The photos that you keep on your iPhone or iPad naturally take up storage space on your device, which can fill up quickly depending on the available storage capacity and how much content you have.
If you see a message that your device's storage is full, it's worth checking out a system option called Optimize Storage, which is designed to work with iCloud Photos. This feature replaces full-resolution photos on your iOS device with smaller, device-sized versions that take up a lot less storage space, and it's a great option to use with Apple's built-in storage options. Apple sells 50GB of storage for $0.99 per month, or 200GB for $2.99 per month, a fee that may be well worth it to clear up device storage space if you have a lot of photos. The following steps show you how it's done.
How to Optimize Storage on your iPhone or iPad
- Launch Settings on your iPhone or iPad.
- Scroll down and tap Photos.
- Make Sure iCloud Photos is toggled on.
- Tap Optimize iPhone/iPad Storage.
Once that's selected, your full-resolution photos will be automatically replaced with smaller versions that take up a lot less storage space on your device, while the full-resolution images remain off-device in iCloud.
To learn how to manage and delete videos on your iPhone or iPad, check out our dedicated how-to on the topic.
