How can I free space from my iPhone 5?

Question

Level 1

8 points

How can I free space from my iPhone 5?

Hi. I have an iPhone 5 and I need to free space from it now. Problem is, there is nothing really to delete, nor what I haves can equal to the many GBs taken: the highest is photos, and that's 200+MB, that's it. I tried to delete things that came with the phone that I won't be using, but that didn't work. The only app I have is instagram, and that doesn't really break the GB bank. I'm at a lost and I don't know what to do. I've tried the steps, from setting the photos to HDR only, deleting messages and voicemails; have not done anything in videos, books, etc., and I got enough else. I have no clue as to what's taking the space, nor why I cannot free space. Is there anyone who can help?

iPhone 5c

Posted on May 24, 2015 12:15 PM

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Answer 1

Rojmer

Level 4

1,666 points

May 24, 2015 12:22 PM in response to BinkerNate

Go to Settings - General - Usage - Manage Storage

Wait a few seconds and you will get a list of your Apps and the space each one is taking up in your iPhone. You can then get more information by tapping on each App.

With that information, you will be able to decide what needs to be deleted.

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Answer 2

BinkerNate Author

Level 1

8 points

May 24, 2015 12:32 PM in response to Rojmer

I have done this, and none are in the GBs, the highest is Photos & Camera with 266MB. The rest: Instagram is 72.6MB, iBooks is 41.0, Safari is 18.7, Messages is 13.0, Contacts is 4.4, Calendars is 1.4, Voicemail 1.1, Mail 326KB, Health 208KB, and Podcasts is 4.0KB.

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Answer 3

May 24, 2015 3:40 PM in response to BinkerNate

Try to reset your phone via iTunes and starting fresh. Back up your photos to some "backup service" like Dropbox.

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Answer 4

May 24, 2015 3:43 PM in response to BinkerNate

When you connect the phone to iTunes what does the graph on the Summary page show for storage?

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Answer 5

BinkerNate Author

Level 1

8 points

May 25, 2015 1:23 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

I don't have iTunes on my computer; never installed it, never had any use for it. The store is on my phone, that's it. But I did connect my phone to my computer, and it states internal storage as 11.3MB free of 7.38GB.

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Answer 6

BinkerNate Author

Level 1

8 points

May 28, 2015 10:30 AM in response to BinkerNate

I still need help on this. I cannot take a photo now because there isn't enough space. IDK what else to do.

EDIT: I have never used iCloud, and that has its full 5GBs of storage. But I have material that I don't want other people that might be on the same phone bill to see.

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Answer 7

May 28, 2015 11:00 AM in response to BinkerNate

Let me give you some tips/instructions to get space and claim storage

1-)Install iTunes on your computer, afterwards go into the "Windows Explorer" (where you saw that it stated 11.3Mb left out of 7.xxGb) and go into the files from the phone (by double clicking on the drive) and "copy" your photos from the phone to a folder in your computer. Afterwards, go into you phone and delete all your pictures. Remember after you delete a picture, those photos remain on the phone in a different album called "Recently Deleted". Erase it from there too.

2-) Check which iOS version you have. If you have below iOS 8.3, you might have downloaded the software without installing it. Go into Setting -> General -> Usage -> Manage Storage (the first one) and see if "iOS 8.3" is in there. If it is, then go back to "General" in Setting and tap "Software Update" and follow on-screen instructions to install the update.

3-) If the above doesn't let you take pictures, try restoring your phone using iTunes. Since this option wil DELETE YOUR DATA, remember to back up important data on iCloud (and no, iCloud is separate from your phone company bill. Whatever you have in there, other people won't see it unless they know your Apple ID password). Also backup via iTunes.

Please try these and let me know if you have more storage left afterwards.

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Answer 8

BinkerNate Author

Level 1

8 points

May 28, 2015 11:56 AM in response to KingReyes13

iTunes is dl-ed and ready to go. I did delete the photos, and checked which iOS I have and its 8.0. I cannot get 8.3 because there is no room on the phone, no surprise. Now, I want to use the "Restore iPhone" option on my iPhone page on iTunes, and yes the iCloud backup is located below, but I wanted to ask for important info to learn: if I didn't backup and instead hit the delete button, what exactly would it delete? Stupid question, but so I'll know

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Answer 9

BinkerNate Author

Level 1

8 points

May 28, 2015 1:59 PM in response to BinkerNate

UPDATE 5/28/15 4:58PM EST:

My phone was restore and my storage is up to 4.5GBs. Yahoo!

From what I gathered, there was a crap ton of "other" that made up of 4.7GB, and reading about them online, it looked like corrupted data.

Now that my phone is back, all I have to do is get some/all of my photos back, and I'm good 😉

Thanks guys for all of your help, I really needed it. 😀

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Answer 10

May 28, 2015 4:39 PM in response to BinkerNate

Woohoo! I am glad your problem is fixed! Another tip, download the new Google Photos app from the App Store and back up your photos via Wi-Fi or use cellular data if you have Unlimited High Speed data. As you back them up, delete the photos from your phone. There is no space constraint using Google Photos

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