Have you ever taken your phone out to snap an amazing picture or download a new app, but you get a message saying your phone is out of space, putting those plans to a screeching halt? It’s the worst. 

All the apps, photos, music and other files on our devices can quickly add up, using up every byte of storage on our phones. For many of us, our natural inclination might be to consider purchasing a new device with more storage. But spending hundreds of dollars on a new device isn’t always feasible or financially responsible. So the next time that pesky pop-up appears informing you of your lack of space, clean up some of the apps on your phone to free up some storage space.

Watch this video to see the different ways to clear up space on your smartphone. 

How to free up space on iPhone

The best place to start is by checking how much storage you have available on your phone. To find this, open the Settings app, tap General and look for iPhone Storage. 

Here, you can see how much storage space you’re currently using and a list of apps with the amount of storage space they’re using. If your device is running low out of space, it may show you some recommendations on ways to free up space.

The easiest way to create space is to delete! Delete photos and videos. Delete text messages. Delete unused apps. Delete, delete, delete!

Text message threads can unexpectedly take up a lot of space, especially if you send lots of GIFs and you don't delete the threads. You can change your device settings to automatically delete old messages after a set amount of time in Message History in the Messages setting. 

How to get more storage on iPhone

An alternative to deleting things from your device is to store your photos, music and more on a computer or a cloud-based system, like iCloud. 

These cloud-based storage systems allow you to access your content from anywhere without worrying about it taking up space on your phone. However, they require a paid subscription.