Gigback

How to free up iPhone storage when photos and videos fill it

By Filip Djordjevic, who makes Gigback · Updated

Short answer: To free up iPhone storage, open Settings > General > iPhone Storage to see how much space Photos uses. Then delete the large videos you no longer need, old screenshots and screen recordings, and duplicates. Deleted items stay in Recently Deleted for 30 days before they leave your iPhone, so empty that album in Photos to get the space back now.

What is the fastest way to free up iPhone storage?

Work through these in order. The last step is the one that actually gives the space back.

  1. See what is using the space in Settings > General > iPhone Storage.
  2. Turn on Optimize iPhone Storage if you use iCloud Photos and have room in iCloud.
  3. Delete the large videos you no longer need.
  4. Clear old screenshots and screen recordings.
  5. Merge duplicates in the Photos app.
  6. Keep smaller copies of what you want to keep.
  7. Empty Recently Deleted, or the space waits up to 30 days.

What is taking up space on my iPhone?

Settings shows you, category by category. These are Apple’s steps:

  1. Open Settings, then tap General.
  2. Tap iPhone Storage. You see a breakdown of what uses the space, recommendations, and a list of apps with the storage each one uses.
  3. Tap Show All to see every recommendation. Tap Enable to turn one on, or tap a recommendation to review what you can delete.

In that breakdown, Photos means the photos and videos stored in the Photos app, and Messages means messages and their attachments. If your iPhone shows a Storage Almost Full alert, Apple’s advice is to check those recommendations or remove content such as videos and apps.

Why do photos and videos take up so much space?

Because iPhone keeps them in their original, high-resolution version by default. Apple lists photos and videos first among the common sources of storage use. Three kinds are worth checking first: videos, screenshots and screen recordings you needed only once, and duplicates. Photos already gathers each kind in one place.

Does Optimize iPhone Storage free up space?

Yes, if you use iCloud Photos and have room in iCloud. With Optimize iPhone Storage on, your full-resolution photos and videos are stored in iCloud and storage-saving versions are kept on your iPhone. It is on by default when you turn on iCloud Photos.

  1. Open Settings, tap your name, then tap iCloud.
  2. Tap Photos, then turn on Sync this iPhone.
  3. In iOS 27 or later, tap iPhone Storage.
  4. Make sure Optimize iPhone Storage is turned on.

Know what it does not do. It removes nothing from your library, and the whole library still uses your iCloud storage, which starts at 5 GB free. It does not shrink everything at once: iCloud Photos optimizes the library when your iPhone needs more space, starting with the photos and videos you access least. And with iCloud Photos, deleting a photo on your iPhone deletes it on every device signed in to the same Apple Account.

Already optimized? Then your iPhone holds only the smaller versions of many photos. Deleting them frees their full size in iCloud but little space on the iPhone itself.

Delete large videos first

Videos are where to start, and Photos keeps them all in one collection:

  1. Open Photos, then tap Collections.
  2. Scroll down to Media Types, then tap Videos.
  3. Tap Select, tap the videos you no longer need, then tap the Delete button.

Clear out old screenshots and screen recordings

Photos keeps screenshots and screen recordings in collections of their own, so old ones are quick to clear:

  1. Open Photos, tap Collections, then scroll down to Media Types.
  2. Tap Screenshots, or Screen Recordings.
  3. Tap Select, choose the ones you no longer need, then tap the Delete button.

Merge duplicate photos and videos

Photos finds duplicates for you and keeps one copy when you merge them. Apple says the kept photo combines the highest image quality and relevant data, and the other copies move to Recently Deleted.

  1. Open Photos, then tap Collections.
  2. Tap Utilities, then tap Duplicates.
  3. Tap Merge on a set, then tap Merge [number] Items.

If you have no duplicates, the Duplicates collection doesn’t appear. How to delete duplicate photos on iPhone covers what the collection catches and what it leaves to you.

Compress what you want to keep

When a photo or video matters but its size does not, keep a smaller copy instead of deleting it. For what you take from now on, Apple recommends the High Efficiency format: open Settings, tap Camera, tap Formats, then choose High Efficiency. Apple says HEIF and HEVC use less storage than JPEG and H.264 while preserving the same visual quality. For what you already have, see how to compress videos and photos on iPhone, including what a smaller copy should keep: its date, location, favorite and albums.

Empty Recently Deleted so the space comes back

Deleting a photo does not free its space at once. Photos keeps deleted photos and videos in Recently Deleted for 30 days before removing them from your iPhone for good. To clear it now:

  1. Open Photos, then tap Collections.
  2. Tap Recently Deleted, below Utilities, then tap View Album and unlock with Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode.
  3. Tap Select, then choose the photos and videos to remove.
  4. Tap the More button, tap Delete, then confirm.

Anything you delete from Recently Deleted can’t be recovered. Why deleted photos still take up space covers the details, including what changes with iCloud Photos.

What else can I clear besides photos?

Messages and apps are the next places to look. Messages can remove old conversations for you: open Settings, tap Apps, tap Messages, then tap Keep Messages and choose how long to keep them. Any option other than Forever removes older conversations, attachments included. For apps, tap one in iPhone Storage to offload it, which frees the space the app uses but keeps its documents and data, or turn on Offload Unused Apps in Settings > Apps > App Store so your iPhone does it when storage is low.

How Gigback handles this

Gigback does the photo part of this list one card at a time, with the date and size on every photo and video. Swipe left to put an item in Gigback’s review bin, right to keep it. You can start with the whole library, an album, or just Videos or Screenshots, and go largest first.

Its Smart tab analyzes your library on your iPhone, and your photos are never uploaded for analysis. It groups what you may not need:

Favorites and photos in your albums are never preselected, and nothing in Large videos is preselected at all. A swipe deletes nothing: you review the bin, largest first, take back what you want, and delete the rest in one go, after iOS asks you to confirm.

Deleted items wait in Recently Deleted for 30 days, and the screen after a delete says so, with a button that opens Photos: space comes back once that album is emptied, by iOS after 30 days or by you in Photos. A compressed copy is written before its original goes to the bin, so space returns only once the original is deleted too. And with Optimize iPhone Storage, many originals live only in iCloud, so deleting or compressing them frees little space on the iPhone.

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