iCloud storage full? How to free up space

See what uses your iCloud storage

Apple gives you 5 GB for free, and it fills up fast. Before you pay for iCloud+, see where the space went:

1. Open Settings and tap your name at the top.
2. Tap iCloud, then Storage or Manage Account Storage.
3. Check the bar and the list: they show how much Photos, backups, Messages, iCloud Drive and Mail take.

On iOS 17 and later, iCloud settings also have Recommended for You, where your iPhone suggests what you can remove. Voice Memos, FaceTime data and, from iOS 26, contact photos and posters use iCloud storage too, but they’re usually small.

Photos and videos: usually the biggest part

With iCloud Photos on, your iPhone and iCloud share one library. To make it smaller in iCloud, you delete photos and videos: in Photos on your iPhone, on iCloud.com or on another device signed in to the same Apple Account. What you delete is removed everywhere.

• Start with videos. One minute of 4K video takes as much space as dozens of photos. Open Collections → Media Types → Videos and review the oldest ones. See also what to delete first when storage is full.
• Then screenshots and duplicates. How to delete screenshots and how to remove duplicate photos.
• Recently Deleted no longer counts. Apple says items in Recently Deleted don’t count toward your iCloud storage. On the iPhone itself, they keep using space until you empty the album.
• Shared Library. If you use iCloud Shared Photo Library, only your Personal Library counts toward your storage, so delete while viewing that one.

Backups of old devices

The backups list often holds a backup of an old iPhone or iPad you no longer use. You can delete it:

1. Settings → your name → iCloud → Storage (or Manage Account Storage).
2. Tap Backups and choose the device.
3. Tap Turn Off and Delete from iCloud and confirm.

Deleting a backup also turns off iCloud Backup for that device. Keep the backup of the iPhone you use: without it there’s nothing to restore from if the phone is lost.

Messages attachments

With Messages in iCloud on, photos and videos in your conversations use iCloud storage too. To remove them from one conversation:

1. Open the conversation and tap the contact’s name at the top.
2. Tap Photos. On iOS 18 and earlier, tap See All in the Photos section.
3. Tap Edit, then Select Photos (on iOS 18 and earlier, Select), and choose what to remove.
4. Tap Delete, then Delete Attachment to confirm.

To delete a whole conversation, swipe left on it in the list and tap Delete.

iCloud Drive and Mail

• iCloud Drive: in the Files app, tap Browse → iCloud Drive, tap the More button, then Select, choose old files and delete them. Large downloaded PDFs and archives are the first candidates.
• iCloud Mail: emails with big attachments use space too. Delete them and empty the Trash. Old promotions and newsletters are easy to clear with iCloud Mail Cleanup in the Mail app.

Clean up iCloud photos by swiping in Shoo

With iCloud Photos on, changes you make in Shoo sync like any change in the Photos app. So cleaning up your library in Shoo frees iCloud space as well. Shoo never uploads your photos anywhere: it shows your library and deletes through iOS itself.

• Big files first: under Filters, set the order to Longest videos first.
• Then the old stuff: set the period to Older than 30 days, or A specific month to go month by month.
• One album at a time: as the Source, pick Screenshots, Videos or any of your albums (this needs full photo access).

Photos you swipe away wait in the queue. Review it and tap Delete all; iOS asks you to confirm, and the photos go to Recently Deleted. How deleting works in Shoo.

Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play

Questions

Sources

1. Apple Support: Manage your iCloud storage on your Apple device
2. Apple Support: Set up and use iCloud Photos
3. Apple Support: How to turn off iCloud Photos
4. Apple Support: Delete photos on your iPhone or iPad