iCloud Storage Full? A Comprehensive Guide to Freeing Up Space

Running out of iCloud storage is a common frustration for Apple users. That dreaded ‘iCloud Storage Full’ notification can pop up at the most inconvenient times, preventing you from backing up your devices, syncing photos, and keeping your important data safe and accessible. But don’t fret! This comprehensive guide will walk you through various strategies and detailed steps to reclaim your precious iCloud space and get your digital life back in order.

Understanding iCloud Storage

Before diving into the solutions, let’s briefly understand how iCloud storage works. Every Apple ID comes with 5GB of free storage. This is often insufficient for most users who rely on Apple’s ecosystem for photos, videos, documents, backups, and more. iCloud storage is used for:

• iCloud Drive: Storing documents, presentations, spreadsheets, and other files.
• Photos & Videos: Backing up your photo library.
• Device Backups: Saving copies of your iPhones, iPads, and other Apple devices.
• Mail: Storing your iCloud email and attachments.
• Messages: Syncing your text messages, iMessages, and attachments.
• App Data: Storing application data and preferences for seamless syncing across devices.
• Shared Albums: Storing shared photos and videos.

When you exceed your storage limit, iCloud will stop syncing new data. This can lead to loss of recent photos or videos, and a halt in crucial backups. Therefore, it’s crucial to regularly manage your iCloud storage.

Strategies to Free Up iCloud Space

Here’s a breakdown of strategies and specific steps to help you reclaim your iCloud space:

1. Review and Delete Unnecessary Backups

Device backups often consume a significant portion of iCloud storage. Old backups from devices you no longer use or backups of devices that contain a lot of data contribute heavily to storage usage. Follow these steps to manage your backups:

On your iPhone or iPad:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap on your Apple ID (your name at the top).
3. Tap on iCloud.
4. Tap on Manage Account Storage or just Manage Storage.
5. Tap on Backups.
6. You will see a list of your device backups. Tap on a device backup you wish to manage.
7. You can either delete the entire backup (Delete Backup) or choose which data types to exclude from the backup (Choose Data to Back Up).
8. If you choose the latter, toggle off the types of data that you don’t want to back up. For instance, if you have a lot of large video files within a specific app, turning off backup for that app can save a significant amount of space. Be cautious and only turn off if you do not need those files backed up.
9. If you want to delete the backup tap Delete Backup. You’ll be asked to confirm.

On your Mac:

1. Click the Apple Menu () in the top left corner of your screen.
2. Choose System Settings (or System Preferences on older macOS versions).
3. Click on your Apple ID.
4. Click on iCloud.
5. Click Manage… (next to the bar that shows you your used iCloud storage).
6. Click on Backups.
7. Select the backup you want to manage and then delete or choose show more information to choose what data types to exclude from the backup.

Important Considerations for Backups:

• Only delete backups of devices you no longer use or whose data you no longer require. Deleting a current device backup can result in data loss if something were to happen to your device.
• Be selective about what you back up. If you have thousands of photos and videos, consider backing them up using an external hard drive or another cloud service. Then exclude photos from your iCloud backup by toggling the photo library within the device backup settings.
• Regularly review your backups. Make it a habit to check your backups every few months and delete old ones.

2. Manage Your iCloud Photos

Photos and videos typically consume the largest portion of iCloud storage for many users. Here’s how to manage your photo library:

Enable Optimize iPhone Storage (or Optimize Mac Storage):

This feature will keep smaller, lower-resolution versions of your photos and videos on your device, and store the full-resolution versions in iCloud. This is a great option if you want to access all your photos without taking up too much space on your device.

On your iPhone or iPad:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap on your Apple ID.
3. Tap on iCloud.
4. Tap on Photos.
5. Select Optimize iPhone Storage.

On your Mac:

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Click Photos in the menu bar and then choose Settings (or Preferences).
3. Click the iCloud tab.
4. Choose Optimize Mac Storage.

Delete Unwanted Photos and Videos:

Take some time to review your photo library and delete blurry, unwanted, or duplicate photos and videos. Empty your Recently Deleted album as well, as items there still take up space.

Steps on iPhone or iPad:

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Browse your photos and videos.
3. Tap the Select button in the upper right-hand corner.
4. Select the photos/videos you want to delete by tapping on them.
5. Tap the Trash Can icon at the bottom right.
6. Go to the Albums tab at the bottom and scroll down to Recently Deleted.
7. Tap the Select button.
8. Tap Delete All.

Steps on Mac:

1. Open the Photos app.
2. Browse your photos and videos.
3. Select the photos/videos you want to delete.
4. Press the Delete key.
5. Go to the File menu and choose Show Recently Deleted.
6. Click the Delete All button in the upper-right corner.

Consider alternative storage solutions:

• Google Photos: Offers free storage for photos up to 16MP and videos up to 1080p quality, or paid storage for original quality.
• Dropbox: Offers limited free storage, but is a good option for those who regularly use their platform for other file needs.
• External Hard Drives: A traditional option for those who don’t want their photos in the cloud.

3. Manage iCloud Drive Files

iCloud Drive is where you store your documents, presentations, and other files. Here’s how to manage it:

Delete Unnecessary Files:

Review your iCloud Drive and remove files you no longer need. This might include old project documents, downloaded files, or temporary working files.

Steps on iPhone or iPad:

1. Open the Files app.
2. Tap on iCloud Drive.
3. Locate and select the files you want to delete.
4. Tap the Trash Can icon to delete.

Steps on Mac:

1. Open Finder.
2. Click iCloud Drive in the sidebar.
3. Locate and select the files you want to delete.
4. Right-click and choose Move to Trash, or press the Delete key.

Empty Trash:

Remember to empty the trash bin from both your iPhone or iPad and Mac as deleted files within those trash bins still contribute to storage usage.

Steps on iPhone or iPad:

1. Open the Files app.
2. Tap on the Browse tab.
3. Under Locations tap Recently Deleted.
4. Tap Delete All.

Steps on Mac:

1. Right click on the Trash icon in the dock.
2. Choose Empty Trash.

Move Files to Local Storage:

If you have files that you don’t need to sync across your devices, consider moving them to local storage on your computer or an external hard drive.

4. Manage Mail Attachments

Large email attachments can eat up storage space quickly. Here’s how to manage them:

Delete Emails with Large Attachments:

Search for emails with large attachments and delete them. You may want to check your trash as well, and ensure that is also empty.

Steps on iPhone or iPad:

1. Open the Mail app.
2. Go to each account, typically starting with your iCloud.com account.
3. Sort emails by attachment size. In your Mailboxes screen click Edit at the top right and add the Filter By field. Within the Filter By field choose Has Attachments.
4. Delete emails with large attachments you don’t need anymore. Be mindful before deleting an important email or attachment.
5. Empty the Trash folder as well to ensure these files are permanently removed from your iCloud storage.

Steps on Mac:

1. Open the Mail app.
2. Go to each account, starting with your iCloud.com account.
3. Sort emails by attachment size. In the Mailbox sidebar view click and go to the View menu at the top, then go to Sort By and then choose Attachments.
4. Delete emails with large attachments you don’t need anymore. Be mindful before deleting an important email or attachment.
5. Empty the Trash folder as well to ensure these files are permanently removed from your iCloud storage.

Download Attachments and Store Locally:

If you need to keep the attachments but not the emails, you can download them to your computer or an external hard drive and then delete the corresponding emails.

5. Manage Messages Attachments

Photos and videos sent via Messages are also stored in iCloud if you have Messages in iCloud turned on. To clear them:

Delete Old Messages and Attachments:

Delete entire conversations or specific messages and attachments with lots of pictures and video.

Steps on iPhone or iPad:

1. Open the Messages app.
2. Select the conversation you want to review.
3. Delete the entire conversation by swiping the conversation to the left and hitting Delete or select and delete specific messages within a conversation.

Steps on Mac:

1. Open the Messages app.
2. Select the conversation you want to review.
3. Right click on the conversation and select Delete or select and delete specific messages within a conversation.

6. Manage App Data

Some apps store significant data in iCloud, which can consume a considerable amount of space. Here’s how to manage it:

Review and Delete App Data:

You can see a breakdown of how much space individual apps are consuming in your iCloud storage settings. While most apps do not allow you to directly manage the backed up data, you can delete all stored data in iCloud if you need to free up space.

Steps on iPhone or iPad:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap on your Apple ID.
3. Tap on iCloud.
4. Tap on Manage Account Storage or Manage Storage.
5. Select the application that is using the most iCloud Storage.
6. If an app offers the option, you can delete all data associated with that application in iCloud by hitting the Delete Data button, if available.

Steps on Mac:

1. Click the Apple Menu () in the top left corner of your screen.
2. Choose System Settings (or System Preferences on older macOS versions).
3. Click on your Apple ID.
4. Click on iCloud.
5. Click Manage… (next to the bar that shows you your used iCloud storage).
6. Select the application that is using the most iCloud Storage.
7. If an app offers the option, you can delete all data associated with that application in iCloud by hitting the Delete Data button, if available.

7. Upgrade Your iCloud Storage

If you’ve tried all the above methods and still find yourself running out of iCloud space, consider upgrading to a larger storage plan. Apple offers various paid storage tiers, which provide significantly more storage at reasonable prices. This is sometimes the only solution if you rely heavily on iCloud for backups, photos, and files.

How to Upgrade:

On your iPhone or iPad:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Tap on your Apple ID.
3. Tap on iCloud.
4. Tap on Manage Account Storage or Manage Storage.
5. Tap on Change Storage Plan.
6. Select the desired storage plan and follow the prompts to complete your purchase.

On your Mac:

1. Click the Apple Menu () in the top left corner of your screen.
2. Choose System Settings (or System Preferences on older macOS versions).
3. Click on your Apple ID.
4. Click on iCloud.
5. Click Manage… (next to the bar that shows you your used iCloud storage).
6. Click on Change Storage Plan.
7. Select the desired storage plan and follow the prompts to complete your purchase.

Conclusion

Running out of iCloud storage can be inconvenient, but it’s often easily resolved with some proactive management. By deleting old backups, managing your photos and videos, clearing out unnecessary files, and taking charge of your app data, you can regain control of your iCloud storage and ensure that your important information is backed up, synced, and accessible. If all else fails, upgrading to a larger storage plan is always an option. Remember to regularly review your storage usage to prevent future storage issues.