6 Ways to Free Up iCloud Storage Without Paying Extra

Apple's free 5GB iCloud plan seems generous until you start snapping photos with your iPhone's amazing camera. Photos, videos, backups, and app data quickly eat up space. You'll soon see the dreaded "iCloud storage is almost full" warning. But instead of paying for more storage, reclaim some space with these methods.

1. Delete unwanted photos and videos

The biggest culprit for iCloud overflow is your Photos library (and your photography habits). While there are plenty of reasons to never delete old photos, not every photo is worth keeping.

Over time, your photo library gets cluttered with blurry photos, duplicates, accidental screenshots, and videos you never watch again. To clean up your Photos library, open the Photos app and tap Select in the upper-right corner.

Scroll through your library, selecting anything you don't want to keep, such as duplicate photos, out-of-focus shots, old memes, and screen recordings. Once deleted, go to Utilities > Recently Deleted and tap Delete All . This step is important; otherwise, deleted photos will still count against your iCloud quota for 30 days.

On iOS 16 and later, the Duplicates album in Photos makes this easier. Go to Photos > Utilities > Duplicates .

Tap Merge to merge a set of duplicates. Then tap Merge [number] Items . If you don't have duplicate photos, this folder won't be in the Add-ons list .

Make this a weekly habit so it becomes part of your iPhone photo organization routine. Your library stays tidy and you never accidentally delete anything important. If you're worried about losing photos, back them up to your computer or an external hard drive first.

Tip : If you have a Mac, the Photos app can help you find duplicate photos. In addition to manual removal, photo removal apps for iOS can also detect hidden duplicates and similar photos. They can be customized and flag dozens of duplicate photos that you might otherwise miss.

2. Optimize iPhone storage with iCloud Photos

Next, take a look at your device's storage. Go to Settings > iCloud > Photos > Manage Storage . Your iPhone stores smaller, more device-friendly versions of your photos and videos locally. Full-resolution originals are stored in iCloud, and you only download them when you need them.

iCloud Photos automatically manages backups so you don't have to think about it. And you can still see every photo in your library, even ones from years ago.

This setting doesn't directly reduce your iCloud usage, but it prevents your iPhone from filling up. It also ensures you don't have to delete photos to make room for new ones.

Tip : If you turn off iCloud Photos, download the original photos to your PC or phone first, otherwise you may lose access to full-resolution versions.

3. Manage iCloud backups

Backing up your device is another sneaky storage hog. By default, iCloud backs up your iPhone or iPad every night when it's plugged in and on Wi-Fi. Over time, these backups can take up a lot of space, especially if you have multiple devices or if you have old backups still sitting around.

Go to Settings > [Name/Profile] > iCloud > Manage Storage > Backup .

You can easily delete old or unnecessary backups by selecting the device name associated with the backup.

Check the size of each device backup. You may find backups for devices you no longer use, so delete them. To delete them, tap Turn Off and Delete from iCloud . Tap Turn Off and Delete to confirm.

You should also review the list of apps that are being backed up. Turn off backups for unnecessary apps, like streaming apps, games, and news apps that store data in the cloud or can be easily re-downloaded.

In the example case, this freed up almost 1 Gigabyte overnight. Back up only the data you need and don't waste space on things that can be easily replaced.

Tip : If you use WhatsApp, back up your chats to Google Drive (on Android) or your computer instead of iCloud. This keeps your iCloud backup smaller.

4. Review and delete other iCloud data

iCloud isn't just for photos and backups. It also stores data from Mail, Messages, Notes, Voice Memos, and third-party apps. It's always important to see what else is taking up space, byte by byte.

Go to Settings > [Your Name/Photo] > iCloud > Saved to iCloud > See All . Scroll down the list of apps and see which ones are using iCloud to save their data.

Here's what you need to do:

1. Delete loud voice recordings that you have saved elsewhere.
2. Open the Mail app, delete old attachments and spam.
3. Review your Notes and delete anything that is outdated or unnecessary.
4. For Messages, delete old chats that have lots of photos or videos. You can set messages to automatically delete after 30 days in Settings > Messages > Keep Messages .
5. Look for folders that store copies of downloads from your browser, Instagram, and other apps. For example, when you download a file in Chrome or a reel from Instagram.

Everyone's situation is different. But every little bit of cleanup helps. You can recover hundreds of megabytes just by deleting old files.

Tip : If you use iCloud Drive, move large files to your computer or another cloud service if you don't need constant access from every device.

5. Transfer photos and videos to external storage

Some photos and videos are too precious to delete, but you don't need them in iCloud. For these, move them to an external storage device.

You can use the Photos app or File Explorer to import media content on Windows.

For cloud storage, upload your selected albums to Google Drive or Dropbox . If you have a Mac, connect your iPhone to your Mac and open the Image Capture app. This will help you quickly export your photos and videos to an external hard drive.

If you have a USB-C flash drive, the Files app on iOS makes it easy to move files directly from your iPhone. Even if there's no storage limit, keep a local backup just in case your photos and videos are memorable.

Once you've confirmed that your files are safely backed up, you can also delete them from your iPhone and iCloud Photos. This cleanup frees up space immediately, but you still have all your memories stored elsewhere.

Tip : You can access iCloud from any device connected to the Internet and manage your storage.

6. Make storage management a habit

The key to staying under the 5GB limit is regular maintenance. Set a recurring monthly reminder in the iOS Reminders app to:

1. Review and delete unwanted photos and videos.
2. Check iCloud backups and delete old backups.
3. Delete attachments and large files from Mail, Notes, and Messages.
4. Download photos and videos to external storage.

The Recommended for you screen in iCloud settings can help you discover large files and delete them to free up space.

You don't have to pay extra for iCloud storage to get your digital life organized. With a few simple habits—deleting what you don't need, optimizing your settings, trimming your backups, deleting old data, and storing precious memories elsewhere—you can stay under Apple's free 5GB limit.

Good luck!