Top 9 Ways to Free up Storage Space on iOS 12

iPhone and iPad have different storage sizes. On one end you get a ridiculous 16GB, while the opposite end of the spectrum is a comfortable 512GB. Despite that, nothing is safe from the ever-increasing app size and exponentially growing media galleries. On top of that, ultra-high resolution images and videos are now the norm. Therefore, it is important that you manage the storage space on your iOS device efficiently.

If you’re running low on storage space or just want to tidy things up a bit, there are plenty of ways to do it. Let’s start with iOS 12’s major memory management implementations, such as offloading apps, then continue with nifty tips and tricks that can save you the last megabyte of storage if need.

1. Manually offloading apps

App offloading was first implemented in iOS 11 and later carried over to iOS 12. This is a very useful feature when it comes to managing storage space. Instead of completely removing an app, you can ‘offload’ an app instead. Doing so will keep all relevant documents and data intact. This gives the added convenience of downloading apps at any time in the future as if nothing happened.

By default, iOS 12 automatically offloads apps you haven’t used for a while — like 30 days, for example, although it could be faster if you’re running low on memory. But instead of waiting for the operating system to do the work, you can choose to do it yourself.

Step 1: Open the Settings app. Next, tap General, then tap the option labeled iPhone/iPad Storage.

Step 2: Wait for a while while all installed apps are detected and displayed on the screen. Tap an app you want to offload.

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Step 3: Tap Offload App on the following screen, then tap Offload App again when prompted for confirmation.

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Step 4: The app icon will still appear on the Home screen. Whenever you need to download again, just tap the icon and the download will start automatically. Pretty cool, isn’t it?

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2. Highly effective photos and videos

iPhone 7 and later, as well as iPad 6th generation and later models, use the HEIF (.HEIC) format to take photos. Unlike the traditional JPEG format, HEIF only requires about half the usual file size, but the amazing thing is that the image quality is noticeably reduced. The same goes for videos, where supported iPhones and iPads can record them in the HEVC format, thus using significantly less storage space.

Both formats are the standard default on iOS 12, but you’d better check if that’s the case. For example, you may have configured the Camera app to take photos and videos using the older JPEG/H.264 format due to compatibility issues with other devices.

Start by tapping Camera in the Settings app. Next, tap the option labeled Format. If the option is set to Most Compatible, tap High performance instead.

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That’s it. This isn’t technically “freeing up” space, but it will help you in the long run as photos and videos use less space on your device.

3. Optimize iPhone/iPad storage

Take a lot of photos and videos often? Even with the highly efficient media formats mentioned earlier, insanely high resolutions can eat up storage space pretty quickly. If you have iCloud Photos turned on to back up your media library to iCloud, you can configure your iPhone or iPad to keep only local copies of lower-resolution images and videos — you the original can be downloaded directly from iCloud later if needed.

On the Settings app, tap Photos. Make sure that iCloud Photos is turned on. Below, tap the option labeled Optimize iPhone/iPad Storage.

iOS will now automatically replace high-resolution copies with lower-resolution images and videos as needed when your device’s storage space is running low.

4. Half an app to reduce image size

Do you have a device that does not support highly efficient image encoding? Or do you have a lot of photos taken in the older JPEG or PNG format? If you don’t like optimizing the storage on your device with lower resolution copies but really want to free up some storage space, then use the Half – Cut Media Storage app print ½ to scramble for a few megabytes.

Download in half – Cut media space in

After installing the Half app via the App Store, provide the necessary permissions to access your photos when asked — the app will then display your entire photo library just like the original Photos app . Select an image, then tap Half It, which prompts the app to analyze the photo for potential space savings.

Done, just tap the option to replace the original with a smaller sized version and the app will do it right away. You’ll be quite surprised at how much space you can save for certain images — as high as 90% in some cases. And since it uses the HEIF format to re-encode your images, quality loss is minimal.

However, the app only allows you to reduce the image size on an individual basis, which can be frustrating. While you can pay ($2.99) to unlock batch conversion, a few minutes with the app will still give you a fair amount of free space if you need it urgently.

5. Use Google Photos

Google Photos is an extraordinary offering from Google that allows you to back up an unlimited number of photos to the cloud. While there are certain limitations to the quality of your images and videos (up to 16MP and 1080p respectively), it provides a convenient alternative to our paid cloud storage plans. icloud. And best of all, it’s available on most platforms, which is just the icing on the cake!

Download Google Photos

The best thing about Google Photos is that you can instantly delete backed-up images from your iOS device, which means photos and videos aren’t an element of future storage. After downloading and installing Google Photos from the App Store, open it and sign in with your Google Account. Your photos will start backing up automatically.

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During the backup process, simply tap the Free up space option displayed at the top of the screen periodically. That will prompt the app to find and delete locally stored photos that have been backed up. You can always access photos backed up via Google Photos at any time, as long as you’re connected online.

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6. Set iMessage expiration time

Using the Messages app a lot? If so, your iMessages photos, videos, GIFs, and stickers will take up a lot of storage space — many gigabytes. And to make things worse, iOS tends to keep all your chats forever. If you don’t care much about your old messages and associated media, you can specify how long your iOS device should store them before starting automatic deletion.

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Step 1: In the Settings app, tap Messages. On the next screen, tap Keep Message in Message History.

Step 2: The default setting should be set to Forever. Tap 30 days or 1 year as desired.

Step 3: Tap Delete on the confirmation pop-up box. All messages and attachments older than the specified date will be deleted immediately.

7. Manage locally stored files

Another feature that was introduced in iOS 11 and later included with iOS 12 is the Files app, a single point of view for managing all the cloud storages installed on your device. In addition, it also allows you to deal with some applications that prefer to save local copies of documents — Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat, VLC Player, etc.

Open the Files app, tap the On My iPad/iPhone folder, then tap the app’s folder to see if you have any unwanted files that you might want to get rid of. Deleting such files has a direct impact on storage space, so make sure to do a cleanup from time to time. You will be surprised to see how much junk accumulates in these folders over time.

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Before you delete a file, you can always choose to make a copy to any of the cloud storage locations listed in the Files app — after selecting the file, use the Move option to do that.

8. Lite Apps/Progressive Web Apps

Shortened versions of popular apps are popular on Android, but they haven’t fully migrated to iOS yet. You may want to keep an eye on it. For example, Facebook has launched Facebook Lite on the App Store in Türkiye. So it’s only a matter of time before a similar version arrives in your region.

In the meantime, you might consider using progressive web apps (PWAs), which are simply websites that run on Safari but give the impression that you’re using an app. As long as your favorite app has a progressive web app involved, all you have to do is create a shortcut to your Home screen via Safari. Online directories such as Appscope, PWA Directory, and Progressive Web Apps keep an up-to-date list of sites that support PWA.

Note: Although PWAs do not use up all their space, their functionality is significantly reduced

Step 1: Open Safari, get your favorite web app (Instagram, Twitter, etc.) Next, open the Share panel and then tap Add to Home Screen.

Step 2: Click Add to create a shortcut. You can choose to modify the shortcut name before doing so if you want — the default name should be good enough in most cases.

Step 3: Your Progressive Web App will be ready for you on the Home screen. Notice any difference in appearance?

Be aware that PWAs won’t include certain features or offer the convenience of a dedicated application, but they are the ideal replacement for situations where storage space is really tight.

9. Remove unwanted stock apps

You read it right. iOS 12 allows you to remove most of the native apps that come pre-installed with it. Just do a long press on an app icon in the Home screen to start wiggling all the app icons. If you see an ‘x’ on an icon, you can remove the relevant app and get some much needed space. But for the reasons mentioned earlier, always consider offloading an app before deleting an app entirely.

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Please note that there is an issue with iOS 12 where deleting some native apps (FaceTime, Voice Memos, and some others) can cause freezes and crashes in the Settings app . If that happens, you may have to reinstall them.

Space Management

The above suggestions are by no means an exhaustive list. Always look at your favorite apps with critical eye. Does it store a lot of media or files offline? Can you backup unwanted files and delete locally stored documents without any problems? Can you stream music or video without downloading it locally?

Also, consider diving into the app’s Settings panel, then check to see if there’s an option that frees up storage space. For example, apps like Tumblr and OneDrive offer the option to clear the cumbersome file cache. Small actions like these can go a long way in helping you always have enough storage on your iPhone or iPad.

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