How To Free Up iCloud Storage
As Apple users, iCloud is the go-to storage platform to keep your data safe, accessible, and synced across your devices. With iCloud you can store photos, documents, music, videos, and so much more across your different device screens. Whether you’re working on a grant proposal or updating a presentation, iCloud allows easy access no matter which device you’re on. And it gives you plenty of storage – but what happens when that storage starts to get full? How can we make more room foreven more photos and important documents? This article will explain how to free up iCloud storage.
1. Understand Your Storage
Knowing exactly how much storage you’re using is the first step to freeing up icould storage. We recommend checking the “Manage Storage” option in your iCloud settings every so often. This will give you a full overview of how much storage you’re using and how much is left. Depending on the plan you’re on, your iCloud storage can range from 5GB to 2TB. These plans come with benefits like iCloud backups, iCloud Photos, and more. Once you know what plan you’re on and how much is left, you can figure out how much more storage you’ll need.
2. Clean Up Your Photos
iCloud Photos stores all of your photos and videos in one place and makes them available across your different Apple devices. If you find yourself running out of storage, the best way to free up some space is to clean up your iCloud Photos. We recommend selecting the photos and videos that you no longer need or use and deleting them. This will save you a lot of storage without having to lose any of your beloved memories.
3. Delete Unused App Data
Sometimes applications save their content in iCloud storage. Whether you’re a Word document or an Excel spreadsheet, iCloud storage contains app data from multiple apps. We recommend going through each application and deleting any outdated or unnecessary files. This can also be done manually through your “Manage Storage” option.
4. Change Your iCloud Settings
Changing your iCloud settings can free up some storage space as well. Turn off automatic backup and let iCloud only store your most current photos and documents. iCloud should store the files with the lowest file size, which helps save more storage. For example, iCloud allows you to store high-quality photos that use up more storage, so you should switch to low-quality instead.
5. Buy More Storage Space
As a last resort, if you’re still running out of storage space you can always opt to buy more. Apple offers two subscription plans: 50GB and 2TB of storage. It’s important to remember that buying more storage space isn’t always the best option. Consider the data you store and how much of it you can delete before opting to upgrade.
Conclusion
Freeing up iCloud storage doesn’t have to be difficult. With just a few simple steps you can manage your storage more efficiently and have access to all of the backed up data you need. Remember to check your “Manage Storage” regularly and only store the data that you truly need.
Are there any strategies to help optimize iCloud storage usage?
Yes, there are some strategies that can help optimize iCloud storage usage. Here are some tips:
1. Optimize Device Storage: Manage your device’s storage by deleting unused apps and files, as well as transferring and backing up photos, documents, and other data-intensive content to iCloud.
2. Manage iCloud Storage: Disable and delete unused iCloud features and services or downgrade from larger iCloud storage plans to a smaller plan.
3. Backup Your Photos and Documents: Use iCloud Photo Library to automatically upload and store your photos, and back up your documents with iCloud Drive.
4. Share the Storage Space: Create family sharing groups to share purchased items and iCloud Storage with family members or other users.
5. Transfer Data to External Storage: Use external hard drives or flash drives to store large files that you no longer need to keep in iCloud.
6. Avoid Keeping Duplicate Files: Scan your iCloud storage to ensure that you don’t have multiple versions of the same file saved in different locations.
7. Optimize App Data: Delete old or rarely-used apps to free up space, as well as reorganize other app data to optimize usage.
8. Look Into Third-Party Services: Consider using third-party cloud storage services, such as Dropbox and Google Drive, to store data and transfer large files.