5 Ways to Free up Space on iOS

Like all other smartphones and mobile devices, the iPhone does eventually run out of space for storing user files. While this problem is just as common as with any other mobile device, Apple users do not have the same tools for clearing space that Android smartphones have. Although the process is different, the big picture is still the same, and we’ll be taking a look at some methods to free up some space on iOS devices.
As I’ve said before, Android users have some variety when trying to deal with this problem, and for them, we’ve put together a top of some of the best apps to free up space. However, on iOS devices, the number of apps that one could use is significantly reduced, but fear not, there are some ways you can accomplish this.

How to free up space on iOS

Although there are a few methods that users could enable to squeeze some space out of their phones, one thing to keep in mind is this: none of these solutions will make miracles, and although they will provide you with some extra space, do not expect to gain too much. From what I could tell, there is only one solution that will have a degree of success higher than the others: uninstalling useless apps!

1. No more “This come in handy” apps

Most smartphone users install apps that they will not use regularly just by the principle that you never know when the opportunity arrives and they will need it. It’s better to just create a list of apps that you might want, and when the need for one comes, install it then instead of keeping it on your phone to occupy space. Some of you might not want to do this, but this is the way to go. I highly doubt that all of you iPhone users use ALL the apps installed on your device, and many of the apps that you have are just sitting there, waiting the day they will be of use.

2. Clean your phone’s media files

This is somewhat similar with the one above. If you are an avid podcast listener and you download podcasts all the time, you might want to delete the ones that you’ve already listened to. Not all podcast apps offer this feature and this is mainly why most users forget about them. Delete these files and you will free up a big amount of space, also, if your music library is taking a big toll on your device’s memory, you might want to create a playlist with the songs that you regularly listen to, and delete the others.

3. Use cloud storage for more space

If your iOS device is connected to the Internet most of the time, you’d better start thinking about uploading your data on cloud storage systems. These will ensure that the files are not deleted and that they are safe and always reachable. Most of these cloud storage providers allow users to listen or watch content stored in their cloud storage accounts without having to download the file, and in some cases, this might be a good solution.

4. Clean your phone’s cache and temp files

As with other devices, temp and cache files tend to pile up over time, and if left unchecked, they can add up to quite an impressive amount of wasted space. These types of files are created both as a result of web browsing, but also apps that were uninstalled and had left some files behind. Although these files are there, the process of cleaning them is not as easy as you might think. If you’d like to delete some temp files and caches, you can start by wiping the Safari browser from your phone. The options to delete these files can be found in the app’s settings.

5. Defragment/Reallocate free space

This might seem counter intuitive  but you can clean free space. This process works by going through every bit of information, down to the binary level and deleting all the information that is found and replacing it with a known stream of 1s and 0es. The process does not delete any actual data that is used by the phone, but it does wipe remnant information from uninstalled apps. This information is no longer usable and due to its small size, the phone does not pick it up and it sees it a free space. These apps will allow you to clean this free space, making it truly free, and sometimes, users might see some additional space appear. Here are some apps that allow you to this operation:

• iErase: Government Edition
• ProtectStar iShredder Std.
• iCleaner (Available from the Cydia store)

Note: These apps could potentially delete user files if used careless. Use them at your own risk.
Also, for those who want a more thorough sweep of their phone, there is one Windows app that can help them. PhoneClean is a program developed especially for iOS users to clean information from their devices. This information can include call logs, cache, temp files and other files. The app promises to give users a smoother experience on their phones or tablets, but also increase the amount of free space that they have.

As we can see, there are some ways to clean a iOS device and get more space out of it. Although the process is somewhat more restricted than what it is on an Android device, these options are great and they can prove very useful to any iOS device owner that is having problems with their phone’s memory management. /techpp/