iCloud provides 5 GB of storage for free but it can quickly run out. You may encounter the same issue even if you subscribe to a paid offering with more storage as photos, videos, messages, and backups usually fill up space. While you may consider opting for that, it is wise to free up the existing cloud storage first. Following are five tips that can help you free up storage on iCloud.

Take Care of Backups and Necessary Files

To manage your storage space, first, it is crucial you have reliable internet like Spectrum phones plans. Next, you must know the file types that are taking up the most storage space on your iCloud. When you login into your account, you’ll be able to see a bar chart. It shows different file types occupying the space. Once you have a look at it, you’ll have a clear idea of what needs your attention. Remember, data backups also clog the space on iCloud.

To delete unnecessary files and backups on iOS, head over to the “Settings” app and open “iCloud”. On macOS, you’ll need to open the “System Preferences” app. Next, click on “Manage Backups”. Make sure to delete the older ones that you no longer require.

Delete Old Messages

If you’re an old iPhone user, chances are that your text messages and iChat threads are occupying at least a gigabyte of storage on iCloud. If you have been sharing photos or emojis, the data will be even more. You can save space by opening the “Messages” app. Delete any unnecessary individual or complete conversations there. Note that the messages you delete on one device will also get deleted from other Apple devices.

Another way to get rid of the useless items is by removing chat attachments. Simply click on a contact’s name and tap “info”. Here, tap on “See All Photos”. Now, you can remove all these attachments individually or collectively. 

Get Rid of Email Attachments

Similar to photos, email attachments can take up a lot of storage space without you knowing. Marketing newsletters, images, CVs, and videos are the culprits usually. Thankfully, you can sort emails by attachments and easily remove larger ones.

To get started, open iCloud Mail and tap “View”. Next, tap “Sort by Attachments”, and delete any emails that you no longer require easily.

Manage Photos

Your photo library may be the biggest culprit compromising the space on your iCloud account. We all know that iPhones come with very good cameras. Photos, therefore, have high resolutions and occupy a lot of space than cameras on most smartphones. Also, people use it to capture high-quality videos as well. As a result, it’s very easy to have lots of media files in excess of many GBs on iCloud. The only way to avoid this is by organizing your photo library every now and then. On iCloud, there’s no shortcut to finding poor-quality images. You will need to go through all photo albums and delete photos to permanently remove the ones you no longer require. You must also consider trimming longer video clips to only parts that you require.

Do note that iCloud does not immediately delete photos. Developers can gain access to photos from a “Recently Deleted” album. Therefore, you will need to go there and remove all unwanted files again. You can also restore a file deleted by accident. After these remedial steps, you must know about certain practices that will keep your photo storage in control. One of the best ways is to remove unnecessary images right after taking them. Another way is to record short and meaningful videos instead of large ones. 

If you have a lot of important data in your photo library, it is wise to buy an external hard drive. This will help you in freeing up space on iCloud and keeping the data secure.

Manage iCloud Drive

iCloud backs up many files in iCloud Drive such as PDFs, documents, and apps. However, with time, they can occupy quite a large amount of space so, it is necessary to have a look at the iCloud Drive regularly to remove unnecessary files. You can do this by using an iPhone, IPad, or Mac. You can also sort files in terms of size, creation date, or type.

Conclusion

These are some of the best ways to free up storage conveniently on iCloud. By following the above tips, you can also get rid of unnecessary and unwanted files. Make sure to check your cloud storage regularly so you have an idea of what media files you need to remove.