There are times when we get an error that tells Storage Almost Full or Not Enough Storage when clicking new photos, or videos, trying to download any files from the internet, etc. Since iPhone comes with a fixed storage space, users are not allowed to extend the space but instead, they can delete some files from the internal storage.
Recently, several iPhone users have found an issue with their iPhones where the storage is still showing full even after they have successfully deleted many photos. This means the space is not available for use on the iPhones which is very problematic for using it effectively.
If you are too facing this problem, then you don’t have to worry at all because we have found a few solutions which are explained very well for iPhone users in the article below.
Preliminary Fix
Restart your iPhone
Sometimes, It is found that there are some applications or features available on your iPhone that start acting weirdly and you have no idea why this is happening. Despite updating your iPhone, these issues can occur because of internal technical glitches which can be fixed by restarting your iPhone. So try restarting your iPhone and check if the storage issue is resolved on your iPhone.
Fix 1 – Clear the Recently Deleted Album on your iPhone
Whenever we delete any photos from the Photos application on the iPhone, it goes to the Recently Deleted album and remains there for around 30 days and after which they get deleted permanently. So you need to delete those photos from the Recently Deleted album as well using the steps below.
Step 1: Open the Photos app on your iPhone.
Step 2: Then tap on the Albums tab at the bottom of the Photos app window as shown below.
Step 3: Now scroll down the Albums page to the bottom and tap on the Recently Deleted as shown.
Step 4: It will open only after it has authenticated using the FaceID.
Step 5: Once the Recently Deleted album opens, tap on the Select option at the top right side as shown.
Step 6: Now at the bottom, tap on the Delete All option.
Step 7: It will pop up a confirm window where you need to tap on the Delete option as shown in the below image.
Step 8: After it clears the Recently Deleted album, check whether the storage is cleared a bit.
Fix 2 – Change the Date & Time to find the hidden photos
Sometimes, not all photos are shown in the Photos app and some photos are hidden due to date and time. So first change the date and time on your iPhone, probably set a date 1 or 2 years back, and delete those old photos.
Step 1: Open the Settings page on your iPhone.
Step 2: Tap on the General option as shown below.
Step 3: Now select the Date & Time option by tapping on it once.
Step 4: Disable the Set Automatically option by switching off its toggle button so that you can manually set the date & time as shown below.
Step 5: Now change the date and time to 1 or 2 years back. (If you are in the year 2022, change it to the year 2021 or 2020)
Step 6: After you have changed the date, go to the Photos app.
Step 7: Now scroll down the Albums page to the bottom and tap on the Recently Deleted album.
Step 8: If you find any photos, clear those photos from the Recently Deleted album to permanently delete those photos from your iPhone.
NOTE – If you don’t find any photos, please reboot your iPhone once and repeat the same process explained in the steps above in this method.
Fix 3 – Turn Off the iCloud Photos Settings
When the iCloud Photos setting is enabled on an iPhone, it allows one to store all the photos from the iPhone in iCloud and it utilizes the space which is ideal in general but in this case, can be space consuming. So we need to turn off the iCloud Photos setting and before that make sure you have backed up all the photos to your PC.
Step 1: First of all, you have to open the Settings page on the iPhone.
Step 2: Next, scroll down the page and tap on the Photos setting option as shown below.
Step 3: Now on the Photos page, disable the iCloud Photos option by tapping on its toggle switch.
Step 4: This disables iCloud Photos and you will not face this issue again.
Fix 4 – Use the Optimized iPhone Storage option
If there is no option but you have to use iCloud for the photos on your iPhone, then there is an option called Optimized iPhone Storage which reduces the photo resolution when stored on the iPhone but the actual resolution is preserved on iCloud that can be downloaded anytime.
Step 1: Open the Settings page on the iPhone and scroll down.
Step 2: Search for the Photos option and tap on it once.
Step 3: Make sure the iCloud Photos option is enabled by tapping on its toggle button.
Step 4: Now tap on the Optimise iPhone Storage option just below the iCloud Photos option as shown in the below screenshot.
Step 5: Once it is done, you can close the Settings page.
Fix 5 – Factory Reset Your iPhone
When none of the troubleshooting ideas discussed above in this article helped in resolving the issue for you, you can always try performing the factory reset on your iPhone and check if this helps.
NOTE – Please back up all your necessary personal data from the iPhone to your PC or iCloud because the factory reset will erase all contents and data from your iPhone.
Step 1: Open the Settings page and tap on the General option.
Step 2: Now scroll down to the bottom and choose the Transfer or Reset iPhone option.
Step 3: Next, tap on the Erase All Content and settings option at the bottom of the page as shown in the below screenshot.
Step 4: Tap on the Continue option.
Step 5: Now follow all the onscreen instructions on your iPhone.
Step 6: After your iPhone has been factory reset, the problem should be resolved.
Additional Tips
- Keep checking for any unused applications regularly and uninstall them from the iPhone to make some extra space for other things.
- If you haven’t checked your messages app, now is the time. Keep an eye on the read messages accumulated on your iPhone. Delete all of them every now and then to clear up the space.
- If the iCloud storage is utilized fully, you need to check out some better plans and upgrade it to have more space.
- Occasionally, keep clearing the Recently Deleted album on the Photos app on the iPhone so that no extra space for the deleted photos will be used.
- Also, don’t forget to update your iPhone to its latest iOS version which can sometimes resolve most problems.