you want to keep some, reviewing them one at a time is faster with a swipe interface. Our guide to deleting screenshots on iPhone covers both approaches.
5. Offload apps you rarely use
Settings → General → iPhone Storage → (app) → Offload App removes the app but keeps its data and documents. Reinstalling brings everything back.
To do this automatically, turn on Settings → App Store → Offload Unused Apps.
6. Shrink Messages
In Settings → General → iPhone Storage → Messages, tap Review Large Attachments. Swipe left to delete the large ones.
Then set Settings → Messages → Keep Messages to 1 Year so old threads are cleared automatically.
7. Compress photos you want to keep
If you have large photos you do not want to delete, compressing them is the next best thing. Downscaling a 12 MP photo to a sharp phone-screen resolution typically cuts its size by around 75%.
FreeMemory's Image Optimizer does this on the device and then asks whether to keep or delete the originals. See how to compress photos on iPhone for the built-in alternatives too.
8. Clear downloaded media in streaming and podcast apps
Podcasts, Spotify, Netflix, Apple Music and offline Maps keep downloads until you remove them. Each app has its own downloads screen. The iPhone Storage list shows which ones are worth opening.
9. Turn on Optimize iPhone Storage (if you have iCloud space)
Settings → [your name] → iCloud → Photos with Optimize iPhone Storage on keeps full-resolution originals in iCloud and smaller versions on the phone.
This works well — but only if your iCloud plan can hold your whole library. The free 5 GB tier is rarely enough.
What not to bother with
- "Junk file" and RAM cleaner apps. iOS does not let apps clear other apps' caches or memory. Any app claiming to do so is showing you a number, not freeing space.
- Restarting to free space. A restart can shrink System Data a little, but it is not a real fix.
- Paying a weekly subscription to delete your own photos. Read why so many iPhone cleaner apps charge weekly before you start a free trial.
Doing steps 1, 2, 4 and 7 in one pass
Steps 1, 2, 4 and 7 all involve your Photos library, so one scan can cover them. FreeMemory groups large videos, duplicates, screenshots and compressible photos in a single scan, with no ads and no subscription. Everything you remove goes to an in-app Bin first, and then to Recently Deleted — so remember step 3 afterwards.