My iPhone storage is almost full, and it’s slowing everything down and blocking new photos, apps, and updates. I’ve already deleted some apps and old photos, but the “Other/System Data” and app caches still seem huge. What are the best practical steps or hidden tricks to safely clear space without losing important data or messing up my settings?
iOS storage is a mess, but you can squeeze a lot out fast if you hit the right spots instead of only deleting random apps and photos.
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Check what is actually huge
Settings → General → iPhone Storage.
Sort through the list. Focus on the top 5 apps. Ignore “System” since you cannot control it much. Focus on “System Data” and big social apps. -
Offload unused apps
Same menu, tap a big app you rarely use.
Use “Offload App”, not Delete, so you keep data. iOS removes the app binary, keeps documents. Reinstall later from the Home Screen icon. For a 64 GB phone, this often frees 2 to 6 GB fast. -
Kill app caches the hard way
Most apps do not give a “clear cache” button. The only real way:
• Open iPhone Storage
• Tap the app
• Choose “Delete App”
• Reinstall from App Store
Works great for Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Reddit, Spotify, Telegram, etc. They love to hoard cached media. I have seen Instagram drop from 10 GB to 1 GB after this. -
Messages and WhatsApp cleanup
Messages:
Settings → Messages → Keep Messages → set to 1 Year or 30 Days.
Then in Messages → Conversation info → “Info” → Manage photos, videos, GIFs. Delete big attachments.
WhatsApp:
Settings in WhatsApp → Storage and Data → Manage Storage.
Sort by “Larger than 5 MB”. Delete old videos and forwarded trash. This alone often frees 2 to 10 GB. -
Delete old offline media
• Podcasts app: remove downloaded episodes.
• Spotify / Apple Music: delete offline playlists and albums you stopped using.
• Netflix / YouTube Premium / Prime Video: remove downloaded shows.
Go into each app’s “Downloads” section. These files add up fast. -
Optimize Photos instead of deleting more
Settings → Photos → turn on “iCloud Photos”.
Turn on “Optimize iPhone Storage”.
Full‑resolution photos stay in iCloud, your phone stores smaller versions. This reduces storage pressure without losing your stuff. Needs stable iCloud space and Wi‑Fi. -
Reduce “System Data” bloat
You cannot wipe it directly, but you can shrink it:
• Restart your iPhone. Sometimes frees a few hundred MB.
• Delete big apps and reinstall them, as above. Their caches count under “System Data” on newer iOS versions.
• If “System Data” stays huge after all of the above and you are still stuck, make an encrypted backup to Finder or iTunes, then do “Erase All Content and Settings”, then restore. This is drastic, but I have seen 15+ GB of “System Data” disappear after a clean restore. -
Use a cleaner tool when you are tired of digging menus
If you do not want to chase each app, a dedicated cleaner app helps you remove junk photos, large videos, and duplicates faster. For example, the Clever Cleaner App for iPhone focuses on things like duplicate photos, similar shots, huge videos, and useless screenshots. It helps you bulk select and delete without scrolling through months of camera roll.
You can check out something like
smart iPhone storage cleanup with Clever Cleaner App
if you want an automated way to free space and tidy the gallery. -
Quick wins list if you want speed
• Delete and reinstall the top 3 storage hog apps.
• Clean WhatsApp / Messages media.
• Remove downloaded Netflix / Spotify / Podcasts.
• Turn on Optimize iPhone Storage for Photos.
• Offload unused apps.
Do these in order and watch the Numbers in Settings → General → iPhone Storage after each step. You see what gives you the biggest payoff on your specific phone.
You’re already doing more than most people, so nice. @viajeroceleste covered a ton, so I’ll try not to just repeat their checklist.
Here are a few different angles that helped me when my 64 GB iPhone was gasping for air:
1. Attack “Recently Deleted” in multiple places
Everyone nukes photos, but then forgets there are trash cans inside trash cans:
- Photos app
- Albums → scroll down → Recently Deleted → Delete All
- Files app
- Browse → Recently Deleted → Select → Delete
- Notes / Voice Memos
- Both have their own Recently Deleted folders too
I once “freed” 5 GB of photos and got almost nothing back until I emptied those.
2. Stop apps from re-bloating your storage
Instead of only deleting caches once, change the settings so they don’t grow into monsters again:
- Safari
- Settings → Safari → Clear History and Website Data
- Also turn off “Preload Top Hit” to reduce auto-downloaded junk.
- Mail
- Settings → Mail → Accounts → each account → disable “Mail” for ones you rarely check or switch to manual fetch.
- Old mail + attachments quietly eats storage.
Also, inside some social apps (Twitter/X, Telegram, etc.) look for “Storage usage” or “Media auto-download” and limit auto-download of photos/videos to Wi‑Fi or “never.”
3. Control “Other/System Data” with space temporarily
Here’s the thing I disagree a bit with from the “just erase & restore” advice: that can help, but it’s overkill unless you absolutely must.
Try this milder version before going nuclear:
- Make sure you have at least 3–4 GB free (delete a couple of huge apps if needed).
- Then do:
- Settings → General → Transfer or Reset iPhone → Reset → Reset All Settings.
- This does not erase your data, but it forces iOS to rebuild some caches and can shrink “System Data” a bit.
Not a miracle, but I’ve seen 1–3 GB come back without having to erase the phone.
4. Clean HDR / 4K / “Live” overkill in Photos
Storage pain usually spikes after people turn on every “fancy” camera setting:
- Settings → Camera:
- Turn off “Keep Normal Photo” if you use HDR so it is not saving two versions.
- If you do not need 4K, switch video to 1080p at 30 fps.
- Consider turning off Live Photos for stuff like screenshots, receipts, etc.
Then in Photos:
- Filter by “Videos” and sort by biggest (you can use a cleaner for this, more on that below).
- Long screen recordings and 4K clips are usually the worst offenders.
5. Review iCloud-driven duplication traps
Sometimes you’re actually keeping stuff twice without noticing:
- Messages in iCloud + iCloud Backup
- Settings → Apple ID → iCloud → Manage Account Storage → Backups.
- Tap your device → check if “Messages” is stored both in iCloud Messages and inside the device backup.
- If Messages are synced via iCloud, you can often turn off including them in the backup to shrink the backup size.
- Same for Photos: if iCloud Photos is on, a huge iCloud backup of “Photos” is usually unnecessary.
This doesn’t always free space on the iPhone directly, but it reduces backup size and weird sync bloat that can affect System Data.
6. Use an app to bulk-trash photos & videos smarter
Once you’ve done the manual stuff, the biggest time waster is scrolling through thousands of photos and clips.
This is where a tool like Clever Cleaner App actually makes sense, especially if your storage is dying mostly because of media:
- It finds:
- Duplicate photos
- Near-duplicate bursts (10 almost identical selfies…)
- Extra-large videos you forgot about
- Useless screenshots you’ll never open again
If you want something focused on iPhone storage and gallery cleanup, check out
smart iPhone cleanup with Clever Cleaner App
so you can batch-delete the worst offenders instead of playing “tap delete” for an hour.
This is honestly the only reason I got ~12 GB back without losing important stuff.
7. Turn auto-download & background junk off
A lot of storage creep is just apps doing stuff you did not ask for:
- Settings → App Store
- Turn off “App Downloads” and “App Updates” under Automatic Downloads if you like more control.
- For chat apps, podcasts, music:
- Disable auto-download of media or at least restrict it to Wi‑Fi and certain chats.
This won’t magically free space today, but it stops the slow re-bloat so you don’t end up in the same mess next month.
8. When you really should consider the nuclear option
If after cleaning top apps, messages, media, Recently Deleted, and tweaking settings your “System Data” is still absurd (like 20+ GB on a small phone), then the erase/restore path starts to make sense:
- Encrypted backup to Finder / iTunes.
- Settings → General → Transfer or Reset iPhone → Erase All Content and Settings.
- Set up as new or restore from the encrypted backup.
I agree with @viajeroceleste that it can free a ton, I just treat it as the last card to play, not step two.
TL;DR quick hit list that’s different from what’s already been said:
- Empty Recently Deleted in Photos, Files, Notes, Voice Memos.
- Clear Safari + Mail bloat and limit auto-downloads.
- Reset All Settings to help shrink System Data without full wipe.
- Tame camera settings (no double HDR saves, lower video res).
- Avoid duplication between iCloud Backup and iCloud sync.
- Use something like Clever Cleaner App to nuke duplicate / huge media in bulk.
- Turn off auto-downloads in App Store and chat/podcast apps so it doesn’t all grow back.
1 Like
Skip the generic “delete apps and photos” loop. Since @shizuka and @viajeroceleste already nailed most of the usual tricks, here are a few different, slightly nerdier angles.
1. Target hidden local files in “Files” and app document folders
Some apps stash big stuff where people rarely look:
- Open Files
- Check “On My iPhone” folders for editors (CapCut, LumaFusion, PDF apps, scanners). Export things you still need, then delete old projects.
- In Settings → General → iPhone Storage → [app], look for “Documents & Data.”
If you see multi‑GB numbers for a document-type app, open that app and clear old projects from inside. This hits storage that cache wipes and offloading do not always touch.
This is especially useful for video editors and scanning apps that save uncompressed files.
2. Use partial backup tricks instead of a full erase
I slightly disagree with the idea that you must go straight to “erase all content & settings” to fix huge System Data. You can sometimes sidestep it:
- Connect to a Mac/PC and create an encrypted backup.
- On the phone, selectively delete heavy categories (offline media, huge apps, etc.) so System Data has room to shrink.
- If things are stable and faster, do not immediately restore the whole backup. Instead, just re‑download what you actually missed from App Store / iCloud.
You still have that encrypted backup parked as a safety net, without committing to a full wipe and restore that can eat hours.
3. Tame background sync apps that quietly store local blobs
Apart from social apps, these are sneaky:
- Password managers and secure vaults can store attachments, secure notes, and files. Clean out old attachments in their own settings.
- Cloud drives like Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive have “Available offline” toggles. Go through their Offline / Downloaded sections and revoke offline access for big folders.
That type of data often shows up as app Documents & Data, not as obvious “Downloads.”
4. Turn your iPhone into a “thin client” for media
If your connection is decent, make the phone hold as little permanent media as possible:
- Music / streaming: Instead of multiple gigs of downloads, keep one travel playlist offline and stream the rest. Rotate it monthly.
- For video: Only keep what you are actively watching this week. Everything else stays in the cloud / streaming libraries.
This sounds basic, but treating your phone as a temporary media cache rather than a permanent library stops the endless storage yo‑yo.
5. Cleaner app reality check: Clever Cleaner App vs manual work
Since both of you mentioned cleaner apps, here is the more blunt version.
Where a cleaner app actually helps:
- You have thousands of photos and videos and no patience to manually sort.
- You want quick categories like:
- Duplicates / very similar photos
- Blurry shots and accidental pocket pics
- Gigantic videos hiding in the library
- Screenshots and screen recordings
The Clever Cleaner App is useful for this “gallery triage” job.
Pros of Clever Cleaner App:
- Speeds up what would be hours of manual scrolling.
- “Similar” detection is helpful for burst selfies and 20 attempts at one shot.
- Good for finding huge media files you forgot existed.
- Interface is usually safer than just mass-selecting in Photos, since it groups by type.
Cons of Clever Cleaner App:
- It cannot magically shrink “System Data” or app caches. Those still need the delete/reinstall / settings tricks that @viajeroceleste and @shizuka described.
- You must still review suggestions to avoid deleting something important. There is no perfect automation here.
- Works best if you already have at least a bit of free space; if your phone is at zero, you might need to clear a little manually first.
- Another app on your phone, so short term it may feel like “one more thing installed” before the benefits kick in.
So I would treat Clever Cleaner App as a phase‑two tool once you have:
- Nuked the obvious storage hogs (downloads, streaming apps, top 3 heavy apps).
- Emptied all Recently Deleted folders.
- Decided your strategy for photos (Optimize storage vs local).
Use the cleaner to squeeze out the last big wins in your media library, not as the only solution.
6. When to stop fighting and upgrade
Unpopular opinion: on a 64 GB device that is constantly full, you eventually hit a point where storage gymnastics are not worth the time.
Signals it is time to stop wrestling:
- You clean up monthly and still end up with <3 GB free.
- System Data keeps creeping back to ridiculous sizes even after resets, cache nukes, and backup strategies.
- Your normal daily apps (camera, messages, 2–3 social apps, 1 streaming app) already use most of the phone.
In that case, keep doing light maintenance (like occasional Clever Cleaner App passes and cache control) and start planning for a bigger capacity next upgrade instead of chasing every last megabyte.
If you want a quick sequence that does not repeat the others:
- Clean “On My iPhone” in Files and big app document folders.
- Review offline / cached files in Drive / Dropbox / OneDrive.
- Make an encrypted backup, then delete only what you genuinely do not use, instead of auto-restoring everything.
- Use Clever Cleaner App purely for camera roll triage.
- Set a rule: never let offline media go over a certain GB threshold again.