Is your iCloud storage full? Check out this guide to manage your iCloud storage and free up space using easy tips and suggestions.
iCloud is Apple’s online service responsible for wirelessly syncing your data across your various Apple devices and the web. It also offers storage options for your photos, videos, files, device backups, third-party app data, and more.
You get 5 GB of free iCloud space when you create an Apple ID, however this is not enough for most users.
Once your iCloud storage is full, you have the option to buy more, but not everyone wants that. In that case, you can free up iCloud space to keep syncing and storing new content.
Why iCloud storage is full
The main reasons your iCloud storage may be filled up are:
- Images and videos are backed up to iCloud Photos.
- You have thousands of messages with attachments.
- You’re storing voice memos in iCloud.
- You send and receive lots of emails with attachments using iCloud email (yourAppleID@icloud.com).
- You’re backing up all files on your Mac’s desktop and documents folders to iCloud Drive.
- Your iCloud Notes have lots of media like sketches, images, etc.
- Third-party apps like WhatsApp are backing up tons of data to your iCloud.
- You store lots of PDFs, documents, Excel sheets, and such in iCloud Drive.
Check your iCloud storage
When your iCloud space is about to fill up, you’ll be constantly reminded via popups saying Not Enough Storage, iCloud Storage Full, Upgrade Storage, and so forth.
You can find out how much free space you have on iCloud by going to the Settings app > your name from the top > iCloud > Storage. You’ll see a bar graph as well as a list of apps, services, and family members that are taking up your iCloud space.
What will happen if you don’t manage iCloud storage
If you do not free up your iCloud space, it will lead to the following issues:
- You’ll get recurring alerts asking you to upgrade or free up space.
- You’ll see a banner at the top of apps like Notes saying you don’t have free space.
- Notes, Messages, and Voice Memos will not save to iCloud and sync or update among your other Apple devices.
- Your new device backups will remain incomplete.
- Third-party apps won’t be able to backup or store data in iCloud.
- Since iCloud Drive and iCloud space are the same, you’ll no longer be able to add new files to iCloud Drive and share them to collaborate with friends and colleagues.
- You can’t use your iCloud email to send and receive new emails.
- Shortcuts won’t sync among your devices.
- You can’t sync iMovie projects or files in Numbers, Keynote, Pages, etc.
- iCloud Photos will no longer save your media to the cloud.
What will continue to work normally even after your iCloud storage is full
Several features, despite being a part of iCloud, do not count against your iCloud Storage and will continue to work normally even when your iCloud space is full. These are:
- Contacts
- Calendars
- Reminders
- Safari sync
- News
- Stocks
- Home
- Wallet
- Game Center
- iCloud Passwords
- Mail Drop
- Shared Albums
And as always, other iPhone features such as sending and receiving iMessage, FaceTime, normal calls, texts, app downloads, and everything else, will work just the same.
Tips to free up your online iCloud storage
Go through these effective ways to clean up your iCloud space. Feel free to skip those recommendations that are essential to you and not worth disabling.
1. Turn off iCloud Photos
iCloud Photos is usually the number one reason why your iCloud space may be full.
Irrespective of how many iPhones, iPads, and Macs you own, Apple gives you a mere 5 GB of free iCloud storage with your Apple ID. But when you set up your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, it automatically enables iCloud Photos. An average user doesn’t have any idea about it and won’t think about turning it off. They use the iPhone camera to shoot pictures, and all these are backed up, quickly filling up the iCloud storage.
To free iCloud space, open the Photos app and delete unnecessary pictures. This will also delete them from iCloud. Make sure you remove them from the Recently Deleted section, too.
Next, transfer important photos and videos to a computer, external hard disk, Google Drive, Google Photos, etc.
Once you have removed unnecessary images and safeguarded the meaningful ones, follow these steps on all your Apple devices to turn off iCloud Photos.
On iPhone and iPad:
- Open Settings and tap Apps > Photos.
- Turn off iCloud Photos.
On Mac:
- Open System Settings and go to your Apple Account > iCloud > Photo.
- Turn off the switch for Sync this Mac.
If you’re on an older version of macOS, go to System Preferences > Apple ID and uncheck Photos in the iCloud section.
Additionally, you can also turn it off from the Photos app settings.
Since your photos are no longer backed up automatically to iCloud, make sure you use something like Google Drive or transfer them often to your computer.
2. Delete files from iCloud Drive
On iPhone and iPad:
- Open the Files app and tap Browse.
- Tap iCloud Drive.
- Tap the more icon > Select > choose unnecessary files and folders and tap the trash icon to delete them.
- Go back and tap Recently Deleted. From here, tap the more icon > Select > Delete All.
On Mac:
- Open a Finder folder.
- Click iCloud Drive from the sidebar and delete files from here.
- Empty Mac’s Trash when done.
3. Set Safari downloads to local storage
You can stop Safari from downloading content to iCloud Drive and prevent it from occupying iCloud storage.
- Open iPhone or iPad Settings and tap Apps > Safari.
- Tap Downloads.
- Select On My iPhone instead of iCloud Drive.
4. Manage your device backups
Backups are another huge occupier of your iCloud space. To manage this properly, you have the following options.
1) Turn off iCloud Backups: I don’t recommend this as it’s essential to back up your data. But, if you decide to turn it off, make sure you back up your iPhone or iPad to a Mac or PC or an external drive.
2) Choose only essential apps to back up to iCloud: I strongly recommend selective app backup as I do this on my iPhone to manage my iCloud space. It backs up only data from essential apps and ignores unnecessary ones like Facebook, Instagram, etc.
3) Delete old device backups: You must do this as there is no point in keeping backup files of devices you no longer have or use.
5. Delete unwanted attachments from iCloud Mail
Have emails in your iCloud email with old receipts, PDFs, presentations, and such that you no longer need? Open the Mail app and delete such emails. If an email has a paper clip icon, that means there is an attachment. Delete those emails. Text-only emails are small in size, and deleting them won’t free much iCloud space.
6. Stop third-party apps from backing up to iCloud
Some apps like WhatsApp, ones for photo editing, notes, expense reports, and so forth, store their data or backup files in iCloud. This is a handy feature that I recommend using. But if there are apps that you no longer use, you can delete their data from your iCloud.
On iPhone or iPad:
- Open Settings and tap your name from the top.
- Tap iCloud > Storage.
- Tap the app name and hit Delete Data From iCloud.
On Mac:
- Open System Settings and select your Apple Account from the top left corner.
- Go to iCloud and click Manage in the Storage section.
- Select the service and hit Delete from iCloud.
You can also prevent unnecessary apps from storing data in your iCloud Drive by turning off the switch next to their name in iCloud Settings.
7. Delete Notes, Messages, iMovie projects, etc.
After seeing what apps and services use the most space, you can turn them off or delete unwanted files from them.
If you have several unnecessary notes with media, message conversations, or iMovie projects, consider deleting them to free iCloud space.
Another solution is to add your Google or other accounts and store notes in them.
8. Disable Desktop and Documents on Mac
Just like iCloud Photos, when you set up your new or erased Mac and enable iCloud Drive, the Desktop & Documents Folders option is checked by default. This means that every file you have on your Mac’s desktop and documents folder will be uploaded to iCloud Drive for safekeeping.
If you’re on the 5 GB plan, this will fill it up almost instantly. So, follow these steps to disable it.
- Go to System Settings and select your Apple Account.
- Head to iCloud > Drive and turn off the switch for Desktop & Documents Folders.
If you’re on an older version of macOS, go to iCloud Settings and click Options next to iCloud Drive. After that, uncheck Desktop & Documents Folders.
Additionally, you can go to Apps syncing to iCloud Drive and turn off the switches.
After following all or some of the recommendations above, you should have freed up significant iCloud space. I mean, it’s easy:
- Check your iCloud storage.
- See what’s filling up your iCloud space the most.
- Have the determination to get rid of those items (old emails, messages, files, backups, app data, or whatever it is).
- Delete them. And done! You have lots of free space.
If you do not want to delete photos, files, and backups from iCloud and still want no popups and a seamless experience, the only solution is to pay for iCloud+. Plans start at $0.99 for 50 GB.
FAQs
Why is iPhone storage full when I have iCloud?
Even when you have iCloud or a high-tier paid iCloud+ plan, your offline storage can be full if you have tons of apps, media, video downloads in TV+/Netflix/Prime Vide, photos, etc., saved locally on your iPhone. Delete them to free local space.
How to free up space on iPhone using iCloud?
Once you subscribe to iCloud+, go to Settings > Photos and enable iCloud Photos. Next, check Optimize iPhone Storage to have only smaller versions of photos and videos on the device while the full-quality version is saved in iCloud.
Photos taking up space on iPhone even with iCloud. What to do?
Even after you enable iCloud Photos and turn on Optimize iPhone Storage, it will replace the full-size images and videos with smaller versions when your iPhone is low on storage. And smaller versions take up space too. So, if you have images and clips on your iPhone, they will take up some space (unless you delete them).
iCloud Drive taking up space on Mac! How to fix it?
If iCloud Drive takes up a lot of space on Mac, you can turn it off from System Settings > Apple Account > iCloud > Drive and turn off Sync this Mac.
Is there a way to get unlimited iCloud storage?
There isn’t a way to get unlimited iCloud storage. For personal plans, the maximum you can go is 12 TB of storage. And with Apple One and Family Sharing, you can get an additional 2 TB of space.
How to back up iPhone when iCloud is full?
Thanks to temporary iCloud backups, you can back up your iPhone fully for free, even when you have no iCloud storage left!
How to increase iCloud storage for free?
There is no way to increase iCloud storage for free. But if you don’t want to pay, ask someone in your family to add you to their Family Sharing. After that, they pay for iCloud+, and you basically get to use it for free.
On a related note: How to sign out of iCloud or Apple ID and sign in again