Quick Strategies to Expand Photo Storage in iCloud and iPhone
Struggling to free up storage space on your iPhone and iCloud? Here's the lowdown on how to easily delete photos and clear up all that precious storage.
Determining What to Delete
Deleting photos ain't always a breeze, especially if you're attached to your pictures or have a bit of OCD about keeping them all. I've got nearly 18,000 items in my photo library, including over a thousand screenshots and a kajillion similar photos. You see, I tend to snap way too many photos, snapping up a dozen at a time just to get at least one decent one. That's a recipe for a cluttered gallery, but it's tough to find those duplicates without turning your phone into a spectacle.
When it's time to clean up my gallery, I go in with a clear set of guidelines: most screenshots and screen recordings are out, saving at most three of a batch of similar shots. But it ain't easy, and it gets even tougher if the photos I need to delete have people in them.
Luckily, you don't have to do it all manually.
Unleash Storage Space on Your iPhone
If you're out of storage space, it's best to tackle the low-hanging fruit first. I usually start by sifting through the Recently Deleted folder. This is where items you've deleted over the past 30 days reside, and if you're sure you don't need them anymore, you can permanently chuck them to free up some quick space. To do this, just head on over to the Photos app on your iPhone and scroll down until you spot the Utilities section. Tap on Recently Deleted, then select the items you don't require, tap the three-dots button in the bottom-right corner, and tap on Delete. Complete the process with Delete From This iPhone.
Next, it's time to target and eliminate duplicate photos from your photo library. Head back to the previous page and tap on the Duplicates button. Select every item, tap on the Merge button at the bottom of the screen, and voila! You'll find two options: merge exact copies and merge items with similar metadata. I suggest merging exact copies immediately to free up some space first, followed by reviewing the remaining items to see if you want to merge the rest.
Once that's done, check the Videos, Screen Recordings, and Screenshots folders, eliminating whatever you don't need. Y'all already know how big these files are! Clear out unnecessary captures from the Screenshots folder, too.
Nix Unwanted Photos from iCloud
If you have iCloud sync enabled, the procedures above will delete photos from both your iPhone and iCloud. But if you don't have your iPhone handy or prefer to organize photos on a computer, you can visit the iCloud Photos website and slash photos from there. The interface is user-friendly, and the Trash button in the top-right corner will let you swap photos. Don't forget to visit the Recently Deleted album and clear it out because, until you do that, you might not see a change in the amount of free space available on your iCloud account.
Third-Party Apps to the Rescue
I typically steer clear of third-party apps for clearing photo storage because most don't do a better job than the built-in Photos app. However, if you really want to use one, Duplicate Photo Cleaner for Windows and similar apps like Photo Duplicate Cleaner can help find and remove duplicates. For iPhone, apps like Duplicate Photos Fixer or Remove Duplicate Photos can be your go-to tools.
Just remember, these apps require access to your entire photo library. It's a bit of a gamble to pick any ol' app to do the job. If you're still interested, give Undolly a try. It's quick to scan your library, uses on-device processing to identify similar photos, and doesn't just deal with duplicates. Of course, it takes time to review photos and delete them, but the app helps by picking out the best among similar photos – and its selection is usually top-notch. Undolly's $1/month or $15 lifetime unlock fee is relatively cheap, and its privacy nutrition label indicates it collects no data. That's comforting to know.
Storage Savings with Amazon Prime or Microsoft 365
If iCloud's pricing tiers give you the cribshoots, consider going elsewhere for cheaper cloud storage. If you're already an Amazon Prime subscriber, Amazon Photos offers unlimited photo storage and 5GB of video storage free of charge. If you don't have Prime, you can subscribe to Amazon Photos for $70/year, providing 1TB of storage – less expensive per dollar than iCloud's 2TB option, but still saving you about $50/year.
Personally, I prefer my Microsoft 365 subscription 'cause it gives me access to all the Office apps and 1TB of storage for $100/year. I'm on the family plan, which I share with five other folks, and it gives each of us 1TB of storage – ain't that grand! Both iCloud and Google One have family plans, too, but the storage is shared among all family members. Microsoft 365's family plan lets each member have their own 1TB, making it all the more swell.
Back Up Photos Locally
To really secure your photos, you should keep a copy of your iPhone's photos on external hard drives, your Mac or PC, or a network-attached storage (NAS) device, if you have one. On Mac, connect your iPhone to your PC and open the pre-installed Image Capture app. Now, hook up any external storage device, and you'll be able to copy iPhone photos to that drive. On Windows, connect the iPhone to your PC and use the Microsoft Photos app to import photos, followed by transferring them to an external drive.
Alternatively, if you're backing up your iPhone photos to a NAS device, you can use the CCC Mobile app to complete the transfer wirelessly. The app is a free download, but requires a one-time fee of $2.99 to back up your photos and videos. After that, you can periodically keep uploading your entire photo library to a NAS or an external storage device directly plugged in to your iPhone.
- To save storage on your iPhone and iCloud, consider subscribing to third-party apps like Duplicate Photo Cleaner for Windows or Duplicate Photos Fixer for iPhone to aggressively manage your photo storage and find duplicates easily.
- Nutrition and lifestyle app, Undolly, can be a useful tool to tidy up your photo storage by selecting the best among similar photos, requiring minimal manual intervention and offering a cheap subscription fee with privacy assurance.
- If you're a devoted tech enthusiast interested in tech-driven lifestyle solutions, streaming services like Amazon Prime or Microsoft 365 can offer affordable cloud storage options, providing significant savings compared to iCloud's pricing tiers.
- For a safer and more secure backup of your photos, consider backing up your iPhone pictures locally on external hard drives, computers, or network-attached storage (NAS) devices, keeping your precious memories clean and secure.
