Apple gives its users just 5GB of free iCloud storage, which is barely enough for one device, let alone several. Between backups, photos, and documents, that space fills up fastforcing many users to upgrade to a paid plan. Even then, you’ll likely hit your limit again.
I recently faced this exact issue and managed to cut my iCloud usage by 50GB without losing a single important file. Here’s how you can do the same.
Check what’s taking up space
Table of Contents
Look for the big stuff
The first thing you should do is check how much space iCloud is using and, more importantly, what’s taking up that space.
You can do this by going into the Settings app on your iPhone. From there, choose your name at the top of the device, then select iCloud. Under iCloud+ Features, select Manage Plan. Finally, choose Manage iCloud Storage under the Storage section. On this page, you’ll see a listing of what’s taking up space on your iCloud account by category. Typically, most storage is taken up by iCloud Photos, Backups, and Messages.
In the following steps, you’ll learn how to optimize your iCloud settings and find files to remove.
Optimizing your photos and videos
These take up the most space
Apple strongly suggests automatically optimizing your photos and videos on iCloud. You can do this by going into the Settings app and selecting Photos under Apps. From there, toggle on “Optimize iPhone Storage.”
With this setting activated, smaller local versions of your photos and videos are stored on your iPhone. You can still download full-resolution copies later from iCloud.com if needed.
You should also review your “Recently Deleted” album in the Photos app and empty it to reclaim space. Typically, deleted videos and photos are kept for up to 30 days before they are automatically deleted, but you can do this manually at any time.
After photos, backups usually take the next biggest bite out of your storage.
Manage iCloud backups
Avoid keeping files you no longer need
Backup files take up a lot of space on iCloud. You can manage these backups by visiting the Settings app on your phone, then choosing iCloud > iCloud Backup.
From here, you should delete old backups from devices no longer in use and turn off unnecessary app backups, such as large games or messaging apps that store media. So that you know, the apps themselves are not deleted when you make changes. Instead, only their backup date is removed.
Messages are another space hog, especially if you share a lot of photos or videos.
Clean up messages and attachments
Look here too
To further remove data on your iCloud account, you can adjust the settings for Messages and Attachments. First, go into the Settings app and select Messages from the Apps section. From there, you can change how long messages are kept under the Messages History section. Choices are: 30 Days, 1 Year, and Forever. My advice: choose to keep messages for only a year, not forever.
To delete large attachments manually, go into the Settings app and choose General -> iPhone Storage -> Messages -> Review Large Attachments. On the next page, you’ll see a list of attachments that are taking up a lot of iCloud storage space. Remove the attachments you no longer need. The biggest culprits are videos, images, and GIFs.
Remove old files and emails
You probably don’t need them
You should consider removing old files and emails from your iCloud Drive. Do this by checking iCloud Drive in the Files app on your iPhone and eliminating duplicates, outdated projects, or downloaded PDFs. In the native Mail app, move attachments or old messages offline if you’re using iCloud Mail. Also, empty the iCloud Drive “Recently Deleted” folder to free up additional space.
If you want to free up more iCloud storage, open the Photos app on your phone. Target videos, 4K clips, and burst photos to remove excess space. Use “Search Videos” or “Large Files” filters to locate them quickly. It’s also helpful to back up sentimental files to an external drive or another cloud service before deleting.
Use Apple’s “Recommendations”
Listen to the iPhone maker
Finally, consider Apple’s iCloud recommendations. In the “Recommended for You” section of iCloud, the company provides personalized recommendations to free up space. Examples include: “Delete large attachments,” “Review old backups,” and “Optimize Photos.”
Whenever you see these, follow the steps to activate these automatic settings.
Take the necessary steps
Cutting down on iCloud storage doesn’t have to mean deleting precious memories or important files. Instead, it’s all about managing what you keep and where you maintain it.
By reviewing what’s taking up the most space, optimizing your photo settings, trimming old backups and messages, and following Apple’s built-in recommendations, you can free up gigabytes of cloud storage in just a few minutes.
After taking these steps myself, I reduced my iCloud usage by over 50GB without sacrificing any meaningful files, and you can do the same to keep your Apple devices running smoothly without constantly hitting storage limits.
