Simple way to free up space on your smartphone

Mobile phones have come a long way in the last 10 years. From better cameras to faster processors, most of us couldn’t cope with a phone from 2010 nowadays. It’s unimaginable to think that the iPhone 4 only had a maximum of 32GB in storage.

The basic model was released with 8GB of storage, and as you know, iPhones don’t have memory card slots for expansion. Android phones didn’t fare too much better in 2010, but many did have the ability to increase storage. Tap or click here for photo storage options: Google Photos vs. iCloud vs. iDrive.

But you can’t accurately compare storage from then to today’s massive 1TB in the iPhone 13 Pro Max. Content and media sizes have also changed, but how do you free up more space to accommodate today’s needs? We’ll explain the process.

Freeing up space on iPhone

Apple’s iPhone comes with ample storage space, but you could eventually get a message that you are approaching the limit. You don’t have much music or videos stored on it, so what is eating up space?

Several apps on your phone store large chunks of data that you might not even be aware of. The Messages app, as an example, can keep copies of your chats and retains attachments like photos, videos or content shared with you.

To see what is using the most storage space on your iOS device, tap Settings > General. Scroll down and tap on iPhone Storage. After loading, a bar will show you the content on your device taking up space.

You will also see a list of apps that take up space. The list will be displayed in descending order from most storage used to least. One trick you might not know about is the simple act of deleting and reinstalling an app.

For example, the Facebook app stores tons of information. To free up that space, all you need to do is delete Facebook from your device. Then, reinstall it and sign into the app. It will look and function just like before, but all that clutter in the background will be gone.

Next, to clear attachments from Messages, open the app and tap on a conversation. Tap on the contact icon and select Info. Scroll down to see the attachments the contact has sent you. Tap See All and select the ones you want to delete. When you are done, tap Delete.

Cleaning out attachments from Android

Android users suffer from the same problem faced by iOS users. If you don’t have a mini SD card installed for added storage, capacity can quickly become an issue.

To delete attachments from messages in Android:

• Tap on the Files app.
• Scroll down and tap Images or Videos.
• Scroll to the left to find the Messages folder and open it. This is where the images will be stored.
• Tap on any images you want to delete and hit the Trash button. You’ll be asked to confirm your selection by tapping Delete.

Store important files in the cloud to save space

Another way to conserve space is by saving files like precious photos and videos in the cloud and deleting them from your device. But you must use a service that you can trust. We recommend our sponsor, IDrive.

IDrive is an online cloud backup service that helps you easily and securely back up any of your data across a wide range of devices. It protects all your PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad and Android devices with just one account.

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