← Back to Everyday Tech

How to Free Up Storage on Your Phone and Computer

4 min read •
Beginner Storage Phone Computer Cleanup

"Storage Almost Full." The notification everyone dreads. Your phone cannot take photos, your computer cannot install updates, and everything runs slower.

Most of the space is wasted on things you do not need — old downloads, cached data, duplicate photos, and apps you forgot about. This guide shows you exactly how to find and reclaim that space on every device.

iPhone

Check What Is Using Space

Settings → General → iPhone Storage

This shows a bar chart and a list of every app sorted by size. The top culprits are usually:

  • Photos and Videos (often 20-50 GB)
  • Messages (years of photos sent via iMessage)
  • Podcasts (downloaded episodes)
  • Social media apps (cached data)
  • Offline music (Spotify, Apple Music downloads)

Quick Wins

1. Offload Unused Apps Settings → General → iPhone Storage → Enable "Offload Unused Apps"

This automatically removes apps you have not used recently but keeps their data. If you reinstall them, your data comes back.

2. Clear Safari Cache Settings → Safari → Clear History and Website Data

3. Delete Old Messages Settings → Messages → Keep Messages → change from "Forever" to "1 Year" or "30 Days"

4. Review Photos

  • Delete blurry/duplicate photos
  • Delete screenshots you no longer need
  • Use iCloud Photos to store originals in the cloud ($0.99/month for 50 GB)

5. Clear App Caches Instagram, TikTok, Twitter/X, and Snapchat cache gigabytes of data. Delete and reinstall the app to clear it (your account data is stored on their servers, not your phone).

6. Delete Downloaded Music/Podcasts Music app → Downloaded → remove albums you do not listen to offline Podcasts app → delete downloaded episodes

Nuclear Option

Settings → General → Transfer or Reset iPhone → Erase All Content and Settings → restore from iCloud backup. This often reclaims 5-10 GB of "other" storage.

Android

Check What Is Using Space

Settings → Storage

Shows a breakdown by category: Apps, Images, Videos, Audio, Documents, etc.

Quick Wins

1. Clear App Caches Settings → Apps → tap any app → Storage → Clear Cache

Start with the biggest apps: Chrome, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat.

2. Use Files by Google Install "Files by Google" (free) — it automatically identifies:

  • Junk files (temp, cache)
  • Duplicate photos
  • Old screenshots
  • Large files
  • Unused apps

Tap to clean with one button.

3. Delete Downloads Folder Files → Downloads → delete old APKs, PDFs, images you already used

4. Move Photos to Cloud Google Photos offers 15 GB free. Enable backup and delete local copies.

5. Delete Offline Content Spotify: Settings → Storage → Delete cache Netflix: Remove downloaded shows YouTube: Remove offline videos Maps: Delete offline maps you no longer need

Windows

Check What Is Using Space

Settings → System → Storage

Shows a breakdown with categories. Click each to see details.

Quick Wins

1. Disk Cleanup (Built-in) Search for "Disk Cleanup" → select your C: drive → check all boxes → Clean up system files

This removes:

  • Windows Update cleanup (can be 5-20 GB)
  • Temporary files
  • Recycle Bin
  • Thumbnails

2. Storage Sense (Automatic) Settings → System → Storage → Turn on Storage Sense

Automatically deletes temp files, empties recycle bin, and removes old downloads.

3. Uninstall Programs Settings → Apps → Sort by size → uninstall things you do not use

Common space hogs: old games, Adobe trial software, pre-installed bloatware.

4. Clear Browser Cache Chrome uses 1-5 GB of cache. Clear it: Ctrl+Shift+Delete → Cached images and files → Delete.

5. Empty Downloads Folder Open Downloads folder (C:\Users\YourName\Downloads) — this is where everything accumulates. Delete what you do not need.

6. Find Large Files Open File Explorer → search for size:gigantic to find files over 128 MB. Review and delete what you do not need.

Advanced: WinDirStat

Install WinDirStat (free) — it shows a visual map of your entire drive, making it easy to spot what is taking space.

Mac

Check What Is Using Space

Apple menu → About This Mac → Storage → Manage

Shows categories: Applications, Documents, Mail, Photos, etc.

Quick Wins

1. Empty Trash Right-click Trash icon → Empty Trash. Also empty individual app trashes (Photos, Mail).

2. Optimize Storage (Built-in) Apple menu → About This Mac → Storage → Manage → Recommendations:

  • Store in iCloud
  • Optimize Storage
  • Empty Trash Automatically
  • Reduce Clutter

3. Clear System Cache Open Finder → Go (menu) → Go to Folder → type ~/Library/Caches/ → delete contents of large folders.

4. Delete Old Downloads Open Downloads folder → sort by date → delete old files.

5. Remove Old iOS Backups Apple menu → About This Mac → Storage → Manage → iOS Files → delete old backups.

6. Clear Xcode/Developer Data (Developers) ~/Library/Developer/ can be 20-50 GB. Delete old simulators, caches, and archives.

General Tips (All Devices)

  • Use cloud storage — Google Drive (15 GB free), iCloud ($0.99/mo for 50 GB), OneDrive (5 GB free)
  • Stream instead of download — music and video take massive space offline
  • Compress images before sharing — use our Image Resizer to shrink photos
  • Convert PNG screenshots to JPG — 5-10x smaller with our PNG to JPG tool
  • Merge documents into one PDF instead of keeping many files — use our Image to PDF or PDF Tools

Related Tools