How to delete iCloud data directly from iPhone. What to do if your iCloud storage is full
iPhone and iPad users may have encountered a problem at least once in their lives - iCloud space has run out and accordingly, the photos do not go into the photo stream, a backup copy is not created and a strange inscription constantly appears... There is a way out - buy revenge on iCloud! Although you can first try to figure out who is eating up the most space and stay on the basic tariff of 5 GB. So, let's deal with the backlog of backups on your iPhone!
First, we need to go to Settings (on the device), then go to the General tab -> Statistics ( Storage and iCloud in iOS 9), which has 2 important points - Storage location ( iOS 9 STORAGE) and ICLOUD. To view what is on your iPhone/iPad, you need to go to Storage in “Storage Location” - here we will see what data on the device takes up the most space. But by clicking on Storage under the inscription ICLOUD we will see the contents of iCloud and all backups:
In this window, we immediately see how many devices create a backup copy to your account. This could be all your iPhones/iPads or, suddenly, the devices of your loved ones. If you have several devices on the list, then think about whether you need to make a backup copy of them, and what needs to be backed up in it. If suddenly the list shows not your devices, but, for example, a friend’s/husband’s/wife’s, then it’s better to create their own account in iCloud, and use yours only for yourself - turn on the egoist, so to speak :) By the way, about my thoughts about accounts, you can read in the corresponding!
So, by clicking on your device in the list, in my case it is the iPhone Rifat (this iPhone), we get to a detailed list of everything that is in the backup. It may take some time for iGadget to show us the data. It took me a few seconds for the complete structured list to display. But the largest objects appear almost immediately:
As you can see, in this window you can exclude something from the backup copy of your device. For example, you can remove them from the copy. When you turn off the toggle switch, this data is on the iPhone/iPad don't disappear, but are only deleted from the current copy and will not be created until you activate this function again.
Carefully review all the items, turn off the items that are of little importance to you, and add free space to your iCloud. I am sure that many will be able to increase the space, at least a little, without buying more!
If, after all your manipulations, you are still not satisfied with the remaining free space, you can buy more:
50 GB for 59 rubles per month;
200 GB for 149 rubles per month;
2 TB for 599 rubles per month;
After all the procedures performed, you should have more free space in iCloud and you can continue to back up your devices and not worry about data loss. Do you often encounter the problem of running out of space in iCloud or just on your device? Write in the comments if you want to get advice on solving this problem! 🙂
Despite the fact that modern iPhone smartphones and iPad tablets have a large amount of permanent memory, sooner or later, most of their owners are faced with a lack of free space on the device. It’s especially frustrating when you need to download or save something very important on your phone and then, as luck would have it, the iPhone writes “There’s almost no space.”
What to do in this case? The answer is simple - remove unnecessary things. Many users recklessly throw themselves into the deep end, deleting everything. Often this ends in failure because system files or simply something important to you may fall under the hot hand.
In this article I want to tell you how to free up memory on your iPhone without the risk of deleting something you need or even damaging the operating system on your iPhone and iPad.
1. Total cleaning of the Safari browser
The very first place to start freeing up iPhone memory is the web browser. In some cases, it inflates like a balloon.
Let's start by clearing the Safari cache, cookies and deleting temporary files. To do this, go to the settings of the mobile gadget and find the section Safari:
Once inside, we find the point Clear history and website data.
After that, go to the “Advanced” section>>”Site data:
Click on the “Delete all data” button in order to delete all saved information about sites and thereby, at least a little, free up memory on the iPhone.
Don’t forget about the separate “Offline List” function, which is used for lazy reading of pages in Safari and thereby also takes up space in the ROM. Moreover, sometimes the volume occupied for this can reach a gigabyte or even more.
In order to clear it, go to the “Settings”>> “General”>>”Statistics”>>”Storage”>>”Safari” section. Here you need to tap on the “Delete” button to completely delete the entire offline list. Please note that clearing the cache will not remove objects from the reading list.
2. Finding unnecessary applications
For those who enjoy various games on a mobile phone or tablet, their memory is often filled with old games that have not been used for a long time, and they forgot to delete them. To fix this and clear up free space on your iPhone and iPad, open “Settings” >> “General” >> “Statistics” >> “Storage”:
Here you will see a list of applications sorted by memory usage. We select those that are not needed or used by you and delete them:
Also, as an option, you can try to completely reinstall the “heavy” applications that you use. The fact is that in order to roll back in the event of a failure, they may, in parallel with the current version, save previous, outdated versions, which also take up the disk space you need. Reinstalling will simply remove everything unnecessary. After this, your iPhone will most likely no longer write “There is almost no space.”
3. Proper iCloud setup
In the operating system, everything is closely tied to Apple’s proprietary service, called iCloud. There is cloud storage, streaming of audio and video content, backup of information and much, much more. Its correct configuration and use will free up memory on your iPhone for the necessary data. So, what needs to be done?!
— Turn on iCloud Media Library. The purpose of this service is to give users the opportunity to synchronize all their multimedia content with Apple cloud storage. By turning it on, you can upload all your photos and videos to the cloud in full, deleting them from your iPhone or iPad. This is done in the “Settings” >> “iCloud” >> “Photos” section:
Move the “iCloud Photo Library” slider to “On” and uncheck “Save originals”.
By the way, after this it is better to listen to music in streaming mode via ICloud, and do not store the tracks themselves on the phone but simply delete them. The iPhone can accept podcasts of content downloaded to iTunes. Also, I would recommend connecting to some kind of streaming service. The Yandex.Music service is very good in this sense.
— Disable Photo Stream. Apple devices have one very interesting and absolutely unnecessary feature for most users, which is called “Photo Stream”. This album is created by the ICloud service. All photos from the Camera Roll album are automatically copied into it. This is done in order to automatically upload new photos to the cloud so that they are available on other iPhones and iPads connected to this account.
Do you need this? Most users don’t even know about this function, while it actively eats up space in the gadget’s ROM. To disable Photo Stream- in the “Settings”>>”iCloud”>>”Photos” section, slide the corresponding switch to the “Off” position.
4. Operating system update
Don't forget to update your iOS operating system to the latest and most current version.
The fact is that updates, as a rule, fix old bugs and flaws. Including those related to the use of permanent memory of a smartphone. In addition, in the latest versions, the developers have significantly improved iOS performance and stability on iPhone 4, 5 and 5S. You can check the availability and availability of a new OS version in the “Settings”>>”General”>>”Software updates” section.
5. Clean iPhone memory using third-party utilities
To be honest, the AppStore is now full of programs offering to optimize the iPhone, allowing it to speed up its operation and clear the device’s memory. More than half of them do not bring any positive effect. On my own behalf, I can recommend a couple of successful programs.
First - application PhoneExpander.
It can perfectly clean traces of programs by deleting their temporary files on iPhone, iPad and even on the iPod touch media player. In addition, the utility can remove unnecessary applications, videos and music.
Very often, many iPhone owners take screenshots. Although these pictures are small in size (on average 200-300 KB), they accumulate a lot and the volume they occupy in memory increases greatly. You can, of course, climb through the storage on your own and look for all such pictures. But there is a faster way to clear the memory on your iPhone from such unnecessary images - use the utility Screeny.
It is specially designed to search and delete screenshots on Apple devices. It will scan all the pictures on the device and display the predicted amount of free space. If you are satisfied with everything, click on the “Delete” button and see the result!
Any copies of backup data have their own volume. When working with computers, problems do not arise - PCs are equipped with a large amount of memory, and a huge amount of information can be stored there. This is not the case with smartphones. Especially when it comes to iPhone.
This gadget allows you to backup data using the iCloud service. It has its limitations on the allocated space for user information. If you do not format the cloud from time to time, the storage will sooner or later be 100% full.
In this article we will talk about how to clean iCloud. What should every user know about this process?
Formatting Methods
Please note that by default, all owners of Apple products are allocated 5 GB of free space on the iCloud cloud service. If necessary, this limit can be increased for a fee.
Despite this, from time to time you still have to think about how to clean out your iCloud storage. There are several ways to do this. For example, format the cloud completely or partially. Depending on preferences, the algorithm of actions will change.
Today, cleaning iCloud can be done both through a mobile device and using a computer. Accordingly, the procedure can be either complete or partial. Next, we will talk about all the options for the development of events.
Partial removal
How to clean iCloud on iPhone? The first tip is to delete only certain data. The fact is that the data cloud stores a variety of user files. These include programs, pictures, videos, and backup copies. You can free up some space by partially deleting information.
In order not to think for a long time, we suggest doing this:
- Turn on the Apple gadget. Be sure to wait until he is completely ready for further work.
- Go to "Settings" - iCloud.
- Select "Storage".
- Click on "Management".
- Select the data you want to delete. Next, click on “Edit” in the upper right corner of the screen.
- Click on the "Delete" button.
This procedure is considered the longest, but most suitable for clearing the cloud of unnecessary information.
From backup data
But this is only the first way. You can free up space by eliminating unnecessary backup data. So, how to clean iCloud from copies of user information?
The process as a whole is not much different from the previously proposed algorithm. But some differences still exist. More precisely, deleting backups is done like this:
- The smartphone or tablet must be turned on.
- Go to "Settings" - iCloud - "Storage".
- Select the "Manage" function.
- Click on the device whose data you want to clear.
- Click on "Delete copy".
- Confirm the operation by clicking on the "Turn off and delete" button.
The described algorithm of actions will only help you get rid of backup copies of information. You can do similar steps from your computer.
Deleting backups from PC
Let's look at how to clean iCloud from a PC. If we are talking about deleting backups, then you can use iTunes to bring your idea to life. Every user can do this. To remove copies of data through iTunes, you need to:
- Connect iPhone to PC via a special cable.
- Install the latest version of iTunes for the operating system.
- Launch the program and wait for synchronization with the device.
- Go to "Settings" and open the "Devices" section.
- Select the desired copy of data and click “Delete”.
Fast, simple, convenient. Although in practice this option is not used too often.
Via iCloud for Windows
How to clean iCloud through the official cloud page? The process is only possible from a computer and with an Internet connection.
It is suggested to act like this:
- Visit icloud.com.
- Log in to the system using your Apple ID.
- Open the "Storage" service.
- Select the required components and click on “Delete”.
The use of the official page in practice is not very common. People usually wonder how to clean iCloud from mobile devices. From now on you know the answer to this question!
Tired of constantly receiving notifications that your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch storage is full? Before installing a new application, do you have to find that “extra” game or program that needs to be sacrificed? Stop putting up with this! These 40 ways to help you free up space on your iPhone and iPad.
The problem with insufficient memory on iPhone and iPad is familiar to many. Users of devices with a memory capacity of 8 or 16 GB especially suffer from this - they, more than others, have to think about how to fit on their smartphone or tablet both their favorite music and the applications and games they need for work, helping to while away their free minutes. Depending on the activity of using the device, owners of 64 GB iPhone and iPad models may also suffer from a lack of memory. In any of these cases, the following 40 ways will help you.
How to free up space on iPhone and iPad
1. Reboot your device regularly
Restarting your iPhone or iPad every day not only provides an impressive performance boost, but also clears the iOS cache, which gets clogged all the time. You can see a clear example of how much your device needs a reboot in iTunes - when you connect the gadget, the garbage is displayed as a storage section " Other", in some cases occupying several gigabytes.
It is impossible to delete the system cache manually, but iOS gets rid of everything unnecessary itself during a reboot. Therefore, do not neglect restarting your iPhone and iPad - due to this, you will be much less likely to think about how to cram the latest game or movie into the device’s memory that you wanted to watch on the road.
2. Perform a hard reset
In addition to a regular reboot, a hard reboot helps in the fight against full iPhone or iPad memory. During its execution, all temporary files, which can take up quite a lot of space, are also deleted from the device. To perform a hard reset, you need to hold down the buttons simultaneously Nutrition And Home and hold them until the Apple logo appears on the device screen.
3. Remove unnecessary apps and games
One of the easiest ways to free up memory. Simply remove unused apps and games from your iPhone or iPad that have been collecting dust for months in various folders on the device's home screen. This method, despite its simplicity, is one of the most effective - many users sometimes simply forget that they have this or that application installed on their device, which has not been launched for a long time.
4. Delete documents in apps
Documents created by third-party applications also take up space on your device's memory. If you have a whole bunch of personal documents that are no longer needed, simply delete them directly from the applications in which they were created. Keep in mind that some applications move deleted documents to special temporary folders and the space may not be freed up immediately.
5. Remove pending iOS updates
New versions of iOS are automatically downloaded to your device via Wi-Fi, which means they take up storage space. Even if you reject the installation of a fresh update, it remains in the device's memory, waiting for you to finally mature. Uninstalling a pending iOS update is very easy. To do this you need to go to Settings -> Basic-> and select “ Manage" Here you need to find the firmware hanging in the memory, select it and delete it. To disable automatic downloading of updates, go to the menu Settings -> App Store, iTunes Store and turn off the switch Updates».
6. Update iOS via iTunes
The process of updating an iPhone or iPad over the air is incredibly convenient, however, to free up the device's memory as much as possible, it is better to install new versions of iOS through iTunes. Downloading new firmware directly to the device inevitably involves saving temporary files in memory, even after the installation is complete.
When installing new versions of iOS via iTunes, the firmware is unpacked and stored in the computer's memory, and therefore the device is not clogged with all these temporary files.
7. Delete old voicemail
Don't leave old voicemails gathering dust in your device's memory. To remove them, go to the application Telephone -> Autoresponder, then select unnecessary messages and click " Delete". After this you must go to Telephone -> Deleted messages and press the button " Clear all", only after this the old voicemail will completely disappear from the device’s memory.
8. Delete Message Attachments
Over time, the investment in the application Messages, especially if you are a fan of texting, can begin to take up quite a lot of space in the device’s memory. It is very easy to delete attachments while leaving the correspondence safe and sound.
Go to the application Messages, open any dialog and click on the “ More details" located in the upper right corner of the screen. Tap and hold an attachment until a pop-up menu appears. In this menu, select " More» and start marking all attachments that you no longer want to see on your device. After this, click on the trash can icon and confirm deletion.
9. Set a limit on how long messages can be stored
In addition to removing attachments from conversations, you can also set a limit on how long messages can be stored in the device's memory. To do this you need to go to the menu Settings -> Messages -> Leave and select the item “ 30 days».
Please note that after setting this option, text messages will be permanently deleted from the device memory after 30 days. Be careful when setting this setting, especially if correspondence is important to you.
10. Set a shorter storage time for audio and video messages
And another way to save memory associated with the application Messages. Once you send or listen to audio or video messages, it is moved to the device's memory, where it continues to be stored indefinitely. Going to the menu Settings -> Messages and selecting in the section " Audio messages" paragraph " Expires", you can specify a shorter time for automatic deletion of audio and video messages, for example, 2 minutes.
11. Delete old photos and videos
You can free up a huge amount of space on your iPhone and iPad by deleting old photos and videos. To do this you need to go to the application Photo, select the photo or video you want to delete and click on the trash can icon. After this you need to go to Albums -> Recently Deleted -> Choose -> Delete everything and confirm permanent removal of media files from the device.
12. Turn off Photo Stream
When Photo Stream is turned on, photos taken on one of your iOS devices automatically appear on your other gadgets associated with the same account. All this, of course, is very convenient, but because of this function, the device memory can fill up much faster than usual.
To disable this option you should go to Settings -> iCloud -> Photo My photo stream».
13. Turn off iCloud Photo Sharing
iCloud Photo Sharing lets you create shared albums with other users and subscribe to albums you've already created. Photos from albums you follow will be sent directly to your device's memory, so if you want to save as much space as possible, it's best to disable this feature. To do this you just need to go to Settings -> iCloud -> Photo and remove the switch from the item " iCloud Photo Sharing».
14. Stop storing original HDR photos
When you take HDR photos, iOS automatically saves the regular versions of the photos, doubling the space you need to store your media. Fortunately, in the system settings you can refuse to store originals by telling iOS to save only HDR images. Go to menu Settings -> Photo and Camera and remove the switch from the item " Leave the original».
15. Use iCloud Photo Library
With iCloud Photo Library, you can store optimized versions of your photos and videos on your device, while leaving the high-quality originals in iCloud storage. This feature can significantly save space on your iPhone or iPad, even if your media collection is not very large.
You can activate the option to store optimized photos and videos on your device in the menu Settings -> Photo and Camera. Depending on the size of your library and internet bandwidth, the initial sync process may take several hours or even days.
16. Store photos and videos in the cloud
You can free up several gigabytes at once on your iPhone and iPad just by starting to use cloud storage. By uploading all the photos and videos from your mobile device to Dropbox, Flickr, Google Drive, Yandex.Disk or OneDrive, you will still always have them at hand, at the same time having the opportunity to fill the memory of your iPhone and iPad with whatever your heart desires.
17. Remove unused content from iBooks
Books, magazines and textbooks stored in iBooks can take up a lot of space on your device's memory. This is especially true for books with advanced features, such as embedded audio or video content. To remove them, launch iBooks, click " Change", select the books you want to delete and click " Delete».
To prevent automatic downloading of updates for books and magazines from the App Store, go to the menu Settings -> App Store, iTunes Store and remove the switch from item Books in the section " Automatic downloads».
18. Delete the contents of the Video app
Your personal videos, along with movies and TV shows purchased from the iTunes Store, can take up a lot of storage space on your iPhone and iPad. To delete videos that have become unnecessary, go to the standard application Video, click on the button " Change" and erase everything unnecessary from the device's memory by pressing the " X».
19. Delete unnecessary podcasts
Podcasts downloaded to a mobile device can take up quite a lot of memory space, in particular, if you don’t monitor the filling rate of the Podcasts application. You can delete unnecessary or old podcasts directly in the application itself. To do this, click on the icon in the form of three dots to the right of the podcast name, click on the “ Delete downloaded object» and confirm the process.
20. Enable automatic deletion of played podcasts
You can also delete podcasts immediately after listening to them. You can activate this option in the menu Settings -> Podcasts -> Delete played.
21. Start using Apple Music
It's 2016, and messing around with your music collections, constantly syncing them across your iPhone and iPad, is already equivalent to using CDs. Of course, there are more convenient ways to move music to devices other than iTunes (for example,), however, the best way to start is to use Apple Music. For just 169 rubles per month you will get access to more than 30 million songs, personal selections, themed radio stations and much more. To join the army of Apple Music users, you just need to go to the Music app and start the registration process.
22. Clear Safari Reading List Cache
Safari Reading List is a great feature that allows you to access your saved articles and web pages without an internet connection. But you can get carried away with filling this list, eventually filling the device’s memory with hundreds of files related to saved pages.
To clear Safari's reading list cache, go to Settings -> General -> Using storage and iCloud and select " Manage" After this, you need to find Safari in the list, click “ Change" and delete reading list files.
23. Clear Safari Cache
In addition to the previous method, deleting Safari browsing history and search queries can also help clear some memory on your iPhone or iPad. This process is extremely simple - go to Settings -> Safari, click " Clear history and website data» and confirm cleaning.
Keep in mind that clearing your browsing history on one device will automatically clear it on other devices linked to the same iCloud account.
24. Delete the application cache
Many applications that download data from the Internet can store real mountains of temporary files in the memory of your iPhone or iPad. Most of these files become unnecessary over time, so you can delete them, freeing up a couple of hundred treasured megabytes.
To delete the cache of a specific application, go to the menu Settings -> General -> Storage and select Manage. You will see a list of applications installed on the device, sorted by the amount of memory occupied - select the ones you need and clear the cache, in cases where this is possible.
25. Reinstall particularly power-hungry apps
If some separate application has literally taken up residence in the memory of your iPhone and iPad, placing its cache in it like a master, then you need to resort to a radical solution to the problem. This solution, however, is not particularly complicated - such an application just needs to be deleted and downloaded from the App Store again.
26. Use special utilities
The built-in mechanism for clearing temporary files in iOS works, frankly speaking, imperfectly. There are much more functional third-party utilities, for example PhoneExpander. With its help, you can clear your iPhone and iPad of temporary files as much as possible without losing a single important document.
To start using PhoneExpander you just need to download the utility, connect your mobile device to your computer and click the “ Clear temporary files" Next, the cleaning process will proceed automatically.
27. Set up your device as new
A very radical way, but, actually, why not? Start the life of your iPhone and iPad from scratch, having first, of course, backed up your data in iTunes and iCloud.
In order to set up an iPhone or iPad from scratch you need to go to the menu Settings -> Basic -> Reset and select " Erase content and settings" Please note that this process involves deleting all files and settings from the device, so double-check that you have created backups.
And 13 more ways in one line:
28. Remove all duplicates, blurry photos, and screenshots from the Photos app.
29. Download high-resolution panoramic photos from your mobile device to your computer, and then delete them from the memory of your iPhone and iPad.
30. Delete or export photos from apps like Camera+ or VSCO.
31. Turn off high quality voices by going to the menu Settings -> General -> Universal Access -> Speech -> Vote -> Russian by unchecking the item Milena (improved). Here you can also delete this voice option by clicking on “ Change».
32. Disable unused system languages by going to the menu Settings -> General -> Language and region.
33. Remove unused third-party keyboards from the menu Settings -> General -> Keyboard -> Keyboards.
34. Delete custom hotkeys that you no longer use. You can do this in the menu Settings -> General -> Keyboard -> Replacing text.
35. Limit background app activity in menus Settings -> Basic -> Content Update.
36. Select 1080p video recording format instead of 4K in the menu Settings -> Photo and Camera -> Video recording.
38. Clear Siri cache by disabling and re-enabling the voice assistant in the menu Settings -> Siri.
39. Turn off automatic downloads of music, applications, books and updates in the menu Settings -> App Store, iTunes Store.
40. Sync your iPhone and iPad with iTunes from time to time, this will allow the system to transfer error logs from the device and automatically delete them.
When a message appears that a backup cannot be created because there is not enough space in iCloud, the question immediately arises of how to clear iCloud storage. We will look at several ways to do this.
Method number 1. Removing data from apps from the cloud
This problem arises for the simple reason that you are allocated only 5 GB on iCloud. At first, this is quite enough to store all contacts, backups and other data there. But over time, all this accumulates and 5 GB becomes too little. This, by the way, is another unpleasant surprise from Apple.
You can free up some space by deleting backups. If you have photos, you can use any other cloud storage if you are afraid of losing them. Therefore, from time to time it is necessary to clear Aylaud from backups.
- Go to the settings on your device, open the “General” section.
- There, find the item “Storage and iCloud”, click on it. Scroll down the open window to the “Storage” section. There will be a “Manage” button, which you also need to click. The “Photo” section and a list of devices from which data is stored from iCloud will appear. If you want to delete copies of photos, select the first section, and if there are other backup copies, click on the device. We will consider the second option in detail, since with the first everything is extremely simple - click on the photo and the delete button.
Clue: If for some reason you are unable to enter the iCloud control menu in the manner described above, you can also open “iCloud” in the settings and go to “Storage”. You will be taken to the same menu.
- On the next page you can see which applications take up how much space in the cloud storage. Set the switch to the "On" position. next to those programs whose backup copies you want to delete.
- Scroll down the window and click on “Delete Copy.” Another window will appear asking if you really want to delete the copies. Click "Turn off and delete".
This instruction is the same for both iPhone and iPad. Unless the interface will be slightly different, the actions are completely identical.
After the above steps, the cloud storage will be slightly freed up. To delete everything from the cloud, you must first select “Photos,” delete all copies of the photos, and then delete data from all programs.
Method number 2. Creating a new backup
If you create a new backup, the old one along with all its data will be deleted.
This is done as follows:
- In settings, find the item “iCloud” and “Backup” (it’s at the very bottom).
- There, click on the “Create a backup” button. Wait for the creation process to complete.
Important! In some cases, you also need to enable the Backup switch. This is the same page shown in Figure 3. Then the button to create a copy will become available. This is a small glitch of the iOS operating system.
Now, as you understand, the old copy will be deleted and a new one will be created. At the same time, data from programs, contacts and other important information will be preserved in full.
Only the photos will be lost. But in most cases, it is because of them that cloud storage becomes very cluttered.
In some cases, it is better to connect 50 GB instead of 5 GB on the cloud. Yes, it costs money, but then you can forget about the clutter for several years. By that time, you will probably want to buy something newer and more interesting.
This pleasure costs only 1 dollar per month (0.99 USD to be exact), which is equal to approximately 59 rubles or 26 hryvnia. For most people who can afford an Apple gadget, this is quite a bit.
To purchase additional space, in the settings you need to go to “iCloud”, then to “Storage” and click on “Buy more space”. 200 GB costs 3 bucks there, and 1 TB costs 10 units of American currency.
So if running out of space is an issue, clear out everything you don't need and consider expanding your cloud.