Do you remember how quickly your old phone used to run out of storage space? There was maybe room for a handful of mp3s and a few grainy, low-resolution videos. With each new generation, we always think that there is no way we could possibly run out of space this time. After all, the latest iPhone has the same storage capacity as your average desktop from around 2012! Yet, somehow, it isn’t long before you once again find yourself running low on storage. Well, there is apparently a reason your iPhone storage space is running low, and it all has to do with one app that could be hogging all your storage space up.
Where Did My iPhone Storage Go?
Our modern phones are basically miniature computers, in addition to our cameras, video cameras, media players, and so much more. Whose phone isn’t full of literal years of videos and photos that are never likely to leave your phone, never mind viewed again or printed out? Then there are the movies you put on your phone for the little one to watch on a long drive, the games you installed to pass the time, etc. However, there comes the inevitable moment when you realize that there is no space left.
So, you move all those photos to your laptop and delete a few games and hope that takes care of the problem. Yet, it’s once again full not so long after. So, what’s going on? What could be guzzling up your storage space so much? Well, apparently, the culprit is your text messages. You may not have realized this, but every photo, video, and GIF that you have been sending and receiving over the years are all taking up your iPhone storage space. Yet, you can actually delete all of these files that you had no intention of storing while still keeping the messages.
What you need to do is find out if there are large attachments you didn’t intend to store and then delete them. First, you will need to go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage. Then, select “Review Large Attachments” under “Recommendations”. You will then see a list of all the attachments stored on your phone, sorted by date and file size. Then, go through the list, deleting any of the attachments you don’t want to store. You may find it helpful to look at the file size and delete the largest ones if you are pressed for time.
Avoiding Potential Issues
While this is a practical method for quickly freeing up iPhone storage space, you should be selective of what you delete. There could be important attachments in certain conversation chains that you want to keep. Therefore, it is recommended to go through the list when you have time to properly review each attachment, making sure it’s not something you may need in the future. While it may be easy to delete these attachments, recovering them may prove far less simple. You can also manually go to every conversation thread you feel might have important attachments worth keeping.
Then go to the media section of each thread and review the attachments there. You can do so by clicking on the contact’s name and then clicking on “links” or “photos” to view all the attachments relevant to that person. This is the best method to use if you don’t want to accidentally delete crucial business attachments or fond family memories. Some people opt to delete entire threads, which could save a little more space, but it comes with the risk of losing conversations that later prove to be needed.
One of the best ways to avoid a sudden lack of iPhone storage space is to regularly back up all your data and delete what you don’t need on your phone anymore. This way, you don’t lose anything and always have the space to take videos or receive work attachments when needed. You could opt for iCloud as an option or transfer everything to your laptop or desktop. But won’t that fill up your storage on those devices? Well, yeah, but that’s a story for another day.
Read More: FBI Cautions iPhone and Android Users to Disconnect if They Hear This Sound