Understanding The Different Ways To Clear The Clutter On Your Iphone/Ipad

Are you seeing the dreaded ‘storage full’ error on your iPhone or iPad? Figure out what’s taking up the most space on your device by going to the Settings app > General > iPhone Storage or iPad Storage. Here, you will see color-coded bars outlining the different categories of apps and files taking up space on your device.

Now you know what’s taking up the most space. Carefully decide what to delete so you can continue clicking pictures or upgrade to the latest iOS/iPadOS version.

Some popular ways to clear the clutter on your Apple devices are mentioned below.

Remove The Apps You Don’t Use

A bane of a heavily-dependent digital life is installing an impossible amount of apps. You may feel every application adds value to your life until you realize they’re not.

The issue is you have forgotten about the apps installed on your device because you probably download one or two every week or daily. Of course, when your device is new, this isn’t a cause for concern. But these apps slowly take up significant storage space and must be removed.

You can delete apps from the home screen by tapping and holding the app icon until the Remove button appears. Then, tap the Remove button. Alternatively, you can go to the App Store and uninstall the apps. Of course, if you remove any of the purchased apps, you can always re-download them at no extra charge.

Do you not feel comfortable deleting apps? You can temporarily disable the apps if you don’t wish to delete them permanently. In addition, Apple lets users offload apps by finding the app on the Storage list > tapping it > selecting Offload App.

The offloaded apps will remain on the home screen but must be re-downloaded if you wish to use them.

Clear System Data

If you’re struggling with storage space after upgrading to the iPhone 14 Pro, which comes with a massive 1 TB of space, pay attention to System Data.

What is system data on iPhone? It is a default category that is generally overlooked by users but is potent because it consumes all available capacity if left unattended. Your device’s System Data is taking up so much storage space because it stores things like temporary files, system files, caches of streaming media, and logs & website caches.

When it comes to storing caches, you best believe that iPhones and iPads are the true hoarders. Therefore, the longer you use these devices, the more System Data will likely accumulate.

You can remove System Data by factory resetting your devices and restoring them from the backup. Therefore, remember to back up your devices, or you’ll lose essential files.

Target and Delete The Browser Cache

Safari can be a space hog if you simply let it store website data and caches. Clean out Safari cache by tapping the Settings app > Safari > Clear History and Website Data > Clear History and Data.

If you are using other browsers like Firefox and Chrome, you must perform similar actions to clear out the cache of each web browser.

Please note that clearing the browser cache will log you out of the websites you are signed into. Therefore, remember to note your user IDs and passwords.

Check The Photo And Video Library

Clicking pictures or shooting videos using your Apple devices may result in them hogging a lot of storage space.

If you run out of space, check the photo and video library. Delete what you don’t need and back up the memories you wish to keep. Then, you can transfer them to cloud storage, a USB drive, or your Mac.

Netflix’s Download Section Should Not Be Missed!

Netflix’s download section is overlooked by most people when they’re spring-cleaning their iPhones and iPads. Nobody even thinks about how this app might be hogging precious storage on their device.

When you’re streaming online content, the app isn’t affecting your device’s storage. But when downloading movies and TV shows for offline viewing, the downloaded content takes up your device’s storage. So, if you are in the habit of incessantly downloading Netflix content for offline pleasure, remember to delete the contents you have finished watching.

Similarly, remove content from within the Apple Music application. The songs are locally stored on your device if you have downloaded and created a music library. Remove the unwanted music and clear space.

Target Unwanted Messages

Text messages may not take up a lot of space, but if you are heavily into sending photos, videos, and other media files attached to your messages, you can bet they are consuming space.

Instead of hanging onto conversions, delete them and free some space.

The Bottom Line

Take a moment to reflect on what you have hoarded on your device, and then delete everything unwanted. If you choose the factory reset route, you can save yourself a lot of trouble.