Manage your photo and video storage
Learn how photos and videos use the storage on your iPhone and iPad, and how you can optimize storage and save space on your devices using iCloud Photos.
The photos, music, apps, and other content that you use and enjoy on your iPhone and iPad take up space in your device’s storage capacity. Your device can fill up depending on the size of its storage capacity and how much content you have. If you see a message that your device's storage is full, you can free up space by using iCloud Photos or deleting content on your device.
Check to see how much storage you have
See how much storage you have left on your device and in iCloud, and which apps use the most space.
Device storage
Go to Settings, then tap General.
Tap [device] Storage.
You might see recommendations for optimizing your storage, a list of your apps, and the amount of space that each one uses.
iCloud storage
Go to Settings, then tap your name.
Tap iCloud.
You can see how much space you have left in iCloud and choose to upgrade your storage plan. Tap Storage to see how apps are using your storage.
Store your photos and videos in iCloud
By default, your photos and videos are stored on your device in their original, high-resolution version. This means that they use a lot of space on your iPhone and iPad. When you use iCloud Photos, Optimize Storage is on by default, allowing you to make more space available on your device and still have access to your entire full-resolution collection wherever you go.
Tap Settings, tap [your name], tap iCloud, then tap Photos.
Turn on Sync this iPhone.
In iOS 27 or later, tap iPhone Storage.
Make sure that Optimize iPhone Storage is turned on to save space on your device.
When Optimize Storage is turned on, full-resolution photos and videos are stored in iCloud, and, when needed, space-saving copies are stored on your device. And as long as you have enough space in iCloud, you can store as many photos and videos as you want.
If you need more storage
When you sign up for iCloud, you automatically get 5 GB of free storage. If you need more iCloud storage, you can upgrade to iCloud+.
If you need more storage on your device, you can transfer the photos and videos that you don't want to store in iCloud to your computer.
With Recommended for You in iOS 17 or iPadOS 17 or later, you can check if there are photos, large files, or backups that you might not need anymore and can delete.
You can also merge duplicate photos and videos to free up space on your device.
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