SweepiusQuick answer: check Settings › General › iPhone Storage to confirm Photos is the problem, then turn on iCloud Photos with Optimize iPhone Storage if you have the iCloud space. After that, delete the things that are actually big — long videos, retakes and screenshots — and empty Recently Deleted, because deleted items keep using space there for 30 days.
Step 1: See what is taking up storage on iPhone
Open Settings › General › iPhone Storage and give it a few seconds. The bar at the top splits your storage into Apps, Photos, Media, Messages, System and more, and the list below sorts apps by size. Tap Photos in the list for its total. If iOS shows recommendations, tap Show All and read each one before turning it on.
Two things to know when reading it:
- Photos you’ve received in Messages count under Messages, not Photos.
- The Photos number includes your Recently Deleted album until it’s emptied.
If System Data is the huge one instead, that’s a different problem — see what System Data is.
Why Photos gets so big
| Cause | Why it adds up |
|---|---|
| Video | One minute of 4K at 30 fps is about 170 MB; at 60 fps about 400 MB. A handful of clips can outweigh thousands of photos. |
| Live Photos | Each one stores a short video clip alongside the still, so it’s larger than a plain photo. Live Photo is on by default in Camera. |
| Retakes and bursts | Five shots of one moment cost five times the space, and you’ll only ever look at one. |
| Screenshots | Small each, but they pile up into the thousands. |
| Full-size originals | Without Optimize iPhone Storage, every original stays on the phone even if it’s also in iCloud. |
| Recently Deleted | Deleted items stay for 30 days and still count. |
| Most Compatible format | JPEG and H.264 files are larger than Apple’s High Efficiency (HEIF/HEVC) formats. |
Not sure how much a year of shooting costs you? The iPhone storage calculator shows it.
Step 2: Let iCloud hold the originals (free if you have room)
- Open Settings, tap your name, tap iCloud, then tap Photos.
- Turn on Sync this iPhone.
- On iOS 27 or later, tap iPhone Storage.
- Make sure Optimize iPhone Storage is turned on.
Full-resolution originals then live in iCloud, and the phone keeps smaller copies. The catch: your library has to fit in iCloud. Everyone gets 5 GB free; beyond that you need iCloud+ (50 GB is $0.99 a month in the US). Deleting a photo with iCloud Photos on also deletes it from iCloud and your other devices.
Step 3: Stop new photos taking more than they need
- Format: go to Settings › Camera › Formats and pick High Efficiency. Apple says HEIF and HEVC use less space with the same visual quality.
- Live Photos: tap the Live Photo button in Camera to turn it off, then go to Settings › Camera › Preserve Settings and turn on the switch next to Live Photo so it stays off.
These only affect new shots. To shrink what’s already there, you have to delete or compress.
Step 4: Delete the big stuff
- Videos: in Photos, open Collections › Media Types › Videos. Thumbnails show each clip’s length; the longest are usually the biggest. Delete the ones you don’t need.
- Duplicates: open Utilities › Duplicates and tap Merge on each set. Full steps in how to delete duplicate photos.
- Retakes: Apple’s Duplicates album usually skips several shots of the same moment, so open a busy day, tap Select, and drag across the weaker shots.
- Screenshots: Collections › Media Types › Screenshots, then Select › Select All and delete. See how to delete all screenshots.
This is the slow part: Photos doesn’t show file sizes in its grid or group retakes for you, so you’re guessing which items matter.
If you’d rather keep a long video, compress it to a smaller copy instead of deleting it.
Step 5: Empty Recently Deleted
Open Photos › Collections › Utilities › Recently Deleted, unlock it with Face ID or Touch ID, tap Select, then More › Delete All. Until you do this, nothing you deleted in Step 4 frees space. More in why storage is still full after deleting photos.
Which should you use?
| Situation | Best fix |
|---|---|
| iCloud has room for your library | Optimize iPhone Storage (Step 2) |
| Videos are most of the space | Delete or compress the longest clips |
| Thousands of similar shots | Duplicates album, then retakes by hand or with a tool |
| Number won’t go down after deleting | Empty Recently Deleted |
One thing to keep straight: with Optimize iPhone Storage on, many originals are already in iCloud, so deleting them mostly frees iCloud space, not iPhone space. Photos you’ve viewed recently may still be kept at full size on the phone.