Kdrew098

Q: manage storage iphone 6

Hi,  I'm trying to help a friend with his iPhone 6 storage issues but it seems I'm only making things worse. When he brought me his phone (it's a 16GB) it had just under 1GB storage available.  After doing all the things suggested in various sources (like deleting iTunes files (he only uses Pandora at this point) and removing some photos (many are left despite my best efforts) he now has less than 300MB!  I know he keeps a year of text messages amounting to about 2GB but he doesn't want to erase them (is there a way to store them?)

 

I'm telling him he just needs a new iPhone with at least 64GB but this isn't going over very well.  He has a Gmail account and an Exchange account for email but I gather they only shoe 1 month so I don't see much hope there.  Any ideas for reducing data would be appreciated.

 

Thanks!

iPhone 6, iOS 10.0.1, Windows 7 laptop with iTunes

Posted on Sep 27, 2016 11:07 AM

Close

Q: manage storage iphone 6

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by Pmintz25,

    Pmintz25 Pmintz25 Sep 27, 2016 11:20 AM in response to Kdrew098
    Level 4 (1,693 points)
    Sep 27, 2016 11:20 AM in response to Kdrew098

    Go to Settings > General > Storage & iCloud Usage > Manage Storage (under Storage, not iCloud)

     

    Once it loads it will tell you what apps are taking up the most space. Pandora and Spotify tend to take up multiple GBs of data. Even though the apps themselves are small, they store tons of data for quicker song loading and other information. You can tell my tapping the app in this list. For example, Snapchat is 79.6 MB, however, it is using 354.1 MB because of documents and data. The only way to fix this (temporarily) is to delete the app and redownload. Same with Pandora.

     

    Note that if your friend needs an iOS update, the phone may have already downloaded it. The update will take up space until it has been applied. It will show up in the Storage as iOS 10.0.2 (or whatever update it is you need), and could be 450+ MB.

     

    Also, I go through my texts messages and delete attachments that I don't need. Your friend may have hundreds of photos that people have sent him. These get stored on the phone. They would have to go to each conversation, tap the "i" in the top right, then press and hold on a photo/attachment until you are presented with 3 options. Tap More...

    You can now select as many items that you want to save or delete. Remember that videos/GIFs/music take up the most space, so deleting extra items from Photos may help as well.

     

    Sync the iPhone with iTunes. Sometimes that helps the phone recognize more free space.

  • by Briansyddall,

    Briansyddall Briansyddall Sep 27, 2016 11:21 AM in response to Kdrew098
    Level 6 (8,891 points)
    Apple Watch
    Sep 27, 2016 11:21 AM in response to Kdrew098

    Hi

    Go to settings - iCloud backup now

    After backup restore iPhone back to factory settings this will make iPhone like new

    Set back up over your WiFi use iCloud backup when promted.

    Cheers

    Brian