Apple devices are known for their sleek design, smooth performance, and high-quality features. However, they also have limited storage space, which can be quickly filled up by apps that take up too much space. In this article, we’ll check out Eight regular apps that might use too much storage on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. We’ll also show you how to make some space by getting rid of them or taking care of them.
1. Apple’s Pre-Installed Apps
Apple devices have some apps already installed when you get them. These apps include Health, Stocks, Tips, Podcasts, iMovie, GarageBand, and others. These apps can use up a bunch of space on your device, especially if you’ve added extra stuff to them. For instance, GarageBand can use more than 2 GB of space if you’ve put in a lot of sound packs.
If you don’t use these apps regularly, you can delete them from your device to free up some space. To do this, simply press and hold on the app icon until it starts to jiggle, then tap the X button to delete it. You can always re-download the app from the App Store if you need it later.
2. Photos and Videos
Photos and videos are probably the biggest culprits for taking up space on your device. If you like to capture every moment with your camera or record videos in high resolution, you may end up with a huge photo library that eats up your storage. According to Apple, one minute of 4K video at 30 frames per second can take up 170 MB of space.
To reduce the space used by photos and videos, you can do the following:
- Enable iCloud Photos to store your photos and videos in iCloud and optimize the storage on your device. To do this, go to Settings > Photos > iCloud Photos and turn it on. You will need enough iCloud storage space to store your entire photo library.
- Delete unwanted photos and videos from your device. To do this, go to Photos > Albums > Recently Deleted and tap Select > Delete All to permanently remove them.
- Use a third-party app or service to back up your photos and videos to another cloud service, such as Google Photos or Dropbox. You can then delete them from your device to save space.
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3. Music and Podcasts
If you love listening to music or podcasts on your device, you may have downloaded a lot of songs or episodes for offline listening. These files can also take up a lot of space on your device, especially if you have a large music library or subscribe to many podcasts. For example, one hour of music at 256 kbps can take up about 115 MB of space.
To reduce the space used by music and podcasts, you can do the following:
- Enable iCloud Music Library to store your music in iCloud and optimize the storage on your device. To do this, go to Settings > Music > iCloud Music Library and turn it on. You will need an Apple Music subscription to use this feature.
- Delete unwanted songs or albums from your device. To do this, go to Music > Library > Downloaded Music and swipe left on the item you want to delete, then tap Delete.
- Delete unwanted podcast episodes from your device. To do this, go to Podcasts > Library > Downloaded Episodes and swipe left on the episode you want to delete, then tap Delete.
4. Messages
Messages is an app that can use up a bunch of space on your device, especially if you send and get a lot of texts, photos, videos, GIFs, stickers, or attachments. These files can accumulate over time and use up your storage space. According to Apple, one photo message can take up about 2 MB of space.
To reduce the space used by messages, you can do the following:
- Enable Messages in iCloud to store your messages in iCloud and optimize the storage on your device. To do this, go to Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Messages and turn it on. You will need enough iCloud storage space to store your messages.
- Delete unwanted messages or conversations from your device. To do this, go to Messages and swipe left on the conversation you want to delete, then tap Delete.
- Set messages to automatically delete after a certain period. To do this, go to Settings > Messages > Keep Messages and choose an option (30 Days, 1 Year, or Forever).
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5. Mail
The Mail app is another one that can use a lot of space on your device, especially if you have many email accounts or get lots of emails with attachments. These files can also accumulate over time and use up your storage space.
To reduce the space used by mail, you can do the following:
1. Delete unwanted emails or attachments from your device. To do this, go to Mail and swipe left on the email you want to delete, then tap Trash. You can also tap Edit > Select All > Trash to delete all emails in a folder.
2. You can make the Mail app delete old messages automatically. To do this, follow these steps:
- Open Settings.
- Go to Mail.
- Choose your email account.
- Tap on Mail.
- Scroll down and select Advanced.
- In the “Delete Messages” section, pick an option: Never, After One Day, After One Week, or After One Month.
3. Use a third-party app or service to manage your email accounts, such as Gmail or Outlook. You can then delete the Mail app from your device to save space.
6. Safari
Safari is the main web browser on your device, and it can use a significant amount of storage. Especially if you visit many websites or download many files. Safari stores data such as history, bookmarks, cookies, cache, and downloads on your device, which can use up your storage space.
To reduce the space used by Safari, you can do the following:
- Delete unwanted downloads from your device. To do this, go to Safari > Downloads and swipe left on the file you want to delete, then tap Delete.
- Clear Safari history and website data from your device. To do this, go to Settings > Safari > Clear History and Website Data and tap Clear.
- Enable Safari Reading List to store web pages in iCloud and optimize the storage on your device. To do this, go to Settings > Safari > Reading List and turn on Automatically Save Offline.
7. Social Media Apps
Social media apps like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok, and others are among the most popular apps on your device. However, they can also use a lot of storage, especially if you use them a lot or store a lot of stuff in them. These apps keep things like photos, videos, cached data, and settings on your device, and this can fill up your storage.
To reduce the space used by social media apps, you can do the following:
- Delete unwanted content or data from the app. To do this, open the app go to its settings or profile page, and look for options to manage or delete your content or data.
- Clear the app’s cache from your device. To do this, open the app go to its settings or profile page, and look for options to clear cache or data.
- Delete the app from your device if you don’t use it regularly. To do this, press and hold on the app icon until it starts to jiggle, then tap the X button to delete it. You can always re-download the app from the App Store if you need it later.
8. Games
Games are another type of apps that can use a ton of space on your device, especially if you play them often or have many games installed. Games keep things like graphics, sounds, levels, your progress, and settings on your device, and this can fill up your storage. Some games can even use more than 1 gigabyte (GB) of space on your device.
To reduce the space used by games, you can do the following:
- Delete unwanted games from your device. To do this, press and hold on the game icon until it starts to jiggle, then tap the X button to delete it. You can always re-download the game from the App Store if you need it later.
- Clear the game’s data from your device. To do this, open the game go to its settings or menu page, and look for options to clear data or reset progress.
- Use Game Center to store your game progress in iCloud and optimize the storage on your device. To do this, go to Settings > Game Center and sign in with your Apple ID. You will need enough iCloud storage space to store your game progress.
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Conclusion
These are some of the common apps that take up too much space on Apple devices. By deleting or managing these apps, you can free up some space on your device and improve its performance. However, these are not the only apps that use excessive storage on your device.
You can find out how much space each app is using on your device by doing this:
- Open Settings.
- Go to General.
- Select iPhone Storage (or iPad Storage or Mac Storage).
- Tap on each app to see how much space it’s using.
You can also use some tips and tricks to optimize the storage on your device, such as:
- Use iCloud Drive: To store your files in iCloud and access them from any device.
- Use iTunes or Finder: To sync your music, photos, videos, podcasts, books, and more with your computer.
- Try using streaming services: Like Apple Music, Apple TV+, Netflix, Spotify, YouTube Music. And others instead of downloading content to watch or listen to offline.
- Use compression tools: Such as iZip or WinZip to reduce the size of large files before storing them on your device.
- Use cleaning tools: Such as CleanMyMac, PhoneClean, or iMyFone Umate to scan and remove junk files, cache, temporary files and other unwanted data from your device.
These are some of the ways you can optimize the storage on your Apple device and make more room for the apps and content you love. We hope you found this article helpful and informative. If you have any questions or feedback, please let us know in the comments below. Thank you for reading! 😊
