How to free up iCloud space

Did you let your iPhone automatically sync any type of file to iCloud and now the 5GB of space provided by your account (the basic one, free) are starting to be tight? It was predictable, but don’t worry: there are several tricks you can put into practice to stem the problem and understand how to free up iCloud space. At least temporarily.

I don’t want to give you false illusions. If you intend to exploit the potential of iCloud at 100%, save your photos, videos online and create complete backups of your devices, the free plan of the service is not enough. Functions such as iCloud Photos, which allows you to store online all the photos and videos made with iOS devices, require much more space than the 5GB provided by the free version of the service … and there is no optimization that takes, you must necessarily subscribe one of the iCloud paid plans (which in any case start at just € 0.99 for 50GB of storage).

Having said that, let’s get to work immediately and see how to make the most of the space that Apple makes available to us on the “cloud”. Whether you have already signed up for a payment plan for iCloud or are still “struggling” with the free version of the service, you will certainly find some ideas to better manage your account, or at least I hope so.

How to free up iCloud space from iPhone / iPad

How to free up iCloud space ©aranzulla

If you want free up iCloud space acting directly from your iPhone or iPad, go to the Settings iOS device (the gear icon located on the home screen), select the Your photo, then the item relating to iCloud, and go up Manage space. A screen will appear with the list of all the apps that synchronize their data on iCloud and the complete list of iOS backups saved on the account.

THE iOS backup can take up a lot of iCloud space. One of the first things I recommend you do is, therefore, check the list of devices listed under the heading Backup and check that there are no iPhones or iPads in it that you no longer use.

If there are backups related to devices you no longer use in the list, delete them from your iCloud account by tapping on their names and then on the buttons Delete backup And Deactivate and delete present in the screens that open.

To make sure that a backup actually refers to a device you no longer use, check the date of the last backup (which you can view by pressing on the backup name) and make sure that it is not written next to the device name This iPhone or This iPad (which would mean that the selected backup belongs to the device currently in use).

How to free up iCloud space ©aranzulla

You have activated the feature iCloud Photos? In this case, you can free up a lot of space on iCloud (and on the memory of your iPhone / iPad) by opening the application Photo and deleting all the photos and videos that seem superfluous to you.

Remember that after deleting them, photos and videos end up in the album Recently deleted of iOS which allows you to recover them for a period of 30 days. To permanently delete a photo or video from iCloud (and from your device) you must also delete it from that album.

To delete a photo or video from your device, start the app Photo, select it, and first press the icon of trash can located at the bottom right and then on the button Delete photo / Delete video that appears on the screen.

To delete multiple elements at the same time, press the button Select located at the top right, put the checkmark next to the thumbnails of the contents to be deleted, and first tap the icon of the trash can and then on the button Delete xx photos / Delete xx videos that appear on the screen.

To empty the album Recently deleted where deleted photos and videos are “parked”, select the tab Album of the app Photo (bottom right), go to the album Recently deleted and tap the button first Select located at the top right and then on the option Delete everything located at the bottom left.

You can find more info in my tutorials on how to delete photos from iCloud And how to recover photos from iCloud.

How to free up iCloud space ©aranzulla

Now let’s move on to the applications, or rather their data. Then move to the section Manage space of the iCloud management panel and tap on the item Show all, so you can see the complete list of apps that take up the most space on iCloud. Then select the application you want to lighten and choose the item Delete data ... to confirm.

Some applications allow you to delete the individual files associated with them (e.g. in Numbers you can delete individual spreadsheets, in Pages individual text documents and so on), others instead store the data in bulk and therefore you have to decide whether to delete everything or leave the situation as it is.

To delete individual files from applications that allow you to do so, swipe from right to left on the name of the object to be removed and press the button Delete that appears from the side.

iPhones and iPads also include an application, called File, which allows you to manage files hosted on iCloud through a real file manager (similar to Finder of the Mac explore Resources Windows).

To delete a file saved on iCloud from the application File all you have to do is access the section iCloud Drive present in the menu Positions, keep your finger pressed on the icon of the file to be deleted and select the item Delete from the menu that opens. At this point, go to the menu Recently deleted and repeat the operation to permanently delete the file.

If you have activated a subscription to Apple Music and/or to iCloud Music Library, be aware that these do not erode the available storage space on iCloud. Apple offers all users the ability to upload up to 100,000 songs to their library without impacting iCloud Drive storage.

The only limit to be aware of is that the songs uploaded to the iCloud Music Library cannot weigh more than 200MB. For more info see Apple’s website. If you want more info on how to delete songs from your iPhone to save space, read the guide that I just linked to you.

How to free up iCloud space from PC

How to free up iCloud space ©aranzulla

If you want you can free up iCloud space even via your PC. Just use the iCloud management panel located in the client’s iCloud for Windows (available on Microsoft Store; I told you how to install it here) or in the macOS system preferences.

Once in the iCloud management panel, you have to click on the button Archive / Manage located at the bottom right and you will find yourself in front of a screen similar to the one seen on iOS, with the possibility of managing the synchronized data online from all your apps. To delete all the files of a particular application in bulk, all you have to do is select its icon with the mouse and click on the button Delete documents and data.

You don’t want to delete all the data of an application in bulk but want to individually choose which documents to delete or keep? Then open the file Explorer (Windows) or the Finder (macOS), go to the folder of iCloud Drive, and delete the files you no longer consider useful as if they were normal files hosted in a folder on your PC.

Alternatively, you can also access the site iCloud.com, log in using your data Apple ID and access the web version of iCloud Drive (the blue cloud icon) to manage your files directly from the browser.

After authorizing your browser, to delete a document, simply select its icon and click on the del icon trash can which is located at the top.

How to change iCloud storage

How to free up iCloud space ©aranzulla

In the unfortunate event that, even following the advice I just gave you, you were not able to free up enough space on iCloud, you just have to opt for one of the paid plans of the service.

To change your iCloud storage plan, go to the menu Settings of iOS, select the Your name, go up iCloud and access the section Manage space. At this point, tap on the item Change plan and follow the on-screen instructions to choose the plan that suits you best.

If you prefer to use the PC, open the iCloud management panel and click on the button first Manage and then on that Change storage plan. The plans available are as follows.

• 50 GB of space a 0.99 euros / month
• 200 GB of space a 2.99 euros / month
• 2 TB of space a 9.99 euros / month

Select the one you are interested in and the subscription will automatically renew each month with a withdrawal from the credit card you have associated with your Apple ID. The service has no restrictions whatsoever and you can cancel at any time (just go back to the menu to change the storage plan and choose the free 5GB plan again).

Alternatively, there is the plan Apple One that for € 14.95 / month offers 50GB of iCloud Drive space, Apple Music, Apple TV +, And Apple Arcade.

It is also available in version Family from 19.95 euros/month with 200GB of iCloud Drive space and in one version Premium from 28.95 euros/month with Apple Music, Apple TV +, Apple Arcade, Apple Fitness +, and iCloud + with 2TB of storage space.

To activate Apple One just go to Settings> [tuo nome] > Subscriptions> Get Apple One. For more info about it see my tutorial on how to use iCloud.

How to free up iCloud space: WhatsApp

How to free up iCloud space ©aranzulla

THE 5 GB of the free iCloud plan just aren’t enough to complete the WhatsApp backup, am I right? Do not worry, you can take different ways to reduce the weight it has Whatsapp inside iCloud. First, you could turn off the backup function directly.

To do this, go to the Settings of the WhatsApp app, then tap on the item Chat and then on that Backup of chats and access the section Automatic backup.

At this point, check the option Disabled to prevent the application from taking up iCloud space through backups. You can significantly reduce the weight of the backup, without deactivating it, by unchecking the option Include videos, present in the section Backup of chats. In this way, the videos saved within the chats will not be included in the iCloud backup.

In case you want to delete a WhatsApp backup from iCloud, access Settings, then tap the Your name and then on the voice iCloud. Go to the section Manage Space, then tap the item WhatsApp Messenger and proceed to delete the data using the key Delete data ....

How to free up iCloud space: Android

How to free up iCloud space ©aranzulla

In case you want to know how to free up iCloud space via an Android device, I am sorry to tell you that it is not possible to do this through official applications. Instead, what you can do is act through the service site, via the mobile browser.

The procedure for freeing up iCloud space on the site from Android is the same as seen in the chapter on PC, as the iCloud web management panel is the same.