iPhone 13 Storage and Deletion Questions

Use icloud correctly for more space and consider a reset

Ensure you are syncing to your iCloud Photos (iPhone, Settings, [tap your name], iCloud, Photos, Sync this iPhone)

In the same settings ensure Optimise this iphone is turned on

If this is the first time you turned iCloud photos on leave it 2 days to sync on a good wifi.

When you are sure that iCloud has all your images and movies you can backup the phone and erase it to factory status, then restore the backup.

The on-phone images will then be sync'd down from iCloud in the minimum size possible (aka thumbnails). You will also lose excess System data

Resources:

Set up and use iCloud Photos – Apple Support (UK)

How to back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support

Restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch from a backup - Apple Support

iCloud Photos is a synchronization service. If you turn on iCloud Photos, wait for your phone to upload copies of all of your photos to iCloud, and then delete your photos, you won't just be deleting the copies of the photos which are on your phone. You'll be deleting the copies in iCloud.

And when you permanently delete the photos on your phone, you'll be permanently deleting the ones in iCloud, so all of your photos will be gone, and you won't be getting them back.

If you want to save space on your phone without losing your photos, you either need to

• Offload them to some place that is not synchronized with the Photos library on the phone, or
• Use the "Optimize iPhone Storage" feature of iCloud Photos. With this turned on, your phone keeps copies of all of your photos, but has permission to keep reduced-quality, space-saving copies. The full-size copies remain in iCloud so the phone can fetch them "on demand".

Using iCloud Photos with "Optimize iPhone Storage" can result in considerable device storage savings. My Photos library takes up 37 GB in iCloud, but less than 3 GB on my iPhone. (Even with this savings, the phone is full enough that there is only about 20 GB of free storage left. Storage being so full may be part of what has "encouraged" the phone to "optimize" the Photos library to this degree.)

Note that it is possible to store photos "loose" in iCloud Drive, but you should never store a Photos Library (like the one from a Mac) there. Use iCloud Photos if you want to synchronize Photos libraries through iCloud.

This may help you --> Manage and Clear Storage on your iPhone a… - Apple Community

If you delete Photos & Videos from the iPhone the same is deleted on iCloud Photos too and vice versa is true as well. So the options that are left...

1. Microsoft support says --> Import photos and videos from an iPhone to PC
2. Import to your Mac --> Transfer photos and videos from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod ...
   1. Connect your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to your Mac with a USB cable.
   2. Open the Photos app on your computer.
   3. The Photos app shows an Import screen with all the photos and videos that are on your connected device. ... 
   4. If asked, unlock your iOS or iPadOS device using your passcode.
3. Upload to iCloud Drive (Not iCloud Photos) using the Files App.

Now, you can safely delete from the iPhone as you have the Photos/Videos on iCloud Drive and your Mac/PC

“iPhone 13 Storage and Deletion Questions“

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Managing iPhone Storage:

For starters...Caches (System Data) may have accumulated, so, see about clearing it, as provided below.

Internal storage cannot be upgraded. It is what it is. So, the maximum internal storage capacity never increases, even if you upgraded your iCloud plan. Learn More here: What's the Difference Between Device Storage and iCloud Storage? Apple Support

So, what to do...

Clear Space Using my User Tips:

• How to Clear Space from your Mobile Device, and What to Clear: - User Tip
• How to Clear "System Data" in your iPhone's Storage: - User Tip

Anjali1964 wrote:

128 GB

not total, I meant System data. If it's nearer 15 or more then the full backup and restore will reduce it

Enabling iCloud for Photos, Notes, Videos, Reminders, Messages, and more, as depicted in the provided picture, means that if you delete any or all data from one device, it will also be removed from iCloud and all other devices linked to the same Apple ID. Likewise, the reverse is true as well.

What is your System Storage at the bottom of Settings, General, iphone storage?

I might create a new account for work otherwise all your apps and messages will be treated the same on both.