9 iPhone Hacks To Free Up Storage Space - InformationWeek

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3/6/2016
12:06 PM
Kelly Sheridan
Kelly Sheridan
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9 iPhone Hacks To Free Up Storage Space

If you're tired of seeing notifications to address your shrinking iPhone memory, try a few of these tips to clear some extra space.
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(Image: Kelly Sheridan)

(Image: Kelly Sheridan)

Most of us have seen the annoying notification after downloading one too many apps: "Your iPhone storage is almost full."

It's a daily tech challenge, especially for those who like to try the latest mobile apps, download new music, or take pictures everywhere they go. Sometimes, it seems, no matter how much storage an iPhone has, it simply isn't enough.

Freeing up extra iPhone space can be a challenge, because clearing out your phone is like cleaning out your closet. Even if you never use an app, it can suddenly seem crucial when it comes time to get rid of it.

[More on iPhone: 5 ways iPhone encryption has changed over the years.]

Well, maybe you don't have to get rid of all your apps. There are a few simple tricks that could make a significant difference in your storage allotment without clearing out apps you don't use often -- or, worse, parting with those you use each day.

Before you start hitting "delete," take a look through these hacks for less dramatic ways of opening up virtual space. Some are more effective than others, but all will give you some much-needed storage.

Did we miss any crucial space-saving tricks in this roundup? How do you keep your iPhone storage from hitting capacity? Share your thoughts and suggestions in the comments section below.

Kelly Sheridan is the Staff Editor at Dark Reading, where she focuses on cybersecurity news and analysis. She is a business technology journalist who previously reported for InformationWeek, where she covered Microsoft, and Insurance & Technology, where she covered financial ... View Full Bio

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tjgkg
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tjgkg,
 User Rank: Ninja
4/13/2016 | 1:13:53 PM
Re: Uh oh!
Yes you really do need to get a larger hard drive at this point! I have one laptop and that is for work. My personal computer is a minitower with 1T of hard drives. Plus I use an on line backup company to back up all my data. My concern is how will i transfer the iTunes settings to a new pc. I have to make sure i get the right subdirectories copied or i will have to piece the transfer manually.
vnewman2
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vnewman2,
 User Rank: Ninja
4/12/2016 | 2:04:13 PM
Re: Uh oh!
Funny, but I don't even own a computer with enough hard drive space to back up my phone using itunes.  How crazy is that?  I guess I need to upgrade my macbook air now.
tjgkg
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tjgkg,
 User Rank: Ninja
4/12/2016 | 12:40:19 PM
Re: Uh oh!
@vnewman2: Congrats on upgrading to the 6s. Everything I've heard about it is very good so far. I have the 6+ and it has served me very well in some really heavy duty use.

Not sure what happened with your restore. What i had to do was restore from iTunes with the cable (no wifi-in fact wifi backup thru iTunes never worked for me) and disable the screen saver. For some reason the screen saver was interfering with the backup. It took me quite a few tries before i got it right. I've disabled iCloud backup because that is not a complete backup. Complete backups are only available thru iTunes. I really shudder to think what will happen when i upgrade my computer! Hopefully my settings in Carbonite are correct and I will have all the files i need for a restore to a new device!

8966 pictures and videos is quite a lot! Good idea to use the old phone as a storage device.
tjgkg
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tjgkg,
 User Rank: Ninja
4/12/2016 | 12:40:19 PM
Re: Uh oh!
@vnewman2: Congrats on upgrading to the 6s. Everything I've heard about it is very good so far. I have the 6+ and it has served me very well in some really heavy duty use.

Not sure what happened with your restore. What i had to do was restore from iTunes with the cable (no wifi-in fact wifi backup thru iTunes never worked for me) and disable the screen saver. For some reason the screen saver was interfering with the backup. It took me quite a few tries before i got it right. I've disabled iCloud backup because that is not a complete backup. Complete backups are only available thru iTunes. I really shudder to think what will happen when i upgrade my computer! Hopefully my settings in Carbonite are correct and I will have all the files i need for a restore to a new device!

8966 pictures and videos is quite a lot! Good idea to use the old phone as a storage device.
vnewman2
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vnewman2,
 User Rank: Ninja
4/11/2016 | 5:50:08 PM
Re: Uh oh!
@tjgkg  Update: I had to finally bite the bullet and upgrade my phone to the 6S.  It got to the point where apps wouldn't even open. 

I tried a dozen times to restore from the Cloud and it kept throwing the error: "Restore frombackup failed."  Was a bad wifi signal?  A corrupt file tripping it up?  Or was it because my phone had a more recent iOS update than my new phone?  All of the above?  I'm not sure.

All I know if after I finally got it to work, it loaded 8956 pictures and videos out of 8966.  The other 10?  I have no idea where they went.  

I've toyed with starting from scratch but I'm over it - I'll just keep my old phone as a storage device.
tjgkg
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tjgkg,
 User Rank: Ninja
4/11/2016 | 4:05:40 PM
Re: Uh oh!
I can understand you running out of space if you have all those pictures and videos on your phone. All phones nowadays make it easy to document life quickly and easily. But at a price of space.

I just got the new iPad Pro 9.7 inch to replace my "ancient" first gen iPad Air.... Trying to restore the apps, etc from the iCloud to the device was time consuming and did not get everything. For example, no music and videos which i always keep on the device. The only way i found to get them back to the device was to restore (synch) from iTunes on my computer. I shudder to think what will happen when i eventually get a new computer.
tjgkg
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tjgkg,
 User Rank: Ninja
4/11/2016 | 4:00:38 PM
Re: Uh oh!
batye: And on top of all that there are different versions of the same app for each device in a lot of cases. When you only have an app designed for the iPhone running on your iPad, the app might not load on the iPad. When you finally download it, the size is enourmous because it only comes in iPhone size. It is really strange.
vnewman2
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vnewman2,
 User Rank: Ninja
3/11/2016 | 5:50:27 PM
Re: Uh oh!
I've tried most of these tricks and I'm still low on space, because - well - I keep a ridiculous amount of pictures and videos of my kid on my phone. And yes, I back up into the cloud, but there's this false sense of security I get carrying them around with me on the device.  It's like putting your money under the mattress instead of in the bank:  It's nice to know it's within arm's reach but look out if there's a fire or someone takes it!  So right now, my problem is just myself :)
batye
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batye,
 User Rank: Ninja
3/11/2016 | 12:49:19 PM
Re: Uh oh!
@tjgkg, could not agree more... but it interesting ...
tjgkg
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tjgkg,
 User Rank: Ninja
3/7/2016 | 4:06:32 PM
Re: Uh oh!
It is so easy to load up on apps these days. It is true is that these apps even though downloaded on one device, can land on all devices registered to an Apple ID, even the Watch. I tend to only download apps that i really need and use. The apps can be quite large in size wthout realizing it.
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