How to Free Up Space on iPhone (iOS 27 Guide)

Last updated: October 31, 2026

Quick answer: To free up space on iPhone, go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage to see what’s using the most room. Then follow the recommendations there, offload or delete apps you don’t use, store your photos in iCloud with Optimize iPhone Storage, empty the Recently Deleted album, and clear out old messages and downloaded videos. These steps use only built-in iPhone settings, and you don’t need to delete anything that matters to you.

Apple released iOS 27 on September 14, 2026. The menu names below match Apple’s official support pages for iOS 27, and we point out where iOS 26 or older versions differ. If your screens look slightly different, check that your iPhone is up to date in Settings > General > Software Update.

Step 1: See What’s Using Your Storage

Before deleting anything, find out where your space is going.

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap General.
3. Tap iPhone Storage.

At the top you’ll see a colored bar showing how much space Apps, Photos, Media, Messages and other categories use. Below that is a list of your apps, sorted from largest to smallest. It can take a few seconds to load.

What “System” and “Other” mean

Apple explains that System is the space used by iOS itself, and Other includes things like Siri voices, fonts, dictionaries, caches, logs and the Spotlight search index. Depending on your iOS version, you may see this labeled as System Data. You can’t delete these directly. Apple says your iPhone removes cached and temporary files on its own when it needs space.

Step 2: Use Apple’s Built-In Recommendations

On the iPhone Storage screen, iOS may show suggestions to save space, such as reviewing large attachments or turning on iCloud Photos.

1. In Settings > General > iPhone Storage, tap Show All next to the recommendations, if it appears.
2. Read each suggestion. Tap Enable to turn one on, or tap the suggestion to review what would be deleted first.

Step 3: Offload or Delete Apps You Don’t Use

Apps and games often take up the most room. You have two choices:

• Offload App removes the app but keeps its documents and data. The icon stays on your Home Screen, and tapping it downloads the app again with your data intact.
• Delete App removes the app and its data completely.

Offload or delete one app

1. Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage.
2. Tap an app in the list.
3. Tap Offload App or Delete App, then confirm.

Offload unused apps automatically

1. Open Settings and tap Apps.
2. Tap App Store.
3. Turn on Offload Unused Apps.

On iOS 17 and earlier, this setting is under Settings > App Store instead, because the separate Apps section was added in iOS 18.

Step 4: Free Up Space Used by Photos and Videos

Photos and videos are the biggest space users for many people.

Store full-size photos in iCloud

With iCloud Photos and Optimize iPhone Storage, your full-resolution photos and videos are kept in iCloud and smaller, space-saving versions stay on your iPhone.

1. Open Settings, tap your name, then tap iCloud.
2. Tap Photos.
3. Turn on Sync this iPhone.
4. In iOS 27 or later, tap iPhone Storage, then make sure Optimize iPhone Storage is selected. In iOS 26 or earlier, choose Optimize iPhone Storage directly on the Photos screen.

You’ll need enough iCloud storage for your whole library. Apple gives every account 5 GB of free iCloud storage, and you can buy more with iCloud+ if you need it.

Empty the Recently Deleted album

Deleted photos stay in Recently Deleted for 30 days and still use space until then.

1. Open Photos and tap Collections.
2. Swipe up and tap Recently Deleted under Utilities.
3. Tap View Album and unlock with Face ID or Touch ID.
4. Tap Select, choose the items (or select all), tap the More button, then Delete or Delete All.

Be careful: once you delete items from Recently Deleted, you can’t get them back. If you use iCloud Photos, deleting a photo on your iPhone also deletes it from your other devices.

Merge duplicate photos

In recent iOS versions, the Photos app can find duplicates. Look for the Duplicates album under Utilities in Collections, and use Merge to keep one copy.

Step 5: Clean Up Messages

Years of texts, photos and videos in Messages can add up to several gigabytes.

Delete old messages automatically

1. Open Settings and tap Apps, then Messages.
2. Scroll down to Message History and tap Keep Messages.
3. Choose 30 Days or 1 Year instead of Forever.

This permanently removes older conversations and their attachments. Save any photos or information you want to keep first. If Messages in iCloud is on, they’re removed from your other Apple devices too.

Empty Recently Deleted in Messages

Deleted messages also wait in a Recently Deleted folder for up to 30 days. In the Messages app, open the menu at the top of the conversation list, tap Recently Deleted, select the conversations, and tap Delete.

Step 6: Remove Downloaded Videos, Music and Files

• Streaming apps: Check the TV app, Netflix, YouTube and other apps for downloaded shows you’ve already watched, and delete them.
• Music and podcasts: Remove downloaded songs or episodes you no longer listen to.
• Files app: Open Files, tap Browse, and look in On My iPhone and your Downloads folder for large files you don’t need.

Step 7: Check Messaging Apps Like WhatsApp

Apps such as WhatsApp save the photos and videos people send you. WhatsApp has its own cleanup tool under Settings > Storage and data > Manage storage, where you can review large files and the chats using the most space. Back up your chats before deleting anything you might want later.

Step 8: Move Photos to a Windows PC to Free Up Space

If you don’t want to pay for more iCloud storage, you can copy your photos and videos to a Windows PC with a USB cable, check the copies, and then delete them from your iPhone.

1. On your PC, install Apple’s free Apple Devices app from the Microsoft Store.
2. Connect your iPhone to the PC with a USB cable that can transfer files, not just charge.
3. Unlock your iPhone with your passcode if asked. If you see Trust This Computer, tap Trust or Allow.
4. On the PC, select Start and open the Photos app.
5. Select Import, choose your iPhone, then pick the photos and videos you want and where to save them. If you see a Delete items after import option, leave it unticked so you can check the copies first.
6. When the import finishes, open the folder on your PC and check that a few photos and videos open properly.
7. Only then delete them on your iPhone, and empty Recently Deleted (see Step 4) to get the space back.

If you use iCloud Photos: Apple says you must download the full-resolution originals to your iPhone before importing them to a PC. With Optimize iPhone Storage on, many originals are only in iCloud, so they may not appear in the import. Microsoft suggests using iCloud for Windows to get those. Remember that deleting a photo on your iPhone with iCloud Photos on also deletes it from iCloud and your other devices.

Better Windows compatibility: In Settings > Camera > Formats, choosing Most Compatible makes your iPhone capture future photos and videos as JPEG and H.264, which Apple recommends for the best compatibility with Windows. If the import fills up your PC, see how to free up disk space on Windows 11.

Why Is My iPhone Storage Full Even With iCloud?

This is one of the most common sources of confusion. Your iPhone has two separate kinds of storage:

• iPhone storage is the space built into the phone (for example 128 GB or 256 GB). This is what Settings > General > iPhone Storage shows.
• iCloud storage is online space linked to your Apple Account. You can check it in Settings > your name > iCloud.

Paying for more iCloud storage doesn’t automatically make room on your phone. As WhatsApp’s own help pages put it, adding more cloud storage doesn’t change how much space your iPhone needs. iCloud only saves phone space when a feature moves files off the device, for example:

• iCloud Photos with Optimize iPhone Storage: If iCloud Photos is on but Download and Keep Originals is selected instead of Optimize, every full-size photo and video stays on your phone. Switch to Optimize iPhone Storage (see Step 4).
• iCloud Drive files: Apple counts iCloud Drive files you’ve downloaded to your phone as part of your iPhone storage. In the Files app, you can touch and hold a downloaded iCloud Drive file or folder and choose Remove Download. The file stays in iCloud and you can download it again later. Anything you’ve set to Keep Downloaded stays on the phone.
• Messages and other apps: Many apps keep their own copies of photos, videos and attachments on the phone even when you use iCloud. That’s why Messages and WhatsApp cleanups (Steps 5 and 7) often free a lot of space.

How to Free Up Space on iPhone for an iOS Update

An iOS update needs free space to download and install. If your iPhone says there isn’t enough space, try these steps in order.

Let your iPhone make room

Apple says your device can temporarily remove app data to make space for an update without deleting your personal information. Go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage and tap Enable next to Offload Unused Apps if it appears. Deleting a few large apps you no longer use also helps.

Delete a stuck update and download it again

If an update has partly downloaded but won’t install, go to Settings > General > iPhone Storage, find the update in the list of apps, tap it and choose Delete Update. Then go to Settings > General > Software Update and download it again.

Update using a Mac or Windows PC

Updating through a computer is Apple’s suggested route when an over-the-air update keeps failing. Back up your iPhone first, then:

1. On a Mac with macOS Catalina or later, open the Finder and connect your iPhone with a cable.
2. Select your iPhone in the Finder sidebar. If asked, tap Trust on your iPhone and enter your passcode.
3. Click General, then Check for Update.
4. Click Download and Update and follow the onscreen instructions.

On a Windows PC, use Apple’s free Apple Devices app (or iTunes if your PC doesn’t have it) to update your iPhone. On a Mac with macOS Mojave or earlier, use iTunes. The update itself still needs some space on the phone, so clear what you can first.

Apple Intelligence and iPhone Storage

On iPhone models that support it (iPhone 15 Pro and later, according to Apple), Apple Intelligence keeps its AI models on the phone. Apple’s current requirements say it needs up to 8 GB of storage on most supported iPhones, and up to 14 GB on iPhone 17 Pro models and later, iPhone Air and iPhone Duo. Apple also notes that it may temporarily use more than this during and shortly after a software update, while new models download and old ones are removed.

What you can switch off depends on your iOS version:

• iOS 26 and earlier: Go to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri and turn off Apple Intelligence.
• iOS 27: Apple Intelligence is built into the operating system, and Apple’s iOS 27 user guide doesn’t list a single switch to turn all of it off. Instead, you can turn off individual features, such as Siri AI (in Settings > Siri), message and notification summaries, or restrict features in Screen Time.

Apple doesn’t say how much storage, if any, you get back by turning these features off, so don’t count on it as a quick fix. If you don’t use Apple Intelligence features, turning them off is harmless, but the steps above (photos, apps and messages) are a more reliable way to free up space.

Last Resort: Back Up, Erase and Restore

If System or Other stays huge after you’ve tried everything else, some people find that backing up, erasing and restoring their iPhone shrinks it, because temporary files and caches aren’t restored. Apple doesn’t promise this result, and it takes time, so only do it after the other steps.

1. Make a full backup. Use iCloud (Settings > your name > iCloud > iCloud Backup > Back Up Now) or your computer (Finder on a Mac, or the Apple Devices app on Windows). Check that the backup finished and shows today’s date.
2. Check app-specific backups. Some apps, such as WhatsApp, use their own backup. Make sure those are up to date too.
3. Erase the iPhone. Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone, tap Erase All Content and Settings, and follow the prompts. You’ll need your passcode and possibly your Apple Account password.
4. Restore. When the iPhone restarts, follow the setup steps and choose to restore from the backup you just made.

Important: Erasing removes everything on the phone. Don’t erase until you’re sure your backup is complete.

Troubleshooting

Storage hasn’t gone down after deleting things

Remember to empty Recently Deleted in both Photos and Messages. Then restart your iPhone and give the iPhone Storage screen a minute to update.

The “Storage Almost Full” message keeps coming back

Focus on the biggest items first: photos and videos, large apps, and Messages attachments. Turning on Optimize iPhone Storage for photos usually makes the biggest difference.

Your iPhone shows different numbers from your computer

Apple notes that the Finder, the Apple Devices app and iTunes count cached files as “Other”, so their numbers may not match. The iPhone Storage screen on the phone itself is the one to trust.

Conclusion

Start in Settings > General > iPhone Storage to see what’s taking up space, then tackle the biggest items: apps, photos and Messages. Turn on Offload Unused Apps and Optimize iPhone Storage so your iPhone keeps saving space on its own. If you only need room for an iOS update, updating with a computer is a reliable shortcut, and erasing and restoring should always be the last thing you try.

Sources: Apple Support: How to check the storage on your iPhone and iPad, Manage your photo and video storage, If your iPhone or iPad won’t update, Update your iPhone with the Finder, Get started with the next generation of Apple Intelligence, Turn off and restrict access to Apple Intelligence features, Delete files or recover deleted files in the Files app, Transfer photos and videos from your iPhone or iPad to your Mac or PC and Microsoft Support: Import photos and videos from phone to PC.

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