Does your phone have a limited amount of space? This should be deleted first because it is superfluous and uses a lot of memory.
For many smartphone users, a lack of storage space has become a problem. Over time, your memory becomes filled with photos, videos, apps, and temporary files, and it's not long before you encounter the annoying "storage full" message. What do you do when your phone runs out of space? There are simple solutions to reclaim memory and improve your device's performance, but since we can't tell you everything up front, we'll explain them below.
In this article, we'll walk you through how to free up space with practical tips to keep your Android and iPhone devices 100% clean. We'll explain what you should try to delete first, as well as the types of files you should delete first, from apps you no longer use to videos that take up several gigabytes—the biggest space hogs. We'll also explain how to check what's clogging up your memory and which safe tools can help with the cleanup.
- Checking which items are taking up space on your phone first is a good idea.
The first step is to determine what's using the most storage space. Both Android and iOS provide built-in tools to view memory usage, even by category. On Android, we have the following path:
- We go to settings
- We reach the storage
- If we click on any of the sections, we can also delete what does not interest us.
It displays a graph showing how much your apps, photos, videos, and audio are taking up; on iPhone, you have an iPhone Storage option in Settings, which does the same thing. Using this data, you can prioritize which items to delete or move—for example, reviewing rarely used games or a video folder with too many items—and review them before taking more drastic measures.
- Delete apps you no longer use.
Uninstalling apps you only install when you're not using them is one of the quickest ways to free up space. Beyond the more general option we've seen before, you also have the option to review them on Android, from Settings, in the Apps section, or even in the "Manage apps and device" section of Google Play, sort them by size and delete them in batches; or even tap the icon and click the trash can to delete them. On iPhone, from the Storage menu, you can choose to "Delete apps" or "Deactivate apps," freeing up gigabytes without losing data if you reinstall them later.
- Photos and videos: Backup or clean up
Often, high-resolution photos and videos consume huge amounts of data. Review your photo gallery and delete duplicate, blurry, or ridiculous photos and videos. To avoid losing memories, use Google Photos or iCloud to back up your memories to the cloud, then delete the local copy, freeing up space without any hassle. Obviously, another culprit behind this large number of photos and videos is WhatsApp, so delete what you have and what you don't want on this social network.
- Clear cache and temporary files
Temporary data grows without you noticing. On Android, go to Settings > Apps and tap "Clear Cache." Many apps (Chrome, Facebook, etc.) have their own built-in cleaning option. There's no button on iPhone, but in Safari, for example, go to Settings > Safari > Clear Browsing Data. Don't forget about the Downloads folder either; you'll need to use File Explorer or the Files app on iOS to empty it.