You’re trying to download a new app on your smartphone, but you get the dreaded message that your storage is full.
How is it possible?
Our smartphones can quickly use up all available storage space before we know it. Experts recommend the ideal phone storage to be between 32-64GB, but even that can go fast with lots of videos, apps, and photos.
If your phone storage is full, all hope isn’t lost— there are a few tips you can try to free up space. Keep reading to find our seven pro tips to get more space on your iPhone or Android.
1. Clean Out Unused Apps
Often, apps are taking up large amounts of our phone storage space. By deleting unused apps, we can free up much-needed space.
Before you start deleting, it’s helpful to see which apps are taking up the most storage. To check on your iPhone, go to Settings, General, then iPhone storage.
It tells you exactly how many GB are used, along with a helpful graph of how much is taken up by apps, photos, etc.
Scroll down and you can read how much storage is taken up by each app on your phone. Large apps that hold a lot of data, such as Facebook and social media, tend to take up a lot of space.
If there are any apps you no longer use, or you can live without, delete them. You can always download it again in the future if you need to.
2. Delete Text History
If you’re wondering how to get more phone storage, you may not have considered your message history. iPhones automatically save our entire text message histories from each person or group, going all the way back to when you purchased your new phone.
You can delete your history by opening up messaging and pulling a conversation to the left — this will bring up the option to Hide Alerts or Delete.
If you’re not quite ready to let your message history go, at least review them for large attachments, like photos or videos, that are taking up too much space.
You can do this through iPhone storage, then click on Review Large Attachments.
If you’ve accidentally dropped your phone while trying to free up storage, don’t worry — we provide smartphone repair for iPhones and Android.
3. Save Your Photos Elsewhere
One of our tips for getting phone storage availability is to store your photos elsewhere.
We tend to keep photos and videos in the camera roll of our phone, which eats up internal storage.
You don’t want to delete your precious photos, but you should store them elsewhere to save space.
If you use Apple’s iCloud, that’s a great option. Otherwise, there are plenty of great cloud photo storage options that are easy to use and free. These include Dropbox, Google Photos, and OneDrive.
4. Free Up Storage Space By Clearing Your Browser’s Cache
As you move from website to website on the internet, your phone’s memory is remembering each page.
Over time, this takes up valuable storage— as does having dozens of browser windows open! When you search for something on Safari, it usually opens it in a new window.
To save space, get in the habit of shutting each window after you’re done, otherwise, you’ll have a lot of unwanted windows taking up space.
Give yourself more space by clearing out your browser cache. You can do this by going to Settings, Safari, followed by Clear History and Website Data.
5. Delete Unwanted Music
Music and songs can take up a surprisingly large amount of space on your phone. To get more space, go through your music library and delete any songs you no longer need.
Even better, delete all of your music and switch to a music streaming service like Spotify. It gives you access to millions of songs without having to have them all saved on your device.
Streaming apps are free or low-cost, so they also work out to be a better value compared to purchasing individual songs from iTunes.
6. Avoid Downloading Movies and Shows
Movies and shows are huge files, taking up even more space than music. Although having shows to watch on your phone is great for the morning commute, it will quickly fill up your storage.
After you finish watching a show or film, delete it from your storage to save space. Or, switch to a streaming service like Netflix or Hulu to avoid large downloads directly onto your device.
If you still don’t have enough space, it may be time to upgrade and check out phones for sale.
7. Only Save HDR Photos
Most newer versions of smartphones save your photos in two versions— both the normal and the HDR.
HDR stands for high dynamic range. Your phone takes several photos in rapid-fire and then blends them together into one final image. This creates a more interesting image with greater contrast and depth.
You probably don’t need to save both HDR and normal photos. HDR photos take up more space but are better quality photos. You may prefer to save these, but if you’re really strapped for memory, turn off HDR and only take normal photos.
Contact Us for All Your Smartphone Needs
If your phone is at capacity, use the tips above to increase your phone storage space. Even large smartphones can fill up quickly if you’re not careful!
Do you need assistance with your iPhone or Android? Stop by one of our locations for friendly and expert assistance with your phone.
With our low price guarantee, we will gladly match any repair price from a competitor, and beat it by $5.
We can help with phone storage, repairs, cracked screens, and more, with our speedy same-day service.
Our team looks forward to hearing from you and helping with all of your smartphone needs.
